Clark Announces Tax Reform Plan; Kerry Expects to Place Third in Iowa
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: I am Judy Woodruff. And even though we are coming to you today from Los Angeles, like many fans of presidential politics, our hearts are in Iowa. Exactly two weeks before the first big contest of this election year, most of the '04 Democrats are stumping in Iowa, including front-runner Howard Dean, who is preparing to pick up another big name endorsement. Let's check in now with our senior political correspondent Candy Crowley. She's reporting for us today from Des Moines -- Candy.</s>CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Judy. I know it's still good morning for you there in California. I just wanted to assure you, you could probably see over my right-hand shoulder John Kerry who, of course, you're going to interview a little later on. We've been covering a speech he just gave about special interests versus the interests of the middle class. It will probably not come as a shock to him, but certainly was a disappointment to learn that a former colleague, Senator Bill Bradley of New Jersey, will tomorrow endorse Howard Dean, obviously, John Kerry's chief rival. Bradley decided to endorse Dean, and we are told that tomorrow morning in Manchester they will make the official announcement, and then on here to Des Moines, where they will make it again, much as they did with Al Gore. And that really is the point here. Maybe when you look at the former senator from New Jersey Bill Bradley, and said, "Well, he's going to endorse Howard Dean," it might not have that big of a pow. But when you put that together with the fact that former vice president Al Gore has endorsed Howard Dean it's kind of a daily double. Here are the two main players in 2000 for the Democrats, now saying that they will support Howard Dean, that they endorse Howard Dean. This is another boost for him, and another disappointment no doubt from his colleagues, including John Kerry.</s>WOODRUFF: Well, Candy, we are today exactly two weeks from the Iowa caucuses. You've obviously been following the candidates, talking to people on the ground there. What are you hearing? What's the state of this race right now?</s>CROWLEY: Well, the state of the race is that obviously in Iowa, what all of them would like to do, is slow down Howard Dean's momentum. The caucuses, as you know, Judy, are very hard to predict what's going to happen. So what everyone is doing now is reaching out for those undecided voters saying, look, you know, here's your choice. John Kerry obviously is here selling both his experience, as well as what he calls his passion for middle-class values, and for those things, those forgotten middle-class Americans. So he is here, I'm told, to give a very passionate speech. Prior to this one, here again it was about corporate interests and accusing the Bush White House of allowing special interests to take over legislative writing. We have others who are out in the field. Congressman Gephardt, with the most to lose here in Iowa, campaigning very hard on his credentials, saying this is no time for on-the-job training. The others, John Edwards giving a speech tomorrow, talking about No Child Left Behind. All of them meeting with caucus goers, people they expect to show up on what may be a snowy 19th of January here in Iowa, trying to reach out to those undecided and move them over into their -- into their side. What I'm told here by some experts that I talked to this morning is that they believe Howard Dean had again, the most visible, that probably the undecideds may break to the others. The problem, as you know, there are eight others, and you divide up that vote amongst the undecided, it gets pretty diffused. So Howard Dean still the man of the moment, still the guy to beat -- Judy.</s>WOODRUFF: All right. It's -- No matter what the weather is, and we're reading there's a big snowstorm there, this is clearly crunch time. Those candidates have to get out. They have to meet the voters. It's down to the wire in Iowa. Candy, thank you very much. We're going to be talking to you every day this week. Thanks very much. Well, now we head back east to New Hampshire where Wesley Clark is trying to position himself as an antidote to Howard Dean. Today, Clark proposed what he calls the most sweeping tax reform plan in years. CNN's Dan Lothian reports from Nashua.</s>DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wesley Clark, who has ruled out settling for the job of vice president, today was making his case for the top job. Speaking at a presidential forum in Nashua, New Hampshire, Clark unveiled a sweeping tax reform plan which he says will benefit working families.</s>GEN. WESLEY CLARK (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Families of four, making under $50,000 a year, will not pay a single penny in federal income tax. All tax paying families with children that make under $100,000 a year will get a tax cut. I'll close the corporate loopholes that give companies tax breaks for moving their headquarters and revenue overseas. Now the second thing we're going to do under my tax reform plan is go to those families with incomes greater than $1 million a year and ask that they pay a five percentage point higher tax rate.</s>LOTHIAN: Clark introduced a New Hampshire couple with a combined income of a little more than $45,000 a year to highlight his case of relief for American families. The retired general trails the front-runner, Howard Dean, by a wide margin here in New Hampshire. He's hoping to make up some ground with just weeks to go before the first contests in Iowa and New Hampshire. Dan Lothian, CNN, Raymond, New Hampshire.</s>WOODRUFF: Senator Joe Lieberman is also in the Granite State. He leads the headlines in our "Campaign News Daily." Senator Lieberman told a group of workers this morning that there is too much partisanship in Washington. Lieberman said his 30-year record in Congress proved that he can work across party lines. He also said that he would appoint Republicans and independents to posts inside his administration. Back in Iowa, John Edwards has a full day of meetings planned with the party faithful, beginning this morning in Des Moines. Edwards planned five separate meetings today with Democratic Party activists in five different Iowa cities. Also in Iowa today, John Kerry proposed an economic package that includes billions of dollars to help states with budget problems. Kerry also proposed an increase in the minimum wage, and he pledged to keep U.S. jobs from moving overseas.</s>SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will scour that tax code, and when I'm president, we will not leave one reward or one incentive for one Benedict Arnold company or CEO that want to abandon the interests of America, take their money and jobs overseas. We're not going to help them to do that.</s>WOODRUFF: Senator Kerry joins us now from Des Moines, Iowa. Senator, thank you very much for talking with me. We appreciate it.</s>KERRY: I'm glad to be with you. Thank you.</s>WOODRUFF: Senator, first about last night's debate. You and several of your fellow Democrats went after Howard Dean. You differed with him on taxes. You said he doesn't have the ability to stand up to President Bush. But the consensus after the debate is that these attacks, and previous attacks, are not hurting Howard Dean. Are you confident that this is the way for you to win the nomination, to go after him?</s>KERRY: Well, when you say the consensus, you're talking about, you know, sort of the pundit world. Voters are listening. Voters want to know if you're going to raise their taxes or not raise their taxes. Howard Dean is going to raise taxes on middle class Americans. If you have two kids, you're going to pay an extra $2,500, $3,000. Now look, these are real differences. This isn't going after somebody. This is pointing out a difference in an approach to a policy choice that has an impact on people's lives. I don't want to raise taxes on the middle class. I'm going to balance the budget, and I'm going to cut the deficit in half in four years. But I don't want to punish the middle class for George Bush's mistakes.</s>WOODRUFF: But aren't you put then, Senator, in a position of defending the president's tax cut plan?</s>KERRY: No, I'm not.</s>WOODRUFF: Defending the president?</s>KERRY: I'm not. No, I'm not, because the president -- I voted against the president's tax cuts. Because the president's tax cut includes an enormous tax cut for the wealthiest Americans that we can't afford. I'm going to roll that back. I'm going to roll back the tax cut for the wealthy so we have the money. For people earning more than $200,000 a year, they're not going to get the tax cut. We're going to invest in health care for Americans. And we're going to invest in education, and other things. And we're going to shut down the loopholes that let companies go to Bermuda, and use tax advantages to dump the Bill on the rest of America. I think that's wrong.</s>WOODRUFF: Senator, what about Wesley Clark's plan that he outlined today to eliminate taxes for all families earning $50,000 and under, and to cut taxes for all families with children under $100,000? What about that proposal?</s>KERRY: I haven't seen the proposal. Everybody's going to have their own proposal. What I know is we need to be able to invest in education. We need to be able to invest in health care for America. I have a health care plan that will lower the cost of health care for all those people who work today who get their health care at the place they work. Because employers and employees alike are going crazy with the increased premiums, increased deductibles, increased copays, and they can't afford it anymore. We've got to get control of health care costs. And I give people an enormous tax cut by actually reducing the burden of their health care.</s>WOODRUFF: Senator, you're out there talking about the economy and about taxes at a time when the economy seems to be roaring back. We've got record low interest rates. You've got productivity is up. The economy's growing. Even unemployment is dropping. Are you sure that this isn't an issue that the Democrats really can't win on up against the president?</s>KERRY: No. Because corporations have had a 46 percent increase in their profits, but the workers of America, people who earn their wages, have had only a three cent increase. And that is literally the lowest amount in 40 years. It's also a jobless recovery. I mean, George Bush's recovery works for the company but it doesn't work for the people in America who are looking for work. And he has the worst job creation record since Herbert Hoover was president. I hope we have a great economy next year. The economy is not the only issue. We need health care for Americans. We need to protect the environment. We need to be fixing our schools. And changing No Child Left Behind, because the president is leaving millions of children behind. There is an extraordinary agenda, and I intend to lead and address that agenda.</s>WOODRUFF: Senator, quickly, a question about politics in Iowa. Don't you need to come in at least second in Iowa in order to preserve your candidacy in New Hampshire, the next contest?</s>KERRY: I don't believe -- look, David Yepson (ph), who is the expert on Iowa, says there are three tickets out of Iowa. And I've always campaigned with the notion that I wanted one of those tickets. But most people have suggested that I'm, you know, going to be in third place. I think we're moving out here. I feel a lot of energy. I feel terrific about my campaign. People are listening. We're working hard. And it's the voters out here who are going to decide. And I respect that. I think other people should, too.</s>WOODRUFF: So you're saying you can come in third in Iowa and still be in a strong position in New Hampshire?</s>KERRY: I'm not talking about places, positions. I'm talking about what matters to the people of Iowa. I'm going to work for every vote that I can work for. I'm going to do the best I can. And the voters will decide where we come in. So we don't need to pre-decide it today. What I'm going to do is take my message about fairness, about making the economy work for Americans, about having a president who's willing to fight...</s>WOODRUFF: All right.</s>KERRY: ... for working people in America who are having a harder and harder time making ends meet.</s>WOODRUFF: You are right, Senator. It's the voters who are going to speak. And we thank you very much for talking with us today. We'll see you on the campaign trail.</s>KERRY: Nice to be with you.</s>WOODRUFF: Thank you.</s>KERRY: Indeed. Thank you.</s>WOODRUFF: Well, even as all the rivals of Howard Dean try to take him down, the spotlight on him keeps getting bigger. Up next, Dean as a cover story. We're going to get a behind the scenes take on the candidate, and whether all the publicity he's getting is a mixed blessing. Plus, a new twist on gun politics, with help from a major retailer. And later, President Bush revisits a centerpiece of his domestic agenda. Will education reform help or hurt him on election day? This is INSIDE POLITICS, the place for campaign news.