Encore - Interview with Michelle Obama; Interview With Mike Huckabee
KING: Our panel to discuss all of this. Here in Washington, Paul Begala, the CNN political analyst, also a supporter of Hillary Clinton; Jamal Simmons, Democratic strategist, president of New Future Communications, and a supporter of Barack Obama; in Seattle, Michael Medved, the syndicated radio host, and a supporter of John McCain; and back here in Washington, Tim Hutchinson, the former Republican senator from Arkansas, a supporter of Mike Huckabee. First, Paul Begala, what do you make of Mrs. Obama?</s>PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: What a home run. Somebody needs to maybe a button that says "Vote For Michelle's Husband." I support Hillary, but what a star. So poised. What struck me is she's been through all of this and she said I wasn't terribly surprised by either the good or the bad. Most people go through this the first time, they are not just surprised, they're freaked out. So she's got a real depth and poise to her that's really endearing, very impressive.</s>KING: Jamal, what did you make?</s>JAMAL SIMMONS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I thought it was a great interview. She would make a great first lady. I think everybody sort of knows that. We'll see what happens the rest of this year. She's certainly helping the campaign move forward.</s>KING: Michael, what thinks the loyal opposition?</s>MICHAEL MEDVED, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Again, she's terrific. She's a potential candidate herself years from now. I would love to see her debate Bill Clinton. How about a first spouses debate?</s>KING: Well said. Senator Hutchinson, what do you think?</s>TIM HUTCHINSON, FMR SENATOR: Tremendously impressive individual. Clearly you hear her speak, not only is she articulate, you can imagine her in the White House. She's very impressive.</s>KING: That's four to nothing for her. What's going to happen tomorrow, Paul?</s>BEGALA: I do the think that the polls have often been wrong. I don't think they're wrong this time. I think Senator Obama has a commanding position in Maryland, D.C., and Virginia, which is probably his toughest state. He's got Tim Kaine, a very popular governor of Virginia and he is drawing massive crowds. I think he's going to win all three.</s>KING: Jamal?</s>SIMMONS: He's also got Mark Warner's wife, who is helping to lead the Women for Obama effort in Virginia. That's going to be very helpful. I know the Clintons have been in there pretty strong today. But I think the campaign is on both sides know that Virginia is going to be pretty tough for the Clintons. The question is what the margins are going to be. Then we'll see what happens after that.</s>KING: Michael, what's going on?</s>MEDVED: Well, what's going on, obviously, is there's a huge surge of momentum for Obama. Here in Seattle, Barack Obama had one of the biggest political rallies in the history of the city. He had 20,000 people who came out with no notice. The interesting thing to me, and as a Republican it's one of those things that I would look forward to running against him in the fall -- on my radio show today, I said OK, you're one of the people out there who thinks Obama represents change, represents hope. Hope for what? Change to do what exactly? None of his supporters were able to say exactly. That's going to have to be defined.</s>KING: Tim, where stands Huckabee in all of this? Did he get robbed in Washington?</s>HUTCHINSON: Did he what?</s>KING: Did he get robbed?</s>HUTCHINSON: Clearly there's a big question mark over what went on in Washington. Any time you stop counting with 87 percent and it's only a 250 vote difference, that's not good at all. That will all be sorted out, I'm sure. As to the primaries tomorrow, you know, the polls don't look particularly good for Governor Huckabee. But none of the polls really reflect the surge that occurred, the bounce that the governor got out of Kansas and Louisiana, his tremendous performance over the weekend. Some of the late, late polls show it closing. I think, as Governor Huckabee said, there could be some surprises.</s>KING: What does he have?</s>HUTCHINSON: He has -- you know, I've been in politics over 25 years. I've never seen anyone that can empathize and relate to people the way Mike Huckabee does. He has the humor. He has the wit. He's quick and articulate. But beyond all of that, there's this capacity to touch people. They sense that. They're important to him. He really does care. Whether it's in Iowa, where he walks across the street to take thank somebody who is holding a sign up for him in the driving rain; whether it's speaking to a large crowd, there is something there that is almost magical in the way he connected with people.</s>KING: Jamal?</s>SIMMONS: Larry, the one thing I think about Mike Huckabee, I think he taps into something that is very similar also to what Senator Obama has, which is that even though people may not agree with all of his issues, I think they really like this guy. They understand where he's coming from. They understand what he wants to do. He's not throwing hard elbows at anybody. He's out there selling his cause. People respond to that. We've had eight years of George Bush. George Bush has been a divisive president. I think people thought they were signing up for one thing from the president, and they got something else. They got unending war. I think they're looking for somebody who they can at least have some sense of I know who you are and I know what you are going to do, and I like you a little bit.</s>KING: Have you ever seen anything like this?</s>BEGALA: No, certainly the cast of characters. I mean, come on. In the Republican party, it's their classical diversity, which is it's the old white guy against a middle-aged white guy. But they're not just that. Senator McCain is a certified war hero. Every American owes him a debt of gratitude for that. Governor Huckabee is a remarkable talent. I have an affinity for formerly fat governors of Arkansas from hope. In our party, we're making history. Either we're going to have the first woman nominee or the first African-American nominee. It's all wonderful. I would caution one thing. Michael mentioned those crowds that Senator Obama is drawing in. They are impressive. But we in the media sometimes overreact to that because his demographic tends to be a lot of students and a lot of upper income folks who can take the time out to go to a rally. Hillary always does better -- in fact, she carries every single income bracket below 50,000 dollars. Barack carries every single bracket above 50. So her working folks are usually under-represented at rallies or in the media.</s>KING: We'll pick right up with Michael Medved in a moment. First, let's check in with Anderson Cooper. He's in New York. I'll be back in New York tomorrow night to participate in all of our election coverage. What's up, Anderson.</s>ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Larry, tonight politics, just as it is with you. The night before crucial primaries for Hillary Clinton in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., she is shaking up her staff, and as you'll see, bracing for a rough tomorrow. Also tonight, the battle for super delegates; it is heating up. Tonight, what are they? Who are they? How might they change the entire outcome of this incredibly close campaign? Plus, Mike Huckabee low on money but everywhere on TV. Why he's staying in the race and which Republicans don't mind that he's making things awkward for John McCain. All that ahead tonight. A big night for politics, Larry, at the top of the hour.</s>KING: We love it. Don't we, Anderson?</s>COOPER: Sure do, incredible.</s>KING: "AC 360" at 10:00 Eastern, 7:00 Pacific. We'll be right back to get the comments of Michael Medved and more right after this.</s>HUCKABEE: When I hear people tell us what we cannot do, I want to say all it needs is the right motivation. Folks, we can do anything in this great country we want to do.</s>MCCAIN: I have lived my adult life with one purpose greater than all others, to keep America safe from all enemies foreign and domestic, and I will never tire of the honor.</s>COMMERCIAL BREAK) KING: We're back. Michael Medved, I hope you remember what you were going to say.</s>MEDVED: I do. When Paul Begala was talking -- and he's right, of course, about the ground breaking nature of the Democratic candidates. There's something ground breaking about both of the remaining Republican candidates as well, which is they were both broke. These are guys who made it this far, both Mike Huckabee and John McCain, despite the fact that they were vastly outspent by better financed campaigns, particularly Governor Romney, but also Mayor Giuliani. I think they did in the same way, which is based on straight talk. John McCain went to 100 different town meetings in New Hampshire. He was willing to argue with people and to talk with them. I think one of the things you find, and it's one of the reasons that McCain is being embraced belatedly by a lot of my brethren in the conservative movement, is because even where you may disagree with the guy, you know he's going to tell it as it is. He's going to tell you where he's coming from. And he's going to remain consistent and courageous. This means I think we're going to have a terrific battle against either Senator Obama or Senator Clinton in the fall.</s>KING: What, Jamal, has done it for your candidate?</s>SIMMONS: At the end of the day, I've seen a few of these presidential campaigns go by, and the one thing I think I have learned is it's almost always about the candidate. The candidates has to at some point click in, connect with the people and carry that campaign over the finish line. You can have a great campaign staff. They can do a lot of things for you. But if the candidate is not up for it, it's going to be tough. I think this candidate, sometime last fall, October, November, he really just -- something clicked in him. He went out there, sort of like Michael Jordan in the last five minutes. Give me the ball. I just want the ball and I'll take the shot.</s>KING: Do you think it's more logical, Tim, that Mike Huckabee will be a vice presidential nominee?</s>HUTCHINSON: No, I don't think it's in the cards that he'll be asked to be a vice presidential nominee. I know that's not what he's angling for. That's not what he's working for.</s>KING: Do you think he still can pull this off?</s>HUTCHINSON: It's not mathematically impossible. It's daunting. You know, Senator McCain has to get 45 percent of those delegates to lock it up himself. He didn't do that well over the weekend. If you look back on those early primaries, only 10 percent of those primaries did John McCain ever exceed 50 percent of the vote. He was winning a lot of delegates because the conservative vote was divided up. I think it's going to be very interesting this one on one.</s>KING: What's with Hillary, Paul? She had it racked up.</s>BEGALA: I think that was mistakes some of her advisers make. I've never heard her say this was inevitable, but a lot of her advisers did put out. That's kiss of death in the Democratic party. We hate the front-runner. This is a who has never had an instinct for the front-runner. She has always been for the under dog. My goodness, she got a Yale Law Degree and signed up for with the Children's Defense Fund to help poor people. She followed her heart to Arkansas with a guy. A friend of mine drove her down there the whole way, saying, you're throwing your life away, honey. Don't do it. Don't marry this guy. It wasn't Arkansas. It was the guy. But I think Jamal is -- you know, if Barack is Michael Jordan, and he may will well be, Hillary is Chrissy Evert. There are no unforced errors. She's not as glamorous. But, by golly, there are big problems facing this country, and she has the mastery of the substance. That's been her strength.</s>KING: Back with our remaining moments with Paul Begala, Jamal Simmons, Michael Medved, and Tim Hutchinson right after this.</s>CLINTON: And when I am president we will have the changes that will make us stronger and safer and smarter and fairer.</s>OBAMA: We will win the general election. And you and I together, we will go forward to change this country and change the world. Thank you, Maryland. I love you. Thank you.</s>KING: Paul Begala, if Hillary gets swept tomorrow, is she in big trouble?</s>BEGALA: She's in trouble, that's for sure. They got Wisconsin, where she ought to fight. She should make a stand in Wisconsin. But then come the two big ones on March 4th, which is Ohio and Texas, then April 27th is Pennsylvania. If she loses all three tomorrow, she'll have to win all three, I think, of Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania. That's tough to do. But that's what she's going to have to do if she wants to win this.</s>KING: Michael, can McCain lose this?</s>MEDVED: Can McCain be blocked from getting a majority? Probably so. But I think it would be difficult. Look, the truth is the conservative movement is coalescing. Jeb Bush endorsed McCain today. Fred Thompson has come behind McCain. I think the Republican party is coming together, understanding this is going to be a challenging race, but understanding also that John McCain is the right man to represent all three pillars of the so-called stool of Reagan conservatism. He is a fiscal conservative. He is a security conservative and he's also a social conservative.</s>KING: Jamal? Is it his to lose?</s>SIMMONS: John McCain's?</s>KING: No.</s>BEGALA: Not getting off that easy.</s>SIMMONS: No, I wouldn't say that at all. I think, as Senator Obama said himself, if you're name is Barack Obama, you're an underdog. At the same time, the Clintons are extraordinarily popular. They have a good team. I know a lot people who are in that campaign. I think that Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton -- you've got Chelsea Clinton out there -- all campaigning full time. It's a triple threat, to keep the basketball analogy going. So I think the Clintons are very strong. She should do well in those big states. I think margin is going to be important because of the delegate count, but Barack Obama could pick off one of those big states. It's anyone's game.</s>KING: Mrs. Obama isn't exactly a detriment?</s>SIMMONS: No, she's going to help the ticket out.</s>KING: Tim, where do we go now with our man, Mr. Huckabee?</s>HUTCHINSON: Well, the real test of where conservatives are coalescing is not the endorsements, but where people are voting. If you look at Kansas and Louisiana last weekend, they're voting for Huckabee. I think there are an awful lot of people, as evidenced in those primaries, who say this race isn't over yet. They want an opportunity to cast their vote and make a choice. That's why Mike Huckabee's still in this race.</s>KING: Paul, are we well served here by four good people?</s>BEGALA: Oh, yes, absolutely. You think about the people who have even gotten out, the so-called second tier -- My party was Bill Richardson, Chris Dodd and Joe Biden, any one of whom I would be proud to have as my president. In the Republican field, Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, these are impressive people. I think the thing that we never talk about in the media is how really blessed we are in the country to have leaders like this coming up in such a difficult time.</s>KING: So you are optimistic no matter how it goes.</s>SIMMONS: I'm more optimistic if it's Barack Obama than Hillary Clinton.</s>KING: Michael?</s>MEDVED: This is a remarkable field. I agree with Paul completely. I think Governor Huckabee is a remarkable leader. He has built his entire campaign based on extraordinary performance in those televised debates, with no money at all. John McCain had a campaign that was dead. He brought it back from nowhere. Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are remarkably gifted politicians, who will be extremely articulate advocates of the liberal point of view in what will be a clear choice election about the direction of the country.</s>KING: Thank you all very much for a sprightly conversation. Check out our newest podcast, Snoop Dogg at CNN.com/LarryKing. We've also got quick votes, transcripts and video clips too, all at CNN.com/LarryKing. Tomorrow night, we're on at Midnight Eastern, 9:00 Pacific with a special look at the Potomac Primaries. Now my man Anderson Cooper and "AC 360." Anderson? TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxantshop.com