Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Saturday Morning News
A look at New Hampshire Primary
Aired January 24, 2004 - 08:02 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Up first this hour, the final act of a primary drama. It's the last weekend before the New Hampshire primary, as you know, and the Democratic presidential candidates are crisscrossing the state, working to build support before the big day on Tuesday.
Our Bob Franken keeping an eye on all things Manchester -- hey, Bob, any surprises going to come out of this on Tuesday?
What do you think?
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they wouldn't be surprises then.
COLLINS: Yes, that's true.
FRANKEN: The truth is is that you've got a whole lot of candidates who are trying to make that happen, a whole lot of candidates with a whole lot of agendas. First of all, Howard Dean is the person who would love to have a surprise to counter the bad surprises that came out of Iowa for him. And he's been going around the state, on the one hand, trying to be a little bit mellower about the way that he approaches things, but still provocative, saying yesterday that he would like to see Alan Greenspan removed as the -- I'm sorry, Alan Greenspan resign as the head of the Federal Reserve, something that's certainly provocative, as I said.
Wesley Clark, this was a man who was trying to, in fact, take on Howard Dean, would like to be something of a surprise. Well, the surprise thus far for Wesley Clark has been that he's had to avoid a bunch of missteps. He's learning that campaigning can be a real tough grind, particularly when there are other candidates around. You'll remember that he was not there in Iowa.
And there are others who are trying very, very hard. You have John Edwards -- although he was out of the state yesterday. He was down in South Carolina looking ahead to the primaries. He is very much the man who wants to win this. Of course, it's his territory. He's the senator from North Carolina, was born in South Carolina. He just needs to make a decent showing, according to his aides, so he continues the momentum he got out of Iowa and takes it down into the Carolinas and the primaries that are held on February 3.
Then you have Joe Lieberman. Joe Lieberman is running for the first time here in 2004. He avoided Iowa and he is trying to do something to improve his ratings. His ratings are very, very low and the Lieberman campaign is working very hard to avoid an embarrassment. Meanwhile, gliding along at the top is John Kerry, whose campaign slogan could probably be don't make any stupid mistakes. He is just being very, very, very low key; is spending all of his time attacking Republicans instead of his fellow Democrats and he received the ultimate honor yesterday when the GOP chairman made Kerry the target of Republican complaints.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ED GILLESPIE, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Whether it's economic policy, national security policy or social issues, John Kerry is out of sync with most voters. Americans for Democratic Action, the premier liberal rating organization, has given John Kerry a lifetime rating of 93 percent. Ted Kennedy has a lifetime rating of 88 percent, five points less. Who would have guessed it? Ted Kennedy is the conservative senator from Massachusetts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: And Ed Gillespie, the Republican national chairman, making the point that they are now believing that John Kerry could be the man they need to try and beat, at least for the moment -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, of course we will be watching very closely.
Thanks so much, Bob Franken.
Appreciate it.
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 January 24, 2004 - 08:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Up first this hour, the final act of a primary drama. It's the last weekend before the New Hampshire primary, as you know, and the Democratic presidential candidates are crisscrossing the state, working to build support before the big day on Tuesday.
Our Bob Franken keeping an eye on all things Manchester -- hey, Bob, any surprises going to come out of this on Tuesday?
What do you think?
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they wouldn't be surprises then.
COLLINS: Yes, that's true.
FRANKEN: The truth is is that you've got a whole lot of candidates who are trying to make that happen, a whole lot of candidates with a whole lot of agendas. First of all, Howard Dean is the person who would love to have a surprise to counter the bad surprises that came out of Iowa for him. And he's been going around the state, on the one hand, trying to be a little bit mellower about the way that he approaches things, but still provocative, saying yesterday that he would like to see Alan Greenspan removed as the -- I'm sorry, Alan Greenspan resign as the head of the Federal Reserve, something that's certainly provocative, as I said.
Wesley Clark, this was a man who was trying to, in fact, take on Howard Dean, would like to be something of a surprise. Well, the surprise thus far for Wesley Clark has been that he's had to avoid a bunch of missteps. He's learning that campaigning can be a real tough grind, particularly when there are other candidates around. You'll remember that he was not there in Iowa.
And there are others who are trying very, very hard. You have John Edwards -- although he was out of the state yesterday. He was down in South Carolina looking ahead to the primaries. He is very much the man who wants to win this. Of course, it's his territory. He's the senator from North Carolina, was born in South Carolina. He just needs to make a decent showing, according to his aides, so he continues the momentum he got out of Iowa and takes it down into the Carolinas and the primaries that are held on February 3.
Then you have Joe Lieberman. Joe Lieberman is running for the first time here in 2004. He avoided Iowa and he is trying to do something to improve his ratings. His ratings are very, very low and the Lieberman campaign is working very hard to avoid an embarrassment. Meanwhile, gliding along at the top is John Kerry, whose campaign slogan could probably be don't make any stupid mistakes. He is just being very, very, very low key; is spending all of his time attacking Republicans instead of his fellow Democrats and he received the ultimate honor yesterday when the GOP chairman made Kerry the target of Republican complaints.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ED GILLESPIE, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Whether it's economic policy, national security policy or social issues, John Kerry is out of sync with most voters. Americans for Democratic Action, the premier liberal rating organization, has given John Kerry a lifetime rating of 93 percent. Ted Kennedy has a lifetime rating of 88 percent, five points less. Who would have guessed it? Ted Kennedy is the conservative senator from Massachusetts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: And Ed Gillespie, the Republican national chairman, making the point that they are now believing that John Kerry could be the man they need to try and beat, at least for the moment -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, of course we will be watching very closely.
Thanks so much, Bob Franken.
Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
