HEADLINE: U.S. SENATOR ORRIN HATCH (R-UT) INTERVIEWED ON MSNBC'S "EQUAL TIME"
SPEAKERS:
PAUL BEGALA, CO-HOST:
OLIVER NORTH, CO-HOST
U.S. SENATOR ORRIN HATCH (R-UT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HATCH: We really need the leader of the free world to be a person of candor, honesty, intelligence and ability. I want to serve you. And if you'll give me the chance, I guarantee I won't let you down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NORTH: Welcome back.
That was Republican Senator Orrin Hatch last night in Phoenix, explaining why he should be the next president of the United States. He joins us now, "Front & Center," from Los Angeles.
Senator, last night seemed to be one of those gentlemanly exchanges for which the Republican Party is getting to be well known.
HATCH: I'm afraid so. Well, they're all good guys. Every one of them's a good person. And you know, it's hard toit's hard to get mad at any of them. So I enjoy being with them.
NORTH: Well, I want to share just with some of our viewers who may not have seen one of the exchanges last night. You and Governor George W. Bush discussing who should be who's vice president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HATCH: My only problem with you, Governor, is that you've only had four and going into your fifth year of governorship in a constitutionally weak governorship. And frankly, I really believe that you need more experience before you become president of the United States. That's why I'm thinking of you as a vice presidential candidate.
(APPLAUSE)
HATCH: Because if you hadif you hadjust thinkjust think, Ronald Reagan picked your father because he had foreign policy experience. Somebody suggested the other day they shouldyou should pick me because I have foreign policy experience. They've got it all wrong. I should be president. You should have eight years with me and boy, you'll make a heck of a president after eight years. I'll tell you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NORTH: Now, actually one of the high points of last night's debate from, I think, anyone's perspective, good humor and I think all around bonhomie. But my question for you, sir, is that John McCain has said he will not serve as vice president. You've not said that.
HATCH: No, I haven't said that, but on the other hand, I don't intend to either. I intend to be president. I'm going to do the best I can to win. I filed late, of course. I'm running a campaign for the peoplefor ordinary people. I've asked a million people to give me $36, which iswould be $36 million, the number George Bush had the day I filed. And if I had that much money, I'll win this dog gone thing. Because I watch every dime. I travel tourist. I don't stay in the most palatial places. We make every dime count. I don't travel with a great big entourage. I know what it's like to come up from the bottom. I know what it's like to be poor. I know what it's like to be hungry. I know what it's like to fight for everything you have. And if the people give me a chance, I'll fight for them like no president they've seen in years.
BEGALA: Well, Senator, as a loyal Clinton-Gore Democrat, I can't give you that $36...
HATCH: Oh, yes you can, Paul. It's high time you did.
BEGALA: I have to tell you this, as someone who helped prepare Bill Clinton for all of his debates, and Al Gore for the debates in the last two presidential elections...
HATCH: You did a good job, too.
BEGALA: ... I haveI don't believe I've seen a closing statement better than the one that you gave last night. I want to show a piece of it, and then ask you a question about it. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HATCH: Look, I wasn't born to wealth. We were dirt poor. I didn't even realize it until I got to high school, then I realized it.
I raised chickens and sold eggs as a young boy door to door; learned a trade; became a member of the AFL-CIO; became a journeyman lather; worked in the building construction trade unions for 10 years. I want you to know I worked as janitor when I went to college. It was humble work, but it was all I had -- 65 cents an hour. I understand you. I've been fighting for you for 23 solid years, and I know how to do it. And I'm not just talking about it; I've done it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEGALA: Now, Senator, you're not known as a man who wears his heart on his sleeve. That must have been difficult for you to be that candid and emotional in a national debate.
HATCH: Well, I'm getting all emotional listening to it, because that's literally my life that's been a life that's come up from the bottom. I've had to fight for everything I've ever had. And I fought for the under dog all my life, not just in all these other ways leading up to becoming an attorney and then fighting in the Senate. And I've got to tell you, I'm for helping people who cannot help themselves, but would if they could. I think government has a role to do that. What I get tired of is helping all these people who could help themselves but won't. And that's the thing that bothers me. But I tell you something, if the people really want somebody who really cares for them, who really is an ordinary person himself but has fought his way all the way up to where I am, and who really understands their needs, and who really is willing to fight for them, and who's been doing it for 23 years, I'm your guy. And I'll tell you, I won't let the American people down. That's why I'm asking people all over this country to go to my website, orrinhatch.com, or orrinhatch.org, and send in $36 or more so that you'd be one of my skinny cats, because these others have all the fat cats. I just need a lot of skinny cats out there, and we'll turn this country around like you can't believe, I'll tell you. And if you want to beat Al Gore and Bill Bradley, I'm your guy.
BEGALA: Well, Senator, I of course want Al Gore or Bill Bradley to win.
HATCH: Not really. I think if youI think if you really stopped and think, Paul, you're a bright guy. You know darn well I'd do a good job for you.
BEGALA: I want to ask you about the question that George W. Bush asked you. It was very curious, I thought, that a man turned to you, Governor Bush, and he asked you a question about political strategy, about how were you going to get Hispanic votes, instead of asking you about any kind of real issue like Medicare or Social Security or education. And by the way, he asked part of his question Spanish, just proving a friend of mine in Texas right who said Bush studied Spanish because he wanted to bi-ignorant.
HATCH: Now, now. Actually, it was a good question, and I think that the Republican Party has got to get with it, and we've got to do everything we can to bring minorities into our party. The Democrats take the minorities African-Americans, Hispanics in particularfor granted, because they've had those votes for many years. But there are a number of us new Republicans who came, in my case, from the Democratic Party to begin with, who really have always had support from Africa-Americans and from Hispanics and from Asian-Americans, Native Americans and others. And I'm darn proud of it, and I'm going to keep working on it. I'm the chairman of the Hispanic Task Force in the United States Senate, and I intend to keep doing that. We bring Democrats, Republicans, independents together and do everything we can to bring the Hispanic community into our lives.
NORTH: Senator, let me come back to one of the questions that Paul raised a few minutes ago, and it has to do with finances. I've got your quarterly report, submitted just a few days ago. It shows that your cash on hand is $250,120. Governor George Bush has $37,000,726 on hand. How do you contend with that?
HATCH: Well, I found on July 1st, so we've only raised about $10 million, about $500,000 has come from $36 donations. I have to say that if I thought money was the sole factor here, and not ideas, I wouldn't have filed at all. If I didn't think I'd make a better president than any of these other guys, including the two Democrats who I know all of them well, if I didn't think I'd be a better president, I wouldn't have filed at all. But let me tell you something. I'm looking for ordinary peopleordinary people to send in checks for $36 or more, to "Hatch For President," orrinhatch.com or orrinhatch.org on the Internet, or just send it directly to us. And I'll tell you this. If I get enough people to do that, I will teach some of these big fat cats in this party and in the Democratic Party a real lesson in politics, because I'm going to be for the people. I come from the ordinary people. I worked my way up as an ordinary person. I learned a trade, and I'm darn proud that was a skilled tradesman who could do a very darn good job. And I worked hard every day I worked at it. And I'll tell you this, if I get there, the ordinary people are going to have the first president in years and years and years, decades if you will, who really is for them, and who isn't going to be beholden to any of these special interests that John McCain's always talking about, or beholden to the fat cats of this world, who basically have run everything for the last number of years.
BEGALA: Senator Orrin Hatch, I want to thank you for taking the time to join us from the campaign trail. Good of you to do so.
NORTH: Appreciate it.
HATCH: Great to be with you. And get that $36 in, Paul. Have some guts.
NORTH: Oh, wouldn't it be great?
HATCH: Ollie, you can send in more. I know you can.
BEGALA: Thanks so much.
END