ad info




CNN.com
 MAIN PAGE
 WORLD
 U.S.
 LOCAL
 POLITICS
 WEATHER
 BUSINESS
 SPORTS
 TECHNOLOGY
 SPACE
 HEALTH
 ENTERTAINMENT
 BOOKS
 TRAVEL
 FOOD
 ARTS & STYLE
 NATURE
 IN-DEPTH
 ANALYSIS
 myCNN

 Headline News brief
 news quiz
 daily almanac

  MULTIMEDIA:
 video
 video archive
 audio
 multimedia showcase
 more services

  E-MAIL:
Subscribe to one of our news e-mail lists.
Enter your address:
Or:
Get a free e-mail account

 DISCUSSION:
 message boards
 chat
 feedback

  CNN WEB SITES:
CNN Websites
 AsiaNow
 En Español
 Em Português
 Svenska
 Norge
 Danmark
 Italian

 FASTER ACCESS:
 europe
 japan

 TIME INC. SITES:
 CNN NETWORKS:
Networks image
 more networks
 transcripts

 SITE INFO:
 help
 contents
 search
 ad info
 jobs

 WEB SERVICES:

  Transcripts

Saturday Morning News

Iowa GOP Chairman: 'Every Campaign Has Dramatically Increased Their Activity'

Aired January 22, 2000 - 8:15 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Joining me now is Kayne Robinson, Iowa's GOP chairman and a long-time organizer for both presidential and Congressional campaigns.

Let's see, the last time we talked was nearly 24 hours ago or so, huh?

KAYNE ROBINSON, IOWA GOP CHAIRMAN: Twenty-four hours ago. It was about the same temperature, about 10 degrees.

HARRIS: It was. Well, let me ask you this, has anything else heated up in the last 24 hours or so? How does voter turnout look so far right there?

ROBINSON: I'm sticking with about 110,000. It's heating up in that every campaign has just dramatically increased their activity. They're really out there cranking up their people, building their enthusiasm, trying to get the people that they have coming, to get a neighbor and drag a neighbor to the caucuses. So we're going to have a lot of activity.

HARRIS: All right, who is going to be generating the most activity in the last hours leading up until Monday night? Is there any one candidate who right now seems to be poised to have a better, have better access to Iowans ears and hearts?

ROBINSON: I don't think so. I think if you take a look at the managers and the people that they have running them, each of the campaigns, the major campaigns have people that are experts at doing this and they're not going to leave any cards on the table. They know how to do it and they're going to get their people out.

HARRIS: All right, why is this, this whole caucus process so important to Iowa, considering the fact that Republicans have not picked the winner in, what, how many, how many times have Republicans picked the winner in the Iowa caucuses?

ROBINSON: Well, if you look, it's traditionally been somebody in the top three. And then we've always picked the winner. You don't have to win absolutely to go on and be the Republican candidate for president. Anybody in the top three is likely to be there. So often they'll be a different view from Iowa and New Hampshire. And so it gives the whole country a little bit different view than you get out of New Hampshire and that's one of the strengths of the system.

HARRIS: All right, since you bring up New Hampshire, let's talk about I guess a broader perspective here. How in tune are Republicans here in Iowa with Republicans elsewhere around the country. If you were to compare the two as images, how would you draw the two of them now?

ROBINSON: I think they're very much in tune. As you travel with the candidates, you'll see about the same questions being asked here in Iowa as you will other places, but it really doesn't matter in the end. The thing that does matter is we sort of, we scald them like a chicken here. We take the feathers right off. They get in those little meetings and people ask them questions in the sixth stop of the day in Guthrie Center, Iowa, when they're tired and they've got a headache and they get all kind of questions that they couldn't have predicted. And then you all get to tell the rest of the world how did they behave in that atmosphere.

And that's exactly what's going to happen every day that they're president. And so the country gets to see that here and in New Hampshire and it's different than the teleprompter presentations that they put on in other states, which are also valuable. How you come across in the media is very, very important. Here you get a slightly different view.

HARRIS: All right, before we get out of here this morning, I want to ask you one final question about exactly how things work out timing wise on Monday. How long before you'll find out exactly what the results are? When will you know?

ROBINSON: We start at seven o'clock and probably by 7:45 we'll start getting fairly large numbers of precincts reporting. There are 2,000 some odd precincts, between 2,000 and 3,000 and it'll be, look like a bell-shaped curve, you know, starting probably at 7:45 and then going on to about 8:45 is where you'll see the bulk of them coming in. And then a trailing off to about 10 or 11 o'clock. There'll still be some coming in. And that's when we'll get to find out which man will smile all night Monday night.

HARRIS: You will. That's right. All right, Kayne Robinson, thanks much. We'll talk to you again before we leave Iowa.

ROBINSON: Good to be here.

HARRIS: I'm glad you are here. Thanks much for coming in.

All right, that's all for now from here in Des Moines.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com

  ArrowCLICK HERE FOR TODAY'S TOPICS AND GUESTS
ArrowCLICK HERE FOR CNN PROGRAM SCHEDULES
SEARCH CNN.com
Enter keyword(s)   go    help

Back to the top   © 2001 Cable News Network. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.