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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports
Interview With Howard Dean; White House Responds to Kay's Weapons Statement
Aired January 26, 2004 - 17:00 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.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF BLITZER, HOST: Happening now. Hours away from the first vote in the New Hampshire primary. Howard Dean tells me bluntly he thinks he will win.
Also, rare comments from the candidate's wife. Will Dr. Judy Dean give up her medical practice for the White House? You'll hear from her in my special interview with the couple.
Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
Howard Dean -- taking on New Hampshire and the media.
HOWARD DEAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I never worry about the news media being fair, the news media does what the news media does, they're an entertainment business as much as the news media.
BLITZER: You don't think we're in the business of reporting the news and providing information...
DEAN: I think you report the news, you create the news and that's what you guys do, and that's fine.
BLITZER: Weapons worry, the White House's response for the man who hunted for them in Iraq and says there were none.
Travel tragedies -- dozens dead from a winter blast.
The Martha Stewart jury -- more women than men will decide her fate.
ANNOUNCER: This is a special edition of WOLF BLITZER REPORTS live from Manchester, New Hampshire.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: In just seven hours the crucial New Hampshire primary gets under way, polling sites throughout the state are ready for business. The tiny northern village of Dixville Notch traditionally cast the first votes at midnight, Eastern. As for the polls, at least one shows Senator John Kerry and former Vermont governor Howard Dean in a statistical dead heat, while others show Kerry with a significant lead. Regardless of the polls, Dean appears to be confident of the outcome. Dean, and his wife Dr. Judy Dean talked to me about it earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Can you win in New Hampshire?
DEAN: I think we can, it's very close, we've been surging the last few days. The polls say it's a dead heat, but who wants to believe the polls and some say it's not a dead heat so who knows but there is a lot of surge and people are anxious not to have politicians in Washington running the show.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: My entire interview with the Deans is coming up later in this program. Up first, though -- the fierce fight between Senator John Kerry and Howard Dean is showing no sign of letting up. Our national correspondent Kelly Wallace has been covering Kerry during this long day.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John Kerry's advisers say they are taking nothing for granted. They fully expect this race to be tight until the very end, that is part of the reason the senator himself is in the midst of a 16-hour, 7-stop day, traveling the state by bus and helicopter trying to get out the vote.
Earlier in the morning he was in Rochester greeting voters going store by store, and later in the afternoon, he headed to the campus of Keen State College. Here he took a number of questions from voters, some pressing him for his position when it comes to the war with Iraq, one man asking how he as a Vietnam veteran who protested that war (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to go war with Iraq.
KERRY: The process, which we got out of president by standing up to him was that he was going to go to the U.N. and build an international coalition, a true international coalition. That he was going to exhaust remedies of inspections and bring the world to our side and go to war as a last resort.
WALLACE: And while Kerry's advisers are working hard, hoping for victory tomorrow, they're also looking ahead to the next round of primaries. The senator will travel first to Missouri, the biggest delegate drive on February 3 before heading to South Carolina, the state holding the first primary in the south. Kelly Wallace, CNN, reporting from Keen, New Hampshire.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Howard Dean is applying a full corps press on Kerry in a bid to win tomorrow and recover from the stunning third place finish in Iowa only a week ago but there are signs the Dean campaign has gone overboard in spending in the run to tomorrow's primaries. Joining us is CNN political correspondent Candy Crowley. What's going on, Candy?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first, as you saw today, Wolf, this is a campaign that got its sea legs back. The Dean campaign really feels that they've turned the corner now after a week of trying to put that overheated concession speech in Iowa behind him. Dean has now found a way to make it part of his campaign shtick, and the crowd plays along.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: Let me tell you what you can expect from me. One, you can expect me to keep saying exactly what I think, for better or for worse. Thank you for the applause, I'm so happy, I could just scream.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CROWLEY: He seems to be picking up in the polls, he believes it could be a dead heat but this has been very expensive. Our latest estimate is that Howard Dean has spent more than a million dollars in the past week in New Hampshire advertising alone. That is almost half a million dollars more than any of his other opponents. This is going to make it tougher, if it is a dogfight coming out of New Hampshire. Of course, as you know, Wolf, advertising elsewhere gets more and more expensive, and this is the campaign that's had to spend a lot more than it thought it was going to spend in Iowa and New Hampshire.
BLITZER: As Howard Dean said to me earlier, it looks like all the campaigns could have some financial troubles in the weeks to come. Candy, thank you very much for that.
Slugging it out for third place or perhaps hoping to do even better are Senators John Edwards and Joe Lieberman and retired U.S. army general Wesley Clark. The latest CNN/USA Today/Gallup tracking poll shows the three in a virtual deadlock for third place. As are Kerry and Dean, all three are seeking the extremely important votes from women and independents.
Like his rivals, Wesley Clark is racing around the state in search for every possible vote. Today, his campaign focused on issues like national security, but the candidate also got personal. Here's CNN's Dan Lothian.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Clark campaign is having to deal with a lot of issues of clarifying statements that are being made out on the campaign trail. For instance, what happened today at a campaign stop in Keen, New Hampshire. First of all, Mr. Clark said, quote, "I didn't go to Yale." This appeared to be a swipe at Dean, and Kerry and Lieberman and even Bush because they did attend Yale.
Later on, Clark saying he didn't mean that really, he was talking about himself and then he always went on to say that, quote, "unlike the rest of the people in this race, I did grow up poor." Of course, John Edwards has talked about his humble upbringings. When asked about this later on, Clark said that he overstated the facts in that case.
But this just points out a problem that critics have been talking about for sometime. That Clark has been making a lot of missteps on the campaign trail and then has had to spend a lot of time focusing on clarifying his statements instead of focusing on the issues. But Clark says that hasn't bothered him at all, he's only paying attention to what's important to the voters.
WESLEY CLARK (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm an outsider. I'm not part of the problems in Washington. I have never taken money from lobbyists. I've never cut a deal. I've never run for votes. I've never cut deals for votes. I'm not part of the problem that's gone wrong in this government.
LOTHIAN: Clark is on a ten-county bus tour, they're calling it their 10K tour. they'll wrap up tonight way up north in the northern part of New Hampshire in Dixville Notch, the community to vote just after midnight. Dan Lothian, CNN, Concord, New Hampshire.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: As he crisscrosses the state. Senator John Edwards says he has the best chance to beat President Bush in November. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux has the latest now from the Edwards campaign.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Senator John Edwards is performing to packed overflow crowds today, the strategy for the next 24 hours to keep the message simple and positive and consistent, often capitalizing on his greatest strength, ability to communicate as well as his personal appeal. His stump speech focuses mainly on domestic issues, education, health care, the need for racial harmony.
But some of his opponents have criticized him, General Clark as well, Senator Kerry for not having experience when it comes to foreign or military affairs. I asked Edwards today to weigh in on one of the most pressing issues concerning Iraq, whether the president is ultimately accountable for the claim that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction, which posed a threat to the U.S. and justified the country going to war, a claim that is now disputed by the administration's outgoing weapons inspector.
Edwards is expected to pull out a strong third finish in New Hampshire. The big push, of course, is going to be South Carolina. That is his birthplace, it also shows in the most recent poll that Edwards leads the pack. Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut is make an all-out push for support for independent voters. CNN's Jeanne Meserve is keeping track of the Lieberman campaign, she's joining us now live from Manchester -- Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, Lieberman has become much more pointed in his pursuit of independent voters. He believes that his stand in support of the war in Iraq and his consistency on a range of other issues makes him appealing to people in the middle. He says he is the only mainstream Democrat in the race, the only one who can bring in independents and disgruntled Republicans and give the Democrats a win in the general election in November. Today he rallied with some of the independents in the state who have embraced his cause in front of the state house in Concord.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN (D-CT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A lot of people have come to my side in this campaign, matters a lot to me that hundreds of McCainiacs in New Hampshire have become Liebermaniacs. That's the unity we need.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MESERVE: Lieberman says he believes independents could power him to a better-than-expected finish here in New Hampshire but he won't define exactly what better than expected means. Wolf, back to you.
BLITZER: Jeanne Meserve, thanks very much for that.
And to our viewers, here's your chance to weigh in on this important story. Our web question of the day is this -- do you think New Hampshire will yield more election surprises than Iowa? You can vote right now, simply go to CNN.com/wolf. We'll have the results later in this broadcast.
Pumped up and confidently speaking out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: I think you report the news, you create the news, and that's what you guys do, and that's fine.
BLITZER: We didn't create your concession speech, you did that.
DEAN: You chose to play it 673 times in one week.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Howard Dean taking on New Hampshire and the news media and much more. I caught up with him on a campaign trail earlier today. My interview with the candidate, and his wife, that's coming up.
The weapons search -- new details on why the ex-arms hunter David Kay doesn't believe they exist inside Iraq and may never have been there at all on the eve of the war. We'll get reaction from the White House.
Winter wallop from the plains to the east coast, flights delayed, many without power, and it's not over yet. All that coming up.
First, though, today's news quiz. "Which president never campaigned in New Hampshire but still finished first in the state's primary? Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Harry Truman." The answer later in the show.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Everyone's getting excited here in New Hampshire. Only hours before the vote. We're covering all of the events leading up to the primary, the first primary in the nation. That's tomorrow. Also, we're standing by to hear directly from Howard Dean and his wife Dr. Judy Steinberg Dean. I spoke with them earlier today. My interview with them. That's coming up. First other news, important news around the world right now.
The Bush administration is sticking to its guns insisting it made the right decision in going to war against Iraq, regardless of whether weapons of mass destruction are ever found. Today's defense of that policy comes after a weekend comment by the former chief American weapons hunter Dr. David Kay, that stock piles of Iraqi biological and chemical weapons probably did not, repeat, did not exist before the war.
In a weekend interview with the "New York Times," Kay, who resigned Friday, said that by the late 1990s and I'm quoting now, "the regime was no longer in control. It was like a death spiral. Saddam was self-directing projects that were not vetted by anyone else. The scientists were able to fake programs."
Joining us now for more on these key developments our national security correspondent David Ensor, he's in Washington -- David.
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, as you say, since being replaced Friday, former weapons inspector David Kay has been talking plenty, providing ammunition for critics of the war and some (UNINTELLIGIBLE) defenders . He's blaming the CIA, his employer until Friday, not the White House, who are apparently getting it wrong on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID KAY, FORMER HEAD OF IRAQ SURVEY GROUP: I actually think the intelligence community owes the president rather than the president owing the American people.
ENSOR (voice-over): Administration officials like that last comment and they liked Kay's statement that Baghdad was actively working to produce a biological weapon using the poison Ricin until the American invasion of last March. But his comment that he expects no weapons to be found, that has put the administration on the defensive, officials saying it's too soon to say whether the Iraq Survey Group will find any weapons under its new leader Charles Duelfer.
In Little Rock, the president changed the subject to terrorism, he was praising U.S. intelligence for helping to catch Hassan Gol (ph) an al Qaeda man who just arrived in Iraq. But on Capitol Hill, Democrats saw Kay's statement as another reason the Senate intelligence committee chairman Senator Pat Roberts should look into what went wrong at the CIA and at the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D), MINORITY LEADER: If he fails to do so, we will again bring legislation to the Senate floor to establish a nonpartisan, independent commission to look at how intelligence was viewed by the intelligence community and this administration.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ENSOR: U.S. intelligence officials insist it is still premature to say as Kay has that no weapons of mass destruction will been found in Iraq. They note that Kay says he quit because he didn't have enough people, and yet now he says there's no point in looking because there's nothing to find. As one official put it, he can't have it both ways -- Wolf.
BLITZER: David Ensor with the latest on the story. Thank you very much.
One of the administration steadfast defenders of the decision to invade Iraq is Vice President Dick Cheney, and that topic, especially David Kay's controversial comments in the forefront of the visit by Cheney to Italy. Our senior White House correspondent John King is traveling with the vice president and he filed this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: At a World War II U.S. military cemetery in (UNINTELLIGIBLE), a walk amid more than 7,800 headstones and a tribute to one fallen hero from the vice president's home state of Wyoming. The message was unmistakable. Proof of a debt to America Mr. Cheney and others in the Bush administration think some in Europe forgot when the when the White House needed help in Iraq.
The vice president is not here to pick a new fight but instead to promote more international cooperation as Iraq's post war transition enters a critical stretch and as Mr. Cheney and his boss campaign for re-election.
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In this new century facing new challenges, we must remain united to defend our freedom and to meet the shared duties of free nations.
KING: This trip coincides with new disclosures that U.S. intelligence about Iraq's weapons program likely was wrong. Mr. Cheney ignored a question on the controversy Sunday and again Monday as he met with Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, but as he defended the war in his earlier speech, gone was his trademark certainty that Saddam Hussein had chemical and biological weapons ready to deploy.
CHENEY: Long efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction are at an end.
KING: Some Democrats see a campaign issue, suggesting the vice president exaggerated the threat in a push for war.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we see the vice president conducting almost his own foreign policy out of vice president's office.
KING: Mr. Cheney's influence is not in dispute yet he often is out of the public eye for weeks at a time. This is just his second international trip as vice president. His goal here is to boost the administration's image in Europe not to weigh into the debate whether the United States was wrong about Iraq's weapons program. But a senior U.S. Official in the Cheney delegation says Mr. Bush relied on the CIA assessments and did not exaggerate or quote, "cook up the intelligence." And if no evidence of weapons is found soon, administration sources back in Washington say the CIA Director George Tenet likely will be called onto publicly explain how the assessments could have been so wrong.
John King, CNN, Rome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Coming up -- what Howard Dean's real motivation. I spoke to the expert.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. JUDITH DEAN, HOWARD DEAN'S WIFE: Mission for this run is to improve the life of American people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Dr. Judy Dean on life inside the campaign and what she'd do if they make it to the White House.
Winter with a fury, who got hit hardest and what's next for the people on the Eastern Seaboard and Midwest?
And who will be looking Martha Stewart straight in the eye from the jurors' box. The panel's been chosen, and a trial's about to begin. We'll take you live to New York for a report. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: My special interview with Judy and Howard Dean is coming up. First other news.
Harsh winter weather is gripping parts of the Midwest and much of the East coast with snow and ice causing problems from the deep south, all the way to New England. Central Missouri is pretty much frozen up in the words of one official. Commutes in the Saint Louis area are exceptionally slow, and drivers are being told to expect to spend twice as long behind the wheel. Snow and sleet have also hit much of Ohio prompt dozens of school districts to close. Nationwide, winter weather is blamed for more than two dozen highway deaths in the last two days. For more on the winter blast, let's check in with CNN's Elaine Quijano in Washington, D.C. -- Elaine.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Wolf.
It was a messy day here in the Washington, D.C., area, and forecasters in the area say tonight conditions could get worse.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
QUIJANO (voice-over): Shoveling the driveway takes on new meaning when the driveway's a tarmac and the mode of transport, air force one. All over D.C. and Baltimore metro area getting around was slow and sloppy with several inches of snow on the ground. Roads were covered but passable, commuter trains were running and the snow wasn't enough to shut down federal offices. Still, government employees were allowed to take unscheduled vacation day. In other parts of the country though, the winter weather packs a bigger punch, with freezing rain that layered trees, power lines and streets in Georgia with the dangerous coat of ice. In Kentucky, the frozen roads put driver to the test and it was a similar scene around Raleigh, North Carolina, where cars sometimes skidded into each other.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's very deceiving. They just think, OK, it's a light dusting, it's not, there's ice underneath there.
QUIJANO: The governor of North Carolina declared a state of emergency putting national guard reservists on stand by if needed to assist hospital or nursing homes in the event of power outages. Back in the D.C. area a lighter mood. President Bush took a moment to enjoy the weather as did this group of Washington interns, especially Australian Julian Bowen (ph) hoping for his first chance to see snow like this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My prays have been answered today, it's great.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUIJANO: Now forecasters in the region are calling for a second round of this winter blast with freezing rain and sleet on top of the snow that's already fallen -- Wolf.
BLITZER: CNN's Elaine Quijano in beautiful Washington, D.C., thank you very much.
The former front-runner is back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: There is a lot of surge because people are really anxious not to have politicians from Washington running the show, they really want a change.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Howard Dean confident he can win here in New Hampshire. Coming up, my full interview with the presidential hopeful and his wife, Dr. Judy Dean.
Deciding her fate, opening statements in the Martha Stewart trial start tomorrow. And word out today, who will sit in the jury. Putting on for the pope. Break dancers and street artists perform for Pope John Paul II at the Vatican. You'll find out why coming up a little bit later.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back to CNN. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Manchester, New Hampshire. A blunt take from Howard Dean on his treatment in the news media. His wife talks about what she'd do if they won the White House. My special interview with Howard and Judy Dean is only moments away. We'll get to that. First, though, a quick check of the latest headlines.
(NEWSBREAK)
BLITZER: Howard Dean is battling to try to regain the lead he once held in the polls here in New Hampshire. He's certainly gotten a lot of attention since his stunning defeat in the Iowa caucuses. It all ads up to serious pressure in the stretch run to tomorrow's primary.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): An enthusiastic town hall meeting in Nashua, Howard Dean well received by his core supporters.
Then it was on to Manchester, Durham, and Exeter. Again today, Dean launches attacks on front-runner John Kerry for voting against the Gulf War, then for the Iraq war. This is clearly a candidate with a sense of urgency, but is Howard Dean in trouble?
Today, I caught up with the former Vermont governor and his wife, Judy, fresh off the event in Nashua and with a fresh sense of confidence.
BLITZER (on camera): Can you win in New Hampshire here?
H. DEAN: I think we can. It's very close. We've been surging in the last few days. The polls have said that it's a dead heat, although who wants to believe the polls? And some say that it's not a dead heat, so who knows?
But there is a lot of surge, because people really are anxious not to have politicians from Washington running the show. And they really want a change.
BLITZER: What happens if you don't win in New Hampshire?
H. DEAN: We go to South Carolina and Oklahoma and Arizona and New Mexico. Of course, that happens if we do win in New Hampshire, too. We'll just be stronger.
BLITZER: Do you think there's some suspicion that South Carolina, you might -- that you'll devote -- all your energies might, maybe, go to Missouri, which is now... H. DEAN: What we're going to do -- five states at least. We've already been in North Dakota, so that's six. We're going to definitely play in South Carolina, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona and Missouri.
Whether I go back to North Dakota again, I don't know, but we have a good organization in North Dakota. We've got a deepening organization in Delaware, as well. So we're positioned in all three states.
I mean, one of the things that happened when things were great before Iowa is that we did put a lot of resources into these forward states. And that's going to stand us in good stead now.
BLITZER: Rumor's out there that money situation is not good right now.
H. DEAN: I think the money situation's tough for everybody. You know, we tried to do everything we could in these two states to win. But you know, we have a huge base of support, so we're going to be able to keep going.
BLITZER: What's the biggest problem that you faced so far? Is it the attacks from the other Democrats? Is it your own personal stumbles? What's the biggest issue that's hurt you in Iowa and New Hampshire?
H. DEAN: Well, in New Hampshire we're coming roaring back. What hurt us in New Hampshire was John Kerry and John Edwards won the primary -- I mean, the caucuses in Iowa. That was just a bounce.
But sort of -- what hurt us was six or eight weeks of being the undisputed front-runner: TIME magazine, the cover; Newsweek cover; U.S. News cover. Every media organ and reporter went after us, because you know, take down the front-runner. Every opponent went after us. We just got hammered.
And when we defended ourselves, we took the people who were hammering us down, but we also took ourselves down. And that's why we finished third in Iowa.
Now we have another chance. New Hampshire voters are famous for giving people a second chance. I think they like my strong fiscal management, and they like the fact that I'm not promising everybody everything. And so I think I have a shot here.
BLITZER: John Kerry, who has been out there in New Hampshire -- he won Iowa -- he's complaining that you're now going negative against him, raising questions about his judgment, voting against the '91 resolution, either the resolution before this one...
H. DEAN: I do question Senator Kerry's judgment. Senator Kerry voted against the first Gulf War, which I supported, when there were troops on the ground -- Iraqi troops on the ground in Kuwait, setting fire to Kuwaiti oil wells, which was a major environmental catastrophe. He voted not to intervene. Then he votes to intervene recently in the Iraq war, which I opposed, because the president gives him all these reasons, so far all of which have turned out not to be true. There were no weapons of mass destruction. Iraq was never a threat to the United States. There was no purchase of uranium from Iraq.
So I'm -- you know, Senator Kerry spent a lot of time on this campaign worrying about my foreign policy experience. Perhaps my foreign policy experience and judgment might be better in the White House than his, since he seems to have voted wrong on both wars.
BLITZER: So is he not qualified to be president?
H. DEAN: No, I would never say that. Anybody who's running for this presidency on the Democratic side is far more qualified than George W. Bush.
BLITZER: There's been negative attacks. The negative attacks, are they going to continue throughout this process?
H. DEAN: Well, I don't consider this to be a negative attack. I consider it -- John voted against the first Iraq war. I disagree with him. John voted in favor of this Iraq war. I disagree with him. I think that's a difference in our records, not a negative attack.
BLITZER: I also point out to you David Kay's acknowledgment right now. He went over there convinced there were weapons of mass destruction stockpiled. And he says openly right now he couldn't find any weapons (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
H. DEAN: I believed that there were, so I was surprised when they came home and said there weren't, as well. But, you know, the Bush administration said so many things that were false that I wasn't entirely shocked.
They clearly tried to gin up every piece of intelligence to try to get us to go into that war. And my question is: Why did all the senators who are running for president fall for it and I didn't?
I supported the first Gulf War. I supported the Afghanistan war. I supported the president's intervention in Bosnia and Kosovo. This one I didn't support, because I didn't think the facts merited it. And it turns out I was right, and they weren't. Why is that a problem in my foreign policy experience?
BLITZER: David Kay says that your question over the intelligence community, the CIA and also owe the president, the administration (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
H. DEAN: Well, I suspect there's more to it than that. I suspect -- I have talked to somebody from -- it was a former member of the CIA who said that the vice president came down and sat down with lower level members of the CIA and criticized them to their face, the vice president of the United States, for not writing intelligence reports the way he thought they ought to be written. So you have the spectacle of the vice president of the United States trying to intimidate intelligence reporters into giving the kind of information he wanted given to the president. I think there's a lot of explaining to be done, and I think the vice president and the president owes an explanation, not just the CIA.
BLITZER: In the aftermath of your concession speech in Iowa, has the news media been fair to you? Are you playing...
H. DEAN: No, I don't worry about the news media being fair. The news media does what the news media does. They're an entertainment business at least as much as a news media.
BLITZER: Does that mean we're in the business of reporting the news and providing information...
H. DEAN: You report the news. You create the news, and that's what you guys do. And that's fine.
BLITZER: We didn't create you -- your concession speech. You did that.
H. DEAN: Well, but you chose to play it 673 times in one week. That is your privilege. I have to -- if I'm going to run for president, I have to stand up to that. Whatever you guys throw at me, I have to be able to take.
And if you -- if you want to be president of the United States, you had better be willing to take whatever the news media throws at you. And I'm very willing to take it, and I make no apologies.
BLITZER: The research (UNINTELLIGIBLE) it yourself in your very -- speeches as we just heard here.
H. DEAN: Well, it wasn't exactly presidential. But what I regret is that you all didn't show the clip from the thousands of kids who were waving the American flags and screaming and yelling in support.
They had come out. They'd worked their hearts out for three weeks to help me in Iowa. They were disappointed with the third place finish, as was I. I thought I owed it to them to show them some optimism and pep.
And sure, it wasn't very presidential, but I think it was -- it made a lot more sense if you were there than if you just were sitting in the studio.
BLITZER: Dr. Dean, you've been married to the governor for 23 years.
JUDITH STEINBERG DEAN, HOWARD DEAN'S WIFE: Yes.
BLITZER: You know him a lot better than all of us -- than all of us know him. What do you know about him that you would share with our viewers right now that they may be surprised to hear? J. DEAN: I think they already know a lot about him, because he's so straightforward. I think -- I think the most important thing about him is that he's a really caring person, and he's caring in terms of our family, in terms of his patients.
And now he's moved it one step further and he just wants to -- and his motivations for this run is to improve the lives of American people. And that, it sounds simple, but that truly is what it is and it's what he's been doing all along.
BLITZER: When he told you that he wanted to be president of the United States, what went through your mind? What did you say to him?
J. DEAN: Well, I thought it was a big step, but I thought he would make a great president. You know, I...
BLITZER: Did you immediately think, "Hey, Howard, that's great."
J. DEAN: No. I think I sat back and thought about it for awhile. You know, he went into politics so gradually that it kind of came that I accepted it gradually, from the beginning when he was just in the bike path, from lieutenant governor to governor.
And over the years, I've seen how capable he is and how honest he is. And I felt he could do it, and I felt he'd make a great president.
BLITZER: How do you feel now, for you? So many people are talking about you, you know, looking at you? "She's so charming. She's endearing." What about that? What goes through your mind as you become the source of so much media attention?
J. DEAN: I don't read the media attention that much, so you know, I still think Howard is the center of this. And happy to be out here to support him and show my support. And I like the good news, and I don't like the bad news.
BLITZER: I was there when you spoke the other day to a guy in Salem interviewed you about your (UNINTELLIGIBLE). You're a solo practitioner and you've got a lot of commitments. What are you going to do if you go to Washington, and you're in the White House? What happens to your patients?
J. DEAN: Well, you know, if Howard were elected president, that would be -- that's an important thing that I would have to give up my practice, obviously.
And I -- you know, I will enjoy my practice. I'm a good doctor. My patients like me. They've been my patients for a long time. It would be very hard to give them up. But there's not a lot of things more important than being president. So of course, I'd have to give them up for that.
H. DEAN: Although you'd still have a practice in Washington.
J. DEAN: I could still practice medicine. I hope. But... BLITZER: Would people come to the White House and say, "We're here to see the doctor?"
J. DEAN: Well, my patients have joked about renting a bus once a month to come down. But that won't happen.
BLITZER: We're out of time, but a quick wrap-up question to you, Governor. If you don't lead in New Hampshire, you're going to continue on this campaign, but it will be two losses in a row and that momentum could be undermined.
H. DEAN: No way. We have an enormous amount of support behind us, though. I mean, unlike every other campaign, 89 percent of our money comes from small donations. Those people want to see us win, because they want to see the country change. And we can go on as long as it makes sense to, and we will.
We've got organizations stretched out in the March 2 states, so one way or the other, I expect to be campaigning on March 2.
BLITZER: So you just finished third. Is that what you're saying?
H. DEAN: Well, no, we're trying to win tomorrow. That's the first thing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Dr. Howard Dean and Dr. Judy Dean speaking with me earlier today.
This question today: Are the news media too hard on Howard Dean? Here's what some of you have to say about that. And we've been getting e-mails, obviously.
Sue writes this: "Hooray for Howard Dean for standing up to Wolf Blitzer in today's interview. I agree that the media have made far too much of the after-Iowa speech. And I agree that news has become entertainment. Dean's unwavering candidness is so refreshing."
Rhonda writes this: "Dean may be a good doctor and a nice person, but he is not presidential material. He's scolded the press, batted at microphones, interrupted voters' question, dismissed them with a smug arrogance if the question irritated him and generally behaved immaturely."
Lots of viewers, lots of e-mail, lots of different opinions. We'll continue to cover this story for our viewers.
We're also checking other news.
Seating the jury. Opening statements begin tomorrow in the Martha Stewart trial. Find out who will be deciding her fate.
Candidates' kids. The children of two presidential contenders will join me here in Manchester live. I'll speak with Rebecca Lieberman and Wes Clark Jr.
Maiden voyage. The world's largest passenger ship completes its trek across the Atlantic, the picture you don't want to miss.
We'll get to all of that. First, though, a quick look at other news make headlines around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): Powell's barbs on Russia. Secretary of State Colin Powell says he is worried about Russian democracy and Moscow's policy towards Chechnya and former Soviet republics. His comments appear in a front-page article in a major Russian newspaper. Powell held talks today in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Deadly bird flu. Officials in Thailand confirm the country's first human death from so-called bird flu. The 6-year-old boy is the seventh confirmed bird flu death in Asia. The other deaths occurred in Vietnam.
Middle East prisoner swap. Israel is set to release 400 Palestinians and several dozen other Arab prisoners in return for the bodies of three Israeli soldiers captured by Hezbollah guerrillas in 2000. Also included in the deal is the release of a reserve Israeli Army colonel being held by Hezbollah. The exchange is to take place Thursday.
Street art and the pope. Break dancers and other street artists did their thing for Pope John Paul II at the Vatican. Also on hand, rappers and graffiti artists, all members of a group created to provide support for poor teenagers in the pope's native Poland.
And that's our look around the world.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Happening right now in Florida, 16-year-old Lionel Tate is about to be freed on bond, after serving three years for killing a 6-year-old playmate. At the time, he was only 12 years old. Tate's case made headlines when he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
You're looking at live pictures. We're awaiting Lionel Tate to emerge from those doors. An appeals court threw out his first-degree murder conviction, because he was never given a competency hearing. Prosecutors opted not to retry him, but instead offered a plea bargain that reduced his sentence to time served. And he will be walking out. In fact, the doors are opening right now.
Let's take a quick look to see if Lionel Tate does emerge from those doors. If he doesn't emerge right now from those doors, we'll come back to it as soon as he does, Lionel Tate, 16 years old now, about to be released, after serving three years, time served, for killing a 6-year-old playmate. We'll get back to this story shortly.
Opening statements, meanwhile, scheduled to start tomorrow in Martha Stewart's trial. And we found out today just who will be deciding her fate.
CNN's Allan Chernoff is joining us now live from New York with details of the jury -- Allan.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, there are eight women, four men on the jury.
And the people on the jury include a translator, a minister, a computer technician and a pharmacist who emigrated from Uganda. Ironically, Martha Stewart's attorney, Robert Morvillo, initially tried to have the pharmacist pushed off of the jury pool, saying that she didn't speak proper English. The judge, Miriam Cedarbaum, maintained that, in fact, this woman only had an accent.
Now, at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time, coffee and muffins will be waiting for the jurors, opening statements scheduled to begin at 10:00 -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Allan Chernoff, with the latest on this trial about to get a lot more coverage in the coming days -- thanks very much, Allan, for that.
A reminder to our viewers. We're standing by. We're awaiting 16-year-old Lionel Tate to emerge from these doors down in Florida. He was 12 at the time, convicted of killing a 6-year-old playmate. He is about to be released. You see the news media awaiting. His walking out from the door. Once he does emerge, we'll go there live. We see some people walking out. We'll see if Lionel Tate is emerging from this building in Florida.
We see representatives. There he is, Lionel Tate, walking out, courtesy of our affiliate, WSVN. These are live pictures, Lionel Tate. In a case that caused enormous publicity, he was convicted of murder, sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. But that was overturned. He eventually agreed to a plea bargain. And now he is emerging from prison, walking out of prison, after serving three years, time served.
And that is it. Lionel Tate, a young man, 16 years old, a teenager, he's wearing the blue shirt, as you see him right there. He's followed by his mother, who was behind him throughout this entire ordeal. He's out of jail. And that's it for Lionel Tate.
We'll continue to watch to see if he says anything. They're cheering. They're raising their hands, obviously. They're all pleased. We don't know if he's going to say anything to the media. Let's stay and watch this just for another second or two. And we'll see if he says anything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... last few hours in the Broward County Jail. I'm happy to tell you some people that are here that have helped us in our cause. We've got Reverend Dennis Grant (ph) from -- the restoration minister. We've got Bishop Thomas Masters, the founder and president of Under Our Wings. We've got Cheryl Zickler, my co- counsel on appeal. We've got De Lacy Davis, the sergeant who is in charge of Black Cops Against Police Brutality. We have got Michael Hursey and Henry Hunter, who have been Kathleen Tate's attorneys.
We have mom. And we have Lionel Tate back in mom's hands again, which is where we set out three years ago to make sure that we put him. If we could take one moment for a prayer.
BLITZER: All right, we'll see if Lionel Tate speaks to reporters. If he does, we'll bring you his remarks.
In the meantime, we will get back to covering this story. We're here in New Hampshire. We're on the campaign trail. We're watching what's going on. But what if your parents are in a fish bowl and they are the candidates? What's it like to try to help your dad win the White House? I'll ask two children of two prominent candidates.
That's coming up right after this quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Earlier we asked: Which president never campaigned in New Hampshire, but still finished first in the state's primary? The answer, Dwight Eisenhower. The general won the primary in 1952, despite the fact he never stepped foot in the state.
For many of the Democratic presidential candidates, this campaign is an entirely family affair, with wives and children playing a critical role. The children of two candidates join me here in Manchester, Rebecca Lieberman and Wes Clark Jr.
I guess we don't have to explain which candidates you guys are supporting.
Rebecca, what's it like to campaign for your dad?
REBECCA LIEBERMAN, DAUGHTER OF JOE LIEBERMAN: It's absolutely wonderful.
I'm so proud of he stands for and what he wants to do as president of the United States. And, you know, going out there and hearing from people about what they're concerned about, hearing about the sort of economic squeeze they're under and being able to offer them solutions is really rewarding.
BLITZER: What about you, Wes?
WESLEY CLARK JR., SON OF WESLEY CLARK: It's great.
You get to go out and talk about stuff. For us, three of my five uncles have lost their jobs in the last year and a half. And I've got friends I grew up with and served with in the Army that are over in Iraq. So it's really personal.
BLITZER: But it must be tough when you read, when you hear pundits say bad things about your dad.
What's it like when you hear that, Rebecca? Does it just roll off?
LIEBERMAN: Has anyone been saying anything bad about my dad? No.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Occasionally, Joe Lieberman might have something bad to say about us.
LIEBERMAN: I know that he's a man of great integrity, that he thinks carefully about problems, comes to conclusions and sticks by them. And I'm hugely proud of that. So people will have differences of opinions, but I believe in him.
BLITZER: Do you go up and down with the polls a little bit, Wes, when your dad is doing well, you're really excited, but, then, all of a sudden, the polls collapse and you say to yourself, oh, my God?
CLARK: Not really. Not really. Polls don't really mean that much. It matters what happens when people vote.
BLITZER: There will be real polls tomorrow that will mean a lot.
CLARK: Sure.
BLITZER: What do you think is going to happen, Wes? You've been deeply involved in helping your dad.
CLARK: I haven't been deeply involved in New Hampshire. I didn't get hear until about 48 hours ago. So I can tell you what I think will happen in New Mexico or Arizona or Oklahoma.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Have you been campaigning there?
CLARK: Sure. Sure.
BLITZER: You've been campaigning all over the country, too, right, Rebecca?
LIEBERMAN: We've been sort of shadowing each other. So it's great to finally meet.
BLITZER: You never met before?
CLARK: No. No.
LIEBERMAN: No.
CLARK: But we keep coming like to the same towns and cities and stuff like within a day.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: I know both of you are 34 years old. Is there a sort of club of the kids of the candidates? Do you guys hang out with each other?
CLARK: No, we just met today.
(CROSSTALK)
LIEBERMAN: In the makeup room, but not...
BLITZER: But there were no punches or anything like that?
LIEBERMAN: No.
BLITZER: No disagreements, no negative comments?
CLARK: No.
LIEBERMAN: No.
(LAUGHTER)
BLITZER: What will you do when you leave here right now, Rebecca? What do you do?
LIEBERMAN: I'm going to a rally.
BLITZER: Here in Manchester?
LIEBERMAN: Here in Manchester, yes.
BLITZER: For your dad.
LIEBERMAN: Yes.
BLITZER: What about you, Wes?
CLARK: I'm going to a competing network.
(LAUGHTER)
BLITZER: To give another interview? Don't tell our viewers which network that is.
CLARK: I won't.
BLITZER: We don't want to know.
CLARK: I'm not going to tell you.
BLITZER: Wes Clark, thanks very much for joining us -- Wes Clark Jr.
CLARK: Yes, sir.
BLITZER: And, Rebecca, thank you. Rebecca Lieberman, thanks very much.
LIEBERMAN: Thank you.
BLITZER: Both of you. Good to have kids like the two of you. I'm sure your parents are very proud.
LIEBERMAN: Thank you.
CLARK: Thanks.
BLITZER: The results of our "Web Question of the Day," that's coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Here's how you're weighing in on our "Web Question of the Day." Do you think New Hampshire will yield more election surprises than Iowa? Look at this: 33 percent of you say yes; 67 percent of you say no. This is not a scientific poll.
Let's take a look at our picture of the day, shines the spotlight on the world's biggest passenger ship. The Queen Mary 2 completed its maiden voyage across the Atlantic today, arriving at Port Everglades, Florida. The huge ocean liner left Southampton, England, two weeks ago. The cheapest ticket on the trip, the most expensive -- get this -- more than $37,000.
A reminder, we're here twice a day, weekdays, both noon and 5:00 p.m. Eastern. I'll see you tomorrow, our special coverage of the New Hampshire primary.
In the meantime, "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.
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Weapons Statement>
Aired January 26, 2004 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF BLITZER, HOST: Happening now. Hours away from the first vote in the New Hampshire primary. Howard Dean tells me bluntly he thinks he will win.
Also, rare comments from the candidate's wife. Will Dr. Judy Dean give up her medical practice for the White House? You'll hear from her in my special interview with the couple.
Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
Howard Dean -- taking on New Hampshire and the media.
HOWARD DEAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I never worry about the news media being fair, the news media does what the news media does, they're an entertainment business as much as the news media.
BLITZER: You don't think we're in the business of reporting the news and providing information...
DEAN: I think you report the news, you create the news and that's what you guys do, and that's fine.
BLITZER: Weapons worry, the White House's response for the man who hunted for them in Iraq and says there were none.
Travel tragedies -- dozens dead from a winter blast.
The Martha Stewart jury -- more women than men will decide her fate.
ANNOUNCER: This is a special edition of WOLF BLITZER REPORTS live from Manchester, New Hampshire.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: In just seven hours the crucial New Hampshire primary gets under way, polling sites throughout the state are ready for business. The tiny northern village of Dixville Notch traditionally cast the first votes at midnight, Eastern. As for the polls, at least one shows Senator John Kerry and former Vermont governor Howard Dean in a statistical dead heat, while others show Kerry with a significant lead. Regardless of the polls, Dean appears to be confident of the outcome. Dean, and his wife Dr. Judy Dean talked to me about it earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Can you win in New Hampshire?
DEAN: I think we can, it's very close, we've been surging the last few days. The polls say it's a dead heat, but who wants to believe the polls and some say it's not a dead heat so who knows but there is a lot of surge and people are anxious not to have politicians in Washington running the show.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: My entire interview with the Deans is coming up later in this program. Up first, though -- the fierce fight between Senator John Kerry and Howard Dean is showing no sign of letting up. Our national correspondent Kelly Wallace has been covering Kerry during this long day.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John Kerry's advisers say they are taking nothing for granted. They fully expect this race to be tight until the very end, that is part of the reason the senator himself is in the midst of a 16-hour, 7-stop day, traveling the state by bus and helicopter trying to get out the vote.
Earlier in the morning he was in Rochester greeting voters going store by store, and later in the afternoon, he headed to the campus of Keen State College. Here he took a number of questions from voters, some pressing him for his position when it comes to the war with Iraq, one man asking how he as a Vietnam veteran who protested that war (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to go war with Iraq.
KERRY: The process, which we got out of president by standing up to him was that he was going to go to the U.N. and build an international coalition, a true international coalition. That he was going to exhaust remedies of inspections and bring the world to our side and go to war as a last resort.
WALLACE: And while Kerry's advisers are working hard, hoping for victory tomorrow, they're also looking ahead to the next round of primaries. The senator will travel first to Missouri, the biggest delegate drive on February 3 before heading to South Carolina, the state holding the first primary in the south. Kelly Wallace, CNN, reporting from Keen, New Hampshire.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Howard Dean is applying a full corps press on Kerry in a bid to win tomorrow and recover from the stunning third place finish in Iowa only a week ago but there are signs the Dean campaign has gone overboard in spending in the run to tomorrow's primaries. Joining us is CNN political correspondent Candy Crowley. What's going on, Candy?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first, as you saw today, Wolf, this is a campaign that got its sea legs back. The Dean campaign really feels that they've turned the corner now after a week of trying to put that overheated concession speech in Iowa behind him. Dean has now found a way to make it part of his campaign shtick, and the crowd plays along.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: Let me tell you what you can expect from me. One, you can expect me to keep saying exactly what I think, for better or for worse. Thank you for the applause, I'm so happy, I could just scream.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CROWLEY: He seems to be picking up in the polls, he believes it could be a dead heat but this has been very expensive. Our latest estimate is that Howard Dean has spent more than a million dollars in the past week in New Hampshire advertising alone. That is almost half a million dollars more than any of his other opponents. This is going to make it tougher, if it is a dogfight coming out of New Hampshire. Of course, as you know, Wolf, advertising elsewhere gets more and more expensive, and this is the campaign that's had to spend a lot more than it thought it was going to spend in Iowa and New Hampshire.
BLITZER: As Howard Dean said to me earlier, it looks like all the campaigns could have some financial troubles in the weeks to come. Candy, thank you very much for that.
Slugging it out for third place or perhaps hoping to do even better are Senators John Edwards and Joe Lieberman and retired U.S. army general Wesley Clark. The latest CNN/USA Today/Gallup tracking poll shows the three in a virtual deadlock for third place. As are Kerry and Dean, all three are seeking the extremely important votes from women and independents.
Like his rivals, Wesley Clark is racing around the state in search for every possible vote. Today, his campaign focused on issues like national security, but the candidate also got personal. Here's CNN's Dan Lothian.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Clark campaign is having to deal with a lot of issues of clarifying statements that are being made out on the campaign trail. For instance, what happened today at a campaign stop in Keen, New Hampshire. First of all, Mr. Clark said, quote, "I didn't go to Yale." This appeared to be a swipe at Dean, and Kerry and Lieberman and even Bush because they did attend Yale.
Later on, Clark saying he didn't mean that really, he was talking about himself and then he always went on to say that, quote, "unlike the rest of the people in this race, I did grow up poor." Of course, John Edwards has talked about his humble upbringings. When asked about this later on, Clark said that he overstated the facts in that case.
But this just points out a problem that critics have been talking about for sometime. That Clark has been making a lot of missteps on the campaign trail and then has had to spend a lot of time focusing on clarifying his statements instead of focusing on the issues. But Clark says that hasn't bothered him at all, he's only paying attention to what's important to the voters.
WESLEY CLARK (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm an outsider. I'm not part of the problems in Washington. I have never taken money from lobbyists. I've never cut a deal. I've never run for votes. I've never cut deals for votes. I'm not part of the problem that's gone wrong in this government.
LOTHIAN: Clark is on a ten-county bus tour, they're calling it their 10K tour. they'll wrap up tonight way up north in the northern part of New Hampshire in Dixville Notch, the community to vote just after midnight. Dan Lothian, CNN, Concord, New Hampshire.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: As he crisscrosses the state. Senator John Edwards says he has the best chance to beat President Bush in November. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux has the latest now from the Edwards campaign.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Senator John Edwards is performing to packed overflow crowds today, the strategy for the next 24 hours to keep the message simple and positive and consistent, often capitalizing on his greatest strength, ability to communicate as well as his personal appeal. His stump speech focuses mainly on domestic issues, education, health care, the need for racial harmony.
But some of his opponents have criticized him, General Clark as well, Senator Kerry for not having experience when it comes to foreign or military affairs. I asked Edwards today to weigh in on one of the most pressing issues concerning Iraq, whether the president is ultimately accountable for the claim that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction, which posed a threat to the U.S. and justified the country going to war, a claim that is now disputed by the administration's outgoing weapons inspector.
Edwards is expected to pull out a strong third finish in New Hampshire. The big push, of course, is going to be South Carolina. That is his birthplace, it also shows in the most recent poll that Edwards leads the pack. Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut is make an all-out push for support for independent voters. CNN's Jeanne Meserve is keeping track of the Lieberman campaign, she's joining us now live from Manchester -- Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, Lieberman has become much more pointed in his pursuit of independent voters. He believes that his stand in support of the war in Iraq and his consistency on a range of other issues makes him appealing to people in the middle. He says he is the only mainstream Democrat in the race, the only one who can bring in independents and disgruntled Republicans and give the Democrats a win in the general election in November. Today he rallied with some of the independents in the state who have embraced his cause in front of the state house in Concord.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN (D-CT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A lot of people have come to my side in this campaign, matters a lot to me that hundreds of McCainiacs in New Hampshire have become Liebermaniacs. That's the unity we need.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MESERVE: Lieberman says he believes independents could power him to a better-than-expected finish here in New Hampshire but he won't define exactly what better than expected means. Wolf, back to you.
BLITZER: Jeanne Meserve, thanks very much for that.
And to our viewers, here's your chance to weigh in on this important story. Our web question of the day is this -- do you think New Hampshire will yield more election surprises than Iowa? You can vote right now, simply go to CNN.com/wolf. We'll have the results later in this broadcast.
Pumped up and confidently speaking out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: I think you report the news, you create the news, and that's what you guys do, and that's fine.
BLITZER: We didn't create your concession speech, you did that.
DEAN: You chose to play it 673 times in one week.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Howard Dean taking on New Hampshire and the news media and much more. I caught up with him on a campaign trail earlier today. My interview with the candidate, and his wife, that's coming up.
The weapons search -- new details on why the ex-arms hunter David Kay doesn't believe they exist inside Iraq and may never have been there at all on the eve of the war. We'll get reaction from the White House.
Winter wallop from the plains to the east coast, flights delayed, many without power, and it's not over yet. All that coming up.
First, though, today's news quiz. "Which president never campaigned in New Hampshire but still finished first in the state's primary? Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Harry Truman." The answer later in the show.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Everyone's getting excited here in New Hampshire. Only hours before the vote. We're covering all of the events leading up to the primary, the first primary in the nation. That's tomorrow. Also, we're standing by to hear directly from Howard Dean and his wife Dr. Judy Steinberg Dean. I spoke with them earlier today. My interview with them. That's coming up. First other news, important news around the world right now.
The Bush administration is sticking to its guns insisting it made the right decision in going to war against Iraq, regardless of whether weapons of mass destruction are ever found. Today's defense of that policy comes after a weekend comment by the former chief American weapons hunter Dr. David Kay, that stock piles of Iraqi biological and chemical weapons probably did not, repeat, did not exist before the war.
In a weekend interview with the "New York Times," Kay, who resigned Friday, said that by the late 1990s and I'm quoting now, "the regime was no longer in control. It was like a death spiral. Saddam was self-directing projects that were not vetted by anyone else. The scientists were able to fake programs."
Joining us now for more on these key developments our national security correspondent David Ensor, he's in Washington -- David.
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, as you say, since being replaced Friday, former weapons inspector David Kay has been talking plenty, providing ammunition for critics of the war and some (UNINTELLIGIBLE) defenders . He's blaming the CIA, his employer until Friday, not the White House, who are apparently getting it wrong on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID KAY, FORMER HEAD OF IRAQ SURVEY GROUP: I actually think the intelligence community owes the president rather than the president owing the American people.
ENSOR (voice-over): Administration officials like that last comment and they liked Kay's statement that Baghdad was actively working to produce a biological weapon using the poison Ricin until the American invasion of last March. But his comment that he expects no weapons to be found, that has put the administration on the defensive, officials saying it's too soon to say whether the Iraq Survey Group will find any weapons under its new leader Charles Duelfer.
In Little Rock, the president changed the subject to terrorism, he was praising U.S. intelligence for helping to catch Hassan Gol (ph) an al Qaeda man who just arrived in Iraq. But on Capitol Hill, Democrats saw Kay's statement as another reason the Senate intelligence committee chairman Senator Pat Roberts should look into what went wrong at the CIA and at the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D), MINORITY LEADER: If he fails to do so, we will again bring legislation to the Senate floor to establish a nonpartisan, independent commission to look at how intelligence was viewed by the intelligence community and this administration.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ENSOR: U.S. intelligence officials insist it is still premature to say as Kay has that no weapons of mass destruction will been found in Iraq. They note that Kay says he quit because he didn't have enough people, and yet now he says there's no point in looking because there's nothing to find. As one official put it, he can't have it both ways -- Wolf.
BLITZER: David Ensor with the latest on the story. Thank you very much.
One of the administration steadfast defenders of the decision to invade Iraq is Vice President Dick Cheney, and that topic, especially David Kay's controversial comments in the forefront of the visit by Cheney to Italy. Our senior White House correspondent John King is traveling with the vice president and he filed this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: At a World War II U.S. military cemetery in (UNINTELLIGIBLE), a walk amid more than 7,800 headstones and a tribute to one fallen hero from the vice president's home state of Wyoming. The message was unmistakable. Proof of a debt to America Mr. Cheney and others in the Bush administration think some in Europe forgot when the when the White House needed help in Iraq.
The vice president is not here to pick a new fight but instead to promote more international cooperation as Iraq's post war transition enters a critical stretch and as Mr. Cheney and his boss campaign for re-election.
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In this new century facing new challenges, we must remain united to defend our freedom and to meet the shared duties of free nations.
KING: This trip coincides with new disclosures that U.S. intelligence about Iraq's weapons program likely was wrong. Mr. Cheney ignored a question on the controversy Sunday and again Monday as he met with Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, but as he defended the war in his earlier speech, gone was his trademark certainty that Saddam Hussein had chemical and biological weapons ready to deploy.
CHENEY: Long efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction are at an end.
KING: Some Democrats see a campaign issue, suggesting the vice president exaggerated the threat in a push for war.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we see the vice president conducting almost his own foreign policy out of vice president's office.
KING: Mr. Cheney's influence is not in dispute yet he often is out of the public eye for weeks at a time. This is just his second international trip as vice president. His goal here is to boost the administration's image in Europe not to weigh into the debate whether the United States was wrong about Iraq's weapons program. But a senior U.S. Official in the Cheney delegation says Mr. Bush relied on the CIA assessments and did not exaggerate or quote, "cook up the intelligence." And if no evidence of weapons is found soon, administration sources back in Washington say the CIA Director George Tenet likely will be called onto publicly explain how the assessments could have been so wrong.
John King, CNN, Rome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Coming up -- what Howard Dean's real motivation. I spoke to the expert.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. JUDITH DEAN, HOWARD DEAN'S WIFE: Mission for this run is to improve the life of American people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Dr. Judy Dean on life inside the campaign and what she'd do if they make it to the White House.
Winter with a fury, who got hit hardest and what's next for the people on the Eastern Seaboard and Midwest?
And who will be looking Martha Stewart straight in the eye from the jurors' box. The panel's been chosen, and a trial's about to begin. We'll take you live to New York for a report. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: My special interview with Judy and Howard Dean is coming up. First other news.
Harsh winter weather is gripping parts of the Midwest and much of the East coast with snow and ice causing problems from the deep south, all the way to New England. Central Missouri is pretty much frozen up in the words of one official. Commutes in the Saint Louis area are exceptionally slow, and drivers are being told to expect to spend twice as long behind the wheel. Snow and sleet have also hit much of Ohio prompt dozens of school districts to close. Nationwide, winter weather is blamed for more than two dozen highway deaths in the last two days. For more on the winter blast, let's check in with CNN's Elaine Quijano in Washington, D.C. -- Elaine.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Wolf.
It was a messy day here in the Washington, D.C., area, and forecasters in the area say tonight conditions could get worse.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
QUIJANO (voice-over): Shoveling the driveway takes on new meaning when the driveway's a tarmac and the mode of transport, air force one. All over D.C. and Baltimore metro area getting around was slow and sloppy with several inches of snow on the ground. Roads were covered but passable, commuter trains were running and the snow wasn't enough to shut down federal offices. Still, government employees were allowed to take unscheduled vacation day. In other parts of the country though, the winter weather packs a bigger punch, with freezing rain that layered trees, power lines and streets in Georgia with the dangerous coat of ice. In Kentucky, the frozen roads put driver to the test and it was a similar scene around Raleigh, North Carolina, where cars sometimes skidded into each other.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's very deceiving. They just think, OK, it's a light dusting, it's not, there's ice underneath there.
QUIJANO: The governor of North Carolina declared a state of emergency putting national guard reservists on stand by if needed to assist hospital or nursing homes in the event of power outages. Back in the D.C. area a lighter mood. President Bush took a moment to enjoy the weather as did this group of Washington interns, especially Australian Julian Bowen (ph) hoping for his first chance to see snow like this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My prays have been answered today, it's great.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUIJANO: Now forecasters in the region are calling for a second round of this winter blast with freezing rain and sleet on top of the snow that's already fallen -- Wolf.
BLITZER: CNN's Elaine Quijano in beautiful Washington, D.C., thank you very much.
The former front-runner is back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: There is a lot of surge because people are really anxious not to have politicians from Washington running the show, they really want a change.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Howard Dean confident he can win here in New Hampshire. Coming up, my full interview with the presidential hopeful and his wife, Dr. Judy Dean.
Deciding her fate, opening statements in the Martha Stewart trial start tomorrow. And word out today, who will sit in the jury. Putting on for the pope. Break dancers and street artists perform for Pope John Paul II at the Vatican. You'll find out why coming up a little bit later.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back to CNN. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Manchester, New Hampshire. A blunt take from Howard Dean on his treatment in the news media. His wife talks about what she'd do if they won the White House. My special interview with Howard and Judy Dean is only moments away. We'll get to that. First, though, a quick check of the latest headlines.
(NEWSBREAK)
BLITZER: Howard Dean is battling to try to regain the lead he once held in the polls here in New Hampshire. He's certainly gotten a lot of attention since his stunning defeat in the Iowa caucuses. It all ads up to serious pressure in the stretch run to tomorrow's primary.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): An enthusiastic town hall meeting in Nashua, Howard Dean well received by his core supporters.
Then it was on to Manchester, Durham, and Exeter. Again today, Dean launches attacks on front-runner John Kerry for voting against the Gulf War, then for the Iraq war. This is clearly a candidate with a sense of urgency, but is Howard Dean in trouble?
Today, I caught up with the former Vermont governor and his wife, Judy, fresh off the event in Nashua and with a fresh sense of confidence.
BLITZER (on camera): Can you win in New Hampshire here?
H. DEAN: I think we can. It's very close. We've been surging in the last few days. The polls have said that it's a dead heat, although who wants to believe the polls? And some say that it's not a dead heat, so who knows?
But there is a lot of surge, because people really are anxious not to have politicians from Washington running the show. And they really want a change.
BLITZER: What happens if you don't win in New Hampshire?
H. DEAN: We go to South Carolina and Oklahoma and Arizona and New Mexico. Of course, that happens if we do win in New Hampshire, too. We'll just be stronger.
BLITZER: Do you think there's some suspicion that South Carolina, you might -- that you'll devote -- all your energies might, maybe, go to Missouri, which is now... H. DEAN: What we're going to do -- five states at least. We've already been in North Dakota, so that's six. We're going to definitely play in South Carolina, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona and Missouri.
Whether I go back to North Dakota again, I don't know, but we have a good organization in North Dakota. We've got a deepening organization in Delaware, as well. So we're positioned in all three states.
I mean, one of the things that happened when things were great before Iowa is that we did put a lot of resources into these forward states. And that's going to stand us in good stead now.
BLITZER: Rumor's out there that money situation is not good right now.
H. DEAN: I think the money situation's tough for everybody. You know, we tried to do everything we could in these two states to win. But you know, we have a huge base of support, so we're going to be able to keep going.
BLITZER: What's the biggest problem that you faced so far? Is it the attacks from the other Democrats? Is it your own personal stumbles? What's the biggest issue that's hurt you in Iowa and New Hampshire?
H. DEAN: Well, in New Hampshire we're coming roaring back. What hurt us in New Hampshire was John Kerry and John Edwards won the primary -- I mean, the caucuses in Iowa. That was just a bounce.
But sort of -- what hurt us was six or eight weeks of being the undisputed front-runner: TIME magazine, the cover; Newsweek cover; U.S. News cover. Every media organ and reporter went after us, because you know, take down the front-runner. Every opponent went after us. We just got hammered.
And when we defended ourselves, we took the people who were hammering us down, but we also took ourselves down. And that's why we finished third in Iowa.
Now we have another chance. New Hampshire voters are famous for giving people a second chance. I think they like my strong fiscal management, and they like the fact that I'm not promising everybody everything. And so I think I have a shot here.
BLITZER: John Kerry, who has been out there in New Hampshire -- he won Iowa -- he's complaining that you're now going negative against him, raising questions about his judgment, voting against the '91 resolution, either the resolution before this one...
H. DEAN: I do question Senator Kerry's judgment. Senator Kerry voted against the first Gulf War, which I supported, when there were troops on the ground -- Iraqi troops on the ground in Kuwait, setting fire to Kuwaiti oil wells, which was a major environmental catastrophe. He voted not to intervene. Then he votes to intervene recently in the Iraq war, which I opposed, because the president gives him all these reasons, so far all of which have turned out not to be true. There were no weapons of mass destruction. Iraq was never a threat to the United States. There was no purchase of uranium from Iraq.
So I'm -- you know, Senator Kerry spent a lot of time on this campaign worrying about my foreign policy experience. Perhaps my foreign policy experience and judgment might be better in the White House than his, since he seems to have voted wrong on both wars.
BLITZER: So is he not qualified to be president?
H. DEAN: No, I would never say that. Anybody who's running for this presidency on the Democratic side is far more qualified than George W. Bush.
BLITZER: There's been negative attacks. The negative attacks, are they going to continue throughout this process?
H. DEAN: Well, I don't consider this to be a negative attack. I consider it -- John voted against the first Iraq war. I disagree with him. John voted in favor of this Iraq war. I disagree with him. I think that's a difference in our records, not a negative attack.
BLITZER: I also point out to you David Kay's acknowledgment right now. He went over there convinced there were weapons of mass destruction stockpiled. And he says openly right now he couldn't find any weapons (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
H. DEAN: I believed that there were, so I was surprised when they came home and said there weren't, as well. But, you know, the Bush administration said so many things that were false that I wasn't entirely shocked.
They clearly tried to gin up every piece of intelligence to try to get us to go into that war. And my question is: Why did all the senators who are running for president fall for it and I didn't?
I supported the first Gulf War. I supported the Afghanistan war. I supported the president's intervention in Bosnia and Kosovo. This one I didn't support, because I didn't think the facts merited it. And it turns out I was right, and they weren't. Why is that a problem in my foreign policy experience?
BLITZER: David Kay says that your question over the intelligence community, the CIA and also owe the president, the administration (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
H. DEAN: Well, I suspect there's more to it than that. I suspect -- I have talked to somebody from -- it was a former member of the CIA who said that the vice president came down and sat down with lower level members of the CIA and criticized them to their face, the vice president of the United States, for not writing intelligence reports the way he thought they ought to be written. So you have the spectacle of the vice president of the United States trying to intimidate intelligence reporters into giving the kind of information he wanted given to the president. I think there's a lot of explaining to be done, and I think the vice president and the president owes an explanation, not just the CIA.
BLITZER: In the aftermath of your concession speech in Iowa, has the news media been fair to you? Are you playing...
H. DEAN: No, I don't worry about the news media being fair. The news media does what the news media does. They're an entertainment business at least as much as a news media.
BLITZER: Does that mean we're in the business of reporting the news and providing information...
H. DEAN: You report the news. You create the news, and that's what you guys do. And that's fine.
BLITZER: We didn't create you -- your concession speech. You did that.
H. DEAN: Well, but you chose to play it 673 times in one week. That is your privilege. I have to -- if I'm going to run for president, I have to stand up to that. Whatever you guys throw at me, I have to be able to take.
And if you -- if you want to be president of the United States, you had better be willing to take whatever the news media throws at you. And I'm very willing to take it, and I make no apologies.
BLITZER: The research (UNINTELLIGIBLE) it yourself in your very -- speeches as we just heard here.
H. DEAN: Well, it wasn't exactly presidential. But what I regret is that you all didn't show the clip from the thousands of kids who were waving the American flags and screaming and yelling in support.
They had come out. They'd worked their hearts out for three weeks to help me in Iowa. They were disappointed with the third place finish, as was I. I thought I owed it to them to show them some optimism and pep.
And sure, it wasn't very presidential, but I think it was -- it made a lot more sense if you were there than if you just were sitting in the studio.
BLITZER: Dr. Dean, you've been married to the governor for 23 years.
JUDITH STEINBERG DEAN, HOWARD DEAN'S WIFE: Yes.
BLITZER: You know him a lot better than all of us -- than all of us know him. What do you know about him that you would share with our viewers right now that they may be surprised to hear? J. DEAN: I think they already know a lot about him, because he's so straightforward. I think -- I think the most important thing about him is that he's a really caring person, and he's caring in terms of our family, in terms of his patients.
And now he's moved it one step further and he just wants to -- and his motivations for this run is to improve the lives of American people. And that, it sounds simple, but that truly is what it is and it's what he's been doing all along.
BLITZER: When he told you that he wanted to be president of the United States, what went through your mind? What did you say to him?
J. DEAN: Well, I thought it was a big step, but I thought he would make a great president. You know, I...
BLITZER: Did you immediately think, "Hey, Howard, that's great."
J. DEAN: No. I think I sat back and thought about it for awhile. You know, he went into politics so gradually that it kind of came that I accepted it gradually, from the beginning when he was just in the bike path, from lieutenant governor to governor.
And over the years, I've seen how capable he is and how honest he is. And I felt he could do it, and I felt he'd make a great president.
BLITZER: How do you feel now, for you? So many people are talking about you, you know, looking at you? "She's so charming. She's endearing." What about that? What goes through your mind as you become the source of so much media attention?
J. DEAN: I don't read the media attention that much, so you know, I still think Howard is the center of this. And happy to be out here to support him and show my support. And I like the good news, and I don't like the bad news.
BLITZER: I was there when you spoke the other day to a guy in Salem interviewed you about your (UNINTELLIGIBLE). You're a solo practitioner and you've got a lot of commitments. What are you going to do if you go to Washington, and you're in the White House? What happens to your patients?
J. DEAN: Well, you know, if Howard were elected president, that would be -- that's an important thing that I would have to give up my practice, obviously.
And I -- you know, I will enjoy my practice. I'm a good doctor. My patients like me. They've been my patients for a long time. It would be very hard to give them up. But there's not a lot of things more important than being president. So of course, I'd have to give them up for that.
H. DEAN: Although you'd still have a practice in Washington.
J. DEAN: I could still practice medicine. I hope. But... BLITZER: Would people come to the White House and say, "We're here to see the doctor?"
J. DEAN: Well, my patients have joked about renting a bus once a month to come down. But that won't happen.
BLITZER: We're out of time, but a quick wrap-up question to you, Governor. If you don't lead in New Hampshire, you're going to continue on this campaign, but it will be two losses in a row and that momentum could be undermined.
H. DEAN: No way. We have an enormous amount of support behind us, though. I mean, unlike every other campaign, 89 percent of our money comes from small donations. Those people want to see us win, because they want to see the country change. And we can go on as long as it makes sense to, and we will.
We've got organizations stretched out in the March 2 states, so one way or the other, I expect to be campaigning on March 2.
BLITZER: So you just finished third. Is that what you're saying?
H. DEAN: Well, no, we're trying to win tomorrow. That's the first thing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Dr. Howard Dean and Dr. Judy Dean speaking with me earlier today.
This question today: Are the news media too hard on Howard Dean? Here's what some of you have to say about that. And we've been getting e-mails, obviously.
Sue writes this: "Hooray for Howard Dean for standing up to Wolf Blitzer in today's interview. I agree that the media have made far too much of the after-Iowa speech. And I agree that news has become entertainment. Dean's unwavering candidness is so refreshing."
Rhonda writes this: "Dean may be a good doctor and a nice person, but he is not presidential material. He's scolded the press, batted at microphones, interrupted voters' question, dismissed them with a smug arrogance if the question irritated him and generally behaved immaturely."
Lots of viewers, lots of e-mail, lots of different opinions. We'll continue to cover this story for our viewers.
We're also checking other news.
Seating the jury. Opening statements begin tomorrow in the Martha Stewart trial. Find out who will be deciding her fate.
Candidates' kids. The children of two presidential contenders will join me here in Manchester live. I'll speak with Rebecca Lieberman and Wes Clark Jr.
Maiden voyage. The world's largest passenger ship completes its trek across the Atlantic, the picture you don't want to miss.
We'll get to all of that. First, though, a quick look at other news make headlines around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): Powell's barbs on Russia. Secretary of State Colin Powell says he is worried about Russian democracy and Moscow's policy towards Chechnya and former Soviet republics. His comments appear in a front-page article in a major Russian newspaper. Powell held talks today in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Deadly bird flu. Officials in Thailand confirm the country's first human death from so-called bird flu. The 6-year-old boy is the seventh confirmed bird flu death in Asia. The other deaths occurred in Vietnam.
Middle East prisoner swap. Israel is set to release 400 Palestinians and several dozen other Arab prisoners in return for the bodies of three Israeli soldiers captured by Hezbollah guerrillas in 2000. Also included in the deal is the release of a reserve Israeli Army colonel being held by Hezbollah. The exchange is to take place Thursday.
Street art and the pope. Break dancers and other street artists did their thing for Pope John Paul II at the Vatican. Also on hand, rappers and graffiti artists, all members of a group created to provide support for poor teenagers in the pope's native Poland.
And that's our look around the world.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Happening right now in Florida, 16-year-old Lionel Tate is about to be freed on bond, after serving three years for killing a 6-year-old playmate. At the time, he was only 12 years old. Tate's case made headlines when he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
You're looking at live pictures. We're awaiting Lionel Tate to emerge from those doors. An appeals court threw out his first-degree murder conviction, because he was never given a competency hearing. Prosecutors opted not to retry him, but instead offered a plea bargain that reduced his sentence to time served. And he will be walking out. In fact, the doors are opening right now.
Let's take a quick look to see if Lionel Tate does emerge from those doors. If he doesn't emerge right now from those doors, we'll come back to it as soon as he does, Lionel Tate, 16 years old now, about to be released, after serving three years, time served, for killing a 6-year-old playmate. We'll get back to this story shortly.
Opening statements, meanwhile, scheduled to start tomorrow in Martha Stewart's trial. And we found out today just who will be deciding her fate.
CNN's Allan Chernoff is joining us now live from New York with details of the jury -- Allan.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, there are eight women, four men on the jury.
And the people on the jury include a translator, a minister, a computer technician and a pharmacist who emigrated from Uganda. Ironically, Martha Stewart's attorney, Robert Morvillo, initially tried to have the pharmacist pushed off of the jury pool, saying that she didn't speak proper English. The judge, Miriam Cedarbaum, maintained that, in fact, this woman only had an accent.
Now, at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time, coffee and muffins will be waiting for the jurors, opening statements scheduled to begin at 10:00 -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Allan Chernoff, with the latest on this trial about to get a lot more coverage in the coming days -- thanks very much, Allan, for that.
A reminder to our viewers. We're standing by. We're awaiting 16-year-old Lionel Tate to emerge from these doors down in Florida. He was 12 at the time, convicted of killing a 6-year-old playmate. He is about to be released. You see the news media awaiting. His walking out from the door. Once he does emerge, we'll go there live. We see some people walking out. We'll see if Lionel Tate is emerging from this building in Florida.
We see representatives. There he is, Lionel Tate, walking out, courtesy of our affiliate, WSVN. These are live pictures, Lionel Tate. In a case that caused enormous publicity, he was convicted of murder, sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. But that was overturned. He eventually agreed to a plea bargain. And now he is emerging from prison, walking out of prison, after serving three years, time served.
And that is it. Lionel Tate, a young man, 16 years old, a teenager, he's wearing the blue shirt, as you see him right there. He's followed by his mother, who was behind him throughout this entire ordeal. He's out of jail. And that's it for Lionel Tate.
We'll continue to watch to see if he says anything. They're cheering. They're raising their hands, obviously. They're all pleased. We don't know if he's going to say anything to the media. Let's stay and watch this just for another second or two. And we'll see if he says anything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... last few hours in the Broward County Jail. I'm happy to tell you some people that are here that have helped us in our cause. We've got Reverend Dennis Grant (ph) from -- the restoration minister. We've got Bishop Thomas Masters, the founder and president of Under Our Wings. We've got Cheryl Zickler, my co- counsel on appeal. We've got De Lacy Davis, the sergeant who is in charge of Black Cops Against Police Brutality. We have got Michael Hursey and Henry Hunter, who have been Kathleen Tate's attorneys.
We have mom. And we have Lionel Tate back in mom's hands again, which is where we set out three years ago to make sure that we put him. If we could take one moment for a prayer.
BLITZER: All right, we'll see if Lionel Tate speaks to reporters. If he does, we'll bring you his remarks.
In the meantime, we will get back to covering this story. We're here in New Hampshire. We're on the campaign trail. We're watching what's going on. But what if your parents are in a fish bowl and they are the candidates? What's it like to try to help your dad win the White House? I'll ask two children of two prominent candidates.
That's coming up right after this quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Earlier we asked: Which president never campaigned in New Hampshire, but still finished first in the state's primary? The answer, Dwight Eisenhower. The general won the primary in 1952, despite the fact he never stepped foot in the state.
For many of the Democratic presidential candidates, this campaign is an entirely family affair, with wives and children playing a critical role. The children of two candidates join me here in Manchester, Rebecca Lieberman and Wes Clark Jr.
I guess we don't have to explain which candidates you guys are supporting.
Rebecca, what's it like to campaign for your dad?
REBECCA LIEBERMAN, DAUGHTER OF JOE LIEBERMAN: It's absolutely wonderful.
I'm so proud of he stands for and what he wants to do as president of the United States. And, you know, going out there and hearing from people about what they're concerned about, hearing about the sort of economic squeeze they're under and being able to offer them solutions is really rewarding.
BLITZER: What about you, Wes?
WESLEY CLARK JR., SON OF WESLEY CLARK: It's great.
You get to go out and talk about stuff. For us, three of my five uncles have lost their jobs in the last year and a half. And I've got friends I grew up with and served with in the Army that are over in Iraq. So it's really personal.
BLITZER: But it must be tough when you read, when you hear pundits say bad things about your dad.
What's it like when you hear that, Rebecca? Does it just roll off?
LIEBERMAN: Has anyone been saying anything bad about my dad? No.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Occasionally, Joe Lieberman might have something bad to say about us.
LIEBERMAN: I know that he's a man of great integrity, that he thinks carefully about problems, comes to conclusions and sticks by them. And I'm hugely proud of that. So people will have differences of opinions, but I believe in him.
BLITZER: Do you go up and down with the polls a little bit, Wes, when your dad is doing well, you're really excited, but, then, all of a sudden, the polls collapse and you say to yourself, oh, my God?
CLARK: Not really. Not really. Polls don't really mean that much. It matters what happens when people vote.
BLITZER: There will be real polls tomorrow that will mean a lot.
CLARK: Sure.
BLITZER: What do you think is going to happen, Wes? You've been deeply involved in helping your dad.
CLARK: I haven't been deeply involved in New Hampshire. I didn't get hear until about 48 hours ago. So I can tell you what I think will happen in New Mexico or Arizona or Oklahoma.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Have you been campaigning there?
CLARK: Sure. Sure.
BLITZER: You've been campaigning all over the country, too, right, Rebecca?
LIEBERMAN: We've been sort of shadowing each other. So it's great to finally meet.
BLITZER: You never met before?
CLARK: No. No.
LIEBERMAN: No.
CLARK: But we keep coming like to the same towns and cities and stuff like within a day.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: I know both of you are 34 years old. Is there a sort of club of the kids of the candidates? Do you guys hang out with each other?
CLARK: No, we just met today.
(CROSSTALK)
LIEBERMAN: In the makeup room, but not...
BLITZER: But there were no punches or anything like that?
LIEBERMAN: No.
BLITZER: No disagreements, no negative comments?
CLARK: No.
LIEBERMAN: No.
(LAUGHTER)
BLITZER: What will you do when you leave here right now, Rebecca? What do you do?
LIEBERMAN: I'm going to a rally.
BLITZER: Here in Manchester?
LIEBERMAN: Here in Manchester, yes.
BLITZER: For your dad.
LIEBERMAN: Yes.
BLITZER: What about you, Wes?
CLARK: I'm going to a competing network.
(LAUGHTER)
BLITZER: To give another interview? Don't tell our viewers which network that is.
CLARK: I won't.
BLITZER: We don't want to know.
CLARK: I'm not going to tell you.
BLITZER: Wes Clark, thanks very much for joining us -- Wes Clark Jr.
CLARK: Yes, sir.
BLITZER: And, Rebecca, thank you. Rebecca Lieberman, thanks very much.
LIEBERMAN: Thank you.
BLITZER: Both of you. Good to have kids like the two of you. I'm sure your parents are very proud.
LIEBERMAN: Thank you.
CLARK: Thanks.
BLITZER: The results of our "Web Question of the Day," that's coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Here's how you're weighing in on our "Web Question of the Day." Do you think New Hampshire will yield more election surprises than Iowa? Look at this: 33 percent of you say yes; 67 percent of you say no. This is not a scientific poll.
Let's take a look at our picture of the day, shines the spotlight on the world's biggest passenger ship. The Queen Mary 2 completed its maiden voyage across the Atlantic today, arriving at Port Everglades, Florida. The huge ocean liner left Southampton, England, two weeks ago. The cheapest ticket on the trip, the most expensive -- get this -- more than $37,000.
A reminder, we're here twice a day, weekdays, both noon and 5:00 p.m. Eastern. I'll see you tomorrow, our special coverage of the New Hampshire primary.
In the meantime, "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.
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