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Morning News

Election 2000, Five Days to Go: Bush Touring Missouri, Heartland Battlegrounds Today; Nader Factor Playing Into Wisconsin Contest

Aired November 2, 2000 - 9:11 a.m. ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: There are just five days and counting in the presidential race and the candidates are trading accusations and crisscrossing the country in search of votes. Democrat Al Gore is kicking of the day in Scranton, Pennsylvania, a live picture there for you. Gore is going on the offensive, raising questions about George W. Bush's ability to handle the job of president.

From Pennsylvania, Gore heads to Illinois and then on to New Mexico.

As for the Texas governor, George W. Bush is working his way through America's heartland today, making campaign stops in key battleground states. One of those states is Missouri, where Bush begins the day with a rally in St. Charles.

CNN's Major Garrett joins us. He is there.

And good morning to you, Major.

MAJOR GARRETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

Well, you can summarize Gov. Bush's political strategy today with one word: suburbs. He starts the day, as you mentioned, here in St. Charles, a suburb of St. Louis, then off to suburban Chicago, and then a late-night rally in suburban Milwaukee. The idea is to motivate independent and moderate Republican voters in all those three suburban strongholds to counteract what's expected to be strong Democratic turnout for the vice president in St. Louis, Chicago and Milwaukee.

Now, as he has every day in the final week of this campaign, the governor stressed his one particular theme each day. Today's theme is Medicare. He will assert that Vice President Gore's prescription drug plan would force millions of American seniors into a government-run HMO and require them to pay some $600 per year for their prescription drugs.

Now, the vice president, of course, hotly disputes those accusations, saying that his plan is more flexible and would cover all seniors much faster than Gov. Bush's plan -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Major Garrett in St. Charles, Missouri, thank you very much -- Bill. BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Daryn.

Wisconsin traditionally a swing state, and it's one of the hotly contested battlegrounds in this year's close race for the White House. It's also a state now where the Nader factor is in play big time.

CNN's Bob Franken from Madison, Wisconsin for today's battleground report.

Hey, Bob. Good morning.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. It's a vital state. Of course, every state is this day with the electoral college calculation so very, very close. And it's a state where the politician have been here time and again looking for the proper recipe for victory.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN (voice-over): In Wisconsin these days, the old saying would go, those who like cheese and politics have probably never seen either being made.

They curdle a lot of cheese here; and nowadays, a lot of politics.

Today will mark the 10th time since late March that George W. Bush as campaigned in Wisconsin. Al Gore has been here eight times.

Once we know what goes in, we know how the cheese will turn out. We have no way of knowing how this campaign will. The polls bounce back and forth: Bush in the lead, Gore in the lead. In part, it's because of the spoiler.

RALPH NADER, GREEN PARTY PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The Democrats wanted me to stay out of Wisconsin. You know what I told them.

FRANKEN: Wisconsin is one of the states where Ralph Nader is viewed as a threat to Al Gore. He hovers in the polls at about 5 percent here, which could be enough to hand Wisconsin to Bush.

Nader is not the only wildcard. There's Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson. He's in his fourth term, but he's never been able to deliver the state for a GOP presidential candidate.

JEFF MAYERS, WISPOLITICS.COM: People aren't going to vote for Bush just because Tommy Thompson says so. Tommy Thompson's coattails have never really been that long.

FRANKEN: But Thompson has a formidable organization in a state where every little bit might help.

GOV. TOMMY THOMPSON (R), WISCONSIN: The organization is going to be able to bring in an extra 4 points -- 2 to 4 points that could make the difference between winning and losing. FRANKEN: Political unpredictability is as much a part of the landscape here as the dairy cow. Wisconsin is the state of LaFollette progressives and McCarthy conservatives. No herd mentality here.

Anyway you slice it, it is very close in this state -- too close to call.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN: The campaigns, as a result, are going flat out, each of them fighting for a relatively small chunk of 11 electoral votes.

Bob Franken, CNN, live, Madison, Wisconsin.

HEMMER: All right, Bob, thank you. Five days and counting. Will be interesting.

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