CNN Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics - Transcript

JUDY WOODRUFF'S INSIDE POLITICS 16:00 May 19, 2004 Wednesday
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CNN

SHOW: JUDY WOODRUFF'S INSIDE POLITICS 16:00

May 19, 2004 Wednesday

HEADLINE: Kerry and Nader: A Meeting of the Minds?; Interview With Senator Jeff Sessions, Senator Mark Pryor; Interview With Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi

GUESTS: Jeff Sessions, Mark Pryor, Nancy Pelosi, Bay Buchanan, Donna Brazile

BYLINE: Judy Woodruff, Candy Crowley, Bruce Morton, Ed Henry, William Schneider, Candy Crowley

HIGHLIGHT:
John Kerry met with Ralph Nader today.; Interview with Senator Jeff Sessions, Senator Mark Pryor.; Interview with Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi.; Voters similar to Kerry favor Bush in polls.

BODY:

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

WOODRUFF: Democrats have hammered President Bush this week over high gas prices. A short time ago, I spoke with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who spoke about that issue and other important concerns on Capitol Hill. I first asked her about President Bush's response that if Congress had just passed legislation permitting drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, more oil would be flowing today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PELOSI: The president has a broken record on this subject. Instead of really moving forward in a way that would have kept down the cost of gasoline to the consumer and reduced our dependence on Middle Eastern oil, this administration, the Republicans in Congress, has insisted on focusing on an energy Bill that would do nothing to bring down the cost of gasoline. And the president knows-or let me put it another way. The president should know that drilling in the ANWAR is not the answer.

What we have to do is what Senator Kerry is talking about, is talk about fuel economy, talking about investments and energy efficiency, energy conservation. We're talking about moving forward in a positive way that will reduce our dependence not only on Middle Eastern oil, but on energy in general.

WOODRUFF: Another remedy that's been suggested by Democrats is looking at the strategic petroleum reserve. But this is something Bill Clinton tried back in 2000 and it really didn't make a difference. Why would it make a difference now?

PELOSI: Well, what the Democrats are talking about, and others, are not about drawing upon the reserve, but to divert some of the oil going into the reserve temporarily to increase the supply. We could also-and what Senator Kerry is talking about also is to urge the OPEC countries to increase their supply.

I don't know why the administration isn't using the leverage that it has at its disposal to do that. Indeed, the secretary of energy could do that today when he speaks to OPEC.

WOODRUFF: Representative Pelosi, you and other Democrats have talked about in the Republican-controlled House work is not getting done. And yet, the Republican leadership turns around and they say, well, in the House we've done Medicare prescription drugs, we've dealt with tax cuts to promote growth, we've voted to support the war in Iraq. It's the Senate that's been holding everything up.

PELOSI: The House Republicans are in complete denial as to what is a good work product for the American people. Millions of Americans are out of work, and they have done nothing to grow the economy to create jobs. In fact, their reckless economic policies are making economic growth more difficult.

And when it comes to prescription drug benefits, they ought not to even bring that subject up. It was a cruel hoax on America's seniors, and the more they know about it, the less they like it. And the most recent example of it is that card (ph) that people are saying is just too chaotic to deal with.

WOODRUFF: Let me ask you very quickly finally about congressional races. Democrats already are saying that the most opportunities they have to pick up seats in the House are in the so- called red states, Republican-controlled states. Not many opportunities in those key battleground states where John Kerry has a better shot at winning.

That being the case, does it really matter to Democrats that john Kerry is at the head of the ticket? Aren't you mainly going to be running on local issues?

PELOSI: It matters greatly to the Democrats and, indeed, should to the whole country that John Kerry is running at the head of the ticket. When he wins, we will have a great president who will lead us in a way that will make us all proud and regain for our country our status in the world as a leader that respects other countries. And, in fact, it is our first priority.

We are in some battleground states with the presidential, but we have had a plan for over a year and a half to win the House in the discrete districts where our races are. All of the generic polls-in fact, the most recent one was Friday. TIME Magazine-CNN poll, 13- point advantage to the Democrats.

That's generically. Individually, we're getting very excellent reports on the polls in our individual races that we're running on. We're getting ready for a big Democratic victory.

A Democrat in the White House with John Kerry, a Democratic Senate with Tom Daschle as the majority leader, and hopefully in the House. And I feel quite certain about it that we'll win the House and elect the first woman speaker in the history of our country. That would be me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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