CNN Live Event-Transcript
CNN
SHOW: CNN LIVE EVENT/SPECIAL 01:00
February 4, 2004 Wednesday
HEADLINE: Twists, Turns in Democratic Primaries; French Debate Banning Head Scarves in Schools
GUESTS: Darrell Issa, Joel Connelly
BYLINE: Aaron Brown, Kelly Wallace, Frank Buckley, Candy Crowley, Dan Lothian, Bruce Morton, Bill Schneider, Donna Brazile, Gary Tuchman, Jim Bittermann
HIGHLIGHT:
Senator John Kerry wakes up today with five more states in his corner after Tuesday's voting, but Senator John Kerry is still in the hunt for the Democratic presidential bid after winning the South Carolina primary.
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BROWN: More to talk about here. It is February 4 the last time we looked.
CNN analyst Donna Brazile is with us. She was Al Gore's campaign manager back in 2000. Representative Darrell Issa of California, a Republican, joins us from Washington. We're glad that both stayed up late to spend some time chatting on what has been an interesting night.
Donna, is the end near?
DONNA BRAZILE, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I don't believe it is. Look, over the next six days, you have some very important contests, including the Michigan caucuses, the Virginia primary. You also have Tennessee on the horizon.
I believe these candidates will continue to cherry pick states that they believe they can win in order to try to catch up with John Kerry, who will continue to run a very strong national campaign.
BROWN: I heard rumblings today that within organized labor, there is a desire now to start to move behind Kerry a little more forcefully to try and put pressure on some of the others to perhaps end it earlier than they might like. Did you hear any of that?
BRAZILE: Absolutely. Look, the American Federation of Teachers, one of the largest unions, will be endorsing John Kerry tomorrow. We keep hearing word that the Service Employees Union is looking to, you know, help Howard Dean over the next, you know, two or three days, but they are not going to spend all of their resources on a lost cause.
I am sure that organized labor, which, as you well know in the Democratic Party is a very, very important element of the Democratic victories, the house of labor will want to come together and unify behind one campaign and one candidate.
BROWN: Congressman, weigh in on all of this. You must be a little bit bemused by it all to see this fighting going on, on the other side. At the same time, it is a bit sobering to see Democrats so united, I would think, for a single cause, which is to defeat the president.
REP. DARRELL ISSA (R), CALIFORNIA: Well, I certainly agree with Donna that the unions are going to play a heavy part in making this final cut in all likelihood in favor of Kerry.
What I think is interesting tonight, though, is that once and for all, if you will, the Clinton legacy has been rejected. The idea that you can run the way Joe Lieberman did, as a centrist or a conservative Democrat, has been resoundingly defeated.
Basically, it's going to be a question of-and you said it earlier-liberal or more liberal. Dean isn't acceptable because he's unstable and unpredictable. But Kerry has on key issues a 100 percent voting record with Senator Kennedy and a 94 percent lifetime voting record with Senator Kennedy.
So, there's no question that even though he talks tough, he's voted seven times against supporting the military. He's voted for reductions in military spending. He promises veterans now, but where has he been for, you know, the last two decades?
BROWN: This-you get-your talking points sound pretty well, Congressman, and honestly I mean that respectfully. I understand the game that's in play here.
What you are setting up, it seems to me, is a classic, almost literal redo of where we were in 1988.
ISSA: Well, I think there is a legitimate redo. The question is, the president has been faced with a war that we didn't ask for, an attack that we didn't expect, and a history of al Qaeda-building under the previous administration. He has reacted strongly and firmly with the best intelligence available. The American people know that.
Would they like the war to be going better? Would they like yellow alerts to end? Of course. But I think when they start evaluating, albeit a war hero, in Senator Kerry against a strong leader who has conducted this war in the best possible fashion that anyone, including Senator Kerry can actually talk about, what would he have done differently?
Nobody has a, well, I would have done this specifically. They say, well, I would have talked longer. I would have done this longer. The fact is, you know, Senator Kerry right now is getting a bump because he's able to do things like imply that service in the National Guard isn't equivalent to service in any other part of our active or reserve forces.
BROWN: Well, just on that point. I really don't want to go down this road. But come on here for a second. A lot of us-and I include myself in this-were able to avoid service in Vietnam because we got into the Reserves. Now, I'm not saying the president was AWOL or any of that stuff. But if that's going to be the issue, that's a kind of dangerous road for you guys to be walking down, isn't it?
ISSA: No, it's not. Look, it's not my issue. It's Senator Kerry's issue. It's Terry McAuliffe's issue.
The fact is, when I served in 1970 and went through basic training, I went through with National Guardsmen, Reservists, and active guys like myself, regular Army. And I didn't know whether I was going to Vietnam in 1970. What I did know is some of the National Guardsmen going through basic with me their units were already in Vietnam.
BROWN: I understand.
ISSA: And to sell short Reserve or National Guard duty as dodging the draft when so many people I serve with in the House and the Senate, so many people, including our last president, clearly avoided all military service, I think is doing a disservice to the National Guard and to the Reserve forces, particularly at a time when Iraq and Afghanistan are filled with those forces.
BROWN: That's different times, but a fair point. I really don't want to go-I'm going to let the candidates go down that road if they want.
ISSA: Fair enough.
BROWN: Donna, take the last word on this. Can the Democrats, do you believe in your heart, neutralize the national security issue so that they can make this a campaign ultimately about those other things that polls suggest they run better on-the economy, health care, and you know the rest?
BRAZILE: That's correct. Look, I do believe that Democrats can make a credible case that as a party that and that we can both-we can lead America into a new century of peace and prosperity.
I also believe that Senator John Kerry is not Michael Dukakis. I worked for Michael Dukakis. He's not Michael Dukakis. He's not going to allow the Republicans to paint him as some liberal out-of-touch, out-of-the-mainstream type of individual. This is a guy who, when Bill Clinton wanted to balance the budget, he was there. When Bill Clinton wanted to end welfare as we knew it, he was there.
John Kerry is someone who is in the mainstream of our party. Just because he grew up and lives in Massachusetts does not mean that people in America and middle-America will not embrace him. Look at what happened today in Missouri. And, of course, Congressman, he's coming out to California soon, and I'm sure he's going to wipe some cross out there as well.
BROWN: Donna, it's good...
ISSA: I look forward to seeing him there. But let's not forget that in 1991, this was Senator Kerry who voted against the first Gulf War, and now he wants to talk about how he'd be tougher on defense. When we had a clear and present danger with Saddam...
BROWN: Congressman...
ISSA: ... and the world rallied, he went away.
BRAZILE: That's going to be a debate...
BROWN: All right, both of you...
BRAZILE: That's going to be a debate that John Kerry will likely have with George Bush.
BROWN: I'll leave the line open.
ISSA: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
BROWN: You guys can keep going, but I've got to take a break here. Thank you both for staying up. We'll be right back.
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