Political Analyst Kate O'Beirne, GOP Strategist Mike Murphy Discuss the Appeal of George W. Bush
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to the Philadelphia and the Comcast First Union Center, here live. Again, pictures of these balloons here. And just to get your facts and numbers in order, 150,000 balloons planned to be hoisted on the ceiling here of the convention center, the world's largest balloon drop ever. Again, that will go down beginning Monday, three days away from the start of the Republican National Convention here in Philadelphia. That's a lot of hot air in those balloons. Speaking of hot air, we're now joined this morning by two people who follow this stuff for a living: Kate O'Beirne of the "National Review" is a political analyst on CNN's "INSIDE POLITICS," also a panelist on CNN's "THE CAPITAL GANG." And Mike Murphy, senior campaign adviser to Rick Lazio, Republican Senate candidate in New York. He's also a former adviser to Senator John McCain. No hard feelings about that hot air comment, all right? Kate to you first. Ladies first in this case. Back in 1986, the soccer moms are seen as such a critical group. Is there a soccer mom group in this election? And if so, who are they?</s>KATE O'BEIRNE, "NATIONAL REVIEW": Well, one critical group, Bill, it seems to me, are younger blue-collar males between the ages of 18 and 35. They are typically Democratic in their sentiments, but they are not supporting Al Gore. And the fact that these young blue- collar men aren't -- at the moment, don't like Al Gore, have decided, it seems, that they don't care for him, contributes to the huge lead that even the recent CNN poll shows George W. Bush enjoys among men.</s>HEMMER: Are you saying they're being pushed away by Al Gore in favor of George W. Bush, or is something about Bush they see in him as well?</s>O'BEIRNE: I think there's some evidence that they're being pushed away by Al Gore. Many of them are union workers. A number of polls are showing that George W. Bush and Al Gore are tied among union members. Some of these younger men, I think, are figuring, look, they're both wrong on some issues important to us. Both Al Gore and George W. Bush both support free trade agreements that the unions typically oppose, so then they begin to look at other issues. And look at Michigan. A lot of these fellows believe in gun rights. Some of them are culturally conservative. There's something about George W. Bush -- in fact, the Teamsters president, Jimmy Hoffa, tells associates that he likes George W. Bush as sort of a guy's guy. And Jimmy Hoffa himself hasn't warmed to Al Gore.</s>HEMMER: All right, that's the men issue. I want to go to Mike Murphy on this one. There is actually a bumper sticker circulating in some parts that says, "W. Stands for Women." So apparently George W. Bush is scoring points with women voters thus far. Why is that?</s>MIKE MURPHY, GOP STRATEGIST, LAZIO SENIOR ADVISER: I think Governor Bush has done a good job of laying out an agenda that's compassionate and conservative -- as he says, compassionate conservatism. So he's taken some of the edges off traditional conservatism and is resonating with people. I think they know he cares about children, he cares about public education, but he's open to new ideas and new solutions, not letting the teachers union and the status quo, you know, feed us failure for another 20 years. So Bush has been able to combine the innovative new ideas that comes from American conservatism with a softer edge and a record in Texas of caring about people who are often left behind. I think people find that very appealing, women included.</s>HEMMER: It sounds like a contradiction, especially if you look at 1996: Bill Clinton, 54 percent of the female vote; Bob Dole had only 38 percent. And we'll continue to track that. Quickly, Kate O'Beirne, to minorities: Hispanics have been very popular for George W. Bush in Texas. Can he spread that success in other parts of the country, especially California?</s>O'BEIRNE: He's certainly going to try to because it would be critical to his efforts in California. For a Republican, as you rightly note, he has enjoyed terrific Hispanic support in Texas. The Latino vote in California is a different vote. Obviously those voters don't know George W. Bush as well as Hispanic Texas voters were able to observe him. He was very popular following his first time. But he's certainly going to make a big play. And in doing so, in reaching out to those Latino voters, he's also signaling independent voters, underscoring the point Mike just made: I'm a different kind of Republican, I'm going to go to different constituencies, I want to broaden the appeal of my party, I'm open to these other issues, I want to include you. And that's a -- I think that's an attractive message to those independent voters who aren't partisans and are watching for that kind of openness.</s>HEMMER: We'll see if that sticks. Back to Mike Murphy quickly. I mentioned you work with Rick Lazio, senior adviser of his campaign against Hillary Clinton. This week, Hillary Clinton said, I want to debate Rick Lazio anytime, anywhere. When and where? is the question now.</s>MURPHY: She is going to get her wish. We're very shortly going to be announcing a whole series of debate initiatives. There will be debates. We're looking forward to them, and people can look at Lazio.com to keep an eye on when and what we're doing. But there are going to be debates and we're looking forward to them. It's about time that we engage on issues and get out of the attack campaign the Clintons are running in New York and let voters see who's really from New York and for New York.</s>HEMMER: And we're out of time. Mike Murphy, Kate O'Beirne, hope you get down to Philly. And if so, we'll see you then, OK?</s>O'BEIRNE: We'll see you there.</s>HEMMER: All right, good deal.