[Campbell Brown, Cnn Anchor:] The big political news today, it's an attempt to get a revote in Michigan. Well, it's fallen apart. And it has sparked a new battle between the Clinton and Obama campaigns over who is to blame and how to resolve this standoff. What is next? Tonight, we're going to challenge representatives from each of the campaigns and try to get some real answers. Also, Obama's speech has sparked a heated conversation about race. Is the debate dividing along racial lines? And, tonight, where in the world is John McCain? Well, he is wrapping up a world tour. Was it a smart political move to get out of town right now? We have got a lot of ground to cover tonight. Let's start with the delegate mess and our senior political correspondent, Candy Crowley. And, Candy, is Michigan dead in the water? Any chance of a comeback here?
[Candy Crowley, Cnn Senior Political Correspondent:] Well, you know how many resurrections we have had in this campaign, from candidates to everything else? Anything is possible. But the window is closing on the time, because it would take so much time to set up an election, so much time to find out who was going to run in each precinct, who they were going to put there to watch the vote come in. So, they really are running out of time. It doesn't mean that there aren't alternatives. We are told that both states could appeal and ask for a hearing to the DNC. That may be the next step, because I think the primary do-overs are looking really, really uphill.
[Brown:] And, Candy, Hillary Clinton's campaign doesn't seem to be backing down. She had this to say about it today. Let's listen.
[Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton , Presidential Candidate:] I do not see how two of our largest and most significant states can be disenfranchised and left out of the process of picking our nominee without raising serious questions about the legitimacy of that nominee.
[Brown:] So, Candy, explain why Obama's camp is isn't, rather, pushing for this revote. Are they afraid they would lose both states if it happens?
[Crowley:] Well, they certainly believe that it would help Hillary Clinton's campaign, as she knows that it helps him not to have the revote. So, there are clearly politics at play in this whole win-lose column. Beyond that, the Obama campaign says, listen this plan that Michigan came up with is not fair. Number one, it's very complicated. Number two, there were Republicans and Independents who voted on the Republican side in the Republican primary the first time around for Michigan, because they knew the Democratic primary wouldn't count, and yet they are barred from going to a Democratic primary redo. So, that's one of several things they say were unfair about the Michigan plan.
[Brown:] And, Candy, I know everybody wants to kick this, as you said, back to the DNC, but is there much hope that the DNC can really do anything between now and Denver to try to avoid a convention fight?
[Crowley:] They're going to have to. I mean, I have yet to talk to a Democrat, be it a party official or an elected member or just a voter, who says, you know, let's settle this at the convention in Denver. You know, those four days of a convention are the time for a party to present itself to the country. They have a knockdown, drag- out fight on the floor of the convention, it just blows up the party unity that they really want to have in August. So, I think necessity will force them to come to some kind of agreement. I can't say what it is at this point. And I will tell you what. Neither can the DNC or either of these campaigns.
[Brown:] All right, stay tuned, everybody Candy Crowley for us. She's in West Virginia, we should mention, traveling with the candidates. So, with all of this in mind, let's ask the remind you, rather, where the Democratic candidates stand right now. By CNN's estimate, Obama has a 142-delegate lead over Clinton, who has I believe the total, 1,621 to 1,479. It takes 2,024 delegates to win the nomination, and neither candidate may have that many by the end of the primaries, especially without Florida and Michigan. So, how are the Democrats going to be able to pick a nominee? Well, we have top officials from both the Democratic campaigns. And let's start with Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, who has endorsed Hillary Clinton. Welcome to you, Governor. Good to see you again.
[Gov. Ed Rendell , Pennsylvania:] Hi, Rebecca. How are you?
[Brown:] Good. Thank you. Well, I know you have got to be disappointed by what's happened today. Is it over in Michigan?
[Rendell:] Well, I think there's some effort to have some sort of hybrid that the party wants. But let me say how disappointed I am in the Obama campaign, and even in the senator himself, who I have a high regard for. On February 8, he said, if the DNC approved a plan for a revote, he would be in favor of it. The DNC did approve this plan for a revote, number one. Number two, he's always talking about who has the lead in delegates and popular vote. And that's an important point. But how can we judge who is going to win the popular vote when we don't vote two of the most populous states in the country?
[Brown:] How can you blame Senator Obama, just to go back to your first point, when you can't even get Michigan, the legislature there, the elected officials there to go along with it?
[Rendell:] Oh, make no mistake. Had the Obama campaign given the go-ahead, Michigan would have voted to have a primary on June 3. No one can sugarcoat that. You can talk to everybody who was in on those negotiations. They were waiting for word from Senator Obama himself that they it was fair to go ahead. And that word never came, and that's why they didn't vote it. So, that's number one. And then, we're going to have a fallout from this. The polls have shown, and you have run some of the polls yourself, about a quarter of the voters in both Florida and Michigan, the Democrats have said, they would have trouble supporting the party in the fall if their votes didn't count towards the nominee. And that's something we should be worried about.
[Brown:] But Governor Rendell, what the Obama campaign has put forward is to say, let's split the delegates evenly? Why isn't that something that you would consider?
[Rendell:] Because, first of all, that doesn't reflect the votes of the people. Let the people decide how the delegates are to be split. Nobody's saying, let's split the delegates equally in Pennsylvania.
[Brown:] Well, I know, but, in fairness, in fairness, those states and I love Florida and I love Michigan they didn't play by the rules. So, why should they be treated the same?
[Rendell:] Well, let me stop you right there. Let me stop you right there. The Florida Democrats are being punished for something that for a crime they didn't commit. They did not want to move the primary up and break the rules. It was the Republican governor and the Republican legislature who did that. The Florida Democrats had no choice. They didn't have the majority. They didn't have the governor's office. They wanted to play by the rules. To punish them and to punish 1.7 million Floridians who went to the polls and voted...
[Brown:] OK. So, what about Michigan?
[Rendell:] ... makes no sense at all. In Michigan, it's different. I think the Michigan Democrats were complicit and violated party rules. But here is what I would suggest. And I think this is a fair compromise. I don't think you can do Michigan, because, in fairness, Senator Obama wasn't on the ballot. John Edwards wasn't on the ballot. You have to have some form of revote there or maybe split the delegates in some way. But Florida, where everybody was on the ballot, where 1.7 million Floridians turned out and voted, where we have national campaigns, thanks to CNN and all the other networks, count the delegates in Florida. Count them. If we can't revote, count the delegates in Florida, do some sort of compromise in Michigan, and let's get on with this. But I don't want to hear from the Obama campaign that the superdelegates should follow the person who got the most popular votes, because my guess is, by the time Puerto Rico is over, this is going to be close enough that Florida and Michigan could have changed the outcome of a popular vote. And I think that's what the Obama campaign was worried about.
[Brown:] All right, Governor Rendell, appreciate your time tonight. We're going to hear right now from the Obama campaign. Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle is joining us from Washington right now. He's national co-chair for Obama. You just heard Governor Rendell speaking on behalf of the Clinton campaign. Basically, they are saying you're afraid of a revote, that that's why you haven't been making more of an effort. Is that true?
[Tom Daschle , Former Senate Minority Leader:] Campbell, we're not afraid of anything. We have had a lot of votes and we have won most of them. What we're really concerned about is not making sure that it's fair. The Clinton campaign seems to be willing to roll over the rules, roll over all of the procedures in place that would guarantee everybody had the opportunity to be heard. We would be disenfranchising perhaps thousands of voters, people who voted last time, who couldn't vote this time. We're concerned about that. We're concerned a lot about the degree to which we're going to be able to include everybody in this vote. They think that there are some very serious administrative issues as well that are very problematic. So, I only wish we had the ability to vote or to have the legislature abide by whatever it is the Obama campaign would have us do, but we don't have that authority. They made the decisions they did in large measure because they knew we just didn't have the capacity to have the kind of fair election that we're looking for. We want to resolve it. We don't want to make anybody disenfranchised, Florida or Michigan. We want to find a way to include them without punishing them.
[Brown:] Governor Rendell, though, was pretty blunt about blaming you, about blaming the Obama campaign for what happened in Michigan, for the fact that they didn't get anything done. Why didn't you get more actively involved in trying to bring some resolution to it?
[Daschle:] Well, because we don't think it's really the role of the campaigns to dictate to the states what they should do. What we have said is, we will agree to anything that's fair. We will agree to anything that the party and the states can work out. We will agree so long as everybody gets an opportunity to vote. That wasn't happening. But we certainly didn't think it was our role to impose our will on Michigan, Florida or anybody else.
[Brown:] But, for whatever happens in the general election, for whoever has the nomination eventually, these are going to be crucial states. They are battleground states. You have got to win Florida and Michigan to win the presidency. You know that. So, are you really willing to risk disenfranchising all these people, even if they didn't play by the rules and they can't come to some resolution? Aren't the longer-term consequences, you know, really dangerous for whoever the eventual nominee would be?
[Daschle:] Well, Campbell, if this isn't resolved, that's exactly right. But we want it to be resolved. And we want it to be resolved fairly. And we're going to campaign aggressively in Michigan and Florida. I guarantee that. And I believe we're going to win Michigan and Florida.
[Brown:] Do you really? Do you really, based on the results of the previous elections and the polls as they now exist? Do you think, if the revotes were held, you would win those two states?
[Daschle:] Absolutely. I can't imagine why it would be in Michigan and Florida's best interest to vote for more of the same, to vote for four more years of Bush policies. But that's what they're going to be asked to do if John McCain goes to Michigan or Florida to ask for their support. That's four more years of exactly what we have been given by the Bush administration for the last eight years. And I don't think they, or anybody else in this country will want to do that.
[Brown:] All right, Senator Tom Daschle for the Obama campaign tonight Senator Daschle, thank you. Appreciate your time.
[Daschle:] My pleasure.
[Brown:] And, if you thought Obama's speech was the end of his talk on racism, well, wait until you hear what he had to say today. He's got the talk radio lines lighting up again.