CNN "State Of The Union With John King" - Transcript

Interview

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KING (voice over): Rain or shine, the election is Tuesday. In a soggy morning commute from Princeton.

CHRIS DAGGETT (I), NEW JERSEY GOV. CANDIDATE: How are you doing? Can I say hello? I'm Chris Daggett. I'm running for governor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi.

KING: Chris Daggett.

DAGGETT: Thanks. Thank you.

KING: Finds hope.

DAGGETT: Are you happy with Jon Corzine this year?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not particularly happy with anybody.

KING: Anger at the incumbent Democrat, grumbling about the Republican alternative.

DAGGETT: Did it work?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Yes.

KING: For an independent like Daggett, the perfect storm.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's an independent in the race.

KING: Well, not quite perfect.

DAGGETT: Actually, the trick is to see where I am on the ballot. If you look on the back, they manage to figure out how to try to bury us on the ballot.

KING: So with the literature comes a county-by-county guide to where you can find Daggett on the ballot.

DAGGETT: And what I said is we've got...

KING: He's also short money. There's no party apparatus to help with turnout, and yet predicts growing national frustration with both parties will bring a miracle in New Jersey.

DAGGETT: But I'm pretty sure that this is the beginning of a wave of independents. It's been growing for quite some time.

I did it, in part, because I sensed things were -- there was a feeling out there that things were going off-track and we needed an alternative. It's far deeper and more widespread than I -- I ever imagined.

KING: Daggett believes his own politics are a good fit for the state and for the times.

DAGGETT: I'm very supportive of a woman's right to choose. So I'm pro-choice. I've said that I support stem cell research. I support gay marriage. If a bill were to pass, I would sign it in the legislature.

I believe strongly in gun control, but at the same time, I believe in the Second Amendment right to have a weapon.

Most people are more centrist, I think, than they are on the extremes, but the extremes capture the two parties.

KING: In a campaign stop, like this synagogue, Daggett quickly looks to tap the anger.

DAGGETT: I believe that it doesn't matter who is in Trenton, Republican or Democrat; nothing ever changes. Just listen closely to those health care forums that we've heard. There's a lot more anger being expressed than about health care.

It's about the stimulus package that didn't stimulate. It's about full-time jobs to part-time jobs and people out of work and foreclosed homes and about politicians that can't ever seem to solve the problems that face us.

KING: There's no doubt the frustration is real.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think you're about the only one who's actually addressed the issues and, you know, told us what you will do about it.

KING: The question, in the final days is, where is this going?

And John Weingart of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University is among those who see Daggett as making an important statement, even having a big impact.

JOHN WEINGART, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY: I don't think he can win. And I think most voters will find, when they go to make the final decision, even though they may wish that Daggett would win, they don't want to cast a vote that they think would help the major party candidate they like the least.

KING: Republicans worry they get hurt more. If Daggett draws away moderate GOP voters, it could help the profoundly unpopular Democratic incumbent.

(On camera): What if you wake up Wednesday morning and it doesn't go the way you want it to go and people are you saying, you know, Daggett, you're the spoiler. You caused -- most people think it would be Corzine to win again, but does it matter to you?

DAGGETT: No, not in the least. Because I never saw in the U.S. Constitution anything that said about it had to be a two-party system or that somebody who tried to challenge the two parties was a spoiler.

So democracy is about the exchange of ideas and the figuring out who's got the best ideas and voting for the best person. I keep saying in the debates it's never wrong to vote for the right person.

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