CNN Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics Transcript

CNN Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics
September 3, 2003 Wednesday

HEADLINE: Interview With John Kerry; Arnold Schwarzenegger Is In Long Beach, Not At The Debate; Overview Of Democratic Presidential Primary

GUESTS: John Kerry, Wesley Clark, Kathleen Sullivan

BYLINE: Judy Woodruff

HIGHLIGHT:
Cutting to the chase in New Hampshire, where presidential politics is a primary concern. As the senator brings his announcement tour to New Hampshire, Judy asks him if needs to shake things up. Arnold Schwarzenegger out in California talking to a crowd on this day when he is not participating in a debate.

BODY:
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: The John Kerry campaign plans to begin running ads here in the state of New Hampshire tomorrow. As based on his swing through this state, similar spots are airing in Iowa and pictures from his appearance there yesterday.

Well, I caught up with John Kerry in New Hampshire today and I started by asking him how much trouble he is in because of the surge of Howard Dean.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOODRUFF: How much trouble are you in?

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're not in trouble, Judy. And I sort of almost object to the sense of that. It's—you know, 66 percent of the people in America don't even know who's running for president yet. I'm not relaunching my campaign, I'm announcing my campaign. This is the first major announcement we've done.

We're starting, we're doing very well. I have an extraordinary group of people on the ground in Iowa, an extraordinary group New Hampshire. There are many things happen behind the scenes.

I've not advertised. We've done no television. Howard Dean and others have. We're just getting going. An you wait and see. I think we're going do exactly what we need to do.

WOODRUFF: We've talked this week to a number of voters here in New Hampshire, some undecided Democrats. A number of them said they wish you hadn't voted the way you did on Iraq. And one of them in fact said, Well, I think he's just another politician and he thinks it's his turn.

What do you say right now to the voters of New Hampshire who are thinking these kinds of things?

KERRY: I say to the voters of New Hampshire it's critical to choose somebody to be president who is ready to be president, who has the experience, the leadership, proven leadership skills and the ability to take this nation through a very difficult period in our history.

It is not the time for on-the-job training in foreign policy and national security issues. It's the time for real leadership.

I voted correctly on the issue of going to the United Nations and threatening force—legitimate, real, credible threat of force—in order to hold Saddam Hussein accountable and make our country safer.

Regrettably, this president did not use that properly. And that's the difference in a president. Our president needed to go to the United Nations and threaten force because, Judy, Hans Blix and his inspectors would never have gotten into Iraq without a legitimate threat of force.

WOODRUFF: You said in your speech yesterday it was wrong to rush to war without building an international coalition. But the resolution you voted for gave the president the authority to go to war without having to have an international coalition.

(CROSSTALK)

KERRY: You know us better than that. You're a professional. You know how this works.

The president and Colin Powell said to us, They're going to build the coalition. Colin Powell came to our committee and said that war would be the last resort and the only reasons were weapons of mass destruction. Now there's more than just the vote. I think the vote was the right thing to do.

Bill Clinton, incidentally, went into Kosovo without any authorization from Congress. The president didn't need our authorization. What we were doing was creating a one-voice message to the United Nations, the world and Saddam Hussein. It was the right message to send and I stand by it.

WOODRUFF: But the resolution you voted for didn't require the international coalition...

KERRY: No, Judy, but the president ought to be held to his word. No, no, no, no. I said it then. I was very clear.

WOODRUFF: But you still voted with the president.

KERRY: You bet I did, because it was the right thing to do to give the president the threat of force in order to force Saddam Hussein to inspect the inspectors. We've just been through four years with no inspectors.

WOODRUFF: You said a few days ago that Howard Dean had zero experience in international affairs. I put that comment to him when I interviewed him a couple days ago and he pointed out that he's been to 50 countries, at least, outside the United States. He has more foreign policy experience than Ronald Reagan did when he was elected president.

KERRY: Well if he thinks traveling to a country is foreign policy experience that shows his inexperience. Dealing with nations in the context of treaties, arms control, national security issue, war and peace, those are the tests of experience and he does not have experience in dealing with that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOODRUFF: John Kerry, talking with me just this afternoon in Manchester, New Hampshire. We'll have more of that interview with Senator Kerry tomorrow on INSIDE POLITICS.

Content and programming Copyright 2003 Cable News Network Transcribed under license by FDCH e-Media, Inc.