We’ve gotten a lot of questions on the blog and in our viewer comments about what happened last night when Sen. Hillary Clinton cancelled on us at the last minute. One of the most popular comments is why don’t we ask her back. The truth is we have.
It is a constant communication process with several members of her press team as well as several members of our staff that happens on a daily basis. We have requested to speak to her, as well as most of the other candidates, almost every day.
Yesterday afternoon, her people told us she would do the interview. But when Anderson was supposed to do the interview, she wasn’t there. The bottom line is that Sen. Clinton bailed on Anderson with no explanation.
It’s true. And it happens. This is not the first, nor will it be the last, time a candidate has agreed to do an interview and it has fallen through for various reasons. It is unfortunate for us, the viewer and Anderson.
But to put to rest the question of have we asked her back: Rest assured we have. And now it’s up to her and her people to make sure that interview will happen.
- Kay Jones, 360˚ Guest Producer
I made my position clear earlier that I'm not a fan of our current system of allowing Iowa and New Hampshire dominate the early voting process for president.
As a result, a ton of state officials lost their minds and orchestrated this stampede of moving up their primaries in order 'to be heard.' Based on previous elections, the general consensus was that we would have a nominee after the Feb. 5 'Super Tuesday,' so if you were holding a vote after, you're screwed.
So, legislators in Michigan and Florida decided to put pressure on the two political parties and voted to move their date up, and both governors signed it into law. In Florida, it was a Republican-led effort, which Democrats silent, but pleased at the changes. In Michigan, Democrats took the lead, and the GOP was in agreement.
But the political parties said, in the words of Whitney Houston, 'Hell to the no!' As a result, the Dems stripped Michigan of all delegates; the GOP took half.
Now folks in both states are hot and bothered, and they have an advocate in Sen. Hillary Clinton, who now says she wants their delegates seated at the convention in Denver.
Never mind the fact that their predicament was by their own doing. In fact, with the race on both sides being all over the place, had Florida and Michigan stayed put, they would have MORE power in deciding the nominee.
So folks in Michigan and Florida, blame yourself for your woes. YOUR elected representatives approved the changes. YOUR governors signed the bill into law, so if you are looking to assign blame, don't look to the Democratic and Republican National Committees.
Look in the mirror.
– Roland S. Martin, 360° Contributor
Last night on AC 360, my sense was that we were witnessing a pair of lost opportunities for George W. Bush and Hillary Clinton.
The President could have seized upon his final State of the Union to present a vision of the America he hopes to see in the future - the America to which his years in office have been pointed. FDR most famously did that in 1944, in his twilight year, painting a picture of a more humane and just society. Years later, LBJ made that vision an animating force for building a Great Society. That's what great presidents do - they try to bend history by creating a vision that others pursue.
Or Bush could have grappled seriously with our troubled economic condition, using the bully pulpit to help the country understand how we got into this mess and what it will take over time to get out. Certainly, the evening cried out for a greater sense of economic urgency and reassurance that the White House fully appreciates and is on top of the problem. After all, his government had just announced the biggest drop in housing starts in more than four decades; the head of the International Monetary Fund for the first time in 23 years has called for nations across the world to loosen their budgets, a sure sign of deepening concern; and the respected John Thain, new head of Merrill, has just warned that the subprime mess will spread into credit card and consumer loans. Bush could and should have wrapped himself around this problem and conveyed a sense that the White House is absolutely determined to guide us safely through the storm.
Sorry, folks, we didn't get either. Instead he marched through a long laundry list of issues, rattling them off by the numbers. Unless I missed it, there was not a single phrase or idea that captured one's imagination. And stylistically, it didn't hold together. Winston Churchill famously remarked of a speech once, "Pray, take it back to the kitchen; this pudding has no theme." Just so. It was hardly surprising that before Anderson was half way into his show last night, his guests like Mitt Romney, John McCain and Barack Obama were looking right past the Bush speech toward Florida and Super Tuesday.
The other missed opportunity came from Hillary Clinton, when she pulled out of her promised interview with Anderson with no explanation from her camp. From Saturday night through Monday night, Obama completely dominated the airwaves with his win in South Carolina and the Kennedy endorsement. Mrs. Clinton has been virtually invisible, in effect ceding lots and lots of free air time to her rival. She continues to hold commanding heights against him in California, New York, etc., but she can't be sure he will remain far behind if he gets up a head up steam. That's why it seemed so clear that she would come onto last night's show and change the conversation away from S.C. and Kennedy. She could have done that by going full blast after the Bush economic performance - this is a subject she knows extremely well, better it seems than Obama, and she could have thrust herself forward as the person best suited to protect Americans hard-pressed to pay their bills.
We will see what today brings from her - she could yet issue a full-throated assault on Bushonomics and put forward her own plans. But if the best she musters is a fly-in to Florida tonight after the voting, for a celebration the press will tend to scoff at, she will leave yet another day open to Obama's forward charge.
As Anderson would say, what are they thinking?
– David Gergen, 360° Contributor
Check it out bloggers – here is a time-lapse video we put together showing the construction underway for CNN's California Republican Presidential debate set .
Let us know what you think!
A friendly reminder: Catch CNN's final 2 debates before Super Tuesday!
January 30, 8p ET: The Reagan Library Republican Presidential Debate
January 31, 8p ET: Democratic Presidential Primary Debate
– David Reisner, 360° Digital Producer
Rudy Giuliani could be nearing the end. He has explicitly said the Florida primary is critical to his presidential campaign. Well, polls show he's in third or fourth place. Polls as we know, are occasionally wrong, but it's not looking good for the man who for months was at the top of the GOP national poll.
We spent time with him last week. I had covered him on and off when he was the mayor of New York City, and the confidence and swagger I saw back then was virtually gone. In it's place was a somewhat subdued man who did not exhude the energy I am used to seeing from him. He seemed a bit ill at ease at a gathering of hundreds of Cuban Americans in Little Havana.
About 10 little children with signs gathered to greet him. He shook their hands like they were adults; he just didn't seem quite sure what to do. When he took the stage, he started talking rapidly without a translator; most of the Spanish speaking crowd hadn't a clue what he was saying. Finally, a translator stood next to the former Mayor and the crowd perked up and was quite exhuberant. The translator however had a tough time keeping up with Giuliani's telltale rapid New York english.
If he loses Florida soundly, it's hard to imagine Giuliani continuing on through Super Tuesday and risking embarrasment in his home of New York. But he said in Florida he's in the race to stay. We'll see if the results lead to some reassessment.
– Gary Tuchman, 360° Correspondent