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CNN Saturday Morning News

Interview with Courtney Brennan, Noah Rhodes

Aired January 31, 2004 - 07:38   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.


JEFF FLOCK, CNN ANCHOR: OK, let's talk politics. Who needs the caucuses or the primaries when you've got Washington & Lee? We can tell you that in 17 out of 22 tries, students there have successfully predicted who would be nominated at the presidential conventions. They do it by holding what "Newsweek" magazine calls the most realistic mock convention of its kind.
Yes, young people and politics do mix. Washington & Lee University holds this mock political convention each year that has been remarkably successful in predicting who will win the real thing.

And journalism students from Syracuse also were among the army of reporters that invaded New Hampshire to cover the primary.

So joining us now, two students, Courtney Brennan from Syracuse and on the phone, Noah Rhodes with the Washington & Lee mock convention.

Courtney, you're a reporter, so close to my heart. I want to talk to you first.

Tell me, if you would, what was this experience like being in New Hampshire? It's every reporter's dream, I know. So what was it like for you?

COURTNEY BRENNAN, SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY JOURNALISM STUDENT: Jeff, it was the most amazing experience probably of my life. I went with students from the New House School here at Syracuse. My professor, Charlottes Grimes, took us up there and we all had stories and we had to do them for radio stations and newspapers around the country.

It was such an adrenaline rush -- the urgency of a deadline, the importance of getting your story so incredibly accurate because our -- the listeners that were hearing my stories were making an extremely important decision based on what I was telling them. So it was just, it was the most incredible experience. I had an amazing time.

FLOCK: All right, now I've got to ask you one more thing, and that is about the people your age. You are very into this. I can see you and I can hear you and that's wonderful. That's how I feel about politics. But a lot of people your age don't seem to care. And, in fact, if we look at the numbers, since 18 year olds got the vote back in, I think it was 1972, every year except for the '92 Bush-Clinton election, participation has declined.

Are you representative of kids your age? Why do kids not seem to care enough even to go and vote?

BRENNAN: It's interesting that you ask that. When I was out doing stories, interviewing young voters, I asked that question first and it was surprising. People got very offended, the young people that I interviewed. I don't know if New Hampshire is the exception and young people there are involved, but I think that young people are getting involved and they're not as apathetic because the issues that are going on right now that are important to this country are really hitting home with young voters, particularly foreign policy and health care.

It's their friends that are going to Iraq. It's their friends that are dying. It's their friends that are studying abroad in foreign universities and encountering all this hostility because of the implications our foreign policy has had. And then with the second issue, health care, I talked to a lot of young people who recently graduated from college and their number one goal is not to get sick because they can't afford treatment. So it's such an extreme, because when you're in college, you're on your parents' health care plan, you're on your parents' dental plan and then you get out and you just pray, you know, you don't get injured and you don't get a cold.

FLOCK: Courtney, you make some good points here.

Now, hang with us one second. I want to bring your colleague, Noah Rhodes, in. He's on the phone with us from the mock convention. And I've got to ask you, Noah, about this convention.

Number one, how come you're so darned successful? I understand that since 1948 you have had only one call that has been wrong. Why is it so successful?

NOAH RHODES, WASHINGTON & LEE: That's correct, Jeff.

It's so successful because throughout the years one of the things that we believe in here at W&L is laying aside our personal beliefs, whichever convention we have, we always have the convention for the party out of office.

FLOCK: Right.

RHODES: And, you know, when we do that, we also lay aside our personal beliefs and looking at it very objectively. We assign 55 state and territory delegates or chairs for all the different delegations and they perform research over a period of about nine or 10 months where they collect, you know, polling data, research historical voting patterns within their states and also respective districts.

What that does...

FLOCK: So you go to a lot of trouble, Noah, I take it, to get this right.

I've got to ask you this, do any of the candidates, knowing how successful you are in picking the winner, have any of the real candidates come and tried to influence the process in any way to try and get you to pick them?

RHODES: Well, I'll tell you what, it's actually interesting you mentioned that, Jeff, because last night we had our first and second sessions. The first session was the formalities of a convention yesterday as far as, you know, adoption of the rules committee and the rules committee report and the platform committee report. We also had a platform debate last night. But we had two supporters of Kerry, Congressman Clayburn from South Carolina and...

FLOCK: So these guys are coming in here taking this very seriously?

RHODES: That's right. We also had a former secretary of the Navy, John Dalton, came and spoke last night.

FLOCK: Interesting.

RHODES: And a live call in from General Clark immediately before he spoke.

FLOCK: Isn't that something? Well, it's good practice for these guys, I would think.

Now, before we get away here, I want to ask both of you, first of all, Noah, give me some sense, handicap this race. You're Bob Novak and the rest of our -- Bill Schneider and the rest of our pundits. Put yourself in their place for the moment. Give me some sense of where you think this race is going. Obviously, we see where it's headed right now in terms of momentum, but is that going to carry, in your view?

First of all, Noah.

Go ahead.

RHODES: Well, I'll tell you, it's, you know, as simplistic as it may be, it appears it may be just a situation of dollars. You know, Kerry mortgaged his house to keep his campaign going and it looks like that's going to pan out so like after...

FLOCK: So I hear you leaning Kerry at the moment.

RHODES: Yes. You know, guys like Dean, I mean they're just running low on funds. He's not even going to run ads this week through all those states voting on Tuesday. So I mean just getting the message out, if you can't get those TV ads, you can't get people to hear them...

FLOCK: Got you.

Courtney, go ahead. Give me your handicap future journalist there.

BRENNAN: I have to agree with Noah on that one. I think Kerry has a lot of momentum. He's going strong. On his Web site he raised a million dollars in seven days. It was, his campaign was called Tuesday To Tuesday. So -- and the people I talked to in New Hampshire were impressed with his stance on the issues and they also said he looked presidential, more than any of the other candidates so.

FLOCK: Never underestimate the looking presidential...

BRENNAN: Right. Exactly.

FLOCK: ... or looking like a good journalist, which you do, also, as well.

Courtney, Noah, appreciate the time this morning.

Thanks very much.

Our political future, perhaps, in good hands with the folks at the convention at Washington & Lee and Courtney up there in New Hampshire.

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 31, 2004 - 07:38   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JEFF FLOCK, CNN ANCHOR: OK, let's talk politics. Who needs the caucuses or the primaries when you've got Washington & Lee? We can tell you that in 17 out of 22 tries, students there have successfully predicted who would be nominated at the presidential conventions. They do it by holding what "Newsweek" magazine calls the most realistic mock convention of its kind.
Yes, young people and politics do mix. Washington & Lee University holds this mock political convention each year that has been remarkably successful in predicting who will win the real thing.

And journalism students from Syracuse also were among the army of reporters that invaded New Hampshire to cover the primary.

So joining us now, two students, Courtney Brennan from Syracuse and on the phone, Noah Rhodes with the Washington & Lee mock convention.

Courtney, you're a reporter, so close to my heart. I want to talk to you first.

Tell me, if you would, what was this experience like being in New Hampshire? It's every reporter's dream, I know. So what was it like for you?

COURTNEY BRENNAN, SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY JOURNALISM STUDENT: Jeff, it was the most amazing experience probably of my life. I went with students from the New House School here at Syracuse. My professor, Charlottes Grimes, took us up there and we all had stories and we had to do them for radio stations and newspapers around the country.

It was such an adrenaline rush -- the urgency of a deadline, the importance of getting your story so incredibly accurate because our -- the listeners that were hearing my stories were making an extremely important decision based on what I was telling them. So it was just, it was the most incredible experience. I had an amazing time.

FLOCK: All right, now I've got to ask you one more thing, and that is about the people your age. You are very into this. I can see you and I can hear you and that's wonderful. That's how I feel about politics. But a lot of people your age don't seem to care. And, in fact, if we look at the numbers, since 18 year olds got the vote back in, I think it was 1972, every year except for the '92 Bush-Clinton election, participation has declined.

Are you representative of kids your age? Why do kids not seem to care enough even to go and vote?

BRENNAN: It's interesting that you ask that. When I was out doing stories, interviewing young voters, I asked that question first and it was surprising. People got very offended, the young people that I interviewed. I don't know if New Hampshire is the exception and young people there are involved, but I think that young people are getting involved and they're not as apathetic because the issues that are going on right now that are important to this country are really hitting home with young voters, particularly foreign policy and health care.

It's their friends that are going to Iraq. It's their friends that are dying. It's their friends that are studying abroad in foreign universities and encountering all this hostility because of the implications our foreign policy has had. And then with the second issue, health care, I talked to a lot of young people who recently graduated from college and their number one goal is not to get sick because they can't afford treatment. So it's such an extreme, because when you're in college, you're on your parents' health care plan, you're on your parents' dental plan and then you get out and you just pray, you know, you don't get injured and you don't get a cold.

FLOCK: Courtney, you make some good points here.

Now, hang with us one second. I want to bring your colleague, Noah Rhodes, in. He's on the phone with us from the mock convention. And I've got to ask you, Noah, about this convention.

Number one, how come you're so darned successful? I understand that since 1948 you have had only one call that has been wrong. Why is it so successful?

NOAH RHODES, WASHINGTON & LEE: That's correct, Jeff.

It's so successful because throughout the years one of the things that we believe in here at W&L is laying aside our personal beliefs, whichever convention we have, we always have the convention for the party out of office.

FLOCK: Right.

RHODES: And, you know, when we do that, we also lay aside our personal beliefs and looking at it very objectively. We assign 55 state and territory delegates or chairs for all the different delegations and they perform research over a period of about nine or 10 months where they collect, you know, polling data, research historical voting patterns within their states and also respective districts.

What that does...

FLOCK: So you go to a lot of trouble, Noah, I take it, to get this right.

I've got to ask you this, do any of the candidates, knowing how successful you are in picking the winner, have any of the real candidates come and tried to influence the process in any way to try and get you to pick them?

RHODES: Well, I'll tell you what, it's actually interesting you mentioned that, Jeff, because last night we had our first and second sessions. The first session was the formalities of a convention yesterday as far as, you know, adoption of the rules committee and the rules committee report and the platform committee report. We also had a platform debate last night. But we had two supporters of Kerry, Congressman Clayburn from South Carolina and...

FLOCK: So these guys are coming in here taking this very seriously?

RHODES: That's right. We also had a former secretary of the Navy, John Dalton, came and spoke last night.

FLOCK: Interesting.

RHODES: And a live call in from General Clark immediately before he spoke.

FLOCK: Isn't that something? Well, it's good practice for these guys, I would think.

Now, before we get away here, I want to ask both of you, first of all, Noah, give me some sense, handicap this race. You're Bob Novak and the rest of our -- Bill Schneider and the rest of our pundits. Put yourself in their place for the moment. Give me some sense of where you think this race is going. Obviously, we see where it's headed right now in terms of momentum, but is that going to carry, in your view?

First of all, Noah.

Go ahead.

RHODES: Well, I'll tell you, it's, you know, as simplistic as it may be, it appears it may be just a situation of dollars. You know, Kerry mortgaged his house to keep his campaign going and it looks like that's going to pan out so like after...

FLOCK: So I hear you leaning Kerry at the moment.

RHODES: Yes. You know, guys like Dean, I mean they're just running low on funds. He's not even going to run ads this week through all those states voting on Tuesday. So I mean just getting the message out, if you can't get those TV ads, you can't get people to hear them...

FLOCK: Got you.

Courtney, go ahead. Give me your handicap future journalist there.

BRENNAN: I have to agree with Noah on that one. I think Kerry has a lot of momentum. He's going strong. On his Web site he raised a million dollars in seven days. It was, his campaign was called Tuesday To Tuesday. So -- and the people I talked to in New Hampshire were impressed with his stance on the issues and they also said he looked presidential, more than any of the other candidates so.

FLOCK: Never underestimate the looking presidential...

BRENNAN: Right. Exactly.

FLOCK: ... or looking like a good journalist, which you do, also, as well.

Courtney, Noah, appreciate the time this morning.

Thanks very much.

Our political future, perhaps, in good hands with the folks at the convention at Washington & Lee and Courtney up there in New Hampshire.

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