Hotline After Dark -- Candidates' Clarify
Barack Obama continues his media rounds. CNN's Anderson Cooper spent a day in the life of Obama, following him during a NC visit. Obama will also appear on CNN's "LKL" tonight and on ABC's "The View" on 3/28.
But first, John McCain spoke with NBC's K. O'Donnell during his Middle East trip and was asked about his his mistaken Sunni/Shiite comment. McCain: "I corrected my comment immediately. To think that I would have some lack of knowledge about Sunni and Shiite after my 8th visit and my deep involvement in this issue is a bit ludicrous" ("Nightly News," 3/19).
Most of Obama's interview with CNN focused on the Rev. Wright controversy and his speech on the matter:
Obama: "One of the things I said early on in this campaign was, if I was just running the textbook campaign, doing the conventional thing, I probably wasn't going to win, because Senator Clinton was going to be much more capable of doing that than I would be. We had tremendous success, and I think we were starting to get a little comfortable and conventional right before Texas and Ohio. And, you know, in some ways, this controversy has actually shaken me up a little bit and gotten me back into remembering that, you know, the odds of me getting elected have always been lower than some of the other conventional candidates."
Asked how his Philly speech will effect his campaign: "I think it obviously had an impact. People are talking. And that was one of my main objectives, was to try to lay bare some of the tensions that, you know, aren't just in this campaign, but have been in this country for generations now."
Asked about Hillary Clinton blaming him for holding up a revote in MI: "It's hard for me to get a sense of how we could be to blame for that situation. We have consistently said we'll play by whatever rules the DNC has laid out. I mean, Senator Clinton, I have to say on this, has been completely disingenuous. She said when she was still trying to compete for votes in Iowa and New Hampshire that Michigan and Florida wouldn't count. Then, as soon as she got into trouble politically and it looked like she would have no prospects of winning the nomination without having them count, suddenly she's extraordinarily concerned with the voters there. I understand the politics of it. But let's be clear that it's politics. I want the Michigan delegation and the Florida delegation to be seated. And however the Democratic National Committee determines we can get that done, I'm happy to abide by those rules" ("AC 360," CNN, 3/19).
(EMILY GOODIN)