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American Morning

Significance of Nader's Decision to Run For President Again

Aired February 23, 2004 - 07:31   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.


ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In about two and a half hours, Ralph Nader will speak in Washington to lay out the themes for his newly announced presidential campaign. The entrance of the consumer advocate into the race has some Democrats worried that siphoned votes from their nominee, making it easier for President Bush to be reelected.
Yesterday in Georgia, Democratic front runner John Kerry didn't seem too concerned.

Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Senator Kerry, what do you think about Ralph Nader's decision?

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm going to appeal to everybody in this race. It will make it unnecessary in the end for an alternative. And I look forward to that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: National correspondent Kelly Wallace is covering the Kerry campaign.

She joins me here in New York this morning -- good morning.

Nice to see you in the studio.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's nice to be here.

COOPER: OK, so publicly John Kerry, John Edwards seem to seem sort of blase about it all, saying oh, Ralph Nader does -- they don't really even address him directly. Privately, though, they've got to be a little bit concerned.

WALLACE: They are concerned a little bit. This is a new wild card in this race. And while they say that they think this year is different, that Democrats are more united than ever before in wanting to defeat President Bush, this is a new wildcard, something they didn't want to happen. The Democratic Party chief, Terry McCauliffe, was taking Ralph Nader to lunch, trying to keep him out. He is in. They don't know what will happen. They hope it doesn't -- it's not a repeat of 2000.

COOPER: Let's talk a little bit about Howard Dean, his possible endorsement and where he might go. There are a lot of people who think he may go for John Edwards, that -- I mean I've talked to some of the so-called Deaniacs, some low level supporters last week and they were all saying they were going to go for John Edwards, that they thought he had the best chance to beat President Bush.

WALLACE: Well, you also have something new. You have Deaniacs For Edwards, a new Web site, trying to get Dean supporters to embrace and build support for John Edwards. Sources are saying if Howard Dean goes anywhere, it would go to John Edwards. And all weekend long we heard John Edwards talking about how much he likes Howard Dean, even saying he has spoken to Howard Dean. Howard Dean thinks he would be the best candidate. He just needs a little more time. So it's not clear if he will get into this race or not.

COOPER: Is there a level of personal politics here involved? Because I mean there are a lot of people who say there's just a lot of antipathy in -- I mean whether it's from Howard Dean or just from other members of the Dean campaign, towards John Kerry.

WALLACE: Well, one source saying the reason that Howard Dean might not want to endorse John Kerry is John Kerry beat him. He beat him in all these primaries, so he is not going to want to get behind John Kerry.

That being said, Dean, sources do say that if John Kerry is the nominee, he will get behind that nominee to try and defeat President Bush.

COOPER: All right, let's talk about this war of words going on between John Kerry, the presumed front runner at this point, and President Bush, or at least President Bush's representatives. Here you have a letter dated Sunday from the head of the president's reelection campaign. He said this: "Our campaign is not questioning your patriotism or military service" -- to John Kerry -- "but your votes and statements on the issue now facing our country. As we debate these issues, I also ask you to elevate the remarkably negative tone of your campaign and your party over the past year."

That from the president's reelection campaign head.

Senator Kerry then shoots back at a rally in Atlanta, saying this.

Let's show you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If they're going to challenge my commitment to the defense of this country, I'm going to challenge them right back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: We've got a long way to go in this race and it is already very nasty. WALLACE: It is only February, believe it or not. But there's a little strategy here for the Kerry campaign. Number one, they're trying to get the message out, they are not going to make the mistakes they believe that Michael Dukakis made in 1988. They're going to fight back and hard, they say, when the Republicans attack them. Also, any time Republicans are sort of attacking John Kerry, John Kerry firing back, it makes John Kerry seem like the clear front runner in these contests. It kind of marginalizes John Edwards even more.

COOPER: Interesting.

All right, Kelly Wallace, thanks for joining us.

WALLACE: It's great to be here.

COOPER: CNN is going to have live coverage of Ralph Nader's news conference. It's going start this morning at 10:00 Eastern time. We'll cover that.

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




Again>


Aired February 23, 2004 - 07:31   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In about two and a half hours, Ralph Nader will speak in Washington to lay out the themes for his newly announced presidential campaign. The entrance of the consumer advocate into the race has some Democrats worried that siphoned votes from their nominee, making it easier for President Bush to be reelected.
Yesterday in Georgia, Democratic front runner John Kerry didn't seem too concerned.

Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Senator Kerry, what do you think about Ralph Nader's decision?

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm going to appeal to everybody in this race. It will make it unnecessary in the end for an alternative. And I look forward to that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: National correspondent Kelly Wallace is covering the Kerry campaign.

She joins me here in New York this morning -- good morning.

Nice to see you in the studio.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's nice to be here.

COOPER: OK, so publicly John Kerry, John Edwards seem to seem sort of blase about it all, saying oh, Ralph Nader does -- they don't really even address him directly. Privately, though, they've got to be a little bit concerned.

WALLACE: They are concerned a little bit. This is a new wild card in this race. And while they say that they think this year is different, that Democrats are more united than ever before in wanting to defeat President Bush, this is a new wildcard, something they didn't want to happen. The Democratic Party chief, Terry McCauliffe, was taking Ralph Nader to lunch, trying to keep him out. He is in. They don't know what will happen. They hope it doesn't -- it's not a repeat of 2000.

COOPER: Let's talk a little bit about Howard Dean, his possible endorsement and where he might go. There are a lot of people who think he may go for John Edwards, that -- I mean I've talked to some of the so-called Deaniacs, some low level supporters last week and they were all saying they were going to go for John Edwards, that they thought he had the best chance to beat President Bush.

WALLACE: Well, you also have something new. You have Deaniacs For Edwards, a new Web site, trying to get Dean supporters to embrace and build support for John Edwards. Sources are saying if Howard Dean goes anywhere, it would go to John Edwards. And all weekend long we heard John Edwards talking about how much he likes Howard Dean, even saying he has spoken to Howard Dean. Howard Dean thinks he would be the best candidate. He just needs a little more time. So it's not clear if he will get into this race or not.

COOPER: Is there a level of personal politics here involved? Because I mean there are a lot of people who say there's just a lot of antipathy in -- I mean whether it's from Howard Dean or just from other members of the Dean campaign, towards John Kerry.

WALLACE: Well, one source saying the reason that Howard Dean might not want to endorse John Kerry is John Kerry beat him. He beat him in all these primaries, so he is not going to want to get behind John Kerry.

That being said, Dean, sources do say that if John Kerry is the nominee, he will get behind that nominee to try and defeat President Bush.

COOPER: All right, let's talk about this war of words going on between John Kerry, the presumed front runner at this point, and President Bush, or at least President Bush's representatives. Here you have a letter dated Sunday from the head of the president's reelection campaign. He said this: "Our campaign is not questioning your patriotism or military service" -- to John Kerry -- "but your votes and statements on the issue now facing our country. As we debate these issues, I also ask you to elevate the remarkably negative tone of your campaign and your party over the past year."

That from the president's reelection campaign head.

Senator Kerry then shoots back at a rally in Atlanta, saying this.

Let's show you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If they're going to challenge my commitment to the defense of this country, I'm going to challenge them right back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: We've got a long way to go in this race and it is already very nasty. WALLACE: It is only February, believe it or not. But there's a little strategy here for the Kerry campaign. Number one, they're trying to get the message out, they are not going to make the mistakes they believe that Michael Dukakis made in 1988. They're going to fight back and hard, they say, when the Republicans attack them. Also, any time Republicans are sort of attacking John Kerry, John Kerry firing back, it makes John Kerry seem like the clear front runner in these contests. It kind of marginalizes John Edwards even more.

COOPER: Interesting.

All right, Kelly Wallace, thanks for joining us.

WALLACE: It's great to be here.

COOPER: CNN is going to have live coverage of Ralph Nader's news conference. It's going start this morning at 10:00 Eastern time. We'll cover that.

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




Again>