‘Meet the Press’ transcript for June 3, 2007

MR. TIM RUSSERT:  Our issues this Sunday:  Fred Thompson gears up for a presidential run.  What does this mean for Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Mitt Romney and the Republican field?  Publishers rush to print two new books about Hillary Clinton.  How will this affect her race with John Edwards, Barack Obama and the Democratic field?  With us, he help put Bill and Hillary Clinton in the White House in 1992, Democrat James Carville.  She worked for Bush 41 and Bush 43, Republican Mary Matalin.  He’s worked for both John McCain and Mitt Romney, Republican Mike Murphy.  And he’s worked for John Kerry, John Edwards, Al Gore and many more, chronicled in his new book “No Excuses: Concessions of a Serial Campaigner,” Democrat Bob Shrum.  The race for the White House through the eyes of Carville, Matalin, Murphy and Shrum only on MEET THE PRESS.

Welcome all.  This is it.  It’s only June of ‘07, but this race is on full throttle.  Let’s frame a discussion with the very latest polls.  The Washington Post national poll out this morning says Democrats:  Hillary Clinton, 42; Barack Obama, 27; John Edwards, 11.  However, in Iowa, the first caucus state, Des Moines Register said it’s Edwards, 29; Obama, 23; Clinton, 21; Bill Richardson, governor of New Mexico, 10.  Republicans, national poll: Rudy Giuliani, 34; John McCain, 20; Fred Thompson, just exploring the race now, is already at 13; Mitt Romney at 10.  However, Iowa, Mitt Romney at 30; John McCain, 18; Rudy Giuliani at 17.

Last night Fred Thompson was in Richmond, Virginia, speaking to the party faithful.  NBC News caught up with him and asked him about the analysis of some experts that he was getting in the race too late.  Here’s his answer.

(Videotape)

FMR. SEN. FRED THOMPSON (R-TN):  Well, they decided some time ago that you had to start running maybe a couple of years ago and building your organization.  I’m very curious as to whether they’re right.  I don’t think they are.  I don’t know who made those rules.  I don’t know who the experts are.  I’m too late to follow the rules even if I wanted to, and I don’t want to.  So, you know, best I can tell, here I am, not having spent a dime, in the middle of the pack.  So we’ll see who’s right, me or the experts.

(End videotape)

MR. RUSSERT:  Tony Fabrizio, the Republican pollster, weighed in with this: “If you’re not going to get in this race” in “double-time on work, effort and commitment, how do you expect to win?  You need to send signals that say, ‘I’m here and I’m going to win.’” Urging Thompson just to get in straight out and run.

Mary Matalin, has Fred Thompson waited too long?

MS. MARY MATALIN:  No, he’s not waited too long.  And this organization is just building around him.  Last night at that event, just in passing, a young person came up to him and said, “Well, we have captains in every county in this state for you.  We have volunteers all over this state.” Everywhere we go there are “Fred-heads.” It’s—there’s a groundswell out there.  I hate to use those words.  I’m loathe to use those words.  But he’s right.  These rules were made by all of us, and some of them are going to apply.  But they’re not—they’re not connected to a rationale for candidacy, which, clearly, no one has connected to a rationale that is buoying everybody up yet, and it doesn’t matter how much organization or how much money you have.

MR. RUSSERT:  He was asked last night what would he do as president.  He said, “Well, I’d do lots of things.” And asked, what if—“Are you prepared to talk about those?” He said, “No.” Obviously wanting to give time to frame his issues.  You remember the 1994 Senate campaign when he ran for the Senate in Tennessee.  Here he is with the famous red pickup truck.  Is this going to be a, a campaign of a lot of style, a Hollywood actor saying, “I’m a good ol’ boy”?

MS. MATALIN:  You know what that truck is?  It’s a symbol of, and it will symbolize again in this campaign, is where he took off in that race and why he took off in that race.  He was double digits behind, and when he said, as he said in that earlier clip, “I’m going to do this my way.  I can’t do it by all your rules.  I don’t want to do it by all your rules.  I know why I’m a conservative.  I know what my values are.  I know the policies I believe in.” So the truck was a disputation of his handlers and “I’m going to do it my way,” and that’s what he’s doing now.

MR. RUSSERT:  But we’ll see the truck in Iowa and New Hampshire.

MS. MATALIN:  I—no, I—we will understand the truck is a symbol.  We haven’t—I mean...

MR. ROBERT SHRUM:  Yeah, we’ll see the truck in Iowa.

MR. MIKE MURPHY:  I have a feeling there’s a handler right now buying a truck.

MR. RUSSERT:  Polishing...

MR. SHRUM:  Did you pick the truck, Mike?

MR. MURPHY:  No, I was—I didn’t work on that campaign, though I’m a fan of Fred, I think he’s a good guy, make a good president.

MR. RUSSERT:  Mr. Murphy...

MR. MURPHY:  Yes, sir.

MR. RUSSERT:  ...you’ve worked for John McCain and Mitt Romney.

MR. MURPHY:  Right.

MR. RUSSERT:  Only one at the table who can claim that.  Fred Thompson...

MR. MURPHY:  Mm-hmm.

MR. RUSSERT:  ...used to campaign and help John McCain.

MR. MURPHY:  Yep, mm-hmm.

MR. RUSSERT:  He was raising for him as recently as a few months ago.

MR. MURPHY:  He was a McCain supporter, absolutely.

MR. RUSSERT:  This is what Fred Thompson said about John McCain.  Let’s watch.

(Videotape, August 18, 1999)

FMR. SEN. THOMPSON:  When it comes to reform and the way Washington does business, John McCain is the leader.  When it comes to military matters, matters of foreign affairs, John McCain has become the leader.  And when it comes to personal courage and integrity and the courage to do what he thinks is right, regardless of whether or not it’s particularly popular at the moment, John McCain has shown the characteristics of leadership like no one else that I’ve ever seen.

(End videotape)

MR. RUSSERT:  Sounds like a pretty strong endorsement.

MR. MURPHY:  Yeah.  Yeah.  Hits the spot.  No, look, I—we’ll see what Fred does.  Looks like he’s going to run.  I think the big three will turn into the big four.  It’s a relatively open Republican race.  In our party, we’re used to kind of having one invincible front-runner and a lot of people trying to break that up.  And, and we’ll see what happens.  I think right now I, I agree with the—Mary’s point.  It’s not too early.  In fact, if I were Fred, I’d wait even later.  Because what’s going to happen to Fred is right now the potential of a Fred candidacy has a lot of people excited.  When he becomes a candidate, he’ll go through what these other three guys have gone through. The initial boomlet, and then the second examination.  So it’ll be up and down—Fred will be in front of the polls for a while, and then it’ll settle down.  And then the real race, not kind of the pre-primary and side race, will begin at the end of the year for voters.

MR. RUSSERT:  Who does Thompson’s entry hurt the most?

MR. MURPHY:  You know, I’m not sure.  I, I think it—you can argue it hurts any of them.  You can argue if he’s going to run as a super strong conservative, it could hurt Romney, who’s grabbing that space.  You could argue it hurts McCain a little bit.  I would actually argue McCain probably is hurt the least just because, with McCain and primary voters, you like him or don’t like him.  And the entry other candidates, I don’t think will lose that.

MR. RUSSERT:  Bob Shrum, “No Excuses:  Concessions of a Serial Campaigner,” I don’t see any Republican signs on that board.  There aren’t any.

MR. SHRUM:  Murphy wouldn’t loan me any.

MR. RUSSERT:  But be counterintuitive.  How do you see the Republican race right now?

MR. SHRUM:  I think what happened was that George Allen, who was the conservative favorite, “macacaed” himself out of the race.  I think people are uneasy, conservatives of McCain, despite his attempt to remake himself.  I worked in the only two campaigns—I believe—on the other side that both Giuliani and Romney have lost.  I don’t think Giuliani can be the Republican nominee.  He’s just to far to the left on these social issues.  And Romney is like a zip drive into which you can put different discs.  I mean, this is the guy who, in 1994, said he was pro-choice.  Senator Kennedy replied in the debate, you’re multiple choice, said he was to the right of—or to the left of Kennedy on gay rights, said he was moderate in immigration.  I just don’t know if he’s going to come across as authentic, and I think there’s a vacuum there, and Thompson has moved into that vacuum.

MR. RUSSERT:  Mr. Carville.

MORE FROM MEET THE PRESS

Meet the Press Section Front

Oct. 5: Paul Begala, Mike Murphy, Chuck Todd, David Gregory, Gwen Ifill, Peggy Noonan and David Yepsen Sept. 28: Fmr. President Bill Clinton, Steve Schmidt, David Axelrod, Rep. Mark Udall (D), Fmr. Rep. Bob Schaffer (R) Sept. 21: Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, N.Y.C. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Steve Pearlstein, Steve Liesman, Erin Burnett Sept. 14: Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R), Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Bob Woodward, Chuck Todd Sept. 7: Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), Tom Friedman Aug. 31: Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN), political roundtable Aug. 24: Caroline Kennedy, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), political roundtable Aug. 17: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Gov. Tim Kaine (D-VA), Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA), political roundtable Remembering Tim Russert   Images: The life of the political journalist Meet the Press Section Front   Add Meet the Press headlines to your news reader: