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American Morning
America Votes 2004
Aired February 02, 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: The Democratic presidential candidates are making a final push for votes in tomorrow's primaries and caucuses. There will be contests in seven states with 269 delegates at stake. Perhaps the most important contest for front- runner John Kerry is South Carolina, the first southern state on the political calendar.
Bob Franken is there for us in Charleston this morning.
Hey -- Bob. Good morning.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
And John Edwards is the leader here -- expected to be the leader here. The candidates are really looking like, and this election is looking really like, a pinball machine -- you remember pinball machines -- with the candidates bouncing all around in what really are seven different campaigns.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN (voice-over): He's ahead in five of the states, competitive in the other two, and John Kerry is trying to stay on message.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm here to mark with you the beginning of the end of the Bush presidency.
FRANKEN: Howard Dean is effectively out of the running in all of the seven states, so he's trying to revive his dwindling hopes in delegate-rich Michigan, whose primary comes four days after this set. The man who resigned as Dean's campaign manager insists the strategy can work.
JOE TRIPPI, FORMER DEAN CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Winning these early states doesn't matter. What these early states are really about are winnowing the field down until there's a stark choice. And I believe the stark choice is going to be John Kerry and a guy who took more money from lobbyists than any other senator in the last 15 years and Howard Dean.
FRANKEN: Here in South Carolina, the man on the spot is the, in effect, favorite son, John Edwards, senator from neighboring North Carolina. He's leading here, but just barely. And this state's primary is virtually a must-win for him. He continues to count on his populist campaign. SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'll tell you why we should not only talk about the millions of Americans who live in poverty, but we should do something about it. And the reason is very simple. It is wrong. You and I have a moral responsibility to lift these families out of poverty.
FRANKEN: The man to watch in South Carolina is Al Sharpton. His appeal to the state's substantial African-American population could swing the election by siphoning votes away from one of the other candidates.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
As you can see, the strategies are much more complex. This is a multi-state primary now, and this kind of campaign has one specific design, and that is to start eliminating some of the candidates -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Bob, realistically, how are pundits predicting that Al Sharpton could do? How many votes could he steal from the front runners?
FRANKEN: Well, it's interesting. The polls really vary a lot. On one poll, he has 15 percent of the vote in the state of South Carolina. Others show him around 5 percent. But whatever he takes is going to come from somebody. The John Kerry campaign has really courted some of the African-American leaders here in South Carolina. So, presumably, Sharpton could make a dent in the Kerry total.
O'BRIEN: Bob Franken in Charleston, South Carolina, for us this morning. Bob, thanks.
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 February 2, 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: The Democratic presidential candidates are making a final push for votes in tomorrow's primaries and caucuses. There will be contests in seven states with 269 delegates at stake. Perhaps the most important contest for front- runner John Kerry is South Carolina, the first southern state on the political calendar.
Bob Franken is there for us in Charleston this morning.
Hey -- Bob. Good morning.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
And John Edwards is the leader here -- expected to be the leader here. The candidates are really looking like, and this election is looking really like, a pinball machine -- you remember pinball machines -- with the candidates bouncing all around in what really are seven different campaigns.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN (voice-over): He's ahead in five of the states, competitive in the other two, and John Kerry is trying to stay on message.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm here to mark with you the beginning of the end of the Bush presidency.
FRANKEN: Howard Dean is effectively out of the running in all of the seven states, so he's trying to revive his dwindling hopes in delegate-rich Michigan, whose primary comes four days after this set. The man who resigned as Dean's campaign manager insists the strategy can work.
JOE TRIPPI, FORMER DEAN CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Winning these early states doesn't matter. What these early states are really about are winnowing the field down until there's a stark choice. And I believe the stark choice is going to be John Kerry and a guy who took more money from lobbyists than any other senator in the last 15 years and Howard Dean.
FRANKEN: Here in South Carolina, the man on the spot is the, in effect, favorite son, John Edwards, senator from neighboring North Carolina. He's leading here, but just barely. And this state's primary is virtually a must-win for him. He continues to count on his populist campaign. SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'll tell you why we should not only talk about the millions of Americans who live in poverty, but we should do something about it. And the reason is very simple. It is wrong. You and I have a moral responsibility to lift these families out of poverty.
FRANKEN: The man to watch in South Carolina is Al Sharpton. His appeal to the state's substantial African-American population could swing the election by siphoning votes away from one of the other candidates.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
As you can see, the strategies are much more complex. This is a multi-state primary now, and this kind of campaign has one specific design, and that is to start eliminating some of the candidates -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Bob, realistically, how are pundits predicting that Al Sharpton could do? How many votes could he steal from the front runners?
FRANKEN: Well, it's interesting. The polls really vary a lot. On one poll, he has 15 percent of the vote in the state of South Carolina. Others show him around 5 percent. But whatever he takes is going to come from somebody. The John Kerry campaign has really courted some of the African-American leaders here in South Carolina. So, presumably, Sharpton could make a dent in the Kerry total.
O'BRIEN: Bob Franken in Charleston, South Carolina, for us this morning. Bob, thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
