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American Morning

Five Democratic Candidates Debated Sunday in Wisconsin

Aired February 16, 2004 - 07:06   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: While the president courted those NASCAR dads, the Democratic presidential hopefuls took turns taking jabs at him during their pre-primary debate in Wisconsin.
Joining us this morning from Washington, D.C., to size up where things stand now in the election battle is CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider.

Hey, Bill, good morning.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Before we talk a little bit about the impact of those NASCAR dads when it comes to voting, let's first talk about Howard Dean. As we heard just a moment ago, Bob Franken was talking about it, the mixed messages that seemed to be coming from Howard Dean, the candidate, and also the people who represent him as well. He said, as you heard, we're in this race after Tuesday period. But others have said anything can happen. And even others have said that after Tuesday the whole thing should be over. So, explain this to me.

SCHNEIDER: Well, what we're getting is a whole bunch of messages, essentially encouraging people to vote for Howard Dean. I'm still in it. Your vote won't be wasted. But let's listen for what he says Tuesday night and Wednesday if he loses, particularly if he loses badly. He says he's going to have to regroup and reconsider what he's doing.

He wants to continue the battle -- the battle to get rid of President Bush, the battle to try to form the message of the Democratic Party. But it's pretty clear if he suffers a bad defeat in Wisconsin, it's going to be very difficult for him to go on.

O'BRIEN: It seemed that he was not very aggressive in that debate at all. I think that's fair to say. John Edwards -- excuse me -- was probably the most aggressive, and he wasn't aggressive at all either. He sort of used a chiding tone, I felt, when he was approaching John Kerry. Is this an indication to you that this is essentially over?

SCHNEIDER: Well, for the time being, yes, it is. Both Dean and Edwards essentially pulled their punches -- Dean certainly more so. And they focused their fire really on President Bush, particularly Kerry, who paid very little attention to his colleagues and ratcheted up some of the criticisms of Bush, essentially saying that Iraq is another Vietnam, that the president has lost the consent and legitimacy of the voters, that he's seen this happen before. Some very tough rhetoric, but almost all of it aimed at President Bush. Because the view is, look, unless Kerry somehow loses this nomination for himself by making a bad mistake or some sudden revelation, he's going to be the nominee.

O'BRIEN: At the same time, there are those who continue to stay in the race, and I'm speaking specifically about Howard Dean and John Edwards, who will say, look at the delegate count. It's far from over. I mean, John Kerry is nowhere near the thousands of delegates that he needs. Is that a fair argument?

SCHNEIDER: It is a fair argument, but you can also look at the delegate count in a different way. John Edwards -- I'm sorry -- John Kerry has more delegates than all of his competitors combined. He is moving very far ahead. He's got only a quarter of the delegates needed for a majority, but no one else comes even close to him. So, while he's got a long way to go, the others have a lot further.

O'BRIEN: Well, a quick last question for you, as we started off by talking about the NASCAR dads.

SCHNEIDER: Yes.

O'BRIEN: President Bush was there obviously, I think it's fair to say, campaigning early on. Give me a sense of the importance of that part of the electorate.

SCHNEIDER: Men, particularly white men, are the base of the Republican Party. If Bush starts losing that constituency, he's in serious trouble. And the issue where he seems to be in trouble is primarily jobs, jobs, jobs. Over two million jobs lost since he became president. Now, he promises that he's going to restore those jobs before the election this year. That's virtually impossible to do. No economist can imagine how the economy can grow fast enough to get those jobs back.

These men like Bush. They want to support Bush. They are intensely patriotic. Many of them are very religious. But on the other hand, they are very worried about jobs and the cost of health care. And if that's a problem for this president, he could go the way of his father, who lost that same constituency.

O'BRIEN: Back to, it's the economy, stupid. Bill Schneider joining us this morning. Thanks, Bill.

SCHNEIDER: Sure.

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 16, 2004 - 07:06   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: While the president courted those NASCAR dads, the Democratic presidential hopefuls took turns taking jabs at him during their pre-primary debate in Wisconsin.
Joining us this morning from Washington, D.C., to size up where things stand now in the election battle is CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider.

Hey, Bill, good morning.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Before we talk a little bit about the impact of those NASCAR dads when it comes to voting, let's first talk about Howard Dean. As we heard just a moment ago, Bob Franken was talking about it, the mixed messages that seemed to be coming from Howard Dean, the candidate, and also the people who represent him as well. He said, as you heard, we're in this race after Tuesday period. But others have said anything can happen. And even others have said that after Tuesday the whole thing should be over. So, explain this to me.

SCHNEIDER: Well, what we're getting is a whole bunch of messages, essentially encouraging people to vote for Howard Dean. I'm still in it. Your vote won't be wasted. But let's listen for what he says Tuesday night and Wednesday if he loses, particularly if he loses badly. He says he's going to have to regroup and reconsider what he's doing.

He wants to continue the battle -- the battle to get rid of President Bush, the battle to try to form the message of the Democratic Party. But it's pretty clear if he suffers a bad defeat in Wisconsin, it's going to be very difficult for him to go on.

O'BRIEN: It seemed that he was not very aggressive in that debate at all. I think that's fair to say. John Edwards -- excuse me -- was probably the most aggressive, and he wasn't aggressive at all either. He sort of used a chiding tone, I felt, when he was approaching John Kerry. Is this an indication to you that this is essentially over?

SCHNEIDER: Well, for the time being, yes, it is. Both Dean and Edwards essentially pulled their punches -- Dean certainly more so. And they focused their fire really on President Bush, particularly Kerry, who paid very little attention to his colleagues and ratcheted up some of the criticisms of Bush, essentially saying that Iraq is another Vietnam, that the president has lost the consent and legitimacy of the voters, that he's seen this happen before. Some very tough rhetoric, but almost all of it aimed at President Bush. Because the view is, look, unless Kerry somehow loses this nomination for himself by making a bad mistake or some sudden revelation, he's going to be the nominee.

O'BRIEN: At the same time, there are those who continue to stay in the race, and I'm speaking specifically about Howard Dean and John Edwards, who will say, look at the delegate count. It's far from over. I mean, John Kerry is nowhere near the thousands of delegates that he needs. Is that a fair argument?

SCHNEIDER: It is a fair argument, but you can also look at the delegate count in a different way. John Edwards -- I'm sorry -- John Kerry has more delegates than all of his competitors combined. He is moving very far ahead. He's got only a quarter of the delegates needed for a majority, but no one else comes even close to him. So, while he's got a long way to go, the others have a lot further.

O'BRIEN: Well, a quick last question for you, as we started off by talking about the NASCAR dads.

SCHNEIDER: Yes.

O'BRIEN: President Bush was there obviously, I think it's fair to say, campaigning early on. Give me a sense of the importance of that part of the electorate.

SCHNEIDER: Men, particularly white men, are the base of the Republican Party. If Bush starts losing that constituency, he's in serious trouble. And the issue where he seems to be in trouble is primarily jobs, jobs, jobs. Over two million jobs lost since he became president. Now, he promises that he's going to restore those jobs before the election this year. That's virtually impossible to do. No economist can imagine how the economy can grow fast enough to get those jobs back.

These men like Bush. They want to support Bush. They are intensely patriotic. Many of them are very religious. But on the other hand, they are very worried about jobs and the cost of health care. And if that's a problem for this president, he could go the way of his father, who lost that same constituency.

O'BRIEN: Back to, it's the economy, stupid. Bill Schneider joining us this morning. Thanks, Bill.

SCHNEIDER: Sure.

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