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May 13, 2008

Dick Morris Discusses Democratic Race

Hannity & Colmes

ALAN COLMES, CO-HOST: Welcome to a special edition of HANNITY & COLMES.

The breaking news tonight comes to us from West Virginia where Hillary Clinton claimed a convincing victory tonight over Barack Obama. We're expecting the senator speak to supporters any minute and we'll bring it to you live as it happens.

The question of the night: will this win matter? We have complete coverage tonight. We begin with former Clinton advisor Dick Morris.

And Dick, she won in every major category, every category except those who say they want change, but a resounding victory in just about every demographic group as well. What does this mean?

DICK MORRIS, FORMER CLINTON ADVISOR: It means nothing. It's like the -- in baseball the Red Sox hit three homeruns and pitch a no-hitter, but the Yankees clinch the pennant a week ago. If she wins by 25 or 30 points in West Virginia, there are 27 delegates up, so she'll get eight more delegates, and that will close Obama's margin among elected delegates to 150. It's going to mean absolutely nothing.

The only reason that Hillary is running now -- and, in fact, by the way, spending her own money it looks like, that I don't think she's raising it, and I think she's continuing to put money into it -- is so that she can weaken Obama and set up the case for herself in 2012, so that she can work on defeating Obama and electing McCain. That's why she's staying in this race.

COLMES: Well, that's a pretty cynical view, Dick.

MORRIS: She's a bright woman.

COLMES: Is it possible that she may be in it because, A, she's still got to raise money, and staying in it pays her back? She's in it because it's not over yet and Obama possibly could stumble, you never know what happen, just like any candidate might do? Or she's in it because, you know, she wants to go until the end of the states, give them all a chance to weigh in?

MORRIS: Well, the first couldn't be the reason because she's actually costing herself money by staying in the race. I doubt very much if she's getting new contributions of any magnitude from her supporters, and, most likely, what she's living off now is the money she put into the race that she's going to have to continue to put into the race to do it.

And obviously she, at some level, hopes that something will happen and Obama will stumble or, you know, something will go on, but those aren't really rational motivations. Right now she's bleeding real money.

And the rules of this are incredible. According to the FEC rules, she cannot pay herself back. There -- she's in hock now for almost $12 million of her own money. She can't pay herself back unless she does it by the convention, and she won't be able to do that, and after that, she's stuck with that debt and can only raise $250,000 to repay herself.

She can raise money for vendors, but only $250,000 for herself, so she's basically putting $11 to $12 million of basically Bill's money.

SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: Hey, Dick.

MORRIS: . from Dubai and other sources into this race.

HANNITY: Hey, Dick. It's Sean. Welcome back to the program. I got to tell you something. I think these exit polls.

MORRIS: By the way, that's Panama in the background there.

HANNITY: OK. Thanks for the info. But let me go over this. I think this is disastrous. Assuming that you're right that Barack Obama wins this whole thing here, this exit polling data tonight is devastating for him in my opinion. In a match-up with John McCain -- this is Democratic primary voters, Dick -- Obama would only get.

MORRIS: Right.

HANNITY: . 51 percent to McCain's 28 percent. Hillary would get 73 percent of the vote. 78 percent of voters, Clinton voters, want the race to continue. 57 percent of Obama voters want the race to continue. And 51 percent of voters say that they believe Obama shares the view of his former pastor, Reverend Wright.

Now what I'm reading into that -- you tell me if I'm wrong here -- is that there is great doubt, anxiety, concern and trepidation. Do you agree?

MORRIS: Yes, there certainly is, and Hillary's candidacy is certainly bringing that to the surface, which is her goal. I think that the fact that she -- that Obama is losing these border states that he has to win -- West Virginia, he'll probably lose Kentucky, he lost Tennessee, Indiana -- those are states that a Democrat has to compete in -- Ohio a Democratic -- has to win, you can't win the election without it, really shows that the Reverend Wright issue has hurt him.

It's cut right into -- the perception that he's a different kind of candidate, and it's coming too late for Hillary, the pennants already clinched. But it's not too late for John McCain, and the real winner tonight is John McCain.

HANNITY: Hey, Dick, it gets even further when we dig a little deeper into these exit polls. 51 percent of respondents, these are Democrats, don't believe that Barack Obama is honest and trustworthy. Fewer people believe that he is honest and trustworthy in this particular poll here, and more people, by far, think Hillary is more honest and trustworthy.

In other words, that he -- that this decision to distance himself from Wright was viewed as politically expedient.

MORRIS: To think that Hillary is more honest and trustworthy than Barack Obama is the function of the air being too thin in West Virginia. The point is that, when you look at Obama's relationship with Wright and all of these negatives that flow from it, it starts with an issue of patriotism. Relatively few people are going to say that he's not a patriotic American.

But a lot of people are going to say that he's not credible in the way that he's dealing with it, and a lot of people are going to say that he's not strong enough to be president based on how he's dealing with it.

COLMES: All right, Dick, it looks like Hillary Clinton is about to take the stage in West Virginia. We're going to go to that right now and hear. A big victory for her tonight. We'll listen to what she is saying, and then back to Dick and our other guests as we talk about what happened this evening in West Virginia. And there's the crowd. She should be speaking there. She is walking towards the stage and she'll be.

HANNITY: (INAUDIBLE) here is and that is -- you know, Terry McAuliffe was making the case today if they count Michigan and they count Florida that she's ahead in the popular vote. Now when you look at these exit polls that, as you look at honesty and trustworthiness, and you look at the fact that Democrats want this race to continue, and that Obama -- you know, 28 percent would vote for McCain. It's big.

COLMES: Yes. We'll talk about that -- here she is, here's Hillary Clinton addressing the crowd in West Virginia.

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you, West Virginia!

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED WEST VIRGINIA CROWD: Hillary, Hillary, Hillary, Hillary, Hillary, Hillary.

CLINTON: Thank you all so much. Thank you. You know, like the song says, it's almost heaven.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: And I am so grateful for this overwhelming vote of confidence. Now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We love you.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: There are some who have wanted to cut this race short. They say give up. It's too hard. The mountain is too high. But here in West Virginia, you know a thing or two about rough roads to the top of the mountain.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: We know from the bible that faith can move mountains. And my friends, the faith of the mountain state has moved me.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: I am more determined than ever to carry on this campaign.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: . until everyone has had a chance to make their voices heard.

I want to commend Senator Obama and his supporters. This continues to be a hard-fought race from one end of our country to the other. And yes, we've had a few dustups along the way, but our commitment to bring America new leadership that will renew America's promise means that we have always stood together on what is most important.

Now tonight I need your help to continue this journey.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: We are in the home stretch. There are only three weeks left in the final contest, and your support can make the difference between winning and losing. So I hope you'll go to HillaryClinton.com and support our campaign. You've heard this before. There are many who wanted to declare a nominee before the ballots were counted or even cast.

Some said our campaign was over after Iowa, but then we won New Hampshire. Then we had big victories on Super Tuesday and in Ohio and Texas and Pennsylvania, and, of course, we came from behind to win in Indiana. So this race isn't over yet. Neither, neither of us has the total delegates it takes to win, and both Senator Obama and I believe that the delegates from Florida and Michigan should be seated.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: I believe we should honor the votes cast by 2.3 million people in those states and seat all of their delegates. Under the rules of our party, when you include all 50 states, the number of delegates needed to win is 2,209, and neither of us has reached that threshold yet. This win in West Virginia will help me move even closer.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: Now, in a campaign, it can be easy to get lost in the political spin and the polls or the punditry, but we must never lose sight of what really counts, of why all of us care so much about who wins and who loses in our political system. An enormous decision falls on the shoulders of Democratic voters in these final contests and those Democrats empowered to vote at our convention.

And tonight in light of our overwhelming victory here in West Virginia, I want to send a message to everyone still making up their mind. I am in this race because I believe I am the strongest candidate.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: The strongest candidate to lead our party in November of 2008, and the strongest president to lead our nation starting in January 2009.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: I can win this nomination if you decide I should, and I can lead this party to victory in the general election if you lead me to victory now. The choice falls to all of you, and I don't envy you. I deeply admire Senator Obama, but I believe our case, a case West Virginia has helped to make, our case is stronger.

Together we have won millions and millions of votes. By the time tonight is over, probably 17 million, close to it. We've won them in states that we must be prepared and ready to win in November -- Pennsylvania and Ohio, Arkansas and New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, Michigan, Florida, and now West Virginia.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: It is a fact that no Democrat has won the White House since 1916 without winning West Virginia. The bottom line is this: the White House is won in the swing state, and I am winning the swing states.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: And we have done it by standing up for the deepest principles of our party with a vision for an America that rewards hard work again, that values the middle class, and helps to make it stronger.

With your help, I am ready to go head to head with John McCain to put our vision for America.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: . up against the one he shares with President Bush. Now, I believe our party is strong enough for this challenge. I am strong enough for it. You know I never give up. I'll keep coming back, and I'll stand with you as long as you stand with me.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: Together we will draw the stark distinction that will determine the future direction of our nation, the difference between ending the war in Iraq responsibly or continuing it indefinitely, between health care for everyone and more uninsured Americans, between standing up for the middle class families that you represent, or standing up for the corporate special interests.

So I ask you, Democrats, to choose who you believe will make the strongest candidate in the fall and who is ready to execute the office of the presidency of the United States.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: People ask me all the time why am I.

COLMES: That is Hillary Clinton addressing the crowd in West Virginia where she had a resounding victory tonight, a 2-1 victory.

Dick Morris remains with us.

Dick, it sounds like some of the things she was saying was actually a speech not just to the crowd there, but to the superdelegates to whom she's got to appeal, talking about 2.3 million people in Michigan and Florida, who haven't had a chance to vote, talking about her appeal in the swing states, and how she can be a better candidate in the fall. Did that sound that way to you?

MORRIS: Yes, it did, but let's get rid of the Florida/Michigan issue. Even she gets all of those delegates seated, she'll gain a total of 47 delegates. Obama is ahead by 160 -- now 150 -- in the elected delegate column. And I also found it odd that she's saying she wants to campaign until every single vote is counted, and then she wants to ignore to verdict of those counts by having them overwritten by the superdelegates.

COLMES: Except that -- does she have a chance with the superdelegates and does she have a chance to make a case at the convention to the rules committee about the states Florida and Michigan? If you put it all together.

MORRIS: Yes, but even if she wins it -- if she wins that case, Alan, she gets 47 votes. That's not enough to elect her. What happened in this speech, and I think the key line, was when she said you need 2,209 delegates to win, which counts these mythical delegates from Florida and Michigan.

What's going to happen is in about two week or three weeks -- actually two weeks because the superdelegates are now defecting to Obama, and Obama's going to win Oregon, and she's going to win Kentucky, that will be kind of awash, then she'll win Puerto Rico, and then it's over.

And I think that at that point Obama is going to pass the 2,225 votes that everybody else has been adopting as the threshold.

HANNITY: Hey, Dick.

MORRIS: Now what she's signaling tonight is that she's going to move the goalpost to 2,200.

HANNITY: But she's raising some interesting points. To reiterate a little bit what Alan was saying here is that she's -- winning the swing states that a Democrat would need to win if they want to win in November, Dick, number one. Terry McAuliffe earlier today is saying she's wining among the popular vote here.

You know, you look at these exit polls. They are devastating. You know if Barack Obama is going to be the nominee, 81 percent of respondents in West Virginia think that Hillary Clinton is far more electable than he is in light of what we have discovered about William Ayers, Reverend Wright, Michelle Obama, and his comments in San Francisco.

Dick Morris, if we were starting this process over tonight in -- if we were in Iowa and the Iowa caucuses was starting tonight, and we knew -- we knew tonight everything we know about Barack Obama now, I don't think he'd have a chance of getting this nomination. Do you?

MORRIS: All right. I think you're absolutely right, Sean. If Hillary's negative research has been as good as I've always said it was, and she had come up with this information about Reverend Wright in December, then probably Obama never would have won in Iowa and never would have lived to fight on Super Tuesday.

HANNITY: Yes.

MORRIS: But the point is that it happened, and the point is that he does have the lead among elected delegates, and Michigan was unopposed, Florida they told nobody to vote. You can't twist and turn this to undo what's happened over the last four months.

HANNITY: So.

MORRIS: But your point, Sean, is right.

HANNITY: I think she has a better case.

MORRIS: Obama's in trouble in the November election.

HANNITY: I think she has a better case in Florida because they were both on the ballot. They didn't campaign. Michigan, he pulled himself off the ballot.

Dick, we've got to run, though. Appreciate it. Thank you for being with us.

MORRIS: Thank you.

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