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American Morning
Tennessee, Virginia to Hold Primaries Tuesday
Aired February 09, 2004 - 07:16 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: John Kerry is looking and sounding more and more like the Democratic Party's presidential nominee. Kerry swept all three political contests over the weekend in Washington, in Michigan and in Maine.
CNN political analyst Carlos Watson joins us this morning to talk a little bit about that; also the primaries tomorrow in Virginia and Tennessee.
Nice to see you. Good morning.
CARLOS WATSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good to see you in person.
O'BRIEN: Well, thank you very much. Good to be seen in person and back at you.
WATSON: Yes.
O'BRIEN: We hear the candidates as they're on their stumping and sort of trying to get votes, and they seem to be talking less about what distinguishes them from the other candidates and more attacking President Bush. Do you think that that strategy to some degree makes John Kerry the de facto front runner and keeps him there? Because they're not sort of showing the difference between themselves and John Kerry anymore.
WATSON: They're not, even though John Edwards has debuted a new slogan. He says that once upon a time there was a phrase, "buy American," and he says, why not hire American? And, of course, he's trying to point towards the high unemployment numbers here in the States
But you're right. John Kerry cemented his front-runner status. In the first two contests he won with numbers in the low 30s. February 3, his numbers were in the low 40s. And over the weekend, we saw numbers in the low 50s. So, you see the numbers are getting higher and higher, the margins of victory are increasing, and he now has more than 400 delegates.
O'BRIEN: So, when you analyze this race, are you really looking at the race for second place?
WATSON: You know what? The race for second place is really no race at all. But many people think that that's really a race for the vice presidential nomination.
O'BRIEN: Is it, though? I mean, Howard Dean as vice president or John Edwards as vice president or Wesley Clark? All of them, say the way, have said I am not running to be vice president.
WATSON: Although Howard Dean is the only one among them, interestingly enough, who has said that, if asked, I would certainly consider it. He says, I would recommend that John Kerry not get another New Englander.
But I think you'll hear other names. I think you'll hear 12 to 13 names. Do you know what the most -- the hottest new name is?
O'BRIEN: Who is hottest?
WATSON: Is Evan Bayh of Indiana -- a different kind of name. Some people are saying make a regional choice to help you in the Midwest or the Southwest, like Bill Richardson. Some are saying make a thematic choice, bolster your foreign policy credentials, go with someone like Sam Nunn (ph). We'll see what happens.
O'BRIEN: Howard Dean lost -- he had another endorsement withdrawn. First, how unusual is it to have an endorsement withdrawn? I mean, that's the second time it's happened to him. It's the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. So, one, how unusual? Two, what's the impact, do you think?
WATSON: Very unusual. It was unusual for him to get it in the first place. And back in the late fall when he did get it, it really kind of all of a sudden made him seem like a much more of an acceptable establishment figure.
You'll remember, Soledad, that when in the course of about two weeks, he got two big union endorsements, and then ultimately got the Al Gore endorsement, and then got the Bill Bradley endorsement. And then, of course, the bottom seemed to fall out on him.
I think it's very likely that Governor Dean actually may withdraw before Wisconsin. I wouldn't be surprised to see that. He may come back to supporters and say that while I wanted to make one last stand on behalf of the party, I think it's better that I step away and perhaps try and take some of this money and some of this effort and direct it towards beating President Bush in the fall.
O'BRIEN: That's the opposite of what he said. He said he's going to Wisconsin.
WATSON: Are you surprised a politician might say one thing and do another? I mean...
O'BRIEN: Carlos, stop.
WATSON: I mean, he said otherwise. But, again, when youre looking at the victories that Kerry is rolling up, 10 of 12, and certainly if Kerry wins tomorrow in the South, it's going to be very hard for anyone else to break his momentum, which is what you have to do at this point.
O'BRIEN: Carlos Watson, nice to see you.
WATSON: Good to see you.
O'BRIEN: Thanks for being with us, our political analyst joining us this morning.
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 9, 2004 - 07:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: John Kerry is looking and sounding more and more like the Democratic Party's presidential nominee. Kerry swept all three political contests over the weekend in Washington, in Michigan and in Maine.
CNN political analyst Carlos Watson joins us this morning to talk a little bit about that; also the primaries tomorrow in Virginia and Tennessee.
Nice to see you. Good morning.
CARLOS WATSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good to see you in person.
O'BRIEN: Well, thank you very much. Good to be seen in person and back at you.
WATSON: Yes.
O'BRIEN: We hear the candidates as they're on their stumping and sort of trying to get votes, and they seem to be talking less about what distinguishes them from the other candidates and more attacking President Bush. Do you think that that strategy to some degree makes John Kerry the de facto front runner and keeps him there? Because they're not sort of showing the difference between themselves and John Kerry anymore.
WATSON: They're not, even though John Edwards has debuted a new slogan. He says that once upon a time there was a phrase, "buy American," and he says, why not hire American? And, of course, he's trying to point towards the high unemployment numbers here in the States
But you're right. John Kerry cemented his front-runner status. In the first two contests he won with numbers in the low 30s. February 3, his numbers were in the low 40s. And over the weekend, we saw numbers in the low 50s. So, you see the numbers are getting higher and higher, the margins of victory are increasing, and he now has more than 400 delegates.
O'BRIEN: So, when you analyze this race, are you really looking at the race for second place?
WATSON: You know what? The race for second place is really no race at all. But many people think that that's really a race for the vice presidential nomination.
O'BRIEN: Is it, though? I mean, Howard Dean as vice president or John Edwards as vice president or Wesley Clark? All of them, say the way, have said I am not running to be vice president.
WATSON: Although Howard Dean is the only one among them, interestingly enough, who has said that, if asked, I would certainly consider it. He says, I would recommend that John Kerry not get another New Englander.
But I think you'll hear other names. I think you'll hear 12 to 13 names. Do you know what the most -- the hottest new name is?
O'BRIEN: Who is hottest?
WATSON: Is Evan Bayh of Indiana -- a different kind of name. Some people are saying make a regional choice to help you in the Midwest or the Southwest, like Bill Richardson. Some are saying make a thematic choice, bolster your foreign policy credentials, go with someone like Sam Nunn (ph). We'll see what happens.
O'BRIEN: Howard Dean lost -- he had another endorsement withdrawn. First, how unusual is it to have an endorsement withdrawn? I mean, that's the second time it's happened to him. It's the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. So, one, how unusual? Two, what's the impact, do you think?
WATSON: Very unusual. It was unusual for him to get it in the first place. And back in the late fall when he did get it, it really kind of all of a sudden made him seem like a much more of an acceptable establishment figure.
You'll remember, Soledad, that when in the course of about two weeks, he got two big union endorsements, and then ultimately got the Al Gore endorsement, and then got the Bill Bradley endorsement. And then, of course, the bottom seemed to fall out on him.
I think it's very likely that Governor Dean actually may withdraw before Wisconsin. I wouldn't be surprised to see that. He may come back to supporters and say that while I wanted to make one last stand on behalf of the party, I think it's better that I step away and perhaps try and take some of this money and some of this effort and direct it towards beating President Bush in the fall.
O'BRIEN: That's the opposite of what he said. He said he's going to Wisconsin.
WATSON: Are you surprised a politician might say one thing and do another? I mean...
O'BRIEN: Carlos, stop.
WATSON: I mean, he said otherwise. But, again, when youre looking at the victories that Kerry is rolling up, 10 of 12, and certainly if Kerry wins tomorrow in the South, it's going to be very hard for anyone else to break his momentum, which is what you have to do at this point.
O'BRIEN: Carlos Watson, nice to see you.
WATSON: Good to see you.
O'BRIEN: Thanks for being with us, our political analyst joining us this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
