Sunday Morning News

Hillary Clinton and Rick Lazio Prepare For Second Debate

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Just over an hour from now, Rick Lazio and Hillary Rodham Clinton meet for their second debate. The two contenders in the New York Senate race have been sparring over the issue of campaign financing.

From New York, CNN's Frank Buckley taking a look at today's political fight card, if you will. Good morning to you, sir.

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

We are in the spin room, which is across the hall from the actual debate room, where we are expecting surrogates of both candidates to appear after the debate to tell us who won. Presumably both will say that their candidate won.

This campaign remains close, and yesterday both campaigns were campaigning. Mrs. Clinton yesterday appearing with Irish Americans to accept endorsements from Irish American leaders and "The Irish Voice." In attendance, former senator George Mitchell, who led the peace negotiations in Northern Ireland.

Rick Lazio was also campaigning closer to home for him in Long Island, campaigning with Senator John McCain and Governor George Pataki. Lazio saying the focus of today's debate will be on the issues and his legislative record.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RICK LAZIO (R-NY), SENATE CANDIDATE: I think I want people from New York to know that when they elect me to the Senate, they're going to have an effective senator, day one, somebody who's got legislative experience, somebody who's been able to work in a bipartisan fashion, somebody who's passed major housing legislation and legislation affecting the disabled, somebody who has authored and passed legislation lowering taxes for small-business people, creating jobs, cleaning up the environment, addressing the pollution issues in Long Island Sound, somebody who's been involved in a breadth of legislative issues that I think New Yorkers are proud of.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BUCKLEY: That is Rick Lazio talking about what he plans to do in the debate.

Joining me now is Cathie Levine, who's the press secretary for the Hillary Clinton campaign.

You just heard what Rick Lazio was saying. He said he was going to talk about his legislative record. He has criticized Hillary Clinton for never having held elective office. What will Mrs. Clinton say today?

CATHIE LEVINE, CLINTON PRESS SECRETARY: Well, Hillary's going to talk about what she's been talking about for more than a year now, which is her plans to help New York. Congressman Lazio does have a record, but it's a record of voting against New York. He voted to shut down the department of education, he voted to cut Medicare. And unlike Mrs. Clinton, he does not have any proposal to help the upstate economy.

And I think that those differences will be available for all of New York to see today at this debate.

BUCKLEY: Mrs. Clinton has the lead in most polls, both the general lead and the upstate. She's holding it pretty close upstate. Where does the campaign see things right now? Are you confident? Do you believe it's in the bag? Where does it stand?

LEVINE: Oh, nothing's in the bag. For the remaining, you know, more than four weeks of this campaign, Hillary's going to keep doing what she's been doing, which is traveling around the state and talking to New Yorkers about what she would want to do for them if she gets elected to the Senate. We're not taking anything for granted. There are big differences between these two candidates. And we're going to continue to talk about them.

BUCKLEY: Soft money has become a focus of this campaign during the past few days. The Lazio campaign has been running a television ad paid for in part by the Republican National Committee. They say that was allowed under the soft money ban, the outside spending ban in the New York Senate race. You say it wasn't.

LEVINE: Well, it was a clear violation, and independent sources like "The New York Times" have said as much. Mr. Lazio made an agreement with Hillary, and he hasn't been able to keep it. And, you know, that's something else that New Yorkers are going to have to judge for themselves.

BUCKLEY: The first debate had a confrontational tone to it. Do you expect that this debate will be slightly less confrontational?

LEVINE: Well, we're certainly hoping that Mr. Lazio's going to stay on his side of the stage, and we think that Hillary's going to just talk about the issues, and it'll be for New Yorkers to judge the tone of the debate.

BUCKLEY: OK, Cathie Levine, thanks very much, secretary for the Hillary Clinton U.S. Senate campaign here in New York -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right, thanks very much, Frank Buckley.

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