Interview With Senator Joseph Lieberman
ZAHN: Two big-name Democrats are pulling out of the Iowa caucuses, the first nominating event of the 2004 race. Officials with the campaigns of General Wesley Clark and former vice presidential nominee Joe Lieberman made those announcement yesterday. And joining us tonight, Senator Joe Lieberman. Always good to see you, sir. Welcome.</s>SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D-CT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Good to be with you, Paula. Thank you.</s>ZAHN: So, Senator, are you pulling out of the Iowa caucuses because you can't win there?</s>LIEBERMAN: Well, we've decided not to compete in Iowa because the calendar has changed this time around. In the past, you had Iowa, then New Hampshire, and then a long gap. This time, a week after New Hampshire, there are seven more states holding primaries. So, in two weeks, you're going to have nine different states in which voting will occur. And I think each of us is going to have to decide where we can compete more effectively and where we could most effectively put our resources.</s>ZAHN: But, sir, isn't that a tacit acknowledgement that, if you could have won there, you would have kept your resources in the state?</s>LIEBERMAN: Yes, look, let me say two things directly in response to that. One is that it sure looks like the race in Iowa is between Dick Gephardt, who comes from right next door and won the Iowa caucuses in 1988, and Howard Dean. We felt that if I was prepared to spend enough time and resources there, that I could finish respectably, but that we could better use that money in other states where I expect to win. And so this was a redeployment of resources for that purpose. I don't think anyone thinks this nomination is going to be decided after Iowa or New Hampshire. It's probably going to go well into March.</s>ZAHN: How do you respond to Barbara Bush's comments that were aired on network television this morning, that you and your Democratic colleagues are a pretty sorry group?</s>LIEBERMAN: Obviously, I don't think we're a sorry group. I think we're a hearty group that wants to provide different leadership and give America a fresh start. And I admire a mother's love for her son, but the fact is that George Bush has failed to give America leadership that's continued our prosperity, that protected people's jobs, done anything to improve health care or education or homeland security, and also made us a nation that today is despised around the world, which is not where we were when he became president.</s>ZAHN: And finally tonight, Senator, given the president's eroding poll numbers, is this the Democrats' race to lose?</s>LIEBERMAN: Well, that's an optimistic view. The president is the president. And there's always authority that goes with that. But the president doesn't have a record to run on. And that's why I believe, if we nominate a candidate like myself, who can run from the center out, be strong on security and values, but be ready to take the president on, on his failed economic policies and on a social agenda that really is far to the right of most Americans, I think we're going to win. And I think people are losing confidence in George Bush. They want a leader who they can trust to make their lives better and to know that their government will be there to help them, not fall below a floor, but help them up. And that's why I'm very optimistic and working as hard as I am.</s>ZAHN: Senator Lieberman, we're going to have to leave it there this evening. Again, thank you for dropping by. Appreciate your time this evening.</s>LIEBERMAN: Thank you, Paula. Take care.</s>ZAHN: So Lieberman and Clark are out of the Iowa caucuses, which are just three months away. What will this mean for the race? CNN senior analyst Jeff Greenfield joins us now. Always good to see you, Jeff.</s>JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: Hi.</s>ZAHN: Do the Iowa caucuses matter anymore?</s>GREENFIELD: They don't matter nearly as much as Iowa would like them to and the press says they do. They took off after George McGovern made a decent showing there and Jimmy Carter jump-started his campaign in 1976. But the fact is, more often than not, you watch what happens in Iowa. New Hampshire, as often as not, reverses the results the next week, and we're off to races. And then the later primaries decide. But because it's the first time that you can count something, people like me rush there and we pour millions of dollars into the coffers of car rental agencies and hotels and restaurants, quite seriously.</s>ZAHN: Sure.</s>GREENFIELD: And Iowa will hold to that first-in-the-nation test, because they want the attention and the money. And they suddenly threaten people like Wesley Clark, well, if you get the nomination, what's going to happen in November when you come looking for our love and affection? It matters in the sense that it can eliminate somebody, like a Dick Gephardt. Got to do well there, because of the expectation game. But I think it's a greatly overrated event.</s>ZAHN: What does it mean to you once you get the nomination down the road, though, if you alienate a bunch of Democrats in Iowa?</s>GREENFIELD: Well, it's seven electoral votes that have been in the Democratic column since Michael Dukakis won the state in '88. And you'd just as soon not tick them off. The cost of it is that, for a guy like, say, Bill Bradley four years ago, he might have won New Hampshire had he not poured resources into Iowa. We saw John McCain in the Republican contest four years ago skip Iowa, clobber Bush in New Hampshire. The reason he lost the nomination had nothing to do with the fact that he didn't compete in Iowa. So you're right. The fear of alienating the Iowa voters is what drives a lot of these people into a process they'd just as soon skip.</s>ZAHN: Finally, General Wesley Clark has had some other problems. Some new pro-Bush remarks that he made in the year 2002 have surfaced. Let's all listen to this together.</s>WESLEY CLARK (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I tremendously admire -- and I think we all should -- the great work done by our commander in chief, our president, George Bush, and the men and women of the United States armed forces.</s>ZAHN: Right. You can see the chorus of his critics going, there he is again, the guy that is not a real Democrat.</s>GREENFIELD: Right. The interesting thing is, this comment was made after Afghanistan, which was one adventure that virtually everybody supported. And it worked out, at least in ousting the Taliban. And nobody was arguing we shouldn't have gone into Afghanistan. The problem for General Clark is that when people get a sense that you are in a certain category, every piece of evidence seems to add to it. This, to my way of measuring of it, isn't nearly as damaging as the speech he gave in May of 2001, where he sort of heaped praise on Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld, practically the whole Cabinet, at a time when Bush had already pretty clearly indicated the direction he was going. This one, however, will count against him because of that earlier comment. And it will raise -- you can hear them all on the campaign trail, John Kerry and other rivals, saying: It didn't take me until I decided to run for president to be Democrat. He is also skipping Iowa, of course, because he just got in too late to organize. Iowa is a state -- you just don't go vote. You sit in a school cafeteria for four hours and debate.</s>ZAHN: Sure.</s>GREENFIELD: And if you don't have organization, you just can't pull that race off.</s>ZAHN: Jeff Greenfield, thank you for dropping by tonight. Appreciate it.</s>GREENFIELD: Nice to see you.</s>ZAHN: The inside story of the rescue of Jessica Lynch. Why did an Iraqi man risk everything to save an American soldier? And two stronger than one? Can standing by her man turn public opinion in the midst of a scandal? And royal intrigue: Months before her tragic death, did Princess Diana know of a plot to kill her?