CNN
SHOW: CNN DAYBREAK 05:00
August 30, 2004 Monday
HEADLINE: GOP Convention Gets Underway Today; "TIME" Magazine Profiles Bush; Olympic Scorecard
GUESTS: Melissa Hart, Chaka Fattah, Mitch Frank
BYLINE: Carol Costello, Kareen Wynter, Bill Hemmer, Chris Cotter, Chad Myers
BODY:
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COSTELLO: I don't even want to imagine it, Kareen. Kareen Wynter reporting live from Madison Square Garden this morning, thank you.
President Bush does have his work cut out for him this week, especially in 17 so-called showdown states. Let's concentrate on Pennsylvania this morning.
A new poll is out from CNN, "USA Today" and Gallup. It shows likely voters are evenly split over Bush and John Kerry. They both have 47 percent support. Ralph Nader has 2 percent. So, the heat is on.
Joining us live by phone from Pennsylvania this morning, Republican Congresswoman Melissa Hart, and from Philadelphia, Democratic Congressman Chaka Fattah.
Welcome to you both.
REP. MELISSA HART ®, PENNSYLVANIA: Good morning.
REP. CHAKA FATTAH (D), PENNSYLVANIA: Good morning.
COSTELLO: Pennsylvania gave Al Gore a victory by just over 4 percent. Congresswoman Hart, what do undecided and independent voters want to hear this week?
HART: I think what they're going to hear, and that is that the Republican Party is a wide-open party. It is really run by a lot of folks across the country who are very interested in leadership, and that's the one thing that's really important.
We're going to state our party's principles, the things that we're going to do. Unlike the Democratic Party, which has a platform that nobody's even read and don't follow, the Republican Party stated what we've been able to accomplish: the education reforms, the leadership in the war on terror, taking charge. What we have to do is make a decision and stick with it, and this president certainly has done that.
COSTELLO: Congressman Fattah, the speakers highlighted in primetime at the RNC are moderates. The more conservative speakers will be on the podium during the day when less people watch. A good strategy?
FATTAH: Well, look, I think that it's not just the show that they put on, but the work. If you're one of the millions of Americans who are waking up this morning and you've been unemployed for a long period of time, if you're one of the 45 million without health insurance or one of the 35 million in poverty, look at the results. They've done worse with this economy than any president since Hoover.
And so, it's not this show in New York; it's what's going on in your hometown. And in Pennsylvania, the reason why the president-you saw the numbers in the latest poll. Pennsylvanians are not fooled by the talk and the rhetoric of this administration. They've been looking at the results, and Americans are going to be able do something about changing the course of the country on the first Tuesday in November.
COSTELLO: Congresswoman Hart, the protests in New York looked massive over the weekend. Will they make a difference as people watch this convention?
HART: I doubt it. I spoke with some police officers, and I'm in New York, and they were all saying that the protesters, the estimates turned out to be a lot less than expected. I spoke with an aide to Mary Bloomberg and I spoke with Governor Pataki.
And so, I think so far, the protests have been overblown as far as the estimates of how many people came in. I don't think they're going to be affecting anything. You know, everybody has the right to speak, and I'm pleased that the city of New York has provided that.
But you know, to respond to my colleague, you know, jobs growth and loss in Pennsylvania is even in 2001. We've had an attack on this country like no one has ever seen before. We've had an economic slowdown that had nothing to do with the president. In fact, it began before he took office. Yet, Pennsylvania's jobs are steady from before-you know, from the beginning of his first term.
It's important to note, you know, that there are economic cycles that have nothing to do with the president. This president has done so much to increase, for example, the money that people take home. The tax burden on Pennsylvanians has gone down about, oh, 30 percent on the federal level for a lot of lower-income Pennsylvanians.
COSTELLO: Congresswoman, let me interrupt...
HART: It's important to note that.
COSTELLO: Let me interrupt for a second to allow Congressman Fattah to respond, not only to that, because we want to talk about the number of jobs created, not very many in light of what President Bush promised in the year 2000. And also, I want to talk to you, Congressman Fattah, about the protesters there. There were tens of thousands of them.
FATTAH: Well, Carol, it's Congressman Fattah, and I'm from Philadelphia. It's early in the morning, but it's not early in this administration. They've been through four years, and they have not created the jobs. Under Clinton, we had 23 million new jobs. Under this administration, they have yet to create their first net new job. That is that they're about almost two million short of the jobs that did exist in our economy before President Bush took office.
So, part of the reason why you see people protesting is they disagree with the policies. They are tired of seeing Americans die in Iraq or in Afghanistan. They're concerned about some of the questions about why we went off to war in Iraq in the first place and being misled. But they have a right to protest.
But the biggest protest that anyone can have is to cast their vote on Election Day. And that's what people in Pennsylvania and across the country are, I think, anxious to do. And they'll be glad when the parties, Democrats and Republicans, get finished with their conventions, and we can get down to elections.
Because if you're satisfied with what Bush has done, all you have to do is re-elect him. If you want a different direction-and every poll we've seen says the country is on the wrong track. If they want a different direction, they have one alternative, and that is to elect John Kerry and make a change in the direction of our country.
COSTELLO: Congresswoman Hart, the last word.
HART: Well, first of all, since the recovery began, there have been a million new jobs created. And if Americans want a new direction, they can pick John Kerry. But we have no idea what direction he'll go in since he's really been on every side of every issue.
COSTELLO: Congressman Melissa Hart and Democratic Congressman Chaka Fattah joining us live this morning. Thanks to you both.
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