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American Morning

John Kerry Moves Closer to Nomination

Aired February 18, 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: Back to politics now. John Kerry moving closer to the nomination last night with the delegate count. The contest, though, much closer than anticipated. He won 40 percent of the vote in Wisconsin, John Edwards second with 34 percent, followed by Howard Dean at 18 percent.
The win is Kerry's 16th victory in 18 contests thus far. Only Edwards and Wesley Clark, who has already left the race, Clark has, have won other states, Oklahoma and South Carolina respectively.

Bob Franken live in Milwaukee this morning with more for us -- hey, Bob, good morning.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

And, of course, we've talked about this before, the expectations game. And the reality is that last night, John Kerry did not do quite as well as expected. The reality is that John Edwards did better than expected. The reality for Howard Dean was he did about what was expected, which was hardly good enough. So now Dean is deciding what he's going to do next. Edwards says he would love to have Dean's support. In fact, he said they talked by phone last night. He wouldn't talk about, more about it than that, but as far as the support is concerned, he'd dearly love to have it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Absolutely I would take his support. I don't have any expectation about it one way or the other. I have a very good relationship with Governor Dean. I have enormous respect for him. I think that he has been a real force and a positive force in this campaign, bringing in people that otherwise wouldn't have been involved. I think he's been a very important voice during the course of this campaign.

So, of course, I would love to have his support.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: Well, the first question is, is that support available? Dean is holding what the campaign is calling "an event" today in Burlington, Vermont. It's 1:00 Eastern. Afterwards, hopefully, we'll have a clearer idea what the plans are for Dean and his future in the campaign -- Bill.

HEMMER: All right, Bob, thanks.

Bob Franken there.

And what does Howard Dean's third place finish now mean for him and his campaign?

Steve McMahon is Dean's media adviser.

He is live with us this morning in Washington.

Nice to see you back here on our program.

Good morning to you.

STEVE MCMAHON, DEAN MEDIA ADVISER: How are you, Bill?

HEMMER: I'm doing just fine.

One o'clock today, what's going to be stated?

MCMAHON: Well, listen, this is an announcement that Governor Dean is going to make and I'm not going to make it here. I'd love to help you, Bill, but I'm just not going to be able to. I'm sorry.

HEMMER: There was a report today in the "L.A. Times" that Howard Dean will essentially end his campaigning, not officially withdraw completely, but end the campaigning.

Is that true?

MCMAHON: Well, he said publicly, and I'll give you this, that the campaign is going to have to take a different form. He's also said that he's going to continue trying to change this country and change our party. And what form that takes, I think, is something that will become clearer later on today and in the days to come.

But there's no question, as Senator Edwards has said, that he's had an incredible impact on this race already. He's energized new people. He's brought new people into the process. He's given the Democratic Party back its voice, its soul. And he's made it OK for candidates to stand up and take on President Bush very directly, which is what his hallmark was throughout his candidacy.

So, you know, whatever happens to Howard today, whatever he announces today, he's already made a huge difference in this race and he's now in a position, if he'd like to, to throw his support one way or another, and I think make a huge difference again.

HEMMER: I want to try it from a different angle.

Will there be a concession today, Steve?

MCMAHON: You'll have to stay tuned. It wouldn't be fair of me or anybody, really, after a guy has campaigned for president for as long as he has and who's scheduled an event at 1:00 today to announce what his plans might be in the future to get ahead of that, if you will. It's his announcement to make. It's his decision to make. And he'll be announcing it soon enough. I'm sorry, Bill. I'd love to help you, but I'm not going to.

HEMMER: I'm going to keep on trying.

What does he think of John Edwards, Steve?

MCMAHON: He likes John Edwards. I mean Senator Edwards ran a great campaign, is running a great campaign. It has been a positive campaign from the beginning. On the other hand, there's no question that Senator Kerry has an incredible amount of momentum. And if you look at the calendar and you look at the delegates and you look at proportional representation, it's difficult to see or it's becoming difficult to see how it is this race changes so dramatically that Senator Edwards could become the nominee.

Anything is possible. There are still a lot of votes out there and Senator Edwards has run a great campaign. But, you know, it's uphill and the clock is running and it's going to be tough. It could be done, but it's going to be tough.

HEMMER: Yes, in the past, and you know this quite well, Howard Dean has said John Kerry is not a real Democrat.

Does he think John Edwards is a real Democrat?

MCMAHON: Well, he's said a lot of things in the campaign. He was, I think, comparing Senator Kerry's fundraising practices to the Republicans' fundraising practices, and that was the basis of it.

In terms of where Senator Kerry is on most issues, he certainly is a real Democrat. So is John Edwards. There's no question that both of these guys would be a better president than George Bush. And either one of them, when they're the nominee, will have Howard Dean's complete and full support. He's indicated already that he'll campaign vigorously for the nominee, he'll do everything he can to move his voters to the nominee and to move his support to the nominee. And, you know, we don't know who that's going to be yet, but I think we'll know relatively soon.

HEMMER: Steve McMahon, thanks for being patient with me today.

MCMAHON: Thank you.

HEMMER: Appreciate your time.

Well, stay tuned later today, 1:00 Eastern time, announcement live here on CNN. We'll have it for you out of Burlington, Vermont and the future, the imminent future, anyway, for Howard Dean.

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 18, 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: Back to politics now. John Kerry moving closer to the nomination last night with the delegate count. The contest, though, much closer than anticipated. He won 40 percent of the vote in Wisconsin, John Edwards second with 34 percent, followed by Howard Dean at 18 percent.
The win is Kerry's 16th victory in 18 contests thus far. Only Edwards and Wesley Clark, who has already left the race, Clark has, have won other states, Oklahoma and South Carolina respectively.

Bob Franken live in Milwaukee this morning with more for us -- hey, Bob, good morning.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

And, of course, we've talked about this before, the expectations game. And the reality is that last night, John Kerry did not do quite as well as expected. The reality is that John Edwards did better than expected. The reality for Howard Dean was he did about what was expected, which was hardly good enough. So now Dean is deciding what he's going to do next. Edwards says he would love to have Dean's support. In fact, he said they talked by phone last night. He wouldn't talk about, more about it than that, but as far as the support is concerned, he'd dearly love to have it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Absolutely I would take his support. I don't have any expectation about it one way or the other. I have a very good relationship with Governor Dean. I have enormous respect for him. I think that he has been a real force and a positive force in this campaign, bringing in people that otherwise wouldn't have been involved. I think he's been a very important voice during the course of this campaign.

So, of course, I would love to have his support.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: Well, the first question is, is that support available? Dean is holding what the campaign is calling "an event" today in Burlington, Vermont. It's 1:00 Eastern. Afterwards, hopefully, we'll have a clearer idea what the plans are for Dean and his future in the campaign -- Bill.

HEMMER: All right, Bob, thanks.

Bob Franken there.

And what does Howard Dean's third place finish now mean for him and his campaign?

Steve McMahon is Dean's media adviser.

He is live with us this morning in Washington.

Nice to see you back here on our program.

Good morning to you.

STEVE MCMAHON, DEAN MEDIA ADVISER: How are you, Bill?

HEMMER: I'm doing just fine.

One o'clock today, what's going to be stated?

MCMAHON: Well, listen, this is an announcement that Governor Dean is going to make and I'm not going to make it here. I'd love to help you, Bill, but I'm just not going to be able to. I'm sorry.

HEMMER: There was a report today in the "L.A. Times" that Howard Dean will essentially end his campaigning, not officially withdraw completely, but end the campaigning.

Is that true?

MCMAHON: Well, he said publicly, and I'll give you this, that the campaign is going to have to take a different form. He's also said that he's going to continue trying to change this country and change our party. And what form that takes, I think, is something that will become clearer later on today and in the days to come.

But there's no question, as Senator Edwards has said, that he's had an incredible impact on this race already. He's energized new people. He's brought new people into the process. He's given the Democratic Party back its voice, its soul. And he's made it OK for candidates to stand up and take on President Bush very directly, which is what his hallmark was throughout his candidacy.

So, you know, whatever happens to Howard today, whatever he announces today, he's already made a huge difference in this race and he's now in a position, if he'd like to, to throw his support one way or another, and I think make a huge difference again.

HEMMER: I want to try it from a different angle.

Will there be a concession today, Steve?

MCMAHON: You'll have to stay tuned. It wouldn't be fair of me or anybody, really, after a guy has campaigned for president for as long as he has and who's scheduled an event at 1:00 today to announce what his plans might be in the future to get ahead of that, if you will. It's his announcement to make. It's his decision to make. And he'll be announcing it soon enough. I'm sorry, Bill. I'd love to help you, but I'm not going to.

HEMMER: I'm going to keep on trying.

What does he think of John Edwards, Steve?

MCMAHON: He likes John Edwards. I mean Senator Edwards ran a great campaign, is running a great campaign. It has been a positive campaign from the beginning. On the other hand, there's no question that Senator Kerry has an incredible amount of momentum. And if you look at the calendar and you look at the delegates and you look at proportional representation, it's difficult to see or it's becoming difficult to see how it is this race changes so dramatically that Senator Edwards could become the nominee.

Anything is possible. There are still a lot of votes out there and Senator Edwards has run a great campaign. But, you know, it's uphill and the clock is running and it's going to be tough. It could be done, but it's going to be tough.

HEMMER: Yes, in the past, and you know this quite well, Howard Dean has said John Kerry is not a real Democrat.

Does he think John Edwards is a real Democrat?

MCMAHON: Well, he's said a lot of things in the campaign. He was, I think, comparing Senator Kerry's fundraising practices to the Republicans' fundraising practices, and that was the basis of it.

In terms of where Senator Kerry is on most issues, he certainly is a real Democrat. So is John Edwards. There's no question that both of these guys would be a better president than George Bush. And either one of them, when they're the nominee, will have Howard Dean's complete and full support. He's indicated already that he'll campaign vigorously for the nominee, he'll do everything he can to move his voters to the nominee and to move his support to the nominee. And, you know, we don't know who that's going to be yet, but I think we'll know relatively soon.

HEMMER: Steve McMahon, thanks for being patient with me today.

MCMAHON: Thank you.

HEMMER: Appreciate your time.

Well, stay tuned later today, 1:00 Eastern time, announcement live here on CNN. We'll have it for you out of Burlington, Vermont and the future, the imminent future, anyway, for Howard Dean.

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