Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Sunday

Interview With Frank Donatelli, Michael Bloomfield

Aired August 10, 2003 - 11:10   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.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: With me now to talk more about the California recall election and the large candidate field, Democratic Strategist Michael Bloomfield, in Washington, and Frank Donatelli, a former Political Director for Ronald Reagan, coming to us from Pittsburgh.
Good to see both of you gentlemen. Michael, let me begin with you. Is this what it's going to take? A high-profile democrat or republican to throw an endorsement behind one of these candidates to help narrow the field for the California voters?

MICHAEL BLOOMFIELD, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I think narrowing the field from 126 candidates doesn't get you very far. I think...

WHITFIELD: 156.

BLOOMFIELD: Well, I think 126 are qualified. I use that word advisedly, certified to be on the ballot, out of 156 who have filed. They're still going through all the names to figure out who actually will be on with the right papers filed.

But the first thing to say is that there are no predictions you can make on this. I mean the whole process is unprecedented. You have a 60-day race with all these candidates, and what is turning into quite a spectacle.

WHITFIELD: And Frank -- go ahead.

BLOOMFIELD: Go ahead. No.

WHITFIELD: OK. And Frank, you know, we're talking about this huge field of candidates. But all the attention, or a lot of the attention, seems to be on some of the bigger names, namely Arnold Schwarzenegger, the actor.

We've seen this happen before. We've seen people who have had no political experience, but perhaps they're in the limelight because of their professions, and they have made it into office. We're talking about Ronald Reagan, we're talking about Sonny Bono, and even Fred Grandy. Is it at all necessary to focus on the point that they don't have political experience? We see that it doesn't seem to matter in some cases.

FRANK DONATELLI, FORMER RONALD REAGAN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, you know, political -- I think because of the fact that things are so bad in Sacramento, that an outsider now does have a chance to be elected governor. As you point out, this is a very unusual process.

All of the focus right now is really on Arnold Schwarzenegger. And it is incumbent upon him to try to garner as much support right now, keep the focus on him, to speak to the issues and to demonstrate to the public that he has the leadership qualities necessary to be governor. I really believe despite the fact that there's a lot of other candidates in the race right now, all eyes are on him, and it is his race to lose.

WHITFIELD: Well, Frank, do you see -- go ahead, Michael.

BLOOMFIELD: Obviously all eyes are on him. I think the difference though, from those other people you mentioned, Fredricka, those were outsiders running against one or two establishment people. In this case you have a whole field of 120-some candidates running all as the outsider and a number of them are republicans, and a number independents, and there's only one democrat. I think that's a big advantage the democrats have here, that may end up trumping whatever name I.D. Schwarzenegger has.

DONATELLI: But if I can, real quickly, that's true but it's also the problem that the reason the recall election is taking place in the first place, is because the incumbent governor is very unpopular. And so it's sort of a hard message for the lieutenant governor to say we think Gray Davis has done a good job, you ought to keep him, but if you don't agree, vote for me.

WHITFIELD: In fact, Frank, you've given me the perfect segue way into our most recent CNN/"Time" magazine poll, which shows -- which may demonstrate a little bit about Gray Davis' popularity. The question is asked how Davis is handling his job as governor. Apparently 29 percent are approving of his job, 63 percent disapprove.

DONATELLI: Right. It's going to be -- as I said, the reason you have the recall is because the governor is very unpopular, rightly or wrongly, and the public is looking for someone new. And my point is that there's no one newer, fresher, and the people want to hear more about, than Arnold Schwarzenegger.

You know, the other thing to say about Schwarzenegger is I think he has appeal across the political spectrum. He is a republican on the one hand, but he is an immigrant, and I think that's a powerful message that he can take to the large Hispanic community.

WHITFIELD: And we heard from his wife yesterday, who stated very clearly that while he's a republican, he also appeals to democrats and independents. And let me bring in this other poll that we have, which you kind of helped us segue way into. This another recent CNN/"Time" magazine poll, which supports your notion that Schwarzenegger already seems to be winning the majority of the support there, according to those polled, with 25 percent showing a favorable outcome here.

DONATELLI: Right, look, this is not -- I think what Arnold has to say, and I agree that there's a long way to go in this election. Here's essentially what he needs to say on the stump. Number one, he's an outsider. Number two, he's not part of the mess in Sacramento. Number three, he has the leadership qualities and the character to make things better in California. I think if he can make those points on the stump, he'll be difficult to beat.

BLOOMFIELD: I think right now the key thing in that number is that it's only 25 percent. One out of four people like or are willing to vote for him after what I would say most people are terming one of the best weeks anybody in politics can have, and that is the key. He is now in politics. He can only go down. People haven't started attacking him. People haven't started questioning him. In fact, even the questions he's gotten, he's refused to answer. I mean, he is on "Entertainment Tonight" and "Access Hollywood."

WHITFIELD: And how long can he do that?

BLOOMFIELD: That's the question. And 60 days plays to him in that way, and Frank is right in saying that it may be easier to go without addressing those policy issues over 60 days.

But I think at some point, what's going to turn against both the terminator and everybody else in this race, from the stripper and the porn star to the porn magnate, the "Time" magazine man of the year Peter Ueberroth, is going to be it all looks like a circus. And at that point, at that point, that's going to be a strength that democrats do have.

And it may not be an easy message for you, Frank, but the idea vote against the circus, and then vote for Bustamante, is not going to be that tough. And we have people to turn out, particularly the Latino community, and also, democrats and others who are just embarrassed by this whole thing.

WHITFIELD: OK, Frank, I'll let you have the last word.

DONATELLI: OK, real quickly. I think Arnold has a ways to go up, not down. There's a lot of undecided voters, and I think he's positioned to have appeal on the left and the right. I think he can put together a coalition.

WHITFIELD: All right. And they've got less than 60 days in which to do some pretty serious campaigning to help those voters narrow their decisions down. Frank Donatelli and Michael Bloomfield, thanks to both of you for joining us this morning.

DONATELLI: Thank you.

BLOOMFIELD: Thank you.

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 August 10, 2003 - 11:10   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: With me now to talk more about the California recall election and the large candidate field, Democratic Strategist Michael Bloomfield, in Washington, and Frank Donatelli, a former Political Director for Ronald Reagan, coming to us from Pittsburgh.
Good to see both of you gentlemen. Michael, let me begin with you. Is this what it's going to take? A high-profile democrat or republican to throw an endorsement behind one of these candidates to help narrow the field for the California voters?

MICHAEL BLOOMFIELD, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I think narrowing the field from 126 candidates doesn't get you very far. I think...

WHITFIELD: 156.

BLOOMFIELD: Well, I think 126 are qualified. I use that word advisedly, certified to be on the ballot, out of 156 who have filed. They're still going through all the names to figure out who actually will be on with the right papers filed.

But the first thing to say is that there are no predictions you can make on this. I mean the whole process is unprecedented. You have a 60-day race with all these candidates, and what is turning into quite a spectacle.

WHITFIELD: And Frank -- go ahead.

BLOOMFIELD: Go ahead. No.

WHITFIELD: OK. And Frank, you know, we're talking about this huge field of candidates. But all the attention, or a lot of the attention, seems to be on some of the bigger names, namely Arnold Schwarzenegger, the actor.

We've seen this happen before. We've seen people who have had no political experience, but perhaps they're in the limelight because of their professions, and they have made it into office. We're talking about Ronald Reagan, we're talking about Sonny Bono, and even Fred Grandy. Is it at all necessary to focus on the point that they don't have political experience? We see that it doesn't seem to matter in some cases.

FRANK DONATELLI, FORMER RONALD REAGAN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, you know, political -- I think because of the fact that things are so bad in Sacramento, that an outsider now does have a chance to be elected governor. As you point out, this is a very unusual process.

All of the focus right now is really on Arnold Schwarzenegger. And it is incumbent upon him to try to garner as much support right now, keep the focus on him, to speak to the issues and to demonstrate to the public that he has the leadership qualities necessary to be governor. I really believe despite the fact that there's a lot of other candidates in the race right now, all eyes are on him, and it is his race to lose.

WHITFIELD: Well, Frank, do you see -- go ahead, Michael.

BLOOMFIELD: Obviously all eyes are on him. I think the difference though, from those other people you mentioned, Fredricka, those were outsiders running against one or two establishment people. In this case you have a whole field of 120-some candidates running all as the outsider and a number of them are republicans, and a number independents, and there's only one democrat. I think that's a big advantage the democrats have here, that may end up trumping whatever name I.D. Schwarzenegger has.

DONATELLI: But if I can, real quickly, that's true but it's also the problem that the reason the recall election is taking place in the first place, is because the incumbent governor is very unpopular. And so it's sort of a hard message for the lieutenant governor to say we think Gray Davis has done a good job, you ought to keep him, but if you don't agree, vote for me.

WHITFIELD: In fact, Frank, you've given me the perfect segue way into our most recent CNN/"Time" magazine poll, which shows -- which may demonstrate a little bit about Gray Davis' popularity. The question is asked how Davis is handling his job as governor. Apparently 29 percent are approving of his job, 63 percent disapprove.

DONATELLI: Right. It's going to be -- as I said, the reason you have the recall is because the governor is very unpopular, rightly or wrongly, and the public is looking for someone new. And my point is that there's no one newer, fresher, and the people want to hear more about, than Arnold Schwarzenegger.

You know, the other thing to say about Schwarzenegger is I think he has appeal across the political spectrum. He is a republican on the one hand, but he is an immigrant, and I think that's a powerful message that he can take to the large Hispanic community.

WHITFIELD: And we heard from his wife yesterday, who stated very clearly that while he's a republican, he also appeals to democrats and independents. And let me bring in this other poll that we have, which you kind of helped us segue way into. This another recent CNN/"Time" magazine poll, which supports your notion that Schwarzenegger already seems to be winning the majority of the support there, according to those polled, with 25 percent showing a favorable outcome here.

DONATELLI: Right, look, this is not -- I think what Arnold has to say, and I agree that there's a long way to go in this election. Here's essentially what he needs to say on the stump. Number one, he's an outsider. Number two, he's not part of the mess in Sacramento. Number three, he has the leadership qualities and the character to make things better in California. I think if he can make those points on the stump, he'll be difficult to beat.

BLOOMFIELD: I think right now the key thing in that number is that it's only 25 percent. One out of four people like or are willing to vote for him after what I would say most people are terming one of the best weeks anybody in politics can have, and that is the key. He is now in politics. He can only go down. People haven't started attacking him. People haven't started questioning him. In fact, even the questions he's gotten, he's refused to answer. I mean, he is on "Entertainment Tonight" and "Access Hollywood."

WHITFIELD: And how long can he do that?

BLOOMFIELD: That's the question. And 60 days plays to him in that way, and Frank is right in saying that it may be easier to go without addressing those policy issues over 60 days.

But I think at some point, what's going to turn against both the terminator and everybody else in this race, from the stripper and the porn star to the porn magnate, the "Time" magazine man of the year Peter Ueberroth, is going to be it all looks like a circus. And at that point, at that point, that's going to be a strength that democrats do have.

And it may not be an easy message for you, Frank, but the idea vote against the circus, and then vote for Bustamante, is not going to be that tough. And we have people to turn out, particularly the Latino community, and also, democrats and others who are just embarrassed by this whole thing.

WHITFIELD: OK, Frank, I'll let you have the last word.

DONATELLI: OK, real quickly. I think Arnold has a ways to go up, not down. There's a lot of undecided voters, and I think he's positioned to have appeal on the left and the right. I think he can put together a coalition.

WHITFIELD: All right. And they've got less than 60 days in which to do some pretty serious campaigning to help those voters narrow their decisions down. Frank Donatelli and Michael Bloomfield, thanks to both of you for joining us this morning.

DONATELLI: Thank you.

BLOOMFIELD: Thank you.

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