Sept. 26 Democratic debate transcript

Russert: Senator Biden, you said the other day, quote, "Do you really believe that Senator Clinton can get more than 15 percent of Republicans to vote for health care?"

Russert: What does that mean?

Biden: No, what it means is that in order to get health care you're going to have to be able to persuade at least 15 percent of the Republicans to vote for it.

Russert: And she cannot?

Biden: No, I think it's going to be more difficult -- unfairly -- but I think it's more difficult for Hillary.  Hillary, because she has battled the special interests, and she has.

But look at the special interests.  The special interests with regard to Hillary, the feed on this, you know, this Clinton-Bush thing.  It's not Hillary's fault.  But the fact of the matter is, it's much more difficult to go out and convince a group of Republicans, I would argue, getting something done that is of a major consequence.

I have experience in doing that.  I did it on the crime bill.  I did it on, today -- first time we rejected, fundamentally rejected, the president's policy.

And I'm not suggesting it's Hillary's fault.  I think it's a reality that it's more difficult, because there's a lot of very good things that come with all the great things that President Clinton did, but there's also a lot of the old stuff that comes back.  It's kind of hard.

When I say old stuff, I'm referring to policy -- policy.

Russert: Senator Edwards, you said, in effect, that Senator Clinton's mismanagement of health care meant that 40 million Americans have not had it since 1993.  That's a very serious charge.

Edwards: I didn't use the word "mismanagement."  I think Senator Clinton actually worked -- as first lady at that time -- very hard for health care.

But here's -- I listen to this discussion, and this is what I hear: A bunch of people who've been in Washington a long time who think that everything has to be done there.  It's like the rest of America doesn't exist.

They're going to have a bunch of Washington insiders who sit around tables together, negotiate, compromise -- insurance companies, drug companies, lobbyists.  And they're going to figure out, together, to the exclusion of the rest of America, what should be done about health care.

I think we actually need a president who's willing to go to America and make the case for the need for universal health care.  And the thing that I have committed to do is the first day that I am president, I will say to the Congress, to myself, to the vice president, to the members of the Cabinet, if you have not passed universal health care by July of this year, July of 2009, you lose your health care.

Edwards: Because there is no excuse for politicians in Washington to have health care coverage when America has no health care coverage.

(Applause)

Russert: Senator, I want to ask you, because in 2004, when you ran for president...

Edwards: Yes.

Russert: ... you said we could not afford universal health care; it was not achievable; and it was not responsible.  You've changed, dramatically, on this issue.

Edwards: That's true, and so has America.  I've proposed universal health care for children, at that point.  And what is clear from this presidential campaign is I was the first presidential candidate -- others have followed me now, and that's a good thing -- good thing for America.

But I was the first presidential candidate to lay out a specific, truly universal health care plan.  And the one thing I can tell you is anybody who knows me -- anybody who knows me knows I will never give up.

What happened in '93 and '94 is that we didn't get universal health care, but we got NAFTA.

And when I'm president of the United States, you have my word, I will never pull the universal health care bill.  I will put everything I have behind making sure that it's enacted.

Russert: Senator Obama, I asked Senator Clinton about experience and judgment.  You have served in the U.S. Senate about 33 months. You have no landmark legislation as such that you have offered.

When you were elected back in 2004, you said, quote, "The notion that somehow I am going to start running for higher office, it just doesn't make sense."  If it didn't make sense in 2004, why does it make sense now?

Obama: Because I think that the country is at a crossroads right now, and it needs three things.  Number one, it needs somebody who can bring the country together.  And that's the kind of experience that I bring to this office.

When I was in the state legislature, I was able to get people who were polar opposites -- police officers and law enforcement working with civil rights advocates to reform a death penalty system that was broken; bringing people together, Republicans and Democrats, to provide health insurance to people who didn't have it.

Obama: That's number one.

Number two, we need somebody who can take on the special interests and win.  And I have consistently done that on money and politics.  In the state legislature, I passed landmark ethics legislation against not just Republicans but also some of the leaders of my own party.  I did the same thing working with Russ Feingold with the ethics reform package that we passed last year.

And the third thing is telling the truth to the American people even when it's tough, which I did in 2002, standing up against this war at a time when it was very unpopular.  And I was risking my political career because I was in the middle of U.S. Senate race.

Now, those are, I think, the kinds of experiences that people are looking for right now in this country and that's the kind of experience I bring to bear to this race.

I just want to make one last comment.  I think that Hillary Clinton deserves credit for having worked on health care.  I think John deserves credit for his proposal.  I know that he feels that he put out his plan first.  You know, Harry Truman put something out 60 years ago for universal health care.  I wrote about it in a book that I wrote last year, a plan very similar to John's.

The issue is not going to be who has these particular plans.  It has to do with who can inspire and mobilize the American people to get it done and open up the process.

If it was lonely for Hillary, part of the reason it was lonely, Hillary, was because you closed the door to a lot of potential allies in that process.  At that time, 80 percent of Americans already wanted universal health care, but they didn't feel like they were let into the process.

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