‘Meet the Press’ transcript for Dec. 2, 2007

MR. RUSSERT:  If that nominee said to you, “Jim Webb, I want you to run as vice president because you can help me carry Virginia,” would you run?

SEN. WEBB:  I don’t think that would be—first, nobody’s talking to me.  And I don’t think that would be a great...

MR. RUSSERT:  But what if they did?  If they...

SEN. WEBB:  I don’t think, I don’t think that would be a, a compelling enough reason for me to leave what I’m doing right now.

MR. RUSSERT:  But you don’t rule it out?

SEN. WEBB:  I just don’t—I have no desire to do it, so—and I’m not trying to be coy here.  I just...

MR. RUSSERT:  But you’re not ruling it out?

SEN. WEBB:  I have, I have, I have a lot of loyalty to trying to move forward the Democratic Party in the right way, but I really am not interested in that.

MR. RUSSERT:  And you wouldn’t accept it?

SEN. WEBB:  I really—those are what ifs, and Ronald Reagan said never answer what ifs.

MR. RUSSERT:  You were very critical of Bill Clinton, talked about his ethical fraudulence, he—that he left with arrogance.  Are you more receptive to Hillary Clinton?

SEN. WEBB:  Hillary Clinton has been, been very good to work with.  She’s been very impressive.  I, I sit on the Armed Services Committee with her.  She has taken some positions and I’ve aligned myself with her on, on a number of positions over the past year.

MR. RUSSERT:  She make a good president?

SEN. WEBB:  I think Hillary Clinton would be a good president.

MR. RUSSERT:  How about Barack Obama?

SEN. WEBB:  I think Barack Obama would be a good president.  Barack Obama is a, is a very bright individual, and he—he’s got a lot of good ideas.  He’s very charismatic, and I—I’ve enjoyed working with both of them.

MR. RUSSERT:  Protecting your options there, huh?

SEN. WEBB:  Well, I just happen to—I happen to have respect for both of them.

MR. RUSSERT:  Senator Jim Webb, we thank you very much for joining us to share your views.

SEN. WEBB:  Thank you very much.

MR. RUSSERT:  Coming next, only 32 days to the Iowa caucuses and 37 days to the New Hampshire primary on January 8^th.  Our political roundtable sorts it all out:  David Brody, David Gregory, Michele Norris, Eugene Robinson.  Coming up only on MEET THE PRESS.

(Announcements)

MR. RUSSERT:  Our political roundtable—only a month until Iowa—after this station break.

(Announcements)

MR. RUSSERT:  And we’re back.  Welcome all.

New information this morning.  The Des Moines Register, everybody, has their new poll out.  First the Democrats.  Look at these numbers:  Barack Obama now at 28; in October he was at 22.  Hillary Clinton, 25; in October she was at 29.  John Edwards has stayed the same, 23.  Barack Obama, the new front-runner in Iowa, according to The Des Moines Register.

And here’s how he did it:  Amongst women, look at this, 10 point increase from October amongst women.  Hillary Clinton dropped eight points.

David Gregory, what do you make of it?

MR. DAVID GREGORY:  Well, I think that Barack Obama has sort of found his voice in this race.  He’s got the way to attack Hillary Clinton on her judgment, on her experience, on what people don’t like about Hillary Clinton. And he’s got a campaign style that’s finally comfortable for him, and it’s showing results.  He’s got a lot of money in advertising in Iowa, he is really moving around that state, he’s forcing Hillary Clinton to have to beef up her forces there.  So he is making a real race of it, and he’s got some momentum behind him.

MR. RUSSERT:  Gene Robinson.

MR. EUGENE ROBINSON:  Well, I, I think what’s, what’s happened—the other thing that’s happened is that the Clinton juggernaut, the inevitability factor, was really damaged by that, that—her performance in that debate, I guess it was in Philadelphia, a few weeks ago.  And that kind of gave people permission to look around.  And, and, and Obama, he kind of deals with the experience question by being there, by having, you know, the, the more he’s there, the more you hear him talk about national security and, and all the other issues that people care about, the more—the less it seems relevant, that perhaps he doesn’t have as long an experience as, as others.

MR. RUSSERT:  As they get to know him, to know him.

MR. ROBINSON:  Right.  It feels like he’s been around for a while.

MR. RUSSERT:  David Brody, you spent a lot of time in Iowa.  What’s your sense?

MR. DAVID BRODY:  Yeah, well, a couple of things.  One, I think Barack Obama should be getting a thank-you card from the John Edwards campaign any moment now.  I mean, John Edwards has done the dirty work for Barack Obama, at least initially, and now Barack Obama obviously continuing on.

I mean, the reality is Barack Obama spent a lot of time in Iowa.  It has been a concerted effort.  You can make the case that Hillary and others have been there, too.  But Barack Obama has gone ahead, especially from a staffing standpoint, as you were talking about, David, he’s been able to capitalize on that, and it’s been like that since day one.  It hasn’t just been money.  It’s been staffing, it’s been the blocking and tackling that he’s done very well there in Iowa.

MR. GREGORY:  Tim, I think another factor is that there’s been a fundamental decision that has not been made about Hillary Clinton among Iowans.  You have undecided Iowans, as, as you were saying a minute ago, of 49 percent.  And they don’t want to get it wrong this time, and I talked to Democrats out there, they feel like they got it wrong with John Kerry.  And so she hasn’t closed that deal.  The race is static.  It hasn’t moved in several months, which seems important.

MR. RUSSERT:  Michele Norris, you’re in Des Moines.  You were a moderator of the Brown and Black Caucus last night, forum last night.  Tell us what happened.  There you are on the screen asking a question of the Democratic candidates, one of whom I think is Chris Dodd.  There he is.  Tell us what happened last night.  All of us were watching college football.

MS. MICHELE NORRIS:  Hello.  It was actually, probably, weren’t able to, to get it depending on where you were.  But what was interesting, the hallmark of the Brown and Black Forum is that the candidates are able to actually pose a question to another candidate.  Each of them had an opportunity to do that, and what was interesting is only a few of the candidates used that to try to land a punch.  I mean, most of them were lobbing softballs, easy questions. In one case, Dennis Kucinich, who felt that he wasn’t getting enough time, posed a question to himself to make sure that he had enough time to speak to, to the audience.  So what I read in that is that you’ve got candidates with a race that is so close right now it seemed to be playing it safe going into these last weeks.  They’re, they’re willing to make attacks in some cases, but on the stage last night they missed an opportunity.

I just want to reach back to something that Gene said, though, about inevitability, now that I’ve spent some time here in Iowa.  That’s a word that a lot of people that I’ve talked here do not like.  Iowans take very seriously the, the role that they play in the early voting process.  They take these caucuses very seriously, and the sense that Hillary Clinton was the inevitable candidate did not go down easy with a lot of voters that I spoke with.  They don’t want to be told that their votes don’t count.  They want to know that they have—that they play an important role in this process.

MR. RUSSERT:  Most interesting.

Let me show you New Hampshire.  After Iowa comes New Hampshire on January 8^th, and here’s the latest numbers from New Hampshire.  Barack Obama in the Fox News Opinion Poll is at 23; Hillary Clinton is at 30; John Edwards, 17; Bill Richardson, 17.

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