‘Meet the Press’ transcript for Oct. 28, 2007

MR. RUSSERT:  Let me ask you about another issue that’s been front and center and discussed, but a very different reaction from you, and that’s hedge funds.

SEN. DODD:  Mm-hmm.

MR. RUSSERT:  And here it is from your home state paper, Stanford Advocate. “Among Democrats running for president, Connecticut’s” Chris “Dodd, the Senate Banking Committee chairman who has stated his reluctance to hike taxes on hedge fund profits, leads in political contributions from the booming investment sector.

“The tax code allows hedge fund executives to pay capital gains taxes at 15 percent on a portion of the profits they earn known as ‘carried interest’ instead of paying the personal income tax rate, which can go as high as 35 percent.

“Dodd received $726,950 in donations from hedge fund executives for the first six months of the year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.”

And then this from The Hill, a luncheon that you canceled when it became public.  “Senate Banking Committee Chair Chris Dodd invited top executives in the equity and fixed-income trading divisions of the nation’s largest banks to have lunch with him in Manhattan in the hope of recruiting bundlers for his presidential campaign.”

You raise money from these guys, and then the legislation which would raise the tax rate to 30 percent, 35 percent, which normal people pay, gets killed.

SEN. DODD:  Well, no.  As always...

MR. RUSSERT:  Old time politics.

SEN. DODD:  Hasn’t been killed at all.  In fact, I haven’t come out even in favor or opposed.  The only thing I said...

MR. RUSSERT:  Harry Reid said—the leader of the Senate Democrats said it’s dead.

SEN. DODD:  It’s not dead.  I don’t think it’s dead at all.  And the point being is this.  Look, there’re unintended consequences to these actions.  As, as chairman of the banking—I’ve been on that committee for 26 years here. The next president of the United States is responsible for a $14 trillion economy.  Having some idea of capital formation of the country, having a pro-growth Democrat that cares about these issues:  What happens to endowments?  What happens to retirement accounts?  What happens to pensions? There are issues here that need to be addressed beyond the tax question.  And as chairman of that committee, the responsible answer, I think, is, let’s examine this.  Dick Shelby, the Republican former chair of that committee, and I’ve sent letters to the Treasury Department, the SEC saying, “Tell us what the implications of all of this are.  Are there some downsides to this we ought to consider?” I consider that sort of responsible reaction here.  I knew the politics of this thing.  Coming out against hedge funds doesn’t require any great leap of understanding.  Doing what’s right and responsible on the issue is critical.  I’ve been on this committee for a quarter of a century.  I know these issues very, very well.  No one has fought harder against the credit card industry, no one’s fought harder against the predatory lending and the housing issues, no one’s fought harder against the defrauds that went on in the student loan business.  There’s a long history.  I’ve also stood up where I thought the financial services sector was doing the right thing. Having someone running for the presidency as a Democrat who understands these issues is not a liability, it’s an asset, I think, when you consider the important fiscal questions...(unintelligible).

MR. RUSSERT:  But these are the managers, the managers of the funds.  The funds would not be affected, Senator, you know that.  These are a handful of people who are making hundreds of millions of dollars, and if the tax rate was increased, the testimony before the Senate was, they’d still be in the business, they’d just pay the taxes.

SEN. DODD:  There’s no question about that.  But the question is what do you do with that all of a sudden?  Where does that shift resource capacity, Tim? It is not—it isn’t a slam dunk answer.  There are people who legitimately think there’re problems with changing the tax code on this point.  They may ultimately, the point you’re making, be correct.  I’m not disagreeing with that.

MR. RUSSERT:  So you might support it?

SEN. DODD:  Absolutely.  My question was a responsible member of the committee, what ought to be the case here is saying what are the implications of this.  I recall back years ago with the S and L crisis, people made a similar suggestion, and as a result of what they did, we had a huge problem on our hands.  So here I’m merely trying to suggest that we act responsibly.

And again, to make the point here:  The next president of the United States has got some huge issues to deal with financially in the country.  And having someone running for that job in that office of the presidency who has spent a quarter of a century dealing with these issues, both pro and con, I think is a value and not something to be—and not something to be seen as a liability, if you will.

MR. RUSSERT:  Back in May of ‘06, you told the Connecticut Post, “I realize I’m not a household name.  That will obviously change.  At least I hope it does, or this will be a relatively short campaign.” That was ‘06.  Here’s the latest poll from Public Opinion Strategies:  Hillary Clinton, 40; Obama, 19; Edwards, 12; Joe Biden, 2.7; Stephen Colbert, 2.3; Bill Richardson, 2.1; Dennis Kucinich, 2.1; Mike Gravel less than 1 percent; Chris Dodd, 0.

SEN. DODD:  Yep.

MR. RUSSERT:  What’s that about?

SEN. DODD:  Well, we’ve got a lot of room to grow here, as we, as we say, Tim, in the campaign.  I think the campaigns are about expectations, in a sense.  We have a very strong campaign in Iowa.  We’ve got some 11 or 12 offices open, about 80 people on the ground.  People are just beginning to, to, to look at this.  This is basically reactions to news stories, to celebrity, how much money you’ve raised in the campaign, and I think people take it very seriously.  And any look back on history in Iowa, certainly in the last campaign, John Kerry was way behind Howard Dean, even into December, had a national number that was in the area of 4 percent or 5 percent, less than Reverend Sharpton at the time, and three or four weeks later he ended up being the nominee of the party.

I feel very good about where we are today, and I’ve certainly been around this long enough to know whether or not there’s room to grow, whether or not you’ve got an opportunity to win the nomination.  And I believe there’ll be three or four tickets coming out of Iowa before you go to New Hampshire, and I think that’s a very open question.  The overwhelming majority of people in Iowa are undecided at this point.

The more important question may be why aren’t these leading candidates, who get all the attention every single day, why aren’t they doing better?  And I think it is because people are uneasy about electability and governors, two issues which I bring a lot to.  I spent 26 years producing results.  I wrote the Family Medical Leave Act, the first child care legislation since World War II, financial services reform, dealing with issues involving body armor for soldiers, the Fire Act, the Safer bill.  People want to know the person they’re going to nominate can get elected.  I’ve been through eight elections and never lost one.  I ran a party nationally.  And I’ve brought Democrats and Republicans together.  On every single bill I’ve, I’ve authored, I’ve had a Republican co-sponsor, usually a conservative Republican.  I think the country wants that kind of leadership again, and I’m very confident, as you point out, with 67 days to go, with people just really looking at this, we’ve got a very good chance to come out of Iowa and win in New Hampshire.

MR. RUSSERT:  But having been a senator for 26 years, chairman of the Democratic Party, chairman of the Banking Committee and you’re at zero, it must be frustrating.

SEN. DODD:  Well, not frustrating.  Look, realized going in this was going to be an uphill climb, facing almost incumbency status in this—in the, in the case of several candidacies here, and, and knew that to be the case.  And again, based on history here, we’ve seen rarely has the front-runner in September—August, September, early October, ended up prevailing in the caucuses and primaries.  So if history is any teacher at all, then there’s someone here that is in this second tier that’s going to emerge, I think, and, and be a viable candidate come January, February.

MR. RUSSERT:  If this doesn’t work out, will you seek re-election in the Senate?

SEN. DODD:  I haven’t made that decision yet, and I’m counting on this working out.

MR. RUSSERT:  Senator Chris Dodd, we thank you very much for your views.  And be safe on the campaign trail.

SEN. DODD:  Thank you, Tim, very much.

MR. RUSSERT:  And our viewers should know, as part of our Meet the Candidates 2008 series, we’ve invited all the major candidates for president to appear here for an in-depth interview.  We’re also archiving the transcripts and videos of the entire series on our Web site, mtp.msnbc.com, so voters can review the candidates’ positions throughout the campaign.

Coming next, the late Gerald R.  Ford had some strong opinions about Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill and Hillary Clinton and more.  This morning we reveal the contents of “Write It When I’m Gone:  Remarkable Off-the-Record Conversations with Gerald R.  Ford.” Our political roundtable with Tom DeFrank and William Safire is next, only on MEET THE PRESS.

(Announcements)

MR. RUSSERT:  What did Gerald Ford really think about Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill and Hillary Clinton and more?  We’ll find out after this station break.

(Announcements)

MR. RUSSERT:  And we are back.  Bill Safire, Tom DeFrank, welcome both.  We are back to Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon one more time.  Tom DeFrank’s new book, “Write It When I’m Gone.” Let me set it up.  Here’s how you open your book:  “I’ve always believed my professional relationship with Jerry Ford was cemented in the spring of ‘74 during a short chat in Palm Springs.  Infuriated by a disparaging remark from a Nixon loyalist and goaded by me, Ford blurted out an amazing political indiscretion, then asked me not to print it.  I was literally petrified, especially after the vice president of the United States grabbed my tie and rather forcefully informed me I wasn’t leaving until I agreed to forget what I’d just heard.  After what seemed like an eternity of gut-churning negotiation, we reached an understanding and shook hands.  I kept my word to him.” And that was not to print it until he had died.

Let me set the stage.  You’re on a plane going out to interview Jerry Ford. You’re reading a column by one William Safire in The New York Times who had—Safire, who had just read an article in New Republic entitled “Ford’s Future.” This is what Mr. Safire wrote, headlined, “Et Tu, Gerry?” as in Brutus.

“A few die-hards might consider it unseemly for the vice president to be confiding his plans for the assumption of power while the body of the sitting president is still warm.

“Reached by telephone today, the vice president admits to being the source of most of the story but adds” “he thought he was talking off the record.

“Even so, his willingness to play Cabinet scrabble with reporters is hardly in good taste.  Mr. Ford betrays a lack of understanding of the uniqueness of his role.  He is the first vice president in American history whose own actions could help make him president.”

And so now you get off the plane, you go meet President—Vice President Ford. You sit down, and here’s where DeFrank starts.

MORE FROM MEET THE PRESS

Meet the Press Section Front

Remembering Tim Russert July 20: Al Gore, political roundtable July 13: Carly Fiorina, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), politcal roundtable June 29: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA), Gov. Dave Freudenthal (D-WY), Gov. Bill Ritter (D-CO), Chuck Todd June 22: Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), political roundtable June 15 transcript, video NBC's Tom Brokaw to moderate 'Meet the Press' through election   Images: The life of the political journalist   Slideshow: A look back at 60 years of 'Meet the Press' Find ‘Meet the Press’ in your area Meet the Press Section Front   Add Meet the Press headlines to your news reader: