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CNN Saturday Morning News

Novak Zone

Aired February 07, 2004 - 09:30   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.


CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Two more states will decide on a Democratic candidate today, with caucuses scheduled in Michigan and Washington state. The six remaining candidates are hitting the campaign trail. But will the trail hit back?
Well, in this week's edition of The Novak Zone, there are no guests, just Bob Novak himself, up early with us this morning in Washington.

Thanks for being with us this morning, Bob.

ROBERT NOVAK, HOST, THE NOVAK ZONE: My pleasure, Cathy.

CALLAWAY: Let's talk about John Kerry first. Clearly the front runner here. Conventional wisdom would have him capturing the Democratic nomination. But what about the South? I mean, South Carolina has fallen to John Edwards, and Kerry really hasn't been tested there yet, so...

NOVAK: That's correct. And after the primaries today, Catherine, we have two more Southern primaries in Tennessee and Virginia. But they're not very Southern states, and there is going to be a real effort by Kerry to try to win those, because no president, no Democrat, has ever been elected president without carrying at least five Southern states.

Bill Clinton carried the bare minimum of five states, and Kerry did not look strong in South Carolina.

CALLAWAY: What about (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

NOVAK: I'm sorry. Yes, go ahead.

CALLAWAY: Go ahead.

NOVAK: Go ahead.

CALLAWAY: What about Michigan and Washington? A hundred and twenty-eight delegates up in Michigan, Washington 76. Obviously a big weekend. But how does this really differ from Iowa?

NOVAK: Well, they're quite different from the Iowa prime caucuses, which were real caucuses, where people got into living rooms and argued and all that. These are really primaries in a caucus format. It's more like a primary election. And, therefore, it's a little easier to poll, and the polls really indicate a very big victory for Kerry in Michigan and probably in Washington as well.

CALLAWAY: You mentioned the Iowa caucus. You know, we've had that, we have the New Hampshire, you have and Super Tuesday. A little bit different this time. Two Super Tuesdays, one bigger than the other, obviously. But how does this change the political landscape?

NOVAK: The change is that the frontloading of the process is dramatic. Catherine, the first primary I covered, I have to tell you, was 1960, and the first contested primary was in April in Wisconsin. Now, Wisconsin may be at the end of the whole procedure.

So we have front-loaded all these primaries. The whole thing could be over now, for all we know, or in another week, and that is what happens when you have so many early primaries.

CALLAWAY: Let's talk about muddying up the process here. You've got Dick Gephardt and Joe Lieberman, nationally known politicians, seasoned veterans here, they've dropped out of the race. So why not Al Sharpton and Dennis Kucinich? Why do they continue in this race?

NOVAK: There's a simple reason to that. Al Sharpton and Dennis Kucinich, they're both intelligent men. Neither of them was ever serious about wanting to be -- becoming president. They wanted to get television exposure. Al Sharpton says he wants to get some delegates. He's not going to get many delegates. While as Dick Gephardt and Joe Lieberman were really serious. They wanted to be president of the United States. When they saw it wasn't going to happen, they got out.

CALLAWAY: You know, we haven't talked about Howard Dean yet. Hasn't really done well since Iowa. Was it that rant? Is it still haunting him? Or is this really about an electability issue?

NOVAK: It's an electability issue. Catherine, Governor Dean was in very bad shape before the rant, when he was finishing, when he finished so badly in Iowa, a state that they had hoped to win.

The wonderful part about this whole process is that the voters in these little states of Iowa, New Hampshire, they take a careful look at these candidates, and they said this guy says funny things. He says odd things about Osama bin Laden, about Saddam Hussein.

He, one day, he's, he doesn't go to church, the next day he reads the Bible. He's a very odd guy. Do we want him as our president? And the rant was just the confirmation of that process.

I, a lot of my colleagues in journalism don't like this process because it is so stressful for the candidates. I think it's a good thing, it's a wonderful testing procedure, and it selects out people who really shouldn't be president.

CALLAWAY: All right, you know what that means. It's time for the big question, Bob.

President Bush traveled to Charleston, South Carolina, for a speech this week. Today he's taping an interview at the White House with Tim Russert for "Meet the Press." So is the president fully engaged in his reelection campaign? And how do you expect him to fare against Russert's tough questions?

NOVAK: He is fully engaged and has been for a while. But this is a real gamble, that this talk of Washington of why he would take this risk. He is taking the risk because he is not in good shape. There is a credibility question with the president. He is trailing both John Kerry and John Edwards in the polls.

And the question is, how will he do against tough questioning? Very often, George W. Bush does better than you think he's going to do when he has a big test. He didn't do well in the State of the Union address. That's why he's going and sitting down with Tim Russert this weekend.

CALLAWAY: Yes, it's going to be a big day tomorrow.

OK, thank you very much, Bob. I know you're a busy man. You're going to be back later tonight for that special edition of "CAPITAL GANG." We'll be watching for that. That, of course, is coming up at 7:00, and then Wolf Blitzer will be along for a special report at 8:00 on "AMERICAN VOTES 2004."

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 7, 2004 - 09:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Two more states will decide on a Democratic candidate today, with caucuses scheduled in Michigan and Washington state. The six remaining candidates are hitting the campaign trail. But will the trail hit back?
Well, in this week's edition of The Novak Zone, there are no guests, just Bob Novak himself, up early with us this morning in Washington.

Thanks for being with us this morning, Bob.

ROBERT NOVAK, HOST, THE NOVAK ZONE: My pleasure, Cathy.

CALLAWAY: Let's talk about John Kerry first. Clearly the front runner here. Conventional wisdom would have him capturing the Democratic nomination. But what about the South? I mean, South Carolina has fallen to John Edwards, and Kerry really hasn't been tested there yet, so...

NOVAK: That's correct. And after the primaries today, Catherine, we have two more Southern primaries in Tennessee and Virginia. But they're not very Southern states, and there is going to be a real effort by Kerry to try to win those, because no president, no Democrat, has ever been elected president without carrying at least five Southern states.

Bill Clinton carried the bare minimum of five states, and Kerry did not look strong in South Carolina.

CALLAWAY: What about (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

NOVAK: I'm sorry. Yes, go ahead.

CALLAWAY: Go ahead.

NOVAK: Go ahead.

CALLAWAY: What about Michigan and Washington? A hundred and twenty-eight delegates up in Michigan, Washington 76. Obviously a big weekend. But how does this really differ from Iowa?

NOVAK: Well, they're quite different from the Iowa prime caucuses, which were real caucuses, where people got into living rooms and argued and all that. These are really primaries in a caucus format. It's more like a primary election. And, therefore, it's a little easier to poll, and the polls really indicate a very big victory for Kerry in Michigan and probably in Washington as well.

CALLAWAY: You mentioned the Iowa caucus. You know, we've had that, we have the New Hampshire, you have and Super Tuesday. A little bit different this time. Two Super Tuesdays, one bigger than the other, obviously. But how does this change the political landscape?

NOVAK: The change is that the frontloading of the process is dramatic. Catherine, the first primary I covered, I have to tell you, was 1960, and the first contested primary was in April in Wisconsin. Now, Wisconsin may be at the end of the whole procedure.

So we have front-loaded all these primaries. The whole thing could be over now, for all we know, or in another week, and that is what happens when you have so many early primaries.

CALLAWAY: Let's talk about muddying up the process here. You've got Dick Gephardt and Joe Lieberman, nationally known politicians, seasoned veterans here, they've dropped out of the race. So why not Al Sharpton and Dennis Kucinich? Why do they continue in this race?

NOVAK: There's a simple reason to that. Al Sharpton and Dennis Kucinich, they're both intelligent men. Neither of them was ever serious about wanting to be -- becoming president. They wanted to get television exposure. Al Sharpton says he wants to get some delegates. He's not going to get many delegates. While as Dick Gephardt and Joe Lieberman were really serious. They wanted to be president of the United States. When they saw it wasn't going to happen, they got out.

CALLAWAY: You know, we haven't talked about Howard Dean yet. Hasn't really done well since Iowa. Was it that rant? Is it still haunting him? Or is this really about an electability issue?

NOVAK: It's an electability issue. Catherine, Governor Dean was in very bad shape before the rant, when he was finishing, when he finished so badly in Iowa, a state that they had hoped to win.

The wonderful part about this whole process is that the voters in these little states of Iowa, New Hampshire, they take a careful look at these candidates, and they said this guy says funny things. He says odd things about Osama bin Laden, about Saddam Hussein.

He, one day, he's, he doesn't go to church, the next day he reads the Bible. He's a very odd guy. Do we want him as our president? And the rant was just the confirmation of that process.

I, a lot of my colleagues in journalism don't like this process because it is so stressful for the candidates. I think it's a good thing, it's a wonderful testing procedure, and it selects out people who really shouldn't be president.

CALLAWAY: All right, you know what that means. It's time for the big question, Bob.

President Bush traveled to Charleston, South Carolina, for a speech this week. Today he's taping an interview at the White House with Tim Russert for "Meet the Press." So is the president fully engaged in his reelection campaign? And how do you expect him to fare against Russert's tough questions?

NOVAK: He is fully engaged and has been for a while. But this is a real gamble, that this talk of Washington of why he would take this risk. He is taking the risk because he is not in good shape. There is a credibility question with the president. He is trailing both John Kerry and John Edwards in the polls.

And the question is, how will he do against tough questioning? Very often, George W. Bush does better than you think he's going to do when he has a big test. He didn't do well in the State of the Union address. That's why he's going and sitting down with Tim Russert this weekend.

CALLAWAY: Yes, it's going to be a big day tomorrow.

OK, thank you very much, Bob. I know you're a busy man. You're going to be back later tonight for that special edition of "CAPITAL GANG." We'll be watching for that. That, of course, is coming up at 7:00, and then Wolf Blitzer will be along for a special report at 8:00 on "AMERICAN VOTES 2004."

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