Battle of Kerry v. Bush; Edwards Will Officially Quit Race Wednesday Afternoon
Aired March 3, 2004 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AARON BROWN, HOST: Good evening again, or good morning again.My favorite line of the night came from White House correspondent John King. John was quoting a senior White House official who said of John Kerry, "He looks French."Yikes. Is that the campaign we are now beginning? And we are beginning a new campaign tonight.For months the Democrats have had the stage. Not alone, of course. Presidents always have a portion of the stage.But the Democrats have had center stage and they made good use of it. The polls show that, but polls do change. And the White House has barely begun.So we begin a new day in more ways than one. But just like the old days, we begin with the whip.CNN's Candy Crowley was with Senator Kerry tonight, and starts us off with a headline.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: He is not officially the Democratic nominee yet, but for all practical purposes he is. The battle of Kerry v. Bush is joined.
BROWN: Next to Haiti and -- I'm sorry -- next to Senator Edwards and CNN's Kelly Wallace. Kelly's headline.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John Edwards said he would stay in this race to win the nomination. Ultimately, he concluded that was no longer possible. CNN confirming that Edwards will officially get out of this race Wednesday afternoon in Raleigh, North Carolina.
BROWN: Kelly, thank you. Skipping a headline will not get you all to bed earlier tonight.Next to Haiti and the state of play there, with Marines on the ground, and apparently, one of the rebels in charge. Lucia Newman there for us, and here's the headline.
LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The wave of execution style revenge killings that many feared has already begun, as Haiti's rebel commander announces that he is now the one in charge of the country's police -- Aaron.
BROWN: And finally, Iraq just a day after a big sign of unity. A deadly reminder of the forces trying to divide the country, one bombing at a time. Jane Arraf with the watch tonight. Jane, a headline.
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Aaron, it was the religious violence that everyone had feared -- an attack on Shia Muslims on their holiest day. Religious and political officials here are trying to keep the violence from escalating.BROWN: Jane, thank you. We'll get back to you -- all of you, shortly.Also coming up on the program tonight, a reversal of fortune on Capitol Hill -- a stunner, really. A bill that would have provided legal protection for gun makers is undone by some fancy maneuvering, shocking just about everyone.Later, segment seven, a discovery on Mars -- water. And possibly signs of life.And, of course, the morning headlines, long before they hit your front porch. Well, not that long, actually, if you think about it. All that and more in the hour ahead.We begin six weeks or so into a front-loaded primary calendar that was designed to pick a winner early, and did. The winner was a man written off in December, resurrected in January and now leading in the polls for November.All of that could change. A lot can happen in six weeks, after all -- or seven months.But for now, Senator John Kerry is the presumptive nominee, having carried the day in nine states. He did not sweep them, though. He did not win Vermont. Remember Howard Dean? His home state did.Massachusetts went to John Kerry -- no surprise. Home states will do that. Connecticut went for John Kerry, and did so in a very big way.In New York, the Reverend Al Sharpton did quite well. But, again, the story line here is the same -- a John Kerry blowout. So it was in Maryland and Ohio and Minnesota, where they held caucuses tonight.California, the big prize, is also going very heavily for Senator Kerry. Only in the state of Georgia did Senator John Edwards make it close. And even there, the day belonged not to him, but to his colleague from Massachusetts.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: It wasn't long after the first polls closed and the first ballots counted, that John Edwards, still smiling, wrote the lead to the night. These are not the words of a man who has decided to fight on.
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I also want to take a moment and congratulate my friend, Senator John Kerry. He's run a strong, powerful campaign. He's been an extraordinary advocate for causes that all of us believe in -- more jobs, better health care, a cleaner environment, a safer world.These are the causes of our party. These are the causes of our country. And these are the causes we will prevail on come November, you and I together.BROWN: The two men had already spoken on the phone, plans in the works for a face-to-face meeting.Senator Edwards ran a far better race than almost anyone imagined. Kelly Wallace is covering Edwards tonight.
WALLACE: John Edwards was hoping for a different kind of Super Tuesday, a night where he would see some victories, victories that would fuel his momentum and allow him to continue in this race for the nomination.Ultimately, though, he decided that was no longer possible. CNN confirming that John Edwards in Raleigh, North Carolina, Wednesday afternoon, will officially announce he is bringing his campaign to an end.BROWN: So, this night, as so many in the last weeks have, belong to John Kerry. It is now his party and it is his race to one (ph).
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe that in 2004, one united Democratic Party, we can and we will win this election.BROWN: Candy Crowley covered Senator Kerry.
CROWLEY: Though Super Tuesday lived up to his name for John Kerry, there are no illusions within this campaign that this will be easy. We hear a lot of words around here -- fight, I'm a fighter -- muscular language.As one of Kerry's top aides put, we are going to "fight like hell." They are, of course, up against an opponent who is extremely well financed and is, after all, the President of the United States.First things first. They will complete the primary round of going tomorrow -- actually, going early today -- down to Florida, where they will begin the march towards the next set of primaries March 9.
BROWN: No longer will John Kerry have his weekly, Tuesday night look of a winner on TV everywhere. Now he will have an opponent, a still-popular president with $100 million to spend.
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The President called Senator Kerry Tuesday night to offer his congratulations on what Mr. Bush called a string of impressive victories in the Democratic primaries. And the President also said he was looking forward to a spirited race between now and election day in November.
BROWN: And in the clearest sign yet that the President is gearing up for that debate, we are told that in recent days, the President has begun looking back at transcripts of Senator Kerry's interviews with the news media and his answers to key questions during the Democratic debates of the primary season.And in another sign of the Bush-Cheney campaign gearing up, the campaign will launch its first television ads Thursday morning nationally on cable television, also in key markets in 17 key battleground states. About $4.5 million being spent on the first wave of ads, but much more to come.Looking back, it was not at all what it seemed like it would be just a few months ago. Back then, John Kerry was dead in the water, his campaign in disarray.John Edwards, who may end up on the ticket, was just one of the bunch -- no better, no more special. Back then it was Howard Dean who made the news. Tonight, Governor Dean is a final paragraph. He won his home state tonight -- Vermont.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Taking a quick look at some of the factors that swayed voters -- or didn't, as the case may be -- we're joined by the hardest working man in television news these days, CNN's Bill Schneider, who has been knee-deep in the exit polling for much of the night.Mr. Schneider, do the exit polls tell us anything dramatically different from what they have told us week after week after week since Iowa?
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Not dramatically different, but they sum it up very nicely in a couple of findings that I'll show you. The Democratic race saw competition, but not a lot of conflict.Democrats come out of this not very divided. How did that happen? Take a look at Georgia, which was the state that was the closest call today for -- that's yesterday, rather -- for John Kerry.We asked Georgia primary voters, where Kerry barely won, would you be satisfied if John Kerry wins? And look at this. Sixty-nine percent said yes. Only 28 percent were anti-Kerry.That's a southern state. He's a Massachusetts Democrat. That meant there wasn't much of an anti-Kerry vote, even in Georgia, for John Edwards, to really capture.Now, take a look at Ohio. That's a state Edwards had counted on. He thought he would win. When he didn't, that's when he decided to get out of the race. Edwards didn't win Ohio. He lost badly. But when Ohio voters were asked, would you be satisfied if Edwards wins the nomination, 62 percent said yes. So, what we conclude from this is, Democrats like both guys. They like Kerry, they liked Edwards. They'd sort of like to see them both go on a ticket.Why did they choose Kerry over Edwards? Kerry had experience, Kerry had credentials that enable him to talk about military policy and national security in a credible way next to President Bush.But they like both candidates. And if Democrats were saying anything in these exit polls, they were saying, they'd make a pretty good ticket.
BROWN: Well, we'll get to that question before the night is over, as well.I'm curious. Do the exit polls tell us whether the people who went to the polls today are significantly more liberal than the electorate as a whole?
SCHNEIDER: Well, they certainly are more liberal, because, look. These are Democrats and people who want to get involved in the Democratic primary. Yes, they are more liberal than the electorate as a whole.And what's interesting there is, among independents who could vote in a couple of states -- Ohio and Georgia -- they were not so enthusiastic about John Kerry, because they are far less anti-Bush.What really united the Democrats and created this amazing lack of conflict was that they all agree on one thing. They want to get rid of George Bush. And they agree that John Kerry is the guy to do it. But that feeling is not shared by the vast majority of voters.
BROWN: OK. So, understandably, John Kerry, come November, wins the Democrats. I would hope he would do that. And I would hope the President would win the Republicans. That makes perfect sense.So the race is about the independents. And how big a percentage of the electorate is that?
SCHNEIDER: About a third of the voters are independent. And they are the swing voters.A lot of independents are disguised partisans. They call themselves independents, but they are liberal and they always vote Democratic, some of them. Some of them are conservative. So there's a view that most independents are not truly independent.But there's a very, very narrow middle, maybe 10 or 15 percent of the voters, who truly are independent. Some of them never bother to vote.So the idea is, you've got two very solid and large bases, about equal in strength, the Republican and Democratic, who are battling it out. And the idea is, there are so few voters in the middle, that basically what they have to do is mobilize and rally their base to get out.And that may be why George Bush endorsed the constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. It was a signal for the religious right to come out and vote for him.
BROWN: Now, make sure your guys vote, and try and do what you can to...
SCHNEIDER: Right.
BROWN: ... keep the other guys from doing. So, Bill, thank you. You've put in your hours today. Thank you. You can punch the clock.Having looked a bit now at the numbers, and the numbers behind the numbers, to talk a little bit more about this, Jeff Greenfield joins us. Jeff's had a long night, as well. It's nice to have you with us.Jeff, if there is a moment or moments where the Kerry campaign turned, what are they?
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SENIOR ANALYST: Well, I think the hiring of Mary Beth Cahill, replacing Jim Jordan back last fall when John Kerry was so far down in the polls and was running behind Al Sharpton in the national polls, and there was kind of a -- an office pulled out when he dropped out.She, in turn, helped make the decision to leave New Hampshire and go to Iowa and make or break the campaign in Iowa. I think that was the key tactical decision.And the most impressive strategic decision, I think, was to put on television ads, very effective ads, that erased Kerry's aloof image by talking to, in one case, a guy whose life he'd saved in Vietnam, and connecting that to what Kerry was talking about back at home.So, changing both the locale of the campaign and the message were the tactical and strategic items.The other thing that we often overlook is, most people, unlike us, weren't paying any attention to this campaign until the new year began. So all the polls from 2003, measuring Howard Dean and Wesley Clark were essentially polls taken before anybody began thinking about the race.But I really do think the move to Iowa was a make-or-break gamble. We either win here or we're doomed, was a gamble that paid off.
BROWN: Just one of those questions that probably has nothing to do with nothing. But if it hadn't been for the speech and the way the speech was played, would this whole thing have been different, do you think? Or was the die cast earlier that night?
GREENFIELD: Yes. I think what -- look. You point to that speech. It was an incredibly self-destructive event, no matter how you play it or analyze it. You can't come out for your first display before America, after you've been clobbered, and behave like that.But the point that you make is right. In his first test, Howard Dean, the man who had been all but anointed as the nominee, came in third with less than half the vote of John Kerry. And he was beginning to sink in New Hampshire, even before that performance.I think what happened essentially was, when voters began thinking about it, they decided that Howard Dean, a former Vermont governor, simply didn't have the credentials that any Democrat would need to go up against President Bush, namely, serious national security and defense credentials, not to mention Kerry's Vietnam War record, which goes a long way toward validating him, at least in the eyes of Democrats, as a credible spokesperson on matters of war and peace.
BROWN: How do the -- how does the Kerry campaign keep control of the headlines? They've had the headlines for two months now, a little more than that. How do they keep it?
GREENFIELD: Yes, it's a really interesting trick. They kept winning.
BROWN: Yes. That helps, doesn't it.
GREENFIELD: Yes. It's a really interesting thing. When people talk about spin and expectations, which, you know, if you keep winning, to the point where you've won 28 out of 31 primaries and caucuses, you don't have to work very hard.I mean, there was that one moment in Wisconsin when Edwards ran a close second. And for that part of that evening, you'll remember, there was, oh, it was Edwards stopped Kerry's momentum better than expected.But the fact is, Kerry won and kept on winning.And I thought there was a very shrewd analysis in a couple of magazines -- "Slate," the online magazine being one -- that said a lot of us had it wrong. Kerry wasn't winning because voters considered him electable. Once he won that first test and second test, voters considered him electable, because he won the early primaries.It was one of the consequences of a severely front-end-loaded primary system, where John Edwards never had the chance he wanted to get one-on-one early in a series of primaries where you could go in on one state, spend all of his time there for a week or two at a time, the way it used to be in the '70s.So, there is that.
BROWN: There is that. More to talk about. And we will, as the night goes on. Jeff, thank you. Out in California, among the things voters voted on tonight was a bond issue -- complicated bond measures -- that Governor Schwarzenegger worked very hard for. And the plan here is that it will essentially save the state from massive budget cuts that are on the table, or would have been if it failed.The governor talking to supporters. He is a big winner in this tonight.And we'll have more on that as we go along. Coming up, more on Super Tuesday -- our political roundtable, which is kind of a small roundtable, but a good one.And then the gun law that looked like a sure thing until it wasn't. From New York, this is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: More on how the day looked from ground level. We're joined again by "The Wall Street Journal's" John Harwood and Carla Marinucci, who is with the "San Francisco Chronicle." Both stayed up late for us, and we're pleased they did. Thank you both.Carla, let me start with you. I'm not sure I explained the California thing very well. This was a victory for Governor Schwarzenegger because ...
CARLA MARINUCCI, "SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE": Well, California is in a huge budget crisis. He had the formidable job -- and this is really heavy lifting -- of selling the voters on a $15 billion bond measure, and a measure to help control the state budget, to balance the state budget.This wasn't an easy task. He needed bipartisan agreement to do it. And, boy, did he do it.The guy is an unbelievable salesman. Went up and down the state. Finished up on Jay Leno last night.And as it looks right now, these measures, 57 and 58, are passing with 61 and 71 percent of the vote, respectively. And that's with 30 percent of the vote. It looks like a big victory for him.
BROWN: It does indeed. Let's go back to presidential politics. John, normally I've started these conversations by asking you what the lead is, but it's just too obvious, so I won't do that.Is this, do you think, a candidate that the White House wants to run against?
JOHN HARWOOD, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL": I do not think so, Aaron. You know, they were totally convinced a few weeks ago, just as many journalists were, that Howard Dean was going to be the Democratic nominee. And they had teed up their research and were ready to go at him. They were not prepared for a guy who is going to be much less easy to stereotype and weaken on the national security issues, as John Kerry is going to be. He's going to be tougher than what they had planned on.
BROWN: Well, they can say about him, truthfully, that at least somebody has ranked him as the most liberal senator there is. That seems a reasonable starting place, if you're trying to define your opponent.
HARWOOD: Sure. And Massachusetts liberal still has some juice in American politics, but not as much as it did against Michael Dukakis, who looked silly when he got in that tank and tried to contest national security with the current president's father.The other thing that I think is notable from these exit polls tonight, Aaron, is that we see continued, very, very high concern about the jobs issue among Democratic primary voters.What that tells you is that the issue of the overall economy. We've had very good growth in the third and fourth quarters of last year. That may not be the asset that President Bush can convert into votes as easily as they've been counting on, because the disconnect between overall growth in jobs is appearing to be a big problem for him.BROWN: Carla, the strengths and the weaknesses, as simply as you can, of the two -- of Senator Kerry and the President, as campaigners.
MARINUCCI: Senator Kerry has had tremendous strength among Democrats here, who are very united about President Bush. Remember, he lost this state by 1.3 million votes last time around. His approval ratings, Aaron, are down and at an all-time low here in California.He's gotten huge crowds in recent weeks. He turned away 1,200 just a couple of days ago here in the Bay Area. So his numbers are really increasing here. Seventy-seven percent of the voters in exit polls here said they voted for him because they believed he was the guy who could beat President Bush.BROWN: John, let me ask the question, but slightly differently. The strengths and weaknesses in terms of their personal characteristics and how they campaign?
HARWOOD: John Kerry is not an especially talented campaigner. He's sort of a dour person. He's a little bit stiff. We saw some of that in his speech tonight. He's not -- he doesn't quite have the regular guy persona the way George W. Bush did in the year 2000, and will probably be able to wield in 2004.But he is, does have a tremendous amount of determination. The war record counts for something, as do the footage of John Kerry walking through the jungle of Vietnam with a rifle. That's going to help him stand on a stage with George W. Bush on equal terms, and talk national security.
BROWN: And the President, his strengths and weaknesses?
HARWOOD: Well, his strengths are, you've got to go back to 9/11. He has repeatedly in recent days tried to sort of take Americans back. Remember what I did right after the attacks on this country.The question for him is, how much can he go back to that well and get Americans to focus on that point?The other disadvantage for George Bush relative to 2000, is that Democrats in 2000, there was a significant number who thought he might be a moderate kind of president. That illusion has been dashed, and you have a much more polarized country and polarized Democratic Party against this incumbent Republican president.
BROWN: All right. John and Carla, the campaign is on. We appreciate both your time tonight. Thank you very much.
HARWOOD: You bet.
BROWN: Thank you.
MARINUCCI: Thank you.
BROWN: The residents of the 10 Super Tuesday states weren't the only ones voting today. As it turned out, both Senators Kerry and Edwards broke away from the campaign, dashed back to Washington to cast votes of their own.They cast votes on a bill to shield gun manufacturers and dealers from most lawsuits. A bill that was expected to pass easily.Just last week we thought it had 78 votes in the Senate. Gun control advocates in the Senate had hoped to cut their losses by amending the bill. Two of the most contentious amendments passed, which in a dramatic turnaround caused the Republicans to kill their own bill.Here's CNN's Joe Johns.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE JOHNS, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Senator Larry Craig, a member of the NRA board, led both the move to pass the bill, and then the move to kill it.
SEN. LARRY CRAIG, (R) IDAHO: But I now believe it is so dramatically wounded, that it should not pass. And I would urge my colleagues to vote against it.
JOHNS: And they did overwhelmingly. What set Craig and the NRA off was a provision added by gun control advocates renewing the 10- year-old ban on assault weapons.
SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN, (D) CALIFORNIA: I deeply believe that assault weapons don't belong on the streets of our communities.
JOHNS: And a requirement for background checks on people who buy weapons at gun shows.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) ARIZONA: We also need this amendment, because my law-abiding constituents who attend gun shows in Arizona, shouldn't have to rub shoulders with the scum of the earth who use this loophole to evade background checks.
JOHNS: Shortly before the final vote, the NRA fired off an e- mail to Senate supporters saying, "we oppose final passage" and warned, the vote "will be used in our future evaluations and endorsements of candidates."
WAYNE LAPIERRE, EXECUTIVE VP, NRA: We're going to get as many gun owners and hunters and Second Amendment supporters to the polls, and tell them to stand up for freedom.J
OHNS: Earlier, presidential candidates and John Kerry and John Edwards elevated the issue by jumping off the campaign trail to vote and score political points.
KERRY: President Bush promised the American people that he would work to renew the assault weapons ban. But now, under pressure, he's walking away from that commitment.
JOHNS: The administration has said it supports the assault weapons ban, but doesn't want it attached to the gun liability measure. Republicans made a point of noting Kerry's appearance on the Senate floor.
SEN. RICK SANTORUM, (R) PENNSYLVANIA: You notice he wasn't here for the Medicare prescription drug vote or for the energy vote or for a lot of other votes. But it was so important he come back and vote to -- on the assault weapons ban.
JOHNS: This was a vote where neither side got what it wanted. And now both sides are vowing they'll be back.Joe Johns, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Still to come on NEWSNIGHT, connecting the dots between some big-name athletes and allegations of steroid use. Developments in that drug scandal coming up.But first, a deadly 24 hours on one of the holiest days in Iraq. A break first. This is NEWSNIGHT from New York.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: In Iraq, one of the holiest days of the year for Shiite Muslims was turned into a blood bath. At least 143 people have died, hundreds more are wounded. The deadliest day in Iraq since major combat ended. The religious holiday of Ashura marks the death of the Imam Hussein, the Prophet Mohammed's grandson, killed in a battle centuries ago. This morning, the streets of Baghdad and Karbala were filled with thousands of worshippers observing the holiday, and the explosions began. Reporting for us, CNN's Jane Arraf.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARRAF (voice-over): Minutes after the explosions in Baghdad, the sirens, the sorrow over a lost battle 14 centuries ago replaced by more immediate grief. Literally hundreds of victims rushed to hospitals in any vehicle that could carry them. In the holy city of Karbala, another unholy attack: a suicide bomb. And as many as eight other blasts seemingly coordinated with the Baghdad attack. Many victims were Iranian pilgrims drawn to the formative places of Shia history.This was the scene in Baghdad's Kadamiya(ph) mosque, where three suicide bombers detonated themselves in a courtyard packed with families. The marble tiles of this, the third holiest site in Shia Islam, awash in blood.(on camera): Some of the scenes in the courtyard of the mosque, not far from here, were too disturbing to picture. Understandably, there is an immense anger. But, for now at least, it seems directed mostly at foreigners and not other Iraqis.(voice-over): Very few in the crowd blamed other Muslims. "You call this a resistance?," this woman screamed. "This is a Wahabbi (ph) act," she said, referring to a Sunni Muslim sect. "It's the Governing Council and the Americans. This is all because of them," said another man.And when U.S. soldiers drew close to the holy shrine in Baghdad to offer help, they were driven back with stones. Iraqi politicians and U.S. officials scrambled to diffuse the threat of sectarian violence. The Governing Council declared three days of national mourning and appealed for calm.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any wound which is inflicted on an Iraqi citizen is felt by all other Iraqis.
ARRAF: But some key Shia leaders and many people in the streets blamed the U.S. coalition for failing to prevent these attacks that added yet more to the list of Shia tragedies.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
U.S. officials say this is obviously the work of people who knew what they were doing; that it was a coordinated, relatively sophisticated attack. And the main suspect, they say, is Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian national linked to al Qaeda, who has said that the quickest way to chaos and destruction here in Iraq is through civil war and attacks on the Shias -- Aaron.
BROWN: Jane, thank you -- Jane Arraf in Baghdad.A couple of more stories that made news around the world today. A bad day in Pakistan. A gunman opened fire on Muslim worshippers in the southwest part of the country. At least 38 are dead, more than 100 wounded. The victims were part of a procession marking the same holy day the Iraqi Shiites were observing when they were attacked today.In Germany, the spacecraft, Rosetta, blasted off, beginning a 10- year journey to land a probe on a comet with a name much too long to say here. The Rosetta's ETA is May 2014. My daughter will be doing the program. If the lander succeeds in touching down on the comet, it will search for clues to the solar system's origins.Here's the truth about Haiti: There is no guarantee that bad leadership or incompetent leadership will give way to anything better. History teaches otherwise, and history could well be repeating itself.Tonight, the man who led the rebels into the capital says he is the chief of the military and he is the chief of police. And in Haiti, that means you are the king -- whatever the constitution may say. The U.S. State Department says not so fast.Here's CNN's Lucia Newman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NEWMAN (voice-over): There are no doubts about the intentions of Haiti's rebel army now that President Aristide is gone. Commander Guy Philippe, the ex-police chief who returned from exile to overthrow Aristide, didn't ask permission. He just took over the former headquarters of Haiti's dissolved army -- until Monday, the Ministry for Women's Affairs.We asked who was in charge of the police now.
GUY PHILIPPE, REBEL LEADER: Almost 90 percent of the police is with us now. They're working together and try to take the right decision.
NEWMAN (on camera): But who is in control? There has to be a chief. There has to be reign of command, as you know.
PHILIPPE: From today, I'll be.
Aired March 3, 2004 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AARON BROWN, HOST: Good evening again, or good morning again.My favorite line of the night came from White House correspondent John King. John was quoting a senior White House official who said of John Kerry, "He looks French."Yikes. Is that the campaign we are now beginning? And we are beginning a new campaign tonight.For months the Democrats have had the stage. Not alone, of course. Presidents always have a portion of the stage.But the Democrats have had center stage and they made good use of it. The polls show that, but polls do change. And the White House has barely begun.So we begin a new day in more ways than one. But just like the old days, we begin with the whip.CNN's Candy Crowley was with Senator Kerry tonight, and starts us off with a headline.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: He is not officially the Democratic nominee yet, but for all practical purposes he is. The battle of Kerry v. Bush is joined.
BROWN: Next to Haiti and -- I'm sorry -- next to Senator Edwards and CNN's Kelly Wallace. Kelly's headline.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John Edwards said he would stay in this race to win the nomination. Ultimately, he concluded that was no longer possible. CNN confirming that Edwards will officially get out of this race Wednesday afternoon in Raleigh, North Carolina.
BROWN: Kelly, thank you. Skipping a headline will not get you all to bed earlier tonight.Next to Haiti and the state of play there, with Marines on the ground, and apparently, one of the rebels in charge. Lucia Newman there for us, and here's the headline.
LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The wave of execution style revenge killings that many feared has already begun, as Haiti's rebel commander announces that he is now the one in charge of the country's police -- Aaron.
BROWN: And finally, Iraq just a day after a big sign of unity. A deadly reminder of the forces trying to divide the country, one bombing at a time. Jane Arraf with the watch tonight. Jane, a headline.
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Aaron, it was the religious violence that everyone had feared -- an attack on Shia Muslims on their holiest day. Religious and political officials here are trying to keep the violence from escalating.BROWN: Jane, thank you. We'll get back to you -- all of you, shortly.Also coming up on the program tonight, a reversal of fortune on Capitol Hill -- a stunner, really. A bill that would have provided legal protection for gun makers is undone by some fancy maneuvering, shocking just about everyone.Later, segment seven, a discovery on Mars -- water. And possibly signs of life.And, of course, the morning headlines, long before they hit your front porch. Well, not that long, actually, if you think about it. All that and more in the hour ahead.We begin six weeks or so into a front-loaded primary calendar that was designed to pick a winner early, and did. The winner was a man written off in December, resurrected in January and now leading in the polls for November.All of that could change. A lot can happen in six weeks, after all -- or seven months.But for now, Senator John Kerry is the presumptive nominee, having carried the day in nine states. He did not sweep them, though. He did not win Vermont. Remember Howard Dean? His home state did.Massachusetts went to John Kerry -- no surprise. Home states will do that. Connecticut went for John Kerry, and did so in a very big way.In New York, the Reverend Al Sharpton did quite well. But, again, the story line here is the same -- a John Kerry blowout. So it was in Maryland and Ohio and Minnesota, where they held caucuses tonight.California, the big prize, is also going very heavily for Senator Kerry. Only in the state of Georgia did Senator John Edwards make it close. And even there, the day belonged not to him, but to his colleague from Massachusetts.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: It wasn't long after the first polls closed and the first ballots counted, that John Edwards, still smiling, wrote the lead to the night. These are not the words of a man who has decided to fight on.
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I also want to take a moment and congratulate my friend, Senator John Kerry. He's run a strong, powerful campaign. He's been an extraordinary advocate for causes that all of us believe in -- more jobs, better health care, a cleaner environment, a safer world.These are the causes of our party. These are the causes of our country. And these are the causes we will prevail on come November, you and I together.BROWN: The two men had already spoken on the phone, plans in the works for a face-to-face meeting.Senator Edwards ran a far better race than almost anyone imagined. Kelly Wallace is covering Edwards tonight.
WALLACE: John Edwards was hoping for a different kind of Super Tuesday, a night where he would see some victories, victories that would fuel his momentum and allow him to continue in this race for the nomination.Ultimately, though, he decided that was no longer possible. CNN confirming that John Edwards in Raleigh, North Carolina, Wednesday afternoon, will officially announce he is bringing his campaign to an end.BROWN: So, this night, as so many in the last weeks have, belong to John Kerry. It is now his party and it is his race to one (ph).
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe that in 2004, one united Democratic Party, we can and we will win this election.BROWN: Candy Crowley covered Senator Kerry.
CROWLEY: Though Super Tuesday lived up to his name for John Kerry, there are no illusions within this campaign that this will be easy. We hear a lot of words around here -- fight, I'm a fighter -- muscular language.As one of Kerry's top aides put, we are going to "fight like hell." They are, of course, up against an opponent who is extremely well financed and is, after all, the President of the United States.First things first. They will complete the primary round of going tomorrow -- actually, going early today -- down to Florida, where they will begin the march towards the next set of primaries March 9.
BROWN: No longer will John Kerry have his weekly, Tuesday night look of a winner on TV everywhere. Now he will have an opponent, a still-popular president with $100 million to spend.
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The President called Senator Kerry Tuesday night to offer his congratulations on what Mr. Bush called a string of impressive victories in the Democratic primaries. And the President also said he was looking forward to a spirited race between now and election day in November.
BROWN: And in the clearest sign yet that the President is gearing up for that debate, we are told that in recent days, the President has begun looking back at transcripts of Senator Kerry's interviews with the news media and his answers to key questions during the Democratic debates of the primary season.And in another sign of the Bush-Cheney campaign gearing up, the campaign will launch its first television ads Thursday morning nationally on cable television, also in key markets in 17 key battleground states. About $4.5 million being spent on the first wave of ads, but much more to come.Looking back, it was not at all what it seemed like it would be just a few months ago. Back then, John Kerry was dead in the water, his campaign in disarray.John Edwards, who may end up on the ticket, was just one of the bunch -- no better, no more special. Back then it was Howard Dean who made the news. Tonight, Governor Dean is a final paragraph. He won his home state tonight -- Vermont.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Taking a quick look at some of the factors that swayed voters -- or didn't, as the case may be -- we're joined by the hardest working man in television news these days, CNN's Bill Schneider, who has been knee-deep in the exit polling for much of the night.Mr. Schneider, do the exit polls tell us anything dramatically different from what they have told us week after week after week since Iowa?
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Not dramatically different, but they sum it up very nicely in a couple of findings that I'll show you. The Democratic race saw competition, but not a lot of conflict.Democrats come out of this not very divided. How did that happen? Take a look at Georgia, which was the state that was the closest call today for -- that's yesterday, rather -- for John Kerry.We asked Georgia primary voters, where Kerry barely won, would you be satisfied if John Kerry wins? And look at this. Sixty-nine percent said yes. Only 28 percent were anti-Kerry.That's a southern state. He's a Massachusetts Democrat. That meant there wasn't much of an anti-Kerry vote, even in Georgia, for John Edwards, to really capture.Now, take a look at Ohio. That's a state Edwards had counted on. He thought he would win. When he didn't, that's when he decided to get out of the race. Edwards didn't win Ohio. He lost badly. But when Ohio voters were asked, would you be satisfied if Edwards wins the nomination, 62 percent said yes. So, what we conclude from this is, Democrats like both guys. They like Kerry, they liked Edwards. They'd sort of like to see them both go on a ticket.Why did they choose Kerry over Edwards? Kerry had experience, Kerry had credentials that enable him to talk about military policy and national security in a credible way next to President Bush.But they like both candidates. And if Democrats were saying anything in these exit polls, they were saying, they'd make a pretty good ticket.
BROWN: Well, we'll get to that question before the night is over, as well.I'm curious. Do the exit polls tell us whether the people who went to the polls today are significantly more liberal than the electorate as a whole?
SCHNEIDER: Well, they certainly are more liberal, because, look. These are Democrats and people who want to get involved in the Democratic primary. Yes, they are more liberal than the electorate as a whole.And what's interesting there is, among independents who could vote in a couple of states -- Ohio and Georgia -- they were not so enthusiastic about John Kerry, because they are far less anti-Bush.What really united the Democrats and created this amazing lack of conflict was that they all agree on one thing. They want to get rid of George Bush. And they agree that John Kerry is the guy to do it. But that feeling is not shared by the vast majority of voters.
BROWN: OK. So, understandably, John Kerry, come November, wins the Democrats. I would hope he would do that. And I would hope the President would win the Republicans. That makes perfect sense.So the race is about the independents. And how big a percentage of the electorate is that?
SCHNEIDER: About a third of the voters are independent. And they are the swing voters.A lot of independents are disguised partisans. They call themselves independents, but they are liberal and they always vote Democratic, some of them. Some of them are conservative. So there's a view that most independents are not truly independent.But there's a very, very narrow middle, maybe 10 or 15 percent of the voters, who truly are independent. Some of them never bother to vote.So the idea is, you've got two very solid and large bases, about equal in strength, the Republican and Democratic, who are battling it out. And the idea is, there are so few voters in the middle, that basically what they have to do is mobilize and rally their base to get out.And that may be why George Bush endorsed the constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. It was a signal for the religious right to come out and vote for him.
BROWN: Now, make sure your guys vote, and try and do what you can to...
SCHNEIDER: Right.
BROWN: ... keep the other guys from doing. So, Bill, thank you. You've put in your hours today. Thank you. You can punch the clock.Having looked a bit now at the numbers, and the numbers behind the numbers, to talk a little bit more about this, Jeff Greenfield joins us. Jeff's had a long night, as well. It's nice to have you with us.Jeff, if there is a moment or moments where the Kerry campaign turned, what are they?
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SENIOR ANALYST: Well, I think the hiring of Mary Beth Cahill, replacing Jim Jordan back last fall when John Kerry was so far down in the polls and was running behind Al Sharpton in the national polls, and there was kind of a -- an office pulled out when he dropped out.She, in turn, helped make the decision to leave New Hampshire and go to Iowa and make or break the campaign in Iowa. I think that was the key tactical decision.And the most impressive strategic decision, I think, was to put on television ads, very effective ads, that erased Kerry's aloof image by talking to, in one case, a guy whose life he'd saved in Vietnam, and connecting that to what Kerry was talking about back at home.So, changing both the locale of the campaign and the message were the tactical and strategic items.The other thing that we often overlook is, most people, unlike us, weren't paying any attention to this campaign until the new year began. So all the polls from 2003, measuring Howard Dean and Wesley Clark were essentially polls taken before anybody began thinking about the race.But I really do think the move to Iowa was a make-or-break gamble. We either win here or we're doomed, was a gamble that paid off.
BROWN: Just one of those questions that probably has nothing to do with nothing. But if it hadn't been for the speech and the way the speech was played, would this whole thing have been different, do you think? Or was the die cast earlier that night?
GREENFIELD: Yes. I think what -- look. You point to that speech. It was an incredibly self-destructive event, no matter how you play it or analyze it. You can't come out for your first display before America, after you've been clobbered, and behave like that.But the point that you make is right. In his first test, Howard Dean, the man who had been all but anointed as the nominee, came in third with less than half the vote of John Kerry. And he was beginning to sink in New Hampshire, even before that performance.I think what happened essentially was, when voters began thinking about it, they decided that Howard Dean, a former Vermont governor, simply didn't have the credentials that any Democrat would need to go up against President Bush, namely, serious national security and defense credentials, not to mention Kerry's Vietnam War record, which goes a long way toward validating him, at least in the eyes of Democrats, as a credible spokesperson on matters of war and peace.
BROWN: How do the -- how does the Kerry campaign keep control of the headlines? They've had the headlines for two months now, a little more than that. How do they keep it?
GREENFIELD: Yes, it's a really interesting trick. They kept winning.
BROWN: Yes. That helps, doesn't it.
GREENFIELD: Yes. It's a really interesting thing. When people talk about spin and expectations, which, you know, if you keep winning, to the point where you've won 28 out of 31 primaries and caucuses, you don't have to work very hard.I mean, there was that one moment in Wisconsin when Edwards ran a close second. And for that part of that evening, you'll remember, there was, oh, it was Edwards stopped Kerry's momentum better than expected.But the fact is, Kerry won and kept on winning.And I thought there was a very shrewd analysis in a couple of magazines -- "Slate," the online magazine being one -- that said a lot of us had it wrong. Kerry wasn't winning because voters considered him electable. Once he won that first test and second test, voters considered him electable, because he won the early primaries.It was one of the consequences of a severely front-end-loaded primary system, where John Edwards never had the chance he wanted to get one-on-one early in a series of primaries where you could go in on one state, spend all of his time there for a week or two at a time, the way it used to be in the '70s.So, there is that.
BROWN: There is that. More to talk about. And we will, as the night goes on. Jeff, thank you. Out in California, among the things voters voted on tonight was a bond issue -- complicated bond measures -- that Governor Schwarzenegger worked very hard for. And the plan here is that it will essentially save the state from massive budget cuts that are on the table, or would have been if it failed.The governor talking to supporters. He is a big winner in this tonight.And we'll have more on that as we go along. Coming up, more on Super Tuesday -- our political roundtable, which is kind of a small roundtable, but a good one.And then the gun law that looked like a sure thing until it wasn't. From New York, this is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: More on how the day looked from ground level. We're joined again by "The Wall Street Journal's" John Harwood and Carla Marinucci, who is with the "San Francisco Chronicle." Both stayed up late for us, and we're pleased they did. Thank you both.Carla, let me start with you. I'm not sure I explained the California thing very well. This was a victory for Governor Schwarzenegger because ...
CARLA MARINUCCI, "SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE": Well, California is in a huge budget crisis. He had the formidable job -- and this is really heavy lifting -- of selling the voters on a $15 billion bond measure, and a measure to help control the state budget, to balance the state budget.This wasn't an easy task. He needed bipartisan agreement to do it. And, boy, did he do it.The guy is an unbelievable salesman. Went up and down the state. Finished up on Jay Leno last night.And as it looks right now, these measures, 57 and 58, are passing with 61 and 71 percent of the vote, respectively. And that's with 30 percent of the vote. It looks like a big victory for him.
BROWN: It does indeed. Let's go back to presidential politics. John, normally I've started these conversations by asking you what the lead is, but it's just too obvious, so I won't do that.Is this, do you think, a candidate that the White House wants to run against?
JOHN HARWOOD, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL": I do not think so, Aaron. You know, they were totally convinced a few weeks ago, just as many journalists were, that Howard Dean was going to be the Democratic nominee. And they had teed up their research and were ready to go at him. They were not prepared for a guy who is going to be much less easy to stereotype and weaken on the national security issues, as John Kerry is going to be. He's going to be tougher than what they had planned on.
BROWN: Well, they can say about him, truthfully, that at least somebody has ranked him as the most liberal senator there is. That seems a reasonable starting place, if you're trying to define your opponent.
HARWOOD: Sure. And Massachusetts liberal still has some juice in American politics, but not as much as it did against Michael Dukakis, who looked silly when he got in that tank and tried to contest national security with the current president's father.The other thing that I think is notable from these exit polls tonight, Aaron, is that we see continued, very, very high concern about the jobs issue among Democratic primary voters.What that tells you is that the issue of the overall economy. We've had very good growth in the third and fourth quarters of last year. That may not be the asset that President Bush can convert into votes as easily as they've been counting on, because the disconnect between overall growth in jobs is appearing to be a big problem for him.BROWN: Carla, the strengths and the weaknesses, as simply as you can, of the two -- of Senator Kerry and the President, as campaigners.
MARINUCCI: Senator Kerry has had tremendous strength among Democrats here, who are very united about President Bush. Remember, he lost this state by 1.3 million votes last time around. His approval ratings, Aaron, are down and at an all-time low here in California.He's gotten huge crowds in recent weeks. He turned away 1,200 just a couple of days ago here in the Bay Area. So his numbers are really increasing here. Seventy-seven percent of the voters in exit polls here said they voted for him because they believed he was the guy who could beat President Bush.BROWN: John, let me ask the question, but slightly differently. The strengths and weaknesses in terms of their personal characteristics and how they campaign?
HARWOOD: John Kerry is not an especially talented campaigner. He's sort of a dour person. He's a little bit stiff. We saw some of that in his speech tonight. He's not -- he doesn't quite have the regular guy persona the way George W. Bush did in the year 2000, and will probably be able to wield in 2004.But he is, does have a tremendous amount of determination. The war record counts for something, as do the footage of John Kerry walking through the jungle of Vietnam with a rifle. That's going to help him stand on a stage with George W. Bush on equal terms, and talk national security.
BROWN: And the President, his strengths and weaknesses?
HARWOOD: Well, his strengths are, you've got to go back to 9/11. He has repeatedly in recent days tried to sort of take Americans back. Remember what I did right after the attacks on this country.The question for him is, how much can he go back to that well and get Americans to focus on that point?The other disadvantage for George Bush relative to 2000, is that Democrats in 2000, there was a significant number who thought he might be a moderate kind of president. That illusion has been dashed, and you have a much more polarized country and polarized Democratic Party against this incumbent Republican president.
BROWN: All right. John and Carla, the campaign is on. We appreciate both your time tonight. Thank you very much.
HARWOOD: You bet.
BROWN: Thank you.
MARINUCCI: Thank you.
BROWN: The residents of the 10 Super Tuesday states weren't the only ones voting today. As it turned out, both Senators Kerry and Edwards broke away from the campaign, dashed back to Washington to cast votes of their own.They cast votes on a bill to shield gun manufacturers and dealers from most lawsuits. A bill that was expected to pass easily.Just last week we thought it had 78 votes in the Senate. Gun control advocates in the Senate had hoped to cut their losses by amending the bill. Two of the most contentious amendments passed, which in a dramatic turnaround caused the Republicans to kill their own bill.Here's CNN's Joe Johns.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE JOHNS, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Senator Larry Craig, a member of the NRA board, led both the move to pass the bill, and then the move to kill it.
SEN. LARRY CRAIG, (R) IDAHO: But I now believe it is so dramatically wounded, that it should not pass. And I would urge my colleagues to vote against it.
JOHNS: And they did overwhelmingly. What set Craig and the NRA off was a provision added by gun control advocates renewing the 10- year-old ban on assault weapons.
SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN, (D) CALIFORNIA: I deeply believe that assault weapons don't belong on the streets of our communities.
JOHNS: And a requirement for background checks on people who buy weapons at gun shows.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) ARIZONA: We also need this amendment, because my law-abiding constituents who attend gun shows in Arizona, shouldn't have to rub shoulders with the scum of the earth who use this loophole to evade background checks.
JOHNS: Shortly before the final vote, the NRA fired off an e- mail to Senate supporters saying, "we oppose final passage" and warned, the vote "will be used in our future evaluations and endorsements of candidates."
WAYNE LAPIERRE, EXECUTIVE VP, NRA: We're going to get as many gun owners and hunters and Second Amendment supporters to the polls, and tell them to stand up for freedom.J
OHNS: Earlier, presidential candidates and John Kerry and John Edwards elevated the issue by jumping off the campaign trail to vote and score political points.
KERRY: President Bush promised the American people that he would work to renew the assault weapons ban. But now, under pressure, he's walking away from that commitment.
JOHNS: The administration has said it supports the assault weapons ban, but doesn't want it attached to the gun liability measure. Republicans made a point of noting Kerry's appearance on the Senate floor.
SEN. RICK SANTORUM, (R) PENNSYLVANIA: You notice he wasn't here for the Medicare prescription drug vote or for the energy vote or for a lot of other votes. But it was so important he come back and vote to -- on the assault weapons ban.
JOHNS: This was a vote where neither side got what it wanted. And now both sides are vowing they'll be back.Joe Johns, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Still to come on NEWSNIGHT, connecting the dots between some big-name athletes and allegations of steroid use. Developments in that drug scandal coming up.But first, a deadly 24 hours on one of the holiest days in Iraq. A break first. This is NEWSNIGHT from New York.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: In Iraq, one of the holiest days of the year for Shiite Muslims was turned into a blood bath. At least 143 people have died, hundreds more are wounded. The deadliest day in Iraq since major combat ended. The religious holiday of Ashura marks the death of the Imam Hussein, the Prophet Mohammed's grandson, killed in a battle centuries ago. This morning, the streets of Baghdad and Karbala were filled with thousands of worshippers observing the holiday, and the explosions began. Reporting for us, CNN's Jane Arraf.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARRAF (voice-over): Minutes after the explosions in Baghdad, the sirens, the sorrow over a lost battle 14 centuries ago replaced by more immediate grief. Literally hundreds of victims rushed to hospitals in any vehicle that could carry them. In the holy city of Karbala, another unholy attack: a suicide bomb. And as many as eight other blasts seemingly coordinated with the Baghdad attack. Many victims were Iranian pilgrims drawn to the formative places of Shia history.This was the scene in Baghdad's Kadamiya(ph) mosque, where three suicide bombers detonated themselves in a courtyard packed with families. The marble tiles of this, the third holiest site in Shia Islam, awash in blood.(on camera): Some of the scenes in the courtyard of the mosque, not far from here, were too disturbing to picture. Understandably, there is an immense anger. But, for now at least, it seems directed mostly at foreigners and not other Iraqis.(voice-over): Very few in the crowd blamed other Muslims. "You call this a resistance?," this woman screamed. "This is a Wahabbi (ph) act," she said, referring to a Sunni Muslim sect. "It's the Governing Council and the Americans. This is all because of them," said another man.And when U.S. soldiers drew close to the holy shrine in Baghdad to offer help, they were driven back with stones. Iraqi politicians and U.S. officials scrambled to diffuse the threat of sectarian violence. The Governing Council declared three days of national mourning and appealed for calm.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any wound which is inflicted on an Iraqi citizen is felt by all other Iraqis.
ARRAF: But some key Shia leaders and many people in the streets blamed the U.S. coalition for failing to prevent these attacks that added yet more to the list of Shia tragedies.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
U.S. officials say this is obviously the work of people who knew what they were doing; that it was a coordinated, relatively sophisticated attack. And the main suspect, they say, is Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian national linked to al Qaeda, who has said that the quickest way to chaos and destruction here in Iraq is through civil war and attacks on the Shias -- Aaron.
BROWN: Jane, thank you -- Jane Arraf in Baghdad.A couple of more stories that made news around the world today. A bad day in Pakistan. A gunman opened fire on Muslim worshippers in the southwest part of the country. At least 38 are dead, more than 100 wounded. The victims were part of a procession marking the same holy day the Iraqi Shiites were observing when they were attacked today.In Germany, the spacecraft, Rosetta, blasted off, beginning a 10- year journey to land a probe on a comet with a name much too long to say here. The Rosetta's ETA is May 2014. My daughter will be doing the program. If the lander succeeds in touching down on the comet, it will search for clues to the solar system's origins.Here's the truth about Haiti: There is no guarantee that bad leadership or incompetent leadership will give way to anything better. History teaches otherwise, and history could well be repeating itself.Tonight, the man who led the rebels into the capital says he is the chief of the military and he is the chief of police. And in Haiti, that means you are the king -- whatever the constitution may say. The U.S. State Department says not so fast.Here's CNN's Lucia Newman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NEWMAN (voice-over): There are no doubts about the intentions of Haiti's rebel army now that President Aristide is gone. Commander Guy Philippe, the ex-police chief who returned from exile to overthrow Aristide, didn't ask permission. He just took over the former headquarters of Haiti's dissolved army -- until Monday, the Ministry for Women's Affairs.We asked who was in charge of the police now.
GUY PHILIPPE, REBEL LEADER: Almost 90 percent of the police is with us now. They're working together and try to take the right decision.
NEWMAN (on camera): But who is in control? There has to be a chief. There has to be reign of command, as you know.
PHILIPPE: From today, I'll be.
