Clinton Fundraiser Geraldine Ferraro Out
ROBERTS: 22 minutes after the hour. Just about an hour from now, we're expecting President Bush to come out in the White House and talk about the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The House is expected to vote on a bill today that does not include a provision for retroactive immunity for the telecommunications companies. Of course, President Bush is insisting that any bill going forward has that provision. No word on whether he would veto that bill the way that the House has written it. And of course, they would have to have some sort of reconciliation with the Senate on that, anyway, and the Senate has voted to give the retroactive immunity. So expecting President Bush to come out about an hour from now to talk more about that and, of course, we'll carry that live right here on CNN. Clinton fundraiser Geraldine Ferraro was out, no longer associated with Senator Hillary Clinton's fund-raising team. The former vice presidential candidate resigned after injecting race into the campaign by telling a newspaper, quote, "If Obama was white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman, he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is and the country is caught up in it." So what's the fallout from Ferraro's comments and will it impact the April vote in Pennsylvania? Joining me now to talk about this and other issues in the campaign, Democratic strategist Stephanie Cutter and Republican strategist, Kevin Madden and former spokesman for Mitt Romney's campaign. Good morning to both of you. Hey, before we get into Ferraro, let's talk about Florida. So there's a plan out there, Stephanie, for the Democrats to have some sort of hybrid mail-in and in-person vote.</s>STEPHANIE CUTTER, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Right.</s>ROBERTS: But apparently, the mail-in part of that may be illegal under Florida state law? Where's this all going? You know, I think that we've got to find a way to resolve this. And I think both campaigns are working with the Democratic Party and that party in Florida to find a resolution. But we have to make sure that it has the support of Florida Democrats and this mail-in plan doesn't. A House delegation came out against it yesterday and that it's legal. We can't have a second vote that's less legitimate than the first vote. So we have to figure it out soon and get back to the business of planning it.</s>ROBERTS: Is it OK, your party's responsible for all of this. And the Republican control Florida legislature that moved the date up. You folks just sit back saying -- wait and watch the Democrats fallen apart.</s>KEVIN MADDEN, FORMER ROMNEY CAMPAIGN SPOKESMAN: I could have sworn the Republicans got through a primary vote in Florida this year without any problem. And I think that every day that this goes unresolved, it adds more chaos to the situation, and more chaos is good for the Republicans in the general nominations. You know, I was joking around with Stephanie before as I've been calling it a parade. We sit on the curb and clap as it goes by.</s>CUTTER: More like a circus.</s>ROBERTS: Could this really benefit McCain? They're going to be lingering ill-feelings? Is there any way to re-do Florida in a way that everybody thinks is fair?</s>MADDEN: Well, you know, I don't know. I think that's going to be -- that's a lot of the internal squabbling that the Democrats have to figure out. But this gives John McCain more time to consolidate conservative, built the party organization, and raise more money while they continue to squabble.</s>ROBERTS: Let's turn to Ferraro. The Obama reaction to Ferraro's comments yesterday was pretty interesting. Let's listen to it.</s>OBAMA: I think that her comments were ridiculous. I think they were wrong-headed.</s>ROBERTS: Searching there for just the right word to use to describe it. David Axelrod is campaign strategist, communications director said Ferraro's comments are, quote, "Part of an insidious pattern that needs to be addressed." Is there a pattern here that Clinton campaign to raise this issue of race?</s>CUTTER: Well, I don't think you can conclude that the Clinton campaign asked Ferraro to say that. And you know, they disavowed the remark and she has now resigned from the finance committee. I think that any time Democrat are talking about race or advantages or disadvantages somebody has because of their color or gender, it's not a good day for Democrats. I mean, we have two historic campaigns. The first woman and the first African-American serious nominees for our party. We're turning out record numbers of voters, raising record amounts of money. We have incredible energy in our base and this type of squabbling is divisive. And it's not a good day for the Democratic Party.</s>ROBERTS: Kevin, Initially Hillary Clinton distanced herself from Geraldine Ferraro's remarks. Did not repudiate them. She went a little bit further on that yesterday saying that she did reject those remarks but she added this. Listen.</s>CLINTON: You know, one of his top advisers had to resign last week over something she said about me. So we are aware that this happens, but we are particularly sensitive to it, because of the nature of this campaign, and who each of us is.</s>ROBERTS: So she says, look, I'm sorry about that. But look at what he did, too. The fact that Samantha Power called her a monster. I mean, we've got these advisers that are just kind of running around saying all of these things that many people believe are intemperate and you ran a pretty tight ship there with your campaign. Would you let your advisers run around saying this?</s>MADDEN: Well, look, you know I think Stephanie's right. I mean I think, this was not a concerted effort but this becomes a problem for the campaign, becomes a major distraction when surrogates go out and be analysts. Surrogates, their job is to go out there and be validated. They're out there to stand by the candidate on issues. I think this is very much a product of surrogates who are not doing their job right. And also secondly, it's also a product of the fact that both candidates are not that far apart on the issues. So a lot of these very tangential issues are coming up related to race and gender, and who said what when. And that's where this campaign is going. I don't think it serves either candidate very well.</s>ROBERTS: So real quick with Stephanie. Six weeks left to the primary</s>CUTTER: I mean, it's going to be a hard-fought race. Kevin's right. There's very little that distinguish these two candidates on policy issues. So, you know, Democrats have to be careful that it doesn't get too negative. You know, as McCain is organizing and raising money, and getting his positions out there, we're driving up our negatives. And the one year where everything is going in our favor, we have a chance to blow of because of our negative campaigning.</s>ROBERTS: Well, at the very least, you're staying in the headlines.</s>CUTTER: Exactly.</s>ROBERTS: Stephanie Cutter and Kevin Madden, good to see you. Thanks for coming in. Kiran? Oh, actually, sorry. I got one more thing to do. Sorry. Now, to this morning's "Quick Vote" question. What should Florida do about its delegate dilemma? Right now, 15 percent of you say they should issue mail-in ballots, 40 percent say hold another election, 45 percent say have a committee decide at the convention. Cast your vote for us this morning at cnn.com. Now to Kiran.</s>CHETRY: Well, you're watching the most news in the morning. It is the mother of all energy savers. It's a zero net energy structure. Well, personal finance editor, Gerri Willis, is going to tell us exactly what they are and when we'll see one built in Massachusetts. Also, we know the identity of the woman allegedly at the center of the Eliot Spitzer Sex Scandal. Earlier this morning, I spoke with her friends who found out about her apparent double life, along with the rest of the world. What they revealed and what is next for their friend when AMERICAN MORNING returns.