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Morning News

Election 2000: Bush, McCain Move Towards Each Other in Never- Before-Seen Race for the White House

Aired February 16, 2000 - 9:17 a.m. ET

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

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Once again, the two main Republican contenders right now for the nomination, George W. Bush, John McCain, back on the stump early this morning.

Also early this morning with us: Bill Schneider, live in Washington.

Bill, good morning to you after a rather late last night. I was up right there with you listening.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, it was.

HEMMER: Let's talk about coming off the debate last night. Do you sense a change of mood between McCain and Governor Bush at this time?

SCHNEIDER: Well, they certainly went after each other in that debate, each of them calling attention to what they thought was unfair treatment by the other. But I thought the most important thing in that debate was that Bush went into it with a stature gap. In previous debates, he's look a little bit over his head, perhaps, callow, young, inexperienced, and I thought he held his own quite well last night, so that any gap that had appeared in the past seems to have diminished.

HEMMER: Today is Wednesday. As you well now, Saturday, folks in the Palmetto State will go to the polls. What is the strategy, first of all, for George W. Bush over the next three days? Where does he work for that vote now?

SCHNEIDER: Well, I think he's -- he has discovered that there's a wave out there for John McCain, and he's trying to catch the wave. The wave is a wave for reform, for change in the process, and so he doesn't want to sound like a typical politician. That's why yesterday he unveiled his own campaign finance reform plan. In a way, he's saying, I'm the real McCain, I'm the guy who can reform the system, and he points to the fact that he has a record in Texas he's actually done it; he calls himself a "reformer with results." It's very odd, because McCain is saying he's just as conservative as George Bush. The two candidates are kind of moving toward each other.

HEMMER: So as we look at the Palmetto State, traditionally, though, it has gone toward the front-runner. How shocking is it, though, in the political world in the year 2000 now that we're seeing John McCain make the in-roads that he has?

SCHNEIDER: Well, we've really never seen this before in the Republican Party. There's been Republican insurgences, from Pat Robertson in 1988, from Pat Buchanan in 1992 and '96, and in fact Ronald Reagan was an insurgent candidate before he got elected president and he always remained one. But they've always come from the right wing of the party. This is the first time we've had an insurgency that isn't grounded in the Christian Coalition, in the right wing of the Republican Party. This one really comes from a Republican who is a conservative but who bucks the conservative line on a number of issues like campaign finance reform and the tobacco bill. He's willing -- he's a maverick, really, and Republicans have just never seen anything like this. Democrats have. Republicans haven't.

HEMMER: Bill Schneider in Washington. Stick around, Bill. We'll talk in a little bit.

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