Obama Speaks Out; Hillary Clinton Injecting Race Into Campaign?
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, "Raw Politics": Hillary Clinton taking heat. Critics say she's injecting race into the race again. Hear what she's saying about white voters or, as she puts it, hardworking Americans, white Americans. You can make up your own mind. Also, Barack Obama up close in his own words tonight, his first interview since winning North Carolina. Does she believe the race against Clinton is over? And hear what he said that has the McCain camp crying foul -- an in-depth interview with Senator Barack Obama tonight. Later, death and delay -- the exploding humanitarian outrage in Burma, as the military dictators there keep cyclone relief to a trickle, while thousands of bodies rot and survivors go hungry. Plus, "Crime and Punishment": Charles Manson almost 40 years after he and his twisted followers painted Southern California red with the blood of seven people, new evidence that the Manson family body count may be a whole lot higher. We will take you to the ranch where more bodies may be buried. First, though, late moves by Barack Obama to sew up the Democratic nomination and Hillary Clinton's last-ditch efforts to stop him. She's soldiering on, campaigning like there's no tomorrow. He is starting, but only just starting to campaign like the nominee. Tonight, you can decide for yourself what kind of case he's making against John McCain and hear how Senator McCain answers it. We will be playing extended clips from Senator Obama's in-depth interview today with CNN. But, first, we take you on the campaign trail. Candy Crowley has the "Raw Politics."</s>CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Colleagues, tourists, pages looking for a picture and press scrums.</s>QUESTION: How much longer will the race go on, Senator?</s>CROWLEY: Barack Obama was on Capitol Hill this morning with the aura, though not the votes, of a presidential nominee.</s>SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That's why I'm running for president.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you win, too. You win it.</s>CROWLEY: So, is she putting together an exit strategy? A Clinton insider replies, N-O, exclamation point.</s>SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is a little bit like deja vu all over again. Some in Washington wanted us to end our campaign, and then I won New Hampshire.</s>CROWLEY: The itinerary speaks to her current state of mind. Having made he case in West Virginia, which has its primary next Tuesday, Hillary Clinton took off for South Dakota, very much in the race.</s>H. CLINTON: So, on June the 3rd, Montana and South Dakota will have the last word.</s>CROWLEY: She needs a 9.0 on the Richter scale to shake this up in her favor. And guess who is in West Virginia today, waiting for an earthquake?</s>BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: She can still win this thing if you vote for her big enough.</s>B. CLINTON: They're going to have to resolve Michigan and Florida, and when they do, she can win the popular vote.</s>CROWLEY: It's not a widely held theory. Some Clinton supporters are jumping ship, and Obama is still gathering up superdelegates. But one Clinton adviser says she's not campaigning in some kind of parallel universe. She doesn't think this is over. Clinton believes she's the best candidate to beat John McCain, so the superdelegate courtship continues.</s>H. CLINTON: I'm winning Catholic voters and Hispanic voters and blue-collar workers and seniors, the kind of people that Senator McCain will be fighting for in the general election.</s>CROWLEY: Another source close to Clintons adds, there is more to this than math. She has a loyalty to the history she and her supporters are writing.</s>H. CLINTON: Too many people have fought too hard to see a woman continue in this race, this history-making race. And I want everybody to understand that.</s>CROWLEY: And it is her supporters, including millions of women, that give caution to many Democrats and the Obama campaign. They need those votes in the fall. They cannot be seen trying to muscle her out.</s>OBAMA: So, I don't want to get ahead of myself here. Senator Clinton is a very formidable candidate.</s>CROWLEY: Privately, some party leaders are anxious to have this over. But one top-level party honcho says, we're taking three more weeks. Let it ride.</s>COOPER: So, Bill Clinton is waiting for an earthquake, or they both are? What kind of an earthquake? Are they talking about Florida and Michigan or are they hoping some sort of implosion in the Obama campaign?</s>CROWLEY: Well, you know, I think, actually, the thing that would help them most is if there were some sort of implosion, some sort of Jeremiah Wright-like event that would give superdelegates some pause. Absent that, it is really very difficult. Now, you heard Bill Clinton say, if they include Michigan and Florida, then she will have the popular vote. They think that that's a superdelegate argument, that, if at the end of the day, she comes out with the most popular vote, when you add all the primaries and caucuses -- some of the caucuses together, that she will have more popular vote, and that will add to her argument that she's the most electable. Now, first of all, it's questionable whether she will come up, even if you add in Michigan and Florida, with the most popular vote. And, second of all, it's sort of questionable whether he, meaning Barack Obama, comes on June 4, and has the most pledged delegates, it's going to be very, very difficult to deny him this nomination. And, if they do at this point, it really would cause an implosion in the party.</s>COOPER: We are going to have more with Candy coming around. We want to move on, though, to the interview with Barack Obama. "And The Winner Is..." -- that's what "TIME" magazine is putting on their cover tomorrow, along with a picture of Barack Obama. Tonight, up close, his first interview since winning North Carolina, an interview which has, in some ways, outraged the McCain campaign. You will hear why shortly. He sat down today with Wolf Blitzer. And he was trying to walk a fine line, as you will see, as the likely nominee, focusing on John McCain, without appearing to underestimate or dis Hillary Clinton. Take a look. (</s>BEGIN VIDEOTAPE, "THE SITUATION ROOM") WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Here is the cover, "And the Winner Is..." That's a picture of you. What do you think?</s>OBAMA: Well, you know, I think -- I don't want to be jinxed. We've still got some work to do.</s>BLITZER: It's almost like you got the cover of "Sports Illustrated." Is that what you're -- you're nervous about that?</s>OBAMA: Exactly. Exactly right. We've got six more contests left. And then we've got a lot of work to do to bring the party together, but, obviously, we felt very good about our win in North Carolina on Tuesday. I think we ran a terrific campaign in Indiana. And it was a virtual tie. And, if you look at where the race is at this point, I think we have seen voters across the country say they are ready for change. They are feeling real anxiety about the economy. And they have come to recognize that, unless we change how Washington is done. It's going to be very hard to deliver on a smarter energy policy. It's going to be hard to -- to provide health care for people who need it or make college more affordable. And I think our campaign has benefited from it. And, so, I'm looking forward to bringing this party together and going after John McCain in the fall, and -- and, hopefully, getting this country on the right track.</s>BLITZER: It's been intense in the primaries. But you realize it's going to be much more intense in the next chapter, in the next phase, given the differences between you and John McCain. Are you ready for this next phase?</s>OBAMA: I'm actually looking forward to it, if we're successful. I don't want to get ahead of myself here. Senator Clinton is a very formidable candidate. She is very heavily favored to win West Virginia. She will win that by a big margin. She's favored in Kentucky. We'll probably split the remaining contests. And, so, she's -- she's going to be actively campaigning.</s>BLITZER: We asked our viewers to send us in some questions, and we got thousands of responses, as you can only imagine. I have got a couple. I just want you to watch one of those and get your reaction. A lot of people asked this basic question.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It appears that you do not have enough support among blue collar workers as Senator Clinton did. Would you consider just on that basis alone considering her on a joint ticket as vice president?</s>COOPER: The dream ticket -- the answer to that question ahead, when the interview with Barack Obama continues. As always, Erica and I are blogging throughout the hour. To join the conversation, go to CNN.com/360. We will also tell you about the new war of words between Obama and McCain sparked by this interview. And later tonight, the crisis in Burma and the people trying to help, in spite of the Burmese dictators. Also, the search for new evidence against Charles Manson -- digging for bodies that could begin shortly on a ranch where Manson and his sick followers lived nearly 40 years ago. Ted Rowlands investigates. Here's a preview.</s>TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Gold prospector Emmett Harter (ph) knew Manson and his top lieutenant, Charles "Tex" Watson. He says rumors about more Manson victims have swirled for years, stories like the one that Harter (ph) says a Manson follower told him.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This one girl didn't get along with Manson or Watson at all. And they took her for a walk. And they came back in a short distance, and she -- we never saw her again. I would hope that maybe they would find her.