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American Morning

Tomorrow a Pivotal Day in Democratic Presidential Nomination Race

Aired February 02, 2004 - 08:11   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: Tomorrow could be a pivotal day in the Democratic presidential nomination race. Seven states will hold primaries or caucuses, with 269 delegates at stake. One of the most important races is in South Carolina.
And joining us this morning from Charleston is CNN's Bob Franken -- Bob, good morning.

It looks like you've got a number of people behind you.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, those are the Dean heads. Everyone of the campaigns knows the television camera is there and sends down people with signs to get in the shot. This is the South Carolina chapter, but, of course, we're dealing with seven states. All of them have similar representation. Seven states all over the place, a variety of different situations for the candidates. But one of the things that's constant in at least five of them, that is is that John Kerry is considered the leader.

Here it's John Edwards. There's a possible tossup in Oklahoma. But here John Kerry is the one where most of the attention if being paid and a lot of attention by the articles that now say that he was the man in the Senate who received more special interest money than any other senator. And what is most intriguing about that to Howard Dean is the possibility that that represents a bit of campaign hypocrisy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. HOWARD DEAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I do not think you can run a campaign for president against the special interests and be the senator who's taken the most special interest money in the last 15 years. Therefore, I think I'm the most electable of all the Democrats.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: He is not showing electable in the polls. Howard Dean is in single digits in most of the states right now. As for Wesley Clark, he is running strong in Oklahoma. That is where he is pinning his hopes, so he can come out of this series of primaries on Tuesday with a win. It's very competitive there and the man who is competing with him, you guessed it, John Kerry -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Well, Bob, you know, the next seven contests, as you well know, really, the folks who are voting representative more of a realistic picture of America as opposed to the two, the caucuses and the primaries that have preceded.

So what do you think that says, if John Kerry is a victor there, then that means that he can do really well nationally?

FRANKEN: Well, that's one of the tests, can he, in fact, appeal to a variety -- a diverse demography of various demographic groups, number one. Number two, these now become tests of political strategy as opposed to the one state races that we've witnessed before. Now people have to demonstrate that they can marshal the resources and allocate them properly in a variety of situations. This will be the first big test of that.

O'BRIEN: Bob Franken in Charleston, South Carolina for us this morning.

Bob, thank you very much.

Stay with CNN tomorrow for full coverage of the seven Democratic contests. Start your day with AMERICAN MORNING. Get coverage of the results on CNN TOMORROW. That begins at 7:00 a.m. Eastern time.

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




Nomination Race>


Aired February 2, 2004 - 08:11   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Tomorrow could be a pivotal day in the Democratic presidential nomination race. Seven states will hold primaries or caucuses, with 269 delegates at stake. One of the most important races is in South Carolina.
And joining us this morning from Charleston is CNN's Bob Franken -- Bob, good morning.

It looks like you've got a number of people behind you.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, those are the Dean heads. Everyone of the campaigns knows the television camera is there and sends down people with signs to get in the shot. This is the South Carolina chapter, but, of course, we're dealing with seven states. All of them have similar representation. Seven states all over the place, a variety of different situations for the candidates. But one of the things that's constant in at least five of them, that is is that John Kerry is considered the leader.

Here it's John Edwards. There's a possible tossup in Oklahoma. But here John Kerry is the one where most of the attention if being paid and a lot of attention by the articles that now say that he was the man in the Senate who received more special interest money than any other senator. And what is most intriguing about that to Howard Dean is the possibility that that represents a bit of campaign hypocrisy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. HOWARD DEAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I do not think you can run a campaign for president against the special interests and be the senator who's taken the most special interest money in the last 15 years. Therefore, I think I'm the most electable of all the Democrats.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: He is not showing electable in the polls. Howard Dean is in single digits in most of the states right now. As for Wesley Clark, he is running strong in Oklahoma. That is where he is pinning his hopes, so he can come out of this series of primaries on Tuesday with a win. It's very competitive there and the man who is competing with him, you guessed it, John Kerry -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Well, Bob, you know, the next seven contests, as you well know, really, the folks who are voting representative more of a realistic picture of America as opposed to the two, the caucuses and the primaries that have preceded.

So what do you think that says, if John Kerry is a victor there, then that means that he can do really well nationally?

FRANKEN: Well, that's one of the tests, can he, in fact, appeal to a variety -- a diverse demography of various demographic groups, number one. Number two, these now become tests of political strategy as opposed to the one state races that we've witnessed before. Now people have to demonstrate that they can marshal the resources and allocate them properly in a variety of situations. This will be the first big test of that.

O'BRIEN: Bob Franken in Charleston, South Carolina for us this morning.

Bob, thank you very much.

Stay with CNN tomorrow for full coverage of the seven Democratic contests. Start your day with AMERICAN MORNING. Get coverage of the results on CNN TOMORROW. That begins at 7:00 a.m. Eastern time.

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




Nomination Race>