Comment Could Cost McAuliffe DNC Chairmanship
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, people of color is considered politically correct. Colored people is not. The difference could be politically costly to one prominent Democrat. For more on the semantic hubbub and what it could mean to the man in line to become Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, we turn to CNN's Bob Franken at our bureau in Washington. Good morning, Bob.</s>BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles. Terry McAuliffe says he meant to say people of color when he was responding to a question about intimidation. Others in the audience say that he said colored people. McAuliffe says he didn't mean it. The people who are demanding that he apologize to the entire Democratic National Committee meeting have not heard that direct apology yet, although a spokesperson said it was unintentional, that he got his phrases mixed up. Now, the question is will this stop, will it put any obstacles in the campaign for McAuliffe to become Chairman of the DNC, which up until now has been unstoppable.</s>TERRY MCAULIFFE: How are you today? Terry McAuliffe.</s>FRANKEN (voice-over): He's running for Democratic Chairman in his usual, highest energy style. Terry McAuliffe hasn't raised millions upon millions of dollars for the party by forgetting to touch any of the bases.</s>MCAULIFFE: I'm here to ask you for your vote because I don't take anything for granted.</s>FRANKEN: After locking up the vast majority of the party's voting members, McAuliffe is expected to cruise to victory in Saturday's election. But there's grumbling that he got here by pulling a fast one, that Washington the help of his close friend former President Bill Clinton, McAuliffe jumped into the race in December before anyone else could catch his breath.</s>MAYNARD JACKSON, DNC CHAIRMAN CANDIDATE: Good morning, how are you doing?</s>FRANKEN: His only opponent, former Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson, criticizes what he calls McAuliffe's unfair advantage in the race.</s>JACKSON: I want you to know that argument has been particularly unsuccessful.</s>FRANKEN: Jackson has been working the very same rooms, the same party constituency groups as McAuliffe, running what he himself calls an uphill battle. Meanwhile, Bill Clinton is still looming just barely in the background. McAuliffe's campaign is tightly organized by Harold Ickes, long time operative for both the former President and for Hillary Rodham Clinton, a newly elected Senator from New York. That's led to charges that McAuliffe would run the party as a surrogate for both Clintons.</s>HAROLD ICKES, MCAULIFFE SUPPORTER: This is Terry McAuliffe. He's running on his own. He's his own person. He's called everybody. I don't think the President's made one telephone call.</s>FRANKEN: And, in fact, Clinton will not appear at this meeting on behalf of his long time friend. Aides felt the negative press he's getting right now concerning the questionable pardons and his pricey New York office would be a distraction to McAuliffe's victory.</s>FRANKEN: And now McAuliffe has other distractions. It's going to be an interesting point to see if the comments that are attributed to him become a factor in the voting. He's been meeting with Jackson over a period of days, trying to come to some sort of accommodation. Of course, Miles, it'll be interesting to see if this latest flap influences those meetings, influences the possibility of a deal. They're voting this morning, by the way, on whether it's McAuliffe or Jackson.</s>O'BRIEN: So, what's your best guess, a tempest in a teapot or something real?</s>FRANKEN: Well, it's going to be a tempest. The question is does McAuliffe decide to move very decisively to make an apology, to say that if I did say that it was a mistake? I suspect what that will mean is is that everybody will settle down. It does, of course, give some strength to Maynard Jackson, who's trying to get a position of influence in a McAuliffe led Democratic National Committee.</s>O'BRIEN: All right, Mr. Bob Franken, just the first of many appearances this morning.