Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Kerry Battle Remains Uphill

Aired January 20, 2004 - 08:04   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: Politics now. Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry now trying to do what only two Democrats, Jimmy Carter and Al Gore, have done before him, follow a win in the Iowa caucuses with a victory in the primary in New Hampshire. Kerry won 38 percent last evening; John Edwards 32 percent; Howard Dean, third place, way behind at 18 percent; and a very disappointing finish for Dick Gephardt, the congressman from Missouri, just 11 percent. He has said he will not seek reelection for his House seat. This may be, later today, the swan song for Dick Gephardt.
A bit earlier today, Kerry arrived in New Hampshire talking to supporters at a rally there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: While I may be the underdog in this state, I have yet begun to fight and show the full measure of what we will do in this state. I ask you, I ask you, all of you here, I know your commitment, but I ask those who haven't joined this effort yet to join. And for those of you who want the fastest and easiest way to do it, go to johnkerry.com and sign up now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: So, then, Senator Kerry has his voice back today and so, too, does Bob Franken. Actually, Bob never left -- lost his, rather, back there in Des Moines -- good morning, Bob.

How are you?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's fine. It looks like howarddean.com has been supplanted a little bit in our very, very short attention span. Howard Dean and all the attention that was paid to him as the front runner seems to be so couple of weeks ago. But in any case, he is making it very clear that he's going to try and recover his momentum as he heads to his home territory. Dean, of course, took a big hit in the Iowa caucuses yesterday, finishing with only about half the vote total of everybody else.

The man who did very well, did much better than expected, was Senator John Edwards.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have been all over the State of Iowa. I have been on main streets, in cafes, in people's homes. The people of Iowa tonight confirmed that they believe in a positive, uplifting vision to change America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: And the man who is probably going to provide the poignant news of the day is Congressman Richard Gephardt. This is a man whose political career, his national political career, his presidential aspirations, were launched here in Iowa in 1988. But now things have come full circle. He was badly beaten, a very poor fourth in the caucuses. That happened last night. And so it's widely expected that tomorrow, or, rather, later this afternoon in St. Louis, he's going to withdraw from the race. And, of course, one of the questions will be will he throw his support to somebody else? And I can predict to you right now the answer is going to be not yet -- Bill.

HEMMER: Bob, back to the issue of Howard Dean.

What happened there? About 4,000 Deaniacs, as they're called, scattered throughout the state. Why is it that they were ineffective at driving their own caucus supporters to these locations, 2,000 of them all over the State of Iowa last night, and getting them to stand up and argue and debate and say go for Howard Dean? Why did that not happen?

FRANKEN: Well, there are going to be analysts that have a variety of opinions. One, the so-called Deaniacs, a lot of them are new to politics and politics is a very, very tricky game, as they learned only too well. But in a larger sense, a lot of people who were attracted to Dean's message of what has -- his opponents characterized as anger, probably were made nervous by it and as his opponents began to try and exploit that, they did it as his expense. It was a very bad showing in Iowa, there's no question about it. He has to produce now in New Hampshire because that is his territory in New England. Of course, he's also running against another New Englander, John Kerry, who did very well here.

HEMMER: And so many say that Howard Dean had the most impressive political machine they've ever seen in the State of Iowa.

We'll see what happens next Tuesday.

Bob, thanks.

Be warm there in Des Moines.

Bob Franken in Iowa.

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 20, 2004 - 08:04   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Politics now. Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry now trying to do what only two Democrats, Jimmy Carter and Al Gore, have done before him, follow a win in the Iowa caucuses with a victory in the primary in New Hampshire. Kerry won 38 percent last evening; John Edwards 32 percent; Howard Dean, third place, way behind at 18 percent; and a very disappointing finish for Dick Gephardt, the congressman from Missouri, just 11 percent. He has said he will not seek reelection for his House seat. This may be, later today, the swan song for Dick Gephardt.
A bit earlier today, Kerry arrived in New Hampshire talking to supporters at a rally there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: While I may be the underdog in this state, I have yet begun to fight and show the full measure of what we will do in this state. I ask you, I ask you, all of you here, I know your commitment, but I ask those who haven't joined this effort yet to join. And for those of you who want the fastest and easiest way to do it, go to johnkerry.com and sign up now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: So, then, Senator Kerry has his voice back today and so, too, does Bob Franken. Actually, Bob never left -- lost his, rather, back there in Des Moines -- good morning, Bob.

How are you?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's fine. It looks like howarddean.com has been supplanted a little bit in our very, very short attention span. Howard Dean and all the attention that was paid to him as the front runner seems to be so couple of weeks ago. But in any case, he is making it very clear that he's going to try and recover his momentum as he heads to his home territory. Dean, of course, took a big hit in the Iowa caucuses yesterday, finishing with only about half the vote total of everybody else.

The man who did very well, did much better than expected, was Senator John Edwards.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have been all over the State of Iowa. I have been on main streets, in cafes, in people's homes. The people of Iowa tonight confirmed that they believe in a positive, uplifting vision to change America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: And the man who is probably going to provide the poignant news of the day is Congressman Richard Gephardt. This is a man whose political career, his national political career, his presidential aspirations, were launched here in Iowa in 1988. But now things have come full circle. He was badly beaten, a very poor fourth in the caucuses. That happened last night. And so it's widely expected that tomorrow, or, rather, later this afternoon in St. Louis, he's going to withdraw from the race. And, of course, one of the questions will be will he throw his support to somebody else? And I can predict to you right now the answer is going to be not yet -- Bill.

HEMMER: Bob, back to the issue of Howard Dean.

What happened there? About 4,000 Deaniacs, as they're called, scattered throughout the state. Why is it that they were ineffective at driving their own caucus supporters to these locations, 2,000 of them all over the State of Iowa last night, and getting them to stand up and argue and debate and say go for Howard Dean? Why did that not happen?

FRANKEN: Well, there are going to be analysts that have a variety of opinions. One, the so-called Deaniacs, a lot of them are new to politics and politics is a very, very tricky game, as they learned only too well. But in a larger sense, a lot of people who were attracted to Dean's message of what has -- his opponents characterized as anger, probably were made nervous by it and as his opponents began to try and exploit that, they did it as his expense. It was a very bad showing in Iowa, there's no question about it. He has to produce now in New Hampshire because that is his territory in New England. Of course, he's also running against another New Englander, John Kerry, who did very well here.

HEMMER: And so many say that Howard Dean had the most impressive political machine they've ever seen in the State of Iowa.

We'll see what happens next Tuesday.

Bob, thanks.

Be warm there in Des Moines.

Bob Franken in Iowa.

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