[Wolf Blitzer, Cnn Anchor:] It was a magnet for Democratic presidential candidates, they came to Dearborn, Michigan this weekend to address the Arab-American Institute's National Leadership Conference. James Zogby is the President of the Arab-American Institute. He is joining me here live in Washington. Jim, thanks very much for joining us.
[James Zogby, Arab-american Inst:] Thank you Wolf.
[Blitzer:] First of all, how many Arab-Americans are there?
[Zogby:] About three and a half million.
[Blitzer:] Most are in Michigan?
[Zogby:] Not most, but about 400,000.
[Blitzer:] So Michigan, obviously, a battleground
[Zogby:] Percentage wise it's the largest.
[Blitzer:] Is that why you picked Michigan to have the conference?
[Zogby:] Of course every four years we move the National Leadership Conference to Michigan in the presidential year, otherwise it is here in Washington. But clearly, because the Michigan caucus is early, February 7, and because the numbers are as great as they are and because the interest in the community is so high, it seems an ideal place to do the conference.
[Blitzer:] Arab-Americans are becoming increasingly more politically active, is that right?
[Zogby:] We like to see it, yes.
[Blitzer:] Because they weren't always that politically active. It's a relatively recent phenomenon.
[Zogby:] Well what is recent is the formation of a community. The fact that over the last 20 years we have brought the divergent wings of the community, the first, second generation born here, who now identify as part of the community, the more recent immigrants who now have come into the political mainstream and all come together under the rubric of being Arab-American is that is the new phenomenon and I think it's worked.
[Blitzer:] I know there are Arab-Americans members of the House.
[Zogby:] Sure.
[Blitzer:] Nick Joe Rahall is one. Darrell Issa of California.
[Zogby:] Right.
[Blitzer:] A lot of news, lately, because of the recall in California. There is the Secretary of the Energy Spencer Abraham.
[Zogby:] Chris Dodd from Louisiana is another. Ray Lahood.
[Blitzer:] So they are also getting involved...
[Zogby:] Sure.
[Blitzer:] ... more out in front and being political...
[Zogby:] Right, and identifying as part of a community. You know when Senator Kerry spoke,...
[Blitzer:] Senator John Kerry.
[Zogby:] John Kerry from Massachusetts talked about the chair of his campaign being Billy Shaheen, the husband of the former governor in New Hampshire, and Jim Sheer, who ran his office in Massachusetts for many years, and a half Irish-American, half Arab- American young woman, O'Neill, I think it is Lynn O'Neill, is Liz O'Neill. It's a community that is today coming together in so many ways, reflecting a very mainstream political voice.
[Blitzer:] All right. So now how many of the democratic presidential candidates came to your conference over the weekend?
[Zogby:] Four actually came in person. Three were via satellite, because they had House votes on Iraq bill, very appropriate, actually, they got to talk about that House or Senate votes. Clark was scheduled to come, but was ill, and frankly, the whole country knew about that and so he had his speech delivered by...
[Blitzer:] He is losing his voice.
[Zogby:] He lost his voice, apparently.
[Blitzer:] Yes.
[Zogby:] A former U.S. ambassador, Arab-American Ed Gabriel, who is a part of his campaign, delivered the speech. The only one who didn't come was Al Sharpton.
[Blitzer:] It's interesting that I read David Broder's piece which was in the "Washington Post,"...
[Zogby:] Right.
[Blitzer:] ... which you probably saw, and he suggested that Howard Dean was very warmly received, but Joe Lieberman was booed and hissed and didn't get a very warm reception.
[Zogby:] Well you know I think Joe Lieberman did a courageous thing coming and people appreciated it.
[Blitzer:] Because he is Jewish?
[Zogby:] Because he is Jewish. Because he has taken positions in the past that people in the community did not like and he knew that. But I think he made an extraordinary gesture coming and people responded to that. There were a few who heckled. And frankly, what happened was the majority ended up rebuking the hecklers. And the conference resolved, actually. People somebody stood up from the floor the next day and said we need to write letters to Joe Lieberman, thank him for coming and telling him that the hecklers didn't speak for us. Many of the hecklers weren't even Arab-American.
[Blitzer:] And this isn't the first time that he came to your conference, Joe Lieberman, he came before, right?
[Zogby:] Once before he came and spoke and but this was the first time he came as a candidate, although in 2000, when he was nominated as Gore's vice president, the minute he left the democratic convention, he met with Arab-Americans in Southfield. It was a great meeting up in Southfield, Michigan. So this is a guy who has been open, who has been responsive. He is the one who opened the door for Arab-Americans in the Clinton campaign in 1992 when there were those who didn't want Arab-Americans in.
[Blitzer:] Why was Howard Dean was so warmly received, because he caused a little bit of a stir when he called for a quote "even handed"...
[Zogby:] Yes.
[Blitzer:] ... U.S. policy towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
[Zogby:] I think people knew about that. But frankly, the Democrats who were there, and many of the Independents, and some of the Republicans, were looking for red meat and Howard Dean dishes out the red meat as well as anybody. I think the most warmly received was Terry McAuliffe, chair of the party, because he really gives red meat and people loved it. They want to see a change in policy. They want to see American values reflected in our domestic policy. They you talk about General Boyken and his comments about Islam and you get cheers right now. People are frustrated with the direction the debate is moving in. I think John Kerry got enormous response, people were very excited by his remarks, and liked Dennis Kucinich and Carol Moseley Braun, too. And a lot of people got good responses with them.
[Blitzer:] All right. We're going to pick up this conversation. We're going to take some viewer phone calls,...
[Zogby:] Sure.
[Blitzer:] ... some e-mail. Congressman Anthony Weiner of New York is going to be joining us as well. Conference