ABC "Good Morning America" - Transcript

Interview

ABC "Good Morning America" - Transcript

MR. CUOMO: Good morning, Senator Clinton, thank you for joining us.

SEN. CLINTON: Good morning, Chris.

MR. CUOMO: So, it's no news to you that the race has tightened. They're saying Barack is now up in Iowa. The lead has shrunk in New Hampshire. Troubling in polls that people who want change say they want Obama. So, let me ask you, what can you do to change that perception in the 2-and-a-half weeks before the caucus?

SEN. CLINTON: Well, Chris, I don't agree with the premise of what you just said. I'm having a great time in this campaign. I was thrilled and honored to get the Des Moines Register endorsement, which made a very strong case for my candidacy. I'm on a 99-county blitz around Iowa with a lot of my friends literally from childhood all the way to people that I've worked for and helped in New York.

MR. CUOMO: Do you dismiss any of the polls and the commentators who say things have tightened up?

SEN. CLINTON: Well, what I'm saying is I don't pay much attention to it. I've done this for a very long time, and I am much more interested in how I feel and how I look in people's eyes and what they tell me, and the endorsements that I'm getting -- Congressman Leonard Boswell from Iowa, Bob Kerrey yesterday. There's just an enormous amount of positive energy.

MR. CUOMO: You came out and apologized for what your campaign co-chair in New Hampshire, Bill Shaheen, said about Obama's drug past. Let me just ask you, we've been told that Shaheen stepped down, but what does that mean? Is he still involved with your campaign or is he gone?

SEN. CLINTON: Well, he did step down, and he's not. And we took action as soon as it happened. You know, this campaign has to be about the positive changes that each of us is proposing for America. I have a lot of experience actually bringing positive change. People want change. But you know, there are different ways of bringing change. Some people in our campaign among all of the candidates say that you bring change by demanding it, some people say you bring it by hoping for it. I believe you bring change by hard work.

MR. CUOMO: Did you --

SEN. CLINTON: That's what I've done all my life. I think that's what America's ready for.

MR. CUOMO: Did you bring change with Shaheen? Is he really out of the campaign, or is this just a temporary thing? That's what I'm asking you.

SEN. CLINTON: No, no, no. You know, he stepped down and he apologized, and I did as well. And that's what we do when we hear or learn of something that we don't approve or condone. We've done it before. We'll do it again, because that's not the kind of campaign we're running.

MR. CUOMO: Your husband has said that a vote for Obama is somewhat rolling the dice. Do you agree with that?

SEN. CLINTON: Well, I'm very proud to have Bill's help in this campaign. He is working really hard, he's providing a lot of energy as he goes around the country on my behalf. But this campaign is about me and my ideas. It's about what I bring to the table, what I will do as president. That's the point that the Des Moines Register made in their editorial. And they really put us through their paces. We had grueling interviews, we answered lots of questions, they saw all of the candidates. And at the end of it, they concluded that America needs a leader who can start on day one to do what we have to do here at home and around the world, and they said I was that leader.

So, I think that's the tone and the tenor of the campaign. It's certainly what I see and feel as I travel around Iowa on our 99-county blitz.

MR. CUOMO: I know that you want to stand for what you say and only what you say, but the former president is out there, and he's giving a lot of opinions about things, and he does represent the campaign, I'm sure you'd acknowledge that. I want you to deal with this situation for me. Former president Clinton is out there saying Obama's not the right candidate because he doesn't have the experience yet, even if he's got a lot of plans for the future. Your husband was viewed the same way when he ran: short on national and foreign experience, long on commitment for change in the future. Do you think that's sending a mixed message?

SEN. CLINTON: Oh, not at all. You know, by the time he ran, he was America's most senior-serving governor. He had a lot of experience. But, you know, your spouse gets to stand up for you, gets to speak for you, just like, you know, the wives of everybody else running. I don't see that, you know, we have to respond to everything that is said by anybody else, and I am very glad that Bill is out there making the case for me.

MR. CUOMO: You've been very open when mistakes have been made. You say this was wrong, something else we should have done differently. So far, as you look at the last couple of weeks, what's been the biggest mistake you've made?

SEN. CLINTON: Well, I don't think of it that way. You know, a campaign is like life. Everything doesn't go perfectly every day. You get up and you keep going. I mean, you learn more about somebody by how they respond when things are going perfectly than if they just keep rolling along without any interruption. I feel very good about where this campaign is.

MR. CUOMO: All right. And we want to thank the senator for joining us from Iowa this morning.

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