MSNBC "Decision '08" - Transcript
Interview
MR. MATTHEWS: U.S. Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida is national co-chair of the Clinton campaign.
Congresswoman, I could not help but notice, as a fan of yours and close observer, that you moved quicker than Senator Clinton in endorsing Barack Obama.
REP. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Well, there's just never been any question in my mind that we need to elect a Democratic president. And I have said and I've heard Senator Clinton say, which I'm sure she'll say in her speech, that I was absolutely committed to supporting whoever the Democratic nominee was. And I am wholeheartedly looking forward to supporting Senator Obama.
MR. MATTHEWS: Tell me about the thinking that went on in your delegation. You and a number of other pro-Clinton Congress people from Florida moved very quickly. I believe you moved Wednesday morning, quickly. What was that about?
REP. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: It was Thursday.
MR. MATTHEWS: Thursday. Okay, why --
REP. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: It was before --
MR. MATTHEWS: Yeah, go ahead.
REP. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: I'm sorry, Chris. The four congressional delegation members from Florida that supported Senator Clinton, we jointly endorsed Senator Obama on Thursday afternoon. And there was never any question in our minds that we would do that. We are enthusiastically committed to making sure that we put Florida in the win column for him.
And it's very simple. There is such a stark contrast between the direction that Senator Obama would take this country and the direction that Senator McCain would keep us in, that there's just no doubt in our minds that we need to make sure we elect Senator Obama, and we're going to work hard for him.
MR. MATTHEWS: If I were in your shoes down there, I'd be worried about the following, the fact that Jeb Bush left office very popular down there. He didn't always have a popular tenure, but he was popular at the end. Charlie Crist, the new governor, has been very popular down there; that you seem to go for the Connie Mack kind of Republican -- debonair, well-tanned, outdoorsy, sort of, I don't know, wind-swept in appearance. Does John McCain fit that mold?
REP. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: No, he doesn't. And beyond that, the things that Floridians care about right now are the fact that we have the second-highest number of foreclosures in the country, the fact that we are worried about the possibility of drilling off the Outer Continental Shelf within view of Florida. We want to really make sure that we actually invest in alternative energy research.
Health care is a huge issue in Florida. John McCain could care less about universal health care. Senator Obama will make sure that we establish universal health care. He'll bring our troops home. And John McCain, it doesn't matter to him whether we leave them there for 100 years.
So it's just -- there are two paths. We can stay on the one we're on with Senator McCain or we can move in a new direction and embrace change. And that is what Floridians desperately want to happen, because despite Crist and Bush and Mack's popularity, this President Bush is not remotely popular in Florida.
MR. MATTHEWS: Well, let me ask you how you move those numbers, because I just looked at a Gallup number, which, from a Democratic point of view, is scary. It shows that Barack Obama is only up by a point, 46-45. And, of course, we all know about the Bradley effect, and it's very hard to predict the actual voting patterns of people who say they're going to vote in one direction in this kind of a situation.
Do you think Florida really is a good shot for the Democrats to plan on as part of their 270 strategy to get the whole electoral vote package they need? Is it a smart move --
REP. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Absolutely.
MR. MATTHEWS: -- to go for Florida?
REP. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: It is -- we are going to play in Florida. I've spoken to this to the Obama campaign. They intend to play in Florida the whole way through. They'll have the resources to do that. They are already setting up the ground operation that they need. And we're going to make sure that we fight in every corner of this state.
You know, Florida politically is a series of demographic groups. And Senator Obama will be much more appealing on the issues that are important to Hispanics, that are important to the Jewish community, that are important to seniors, that are important to working families. They're polar opposites, the two of them, on all of those issues. And the people in America and in Florida want to go in the direction that Senator Obama will pledge to take them.
MR. MATTHEWS: Can you promise voters, particularly minority voters, that when they set out to vote on Election Day this November, they go to vote in Florida with the intention to vote for a Democratic candidate, in this case Barack Obama, that their vote will be counted?
Can you promise them that, that they won't be stopped by a barricade, that they won't be on a felon list that they shouldn't be on, that there won't be a screwed-up voting machine, that when they get there, they will be able to vote and execute their intention? Can you promise them that?
REP. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Well, since I don't run the election machinery in Florida, I can only tell you that we have set up the system now finally where we have election machines that -- that we have the ability to manually recount people's votes in the event of a close election.
But, you know, Governor Crist and his elections operation under the secretary of state are going to need to be asked that question. I'm certainly hopeful that they are preparing to make sure that we have the most fair election that we've ever had in Florida history. Governor Crist certainly has professed and moved us in the direction and been publicly committed to ensuring that.
MR. MATTHEWS: Okay, thank you, U.S. Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
END.
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