'Meet the Press' transcript for Feb. 10, 2008

MR. RUSSERT:  Joe Scarborough, former congressman from Florida who hosts the morning show on MSNBC, "Morning Joe," offered these observations about the Republican Party, and they caught my attention.  Let's listen.

(Audiotape)

MR. JOE SCARBOROUGH:  They believe this is going to be a landslide of historic proportions.  They will not admit it to people in the media or, or on the air, but most Republicans believe this is going to be a landslide of epic proportions, and Mitt Romney has to know that, too.  And guess what?  It will always be remembered as, like '64 was the Goldwater landslide.  You know, this will be on John McCain's hands.

(End audiotape)

MR. RUSSERT:  Now, David Broder, I read in your column on Thursday you may have dissent from that.  You wrote this:

"Still, McCain is the only candidate in either party with a favorable personal rating by Republicans, Democrats, independents and evangelical voters.  He will be formidable."

MR. BRODER:  I believe that, and I think against either Senator Clinton or Senator Obama--they're very different races, depending on which Democrat wins, but I don't see how McCain, positioned as he has been over time now, is anything less than a 46, 47 percent candidate.

MR. RUSSERT:  Joe Scarborough, I think, believes because of the war in Iraq, because of the economy, because of the turnout we've seen in these primaries, Gwen Ifill, that this is going to be a Democratic year.

MS. IFILL:  Well, you know, there is a--we--I go, I go back to this question of language again.  Because it's important to listen to the way--what, what John McCain's real challenge is.  And his challenge is not just to knit together the party, but it's to speak to the party in a way that the Democrats remaining are choosing to speak to their people.  Mike Huckabee has language down pat.  He knows how to speak to the people who will support them.  He knows how to inject biblical phrasing.  He knows how to knit--find a way to make people listen, whether it's with humor or with, or with code.  John McCain hasn't figured that out for the people in the party who don't support him, and he's right now riding the inevitability wave.  But in the end, even if it's inevitable, he's still got to figure out a way to get that focused.

MR. RUSSERT:  To that point, President Bush said on Fox News this morning, he still has some convincing to do with conservative voters.  "If he's the nominee, I'll help him with that."

Let me show you, David Brody and everyone at the table here, two national polls just out.  Time magazine says Obama, 48; McCain, 41; a margin of seven. It has Clinton and McCain deadlocked at 46-46.  CNN says it's McCain, 44; Obama 42; a margin of eight points for Obama.  They have--52-44, a margin of eight.  And Clinton up, up three points.  It shows Obama running a bit stronger than Clinton, but, nonetheless, a close race.

MR. BRODY:  Well, a couple things to keep in mind.  Let's remember, when August of '08 comes around, or October of '08 comes around, will there be some sort of national security issue?  Will there be some sort of terrorist issue? And if that's the case, look at Obama and McCain.  You had Obama, 46, McCain, 71, with the national security credentials he has, so that may benefit McCain. On the other hand, if Senator Clinton is the nominee against John McCain, McCain can tap into those moderates and independents that Obama would actually be more stronger on regarding--with, with McCain.

MR. RUSSERT:  We have 10 seconds.  Will electability influence Democratic voters in the remaining...

MR. TODD:  I think it'll influence superdelegates.  I think they read national polls.  It's in--Obama has to keep those lead in the national polls. If he wins the pledge and he's up 8-to-10 on McCain, superdelegates will listen.

MR. RUSSERT:  Chuck Todd, David Brody, David Broder, Gwen Ifill, thank you all.  And we'll be right back.

(Announcements)

MR. RUSSERT:  Before we go, a message for all those hard-working teachers. NBC News is answering questions about the 2008 election from you and your students on the educational Web site hotchalk.com.  E-mail questions to .  Or text the word "ask" plus your question to ASKNBC. Look for the answers on hotchalk.com.

That's all for today.  We'll be back next week.  If it's Sunday, it's MEET THE PRESS.

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