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Sunday Morning News

Bush and McCain Appeal to Voters As Super Tuesday Approaches

Aired March 5, 2000 - 9:03 a.m. ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: George W. Bush has the delegate-rich California today for several campaign stops. Right now he's at home in Austin, Texas, which is where we find CNN's Pat Neal.

Good morning, Pat.

PAT NEAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.

Well, as you said, Governor Bush woke up at his home in Austin, Texas. He's using it as the halfway point on his way to California, which offers 162 Republican delegates, the biggest prize up for grabs on Tuesday. And he'll campaign the final two days there.

To try to appeal to those women and moderate voters, he has picked up the endorsement of Governor Christie Todd Whitman of New Jersey, and he hopes that will help him appeal to them. She has also been talked about as a possible vice presidential running mate.

Also to appeal to moderates and Democrats in California, Bush will push his education agenda there. California has two presidential contests on Tuesday. In one, those critical delegates necessary for the nomination will be selected by Republican voters only. California polls show Bush ahead by as much as 20 percent points.

But there's also another race there, and that is a nonbinding popular vote. And in that, John McCain hopes he can win that. As you mentioned, today John McCain was endorsed by "The New York Times," but Bush today picked up the endorsement of "The Cleveland Plain Dealer." Ohio also has a primary on Tuesday.

Pat Neal, CNN, reporting live from Austin, Texas.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Senator John McCain is in New York this morning. Later he holds a couple of events in Ohio, and then heads off to California.

CNN's Jonathan Karl is in San Francisco. He joins us there with a closer look at that portion of this race.

Hello, Jonathan.

JONATHAN KARL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.

With just two days of campaigning left until the biggest primary contest of them all, the battle is being waged most intensely in New York, Ohio, and, of course, right here in California. Now, John McCain will hit all three of those states today before ending up here in California, and then spend the rest of the time until voting on Tuesday right here in California.

McCain himself has suggested that any candidate would have a tough time surviving losses in all three of those states, the states that have the most delegates at stake on Tuesday. And some of McCain's top aides actually narrow that further and say McCain must win either New York or California if he's to have any chance of winning the Republican nomination.

And in New York is one of those states where only Republicans vote, so McCain has been reaching out to the party base, to conservative Republicans, making his pitch, including a new ad that emphasizes his conservative credentials.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, MCCAIN CAMPAIGN AD)

FEMALE ANNOUNCER: Objective observers...

MALE ANNOUNCER: ... agree...

FEMALE ANNOUNCER: ... Mr. McCain has a rock-solid conservative voting record.

MALE ANNOUNCER: On national defense and foreign affairs...

FEMALE ANNOUNCER: ... McCain is far more knowledgeable.

MALE ANNOUNCER: His call to use most of the budget surplus to lower the national debt...

FEMALE ANNOUNCER: ... instead of dissipating it on big tax cuts...

MALE ANNOUNCER: ... shows fiscal prudence.

FEMALE ANNOUNCER: McCain's plan to devote...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KARL: California has been an especially tough state for McCain. George W. Bush has held an advantage here in terms of resources and in terms of organization.

And California's election laws also further complicate things. As Pat Neal was saying, this is a state where only registered Republicans have their vote count towards selecting delegates. That means that McCain will not get any help from those independents and crossover Democrats that have fueled his campaign so far. He must appeal to those Republicans in both New York and in California.

And as for California, the McCain campaign says that in their internal polling, they have been gaining slowly in this state, but they acknowledge that they will have an extremely difficult time winning the Republican vote in California.

What they're hoping for is that they will win that popular vote, the general vote that includes Democrats and independents, and then be able to say that they have a mandate as the only candidate that can truly win, truly win in California, a state where Republicans have lost during the last two presidential elections, and as a result have lost the elections themselves.

And so McCain very much holding out for that popular vote here in California and making a last-ditch effort to win over those Republicans -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Jonathan, a question on that popular vote. I mean, if he wins that popular vote, as the Bush campaign will tell you, at this point arithmetic is the issue. A mandate means nothing if you don't have delegates.

KARL: Yes, we have 60 percent of the delegates that you need to win the nomination at stake here with all 13 states.

Now, McCain is doing very well in New England. There are five New England states that are voting. Those five New England states represent 102 delegates. That's actually more delegates than are at stake in New York. So the arithmetic is working against them, but they think they will have enough to go on, certainly have enough to go on beyond Tuesday, even if they lose California and New York.

But boy, that next week is a really tough one. A week from Tuesday there will be votes in several Southern states, including the state of Texas, which, of course, George W. Bush should be on very solid footing there.

O'BRIEN: All right, of mandates and mathematics. CNN's Jonathan Karl in California.

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