CNN Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics Transcript

August 29, 2003 Friday

HEADLINE: Congressman Charged With Manslaughter; Democrats Differ Greatly Within Own Party

GUESTS: Stuart Rothenberg, David Yepsen, Carol Moseley Braun

BYLINE: Judy Woodruff, William Schneider, Keating Holland

HIGHLIGHT:
Congressman Bill Janklow was charged with manslaughter for hitting a motorcyclist and killing him. Also, a look at how Democrats differ greatly within their own party.

BODY:
WOODRUFF: Democratic presidential hopeful Carol Moseley Braun picked up two endorsements from women's groups this week, and she also announced plans to formally launch her White House campaign next month.

Carol Moseley Braun is with me now from Chicago. It's good to see you. And I want to ask you about your campaign. You've been out there for months and yet look at the polls. You're in the bottom tier. You're in the bottom tier of money raised. And yet you're still going to make this formal announcement. Why?

CAROL MOSELEY BRAUN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Oh, we're absolutely competitive. I don't know what poll you're showing because I can't see it from here, but we're beating people. The last polls I looked at, we were beating people who had, you know, ten times the money that we have. And we are competitive. And I believe that we are going to take the "Men Only" sign off the White House door.

WOODRUFF: All right, let's talk about money. In the first two quarters of the year, you raised a little over $200,000 while John Kerry raised $16 million, Howard Dean raised $10.5 million, President Bush raised $35 million. How do you expect people to take your campaign seriously?

BRAUN: Well, you know, Judy, I've always had to, if you will, be the "Seabiscuit" of the races in which I've won and won consistently. I've run 14 times and won all but one of them.

And so, you know, I wasn't—people tried to dismiss my candidacy when I ran for the United States Senate against an incumbent in 1992, and I had little money. But people resonated to my message and responded and came out and voted.

And so I believe that so long as we have enough to keep going, to keep our operation going, to get to the point that people—the people can speak, not just the money. The money primary is one thing, but the people's votes in the end will determine who wins. And I feel very strongly that we're going to do very well.

WOODRUFF: Your former campaign manager, Andy Pringle, left you this month to go to work for Howard Dean. She was quoted, in the last few days, as saying, "No one is really energizing the African-American community right now. But he (Dean) wants to and he's working hard at it."

Now, if your own former campaign manager is saying that you're not energizing the African-American community, that's pretty bad news, isn't it?

BRAUN: Oh, I don't think so. She took a job working for Howard Dean after we moved our campaign here to Chicago. And, of course, she's working with Howard Dean.

And I'm glad that he's going to reach out to African-American voters. I think that it's incumbent on every Democrat to reach out to all the Democratic constituency constituencies.

But again, I think at the end of the day, when the votes come in, I will do very well among all kinds of voters from all races and ethnicities as I traditionally have.

And again, if you just look at the track record, I always say it's—if you look at where somebody's been, that's a good indication of where they're going. And I've always been able to win by creating coalitions of people who are concerned about government.

WOODRUFF: I did an interview on this program two days ago with a couple people about your endorsement from the National Women's Political Caucus and from NOW, the National Organization for Women.

But during that interview, and I want to ask you about this, pretty tough quote. Wendy Wright, a woman who works with the Concerned Women for America, conservative group, said, quote, "Carol Moseley Braun's candidacy is irrelevant. Her time in the Senate," she said, "was plagued with scandal after scandal, Medicaid fraud, money scandals, secret visits to an African dictator and so on and so on."

I want to give you a chance to respond.

BRAUN: You know, I don't—I won't—let me say, it just is stunning to me that a so-called Christian group would have people on television bearing false witness and using such harsh, nasty language for no real reason.

Judy, you know full well that none of that stuff had any substance to it and we've moved on. The Senate confirmed me, I've had the highest security clearances, I have a credible campaign, we're speaking about rebuilding America, getting our country back on the right track, taking our country in the direction of preserving liberty and opportunity and the American dream for the next generation. And that's resounding out in the electorate.

And so I'm not going to dignify that or anybody else that wants to go back over already-discredited, old gossip. Because that's really what it was.

WOODRUFF: Well, we wanted to give you a chance to answer.

(CROSSTALK)

WOODRUFF: ... way to Iowa this weekend?

BRAUN: I'm on my way to Des Moines for the parade and will be spending some time in Iowa and getting out here on the campaign trail.

WOODRUFF: All right. Carol Moseley Braun, it's great to see you. Thanks very much.

BRAUN: Great to be here.

WOODRUFF: Thanks for talking with us.

BRAUN: Bye.

WOODRUFF: Just ahead, he stood side by side with President Bush against Saddam Hussein. Now Tony Blair is taking heat from the British people over evidence used to take his nation to war. Bill Schneider reports from London next.

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