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Saturday Morning News

Voters Use New Hampshire Primary as Part of Larger Strategy

Aired January 29, 2000 - 8:32 a.m. ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Here in the United States, the focus is on the battle to succeed President Clinton as the next occupant of the Oval Office.

CNN's Carol Lin joins us live from New Hampshire again with the latest.

Hi, Carol.

CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.

What we're trying to do today out of Manchester is really get the scene behind the campaigns as we come up against the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday. And joining me right now is Jill Zuckman. She is a reporter for the "Boston Globe" covering this campaign, lots of political experience to talk about here.

Jill, CNN is reporting a story that I find interesting, that in this bloc of independent voters here in New Hampshire there are Democrats registered as independents to try to drain some of Bush's resources so that they can help McCain get to the convention to give Gore a better chance, if you can follow that as a flow chart.

JILL ZUCKMAN, "BOSTON GLOBE": I, well, I have to say I think that is just a little Machiavellian. I mean I think it would be very difficult for anyone to orchestrate something like that. I think there probably are some random people who might be thinking that way, but generally if you identify as a Democrat or you tend to vote Democratic, even though you're an undeclared voter in that independent pool, you're going to be looking at the Democratic race and you're going to be thinking where you want to vote there rather than how can I upset things on the Republican side to make things better for the guy I like on the other side. It's just a little bit round about.

LIN: Maybe we just have too much time on our hands waiting for election day. What do you think is the likeliest surprise that you're looking for?

ZUCKMAN: Well, you know, I think it's too close to call on the Republican side and, you know, we're all sort of thinking we know what's going to happen on the Democratic side. The real question is who down below in the weeds like, you know, could Alan Keyes end up surpassing Steve Forbes? I mean how will Keyes do in New Hampshire with his very, very conservative message? That's something we'll find out.

LIN: There is talk, a lot of buzz about Steve Forbes, but also some speculation that Forbes, Keyes and Bauer are going to splinter the conservative vote and that's really going to hurt G.W. Bush.

ZUCKMAN: Well, I think all along these conservatives have been splintering the vote and nobody has been emerging and it's been good for Bush because he's been able, he's had, you know, a big bloc of sort of mainstream conservative support and I would say the candidates that are more to the right of him have just been fighting for this same smaller pool of voters, which has allowed him to keep doing well.

LIN: Is it interesting for you as you follow the candidates, the reaction that the crowds give each of the candidates? We don't really have a sense of that necessarily in coverage.

ZUCKMAN: Yes, I mean you spend a lot of time and sometimes it varies depending on the setting. But I would say John McCain probably has some of the most enthusiastic crowds. I mean he's not going to rotary clubs or chamber of commerce dinners to get crowds that are already part of an organization. They're just putting him in a town and saying here he is, you know, if you want to come see him and all of a sudden 400 or 500 people show up and they are just very intense about asking him questions and they really, really respond well to him. And I would say he probably has some of the best crowds in New Hampshire.

LIN: Interesting. Thank you very much, Jill.

ZUCKMAN: You're welcome.

LIN: Interesting, Kyra and Miles, because McCain, on our tracking poll, all indications are that he's very popular with voters here but that those same voters seem to think that G.W. Bush has a better chance of being elected. So that's the surprise factor we're looking for on Tuesday. How are they going to vote?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, well, we will be watching. You know, those folks play for keeps up there.

LIN: Yes, they do.

O'BRIEN: They have on their license plate "live free or die," you know?

LIN: It's serious stuff.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

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