Sept. 26 Democratic debate transcript

Russert: Real fast.

Gravel: Real fast.  This whole nation should be a sanctuary for the war -- for the world, and bring the people in.

What's going on?  Again, we're in fantasy land.  We're talking about a problem -- we're scapegoating the Latinos of our society because we as a society are failing in education, we're failing in health care, we're failing in our crumbling infrastructure, and we're failing by invading countries and spending our treasure.

That's what's wrong.  And so I'm ashamed as an American to be building a fence on our southern border.  That's not the America that I fought for.

(Applause)

Russert: Thank you, Senator Gravel.

We're going to take a quick break.  We have a lot more to talk about, and a lot more time.

We are at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire.  We'll be right back with the Democrats.

(Commercial break)

Russert: And we are back.  Live from Dartmouth College -- Hanover, New Hampshire -- and we are resuming our debate.

Senator Dodd, let me start with you.

President Bush predicated that Hillary Clinton would be the nominee for president for your party.  You issued a statement that said, quote, "I can understand why the president would want Senator Clinton to be the nominee."

What does that mean?

(Laughter)

Dodd: Well, if I were Hillary Clinton, I'd be very worried.

(Laughter)

This was the same guy who said, "Way to go, Brownie," here.

(Laughter)

(Applause)

And I think, "Mission accomplished," was the other one I saw. So, in terms of being a prognosticator of events, I'd say the president has somewhat of a bad record when it comes to that.

But certainly, we all respect and admire Hillary and we understand that, as well.  But this race is going to won by voters here in this state, in Iowa and other caucus and primary states. Making predictions in September or August about who's going to win later on, I think, has proven to be rather faulty over the years.  So I look very much forward to the kind of race that develops.

I said -- I walked in here this evening and a fella walked up to me and he said, "Anderson Cooper, what's happened to you here with this white hair?"

(Laughter)

Dodd: So I realized I have some gaining of ground to do here, but nonetheless, I'm counting on the American people, Democrats, make a good choice in the coming months, not the president of the United States, predicting the winners of Democratic primaries.

Russert: But your statement said, "I can understand why the president would want Senator Clinton."  Why does George Bush want Senator Clinton to be the nominee of the party?  That's what you said.

Dodd: I was being somewhat facetious, Tim, obviously here, in the question here of whether or not you're actually trying to in a sense encourage a certain outcome here.

And we all believe we'd be the best candidates.  I certainly do, based on 26 years of working on every major domestic and foreign policy issue of our country, having proven to get results for our nation, having authored the Family and Medical Leave Act, child care legislation, dealing with Latin America, dealing with financial services.

I think people want not only promises about what you'll do, but a proven record of what you've been able to accomplish.

Russert: Experience and judgment have been two issues that have been raised in this campaign.

Senator Clinton, as first lady, your major initiative was health care.

You acknowledged that you did some things wrong in that.  Democrats and Republicans both rejected your proposal.  You said that the most important vote you cast in the Senate was on the Iraq war -- you voted for it.

If in fact you made fundamental misjudgments on health care as first lady and the war as senator, why shouldn't Democratic voters say, "She doesn't have the judgment to be president"?

Clinton: Well, Tim, I'm proud that I tried to get universal health care back in '93 and '94.  It was a tough fight.  It was kind of a lonely fight, but it was worth trying.

And, of course, I've said many times that I made mistakes.  But I think the biggest mistake was that we didn't take the opportunity that was offered back then to move toward quality affordable health care for every single American.

But I've come back with a different plan that I believe is much better reflective of what people want, namely an array of choices -- you can keep what you have.

Clinton: But if you're uninsured or underinsured, you'll now have access to the congressional plan.  And I think it's a different time.  Many more people in business and labor, doctors, nurses, hospitals, and especially American families, know that we have to change what we do in health care.

And I think that my experience on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, knowing how challenging it will be to take on the special interests, which I've been taking on for a very long time, gives me a special insight into what we must do.

And I intend to be the health care president.  You see a lot of people with those stickers that say, "I'm a health care voter."  Well, I want to be the health care president.

And I think that finally there will be a consensus behind us to do that.  And I look forward to going into the White House and getting that done, because I think it's the highest domestic priority that we have right now.

Russert: Could the scaled bill -- scaled-down bill that you have now, which is very similar to what Senator Chafee, a Republican, had back in 1993 -- your bill today could have passed back then, but you refused to compromise.

Clinton: Well, I don't think that is a fair reading.  If you will remember, there was a decision made by the Republicans then that they would not support extending health care to every American.  I regret that and so did the late Senator Chafee, because he and I had many conversations about that.

But those arguments have been really discredited the last 15 years.  People know that we can't sustain the course we're on without doing more damage, more uninsured, more people denied the care that their doctors say they need even though they have insurance, driving more doctors to distraction, overworking our nurses.

There is so much that has happened that people can see with their own eyes now that I believe that we finally have a consensus to do what we should do.

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