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WorldView

Alan Keyes Discusses Monday's Iowa Caucuses and Campaign 2000

Aired January 22, 2000 - 8:02 p.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Running far behind in the polls, GOP hopefuls Gary Bauer, Alan Keyes and Orrin Hatch. They do not expect to win here in Iowa. What does matter for these three candidates, however, is how far behind they finish.

CNN's Bob Franken explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We have a real good idea who will be the Republican number, a pretty good idea who will be number two. The battle will probably be the fight for number three.

This is the battleground: Christian conservatives, a powerful political force in Iowa's Republican party. It's at church meetings throughout the state where the antiabortion feelings are highest, where anti-tax feelings are strongest and where conservative analysts have tried to out-conservative each other. Gary Bauer brings to this competition a long history on the right.

GARY BAUER (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: All of the major issues facing the country -- how we deal with the poor, racial reconciliation, restoring respect for life. Every one of those issues, at the core is a moral issue.

FRANKEN: But no one is more unyielding in his conservatism than Alan Keyes. Even his TV ads are thunderous, even when he deals with taxes.

ALAN KEYES (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What we can live without is this slave form of taxation.

FRANKEN: Nationally Keyes has been considered a fringe candidate. But suddenly, his crusade has caught the attention of religious conservatives in Iowa.

TERRY BRANSTAD (R), FORMER IOWA GOVERNOR: I think Alan Keyes may surprise some people here. My sense is he is -- he's a dynamic guy, and he's coming on strong here in the end. He may come in a strong third.

FRANKEN: That could be a staggering blow to Bauer, who had a surprisingly strong showing in last summer's GOP straw vote. Less than a third of the caucuses would mean Bauer could be hard pressed to go on. So, too, Orrin Hatch, the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, who's almost quixotic campaign has not appeared to take hold, even among his fellow conservatives.

And there's a wild card here: John McCain. McCain has all but ignored Iowa, and ironically, that means he can't lose here. Any votes at all would be considered a plus since he never campaigned for them.

(on camera): But for the others, Bauer, Keyes and Hatch, the battle for third place may actually be a battle for survival.

Bob Franken, CNN, Des Moines, Iowa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Within the past hour, I caught up with Alan Keyes on the campaign trail here in Des Moines.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: I've been here now a few days. I can't turn on a TV without seeing an Alan Keyes commercial, a political ad. You must have some money to pay for all of this kind of stuff?

ALAN KEYES (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, our fund rating has been pretty well. In the course of the last several weeks, I think they told me that we've had a 70, 75 percent increase this quarter over last quarter in terms of the pace of fund-raising. I think it's been part of the positive effect as people get closer to the election, as they get a sense of what the candidates are really like. We're seeing a very positive response.

BLITZER: And from the debates as well?

KEYES: Well, I think they had a lot to do with it. I think they provided people with an opportunity to see candidates side by side, to get a sense not only of where we stand, but who most effectively articulates the positions that they believe in, and I think that's helping a lot.

BLITZER: Four years ago in Iowa, you got 7 percent of the vote, you got 5 percent in the straw poll last summer. How are you going to do Monday night?

KEYES: I'm really not sure. I don't know that we have any sure way of knowing. We've been getting very good turnouts at our events all over the state. We've had the kind of enthusiasm and intensity that last time we saw, for instance, in places like Lynn County, where I did well. We've been seeing that in a lot of other places around the state. I think a lot will depend on whether people, in fact, follow through. If people are voting their conscience and voting their real beliefs in the caucuses on the Monday, I think I'm going to do very well.

BLITZER: Some people have said to me over the past few days, they think you'll come in third behind George Bush and Steve Forbes. KEYES: Well as I say, I am not sure what we're going to see. I just think that the message is a message that a lot of people do believe in. I think that the moral priorities and meeting the moral challenge, dealing with issues like abortion, that are the issues that are affecting our moral conscience and perceptions these days, a lot of folks look at what's going on in the country and what has happened in the last several years, and they know that that is in fact the true priority. The question is, will they follow through, will they vote their principles and conscience?

BLIZER: As you know, maybe you don't know, earlier today on CNN's "EVANS, NOVAK, HUNT & SHIELDS," Governor Bush said he supports the 1984 Republican Party platform against abortion, which includes some very strong words. Is that good enough for you? Is he antiabortion enough for you?

KEYES: Well, see that's not the question, and it never has been. The question isn't just where he stands or whether he will take a stand, the question is, in November, when faced with strong and articulate opposition from the Democrats, will he be able to defend that stand? Will he be able to present the positions of the Republican Party in a way that is persuasive and that in fact can win a victory for Republicans, and the answer to that question, quite frankly, is no, he will not. Governor Bush is a nice man, but he has not proven to be the most outstanding or effective representatives of the Republican Party's views and principles in this race, and that's what we'll have to do next fall.

BLITZER: If he wins the Republican Party nomination, will you support him for president?

KEYES: I don't think I have to worry about that. I am focused on making sure that the people in the Republican Party have the right alternative. We're going to have to meet the moral challenge of this time. It is, in fact, in their more stewardship that the Clintons have failed and that the Democrats have failed in the last several years. The economy is the doing well. The international situation offers no reason right now to change party affiliation, in terms of control of the White House. But they have egregiously failed in preserving the moral standards, the moral ideals, the moral principles of this country, and we need a standard-bearer who can represent that challenge to the American people, focus them on it, so that's what they're thinking about it when they vote in the fall. G.W. Bush can't do that. I believe I can.

BLITZER: So he's not qualified to be president?

KEYES: I didn't say that. He's not qualified to win this election. He's not qualified to be the person who leads the country as we face the challenge of applying our moral principals to the many issues that we face today that involve moral judgment and the kind of need to apply the great principles of our way of life that I think we have right now. He just does not have either the conviction or the capacity to do that, I think that's the problem.

BLITZER: And no matter what happens -- we only have a few seconds left -- you're in this race until when?

KEYES: I'm in this race as long as their are people of good heart who are going to support the message that I represent. My campaign is about making sure that that message is available. People can't make the right choice if it's not presented to them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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