CBS Early Show - Transcript
Interview
MR. SMITH: Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards may be lagging in some polls, but he is still up for a fight, especially with Senator Hillary Clinton. We were with Edwards yesterday in New Hampshire.
(Begin videotaped segment.)
MR. EDWARDS: Senator Clinton's road to the middle class takes a major detour, right through the deep canyon of corporate lobbyists and the hidden bidding of K Street in Washington. And history tells us that when that bus stops there, it's the middle class that loses.
MR. SMITH: It's a big Democratic field, but you'd never know it listening to John Edwards.
MR. EDWARDS: Today Senator Clinton has taken more money from Washington lobbyists than any candidate from either party -- more money than any Republican candidate.
MR. SMITH: His harshest rhetoric is reserved for the front- runner, Hillary Clinton.
(To Mr. Edwards.) As you go forward, then, do you ratchet up the rhetoric? How do you -- this woman's got numbers. She's got money. She's got name recognition. I mean, how do you begin to even chip away at that?
MR. EDWARDS: You make sure that people understand that she's still defending the status quo, that she believes the system in Washington works just fine, that she thinks it's fine to take millions of dollars from Washington lobbyists and even defends Washington lobbyists.
MR. SMITH: You don't?
MR. EDWARDS: I don't believe in any of those things. I think --
MR. SMITH: You don't take money from any lobbyists?
MR. EDWARDS: I don't take money from lobbyists; never have.
MR. SMITH: Do you think Hillary can't win?
MR. EDWARDS: I don't know the answer to that. I honestly don't know. I know that there's a great deal of division in America about her, because I hear it all the time.
MR. SMITH: Edwards has collected an impressive array of union endorsements. But he still trails in the national polls. More importantly, he trails in Iowa and here in New Hampshire.
(To Mr. Edwards.) Your message, a very sort of populist-driven message, is it just not resonating with enough people?
MR. EDWARDS: Oh, no, they just have to hear it. I've been through this before. I know how it works. Early on, celebrity seems to control.
MR. SMITH: But time is short.
MR. EDWARDS: Iowa and New Hampshire, they're actually looking at us, looking at us hard.
MR. SMITH: Just over two months till the voting starts.
(To Mr. Edwards.) The clock's ticking again now.
MR. EDWARDS: Well, if you look at what's happened in Iowa, Senator Obama's spent $4 (million) or $5 million on television. Senator Clinton's spent several million. I haven't run a single television ad yet. And we've still got a couple of months. I mean, I think when it started to move last time was in about the last three weeks. And I think that you're going to see movement in the last two or three weeks this time.
MR. SMITH: Even in Edwards' home state of South Carolina, he has new competition.
BOB COBLE (mayor of Columbia, South Carolina): We're honored to welcome South Carolina's favorite son.
STEPHEN COLBERT (host of TV comedy show): Mr. Mayor, thank you so much. I accept your proclamation naming me South Carolina's favorite son. Citizens of Columbia, I grew up in South Carolina and I continue to spend a great deal of time here. In fact, if the IRS asks, we do this every weekend.
MR. SMITH: Stephen Colbert, though, is trying to dispute whether or not you're the favorite son
MR. EDWARDS: (Laughs.) I saw that -- in South Carolina.
MR. SMITH: Right.
MR. EDWARDS: I don't know. I'm taking Colbert on. I want to find out if he's really the native son.
MR. SMITH: John Edwards has been down this road before, running unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination and unsuccessfully as a running mate. It's a lot of miles, a lot of motels. And some days, even he wonders.
(To Mr. Edwards.) When you get out of bed in the morning, what's the first thing you think about?
MR. EDWARDS: (Laughs.) "What am I doing?" (Laughs.) Too often that's what I'm thinking about. "Where am I, and what am I doing?" (Laughs.)
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