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August 26, 2008

Guests: Rendell, McCaskill, Giuliani & Romney

Hannity & Colmes

ALAN COLMES, CO-HOST: And welcome to HANNITY & COLMES. I'm Allan Colmes coming to you live from the FOX sky box here at the Democratic National Convention.

Now the big story from last night was Michelle Obama and her heartfelt address tonight which promises to equal excitement tonight when Hillary Clinton speaks.

Hillary Clinton would deliver her anticipated speech this evening, and FOX News will bring you that and more, and don't forget, you can watch all the action streaming live on FOXnewspolitics.com.

Now our first guest is saying that concern about Hillary supporters will be laid to rest after her speech and also mentioned that he has some worries regarding Barack Obama.

Here's what Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell told the "Washington Post."

Quote, "With people who have a lot of gifts, it's hard for people to identify with them. Barack Obama is handsome. He's incredibly bright. He's incredibly well spoken, and he's incredibly successful. Not exactly the easiest guy in the world to identify with.

He's a little like Adlai Stevenson. You ask him a question, and he gives you a six-minute answer and the six-minute answer is smart as all get out. It's intellectual. It's well framed. It takes care of all the contingencies. But it's a lousy soundbite."

Here with reaction, Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell.

Governor Rendell, welcome to this special HANNITY & COLMES.

ED RENDELL (D), PENNSYLVANIA GOVERNOR: Hi, Alan. How are you?

COLMES: Good, sir. You're down on the floor. Let me ask you -- was that a proper quote? Is that the way you meant it? You want to amend anything in terms of what we just delivered that you said earlier?

RENDELL: No, not really, Alan.

Look, Adlai Stevenson, in my judgment, was the greatest Democrat in my lifetime. He would have made a terrific president. He had the misfortune of running against Dwight Eisenhower.

I think Barack Obama could also be a great president, because he is smart, because he doesn't give easy answers, because he doesn't pander, because he thinks things through. He has a vision for this country.

That doesn't necessarily translate on the campaign trail, but he's going to be a great president. It's our job to go out there and help him get elected.

COLMES: But you know the headline today is Ed Rendell compares Barack Obama to Adlai Stevenson. And that's really not the whole story and they're going to take that out of context and make it seem as though you compared him to a losing candidate.

RENDELL: Well, you know what? I don't think, Alan, the American people are dying to hear what I say about this, so I don't think I'll influence three votes, but if anybody out there loved Adlai Stevenson as much as I do, work your heart out for Barack Obama, because he's going to be a great American president as Adlai Stevenson would have been.

COLMES: And one other thing you've said is, you've -- said that Barack hasn't hit back -- punched back, I think, is the phrase you used -- hard enough.

RENDELL: That will start on Thursday.

COLMES: What does he need to do? He's got to punch back on Bill Ayers. He just put out an ad in response to a McCain 527 ad. What else does he need to say to punch back properly?

RENDELL: Well, he has to do it himself, and I think he will do it on Thursday. Let's take a subject like energy independence, renewable energy.

John McCain is a fraud. He talks about renewable energy now, but he's voted against extending the renewable energy tax credit two times. He's voted against subsidies for renewable energy companies. He's voted against a national standard to create a mandate, a market, for renewable energy.

We've got to point that out to the American people, and, of course, our best messenger is Barack himself, and I believe he will begin doing that on Thursday. I can't wait.

SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: Hey, Governor, hey, Governor, it's Sean Hannity. And.

RENDELL: Hi, Sean.

HANNITY: First of all, he's not a fraud. But when he.

RENDELL: He's a fraud.

HANNITY: No, no, Governor, when you have one position when gas is $1.50 a gallon, and another position when it's $4.50, when we have a $700 billion transfer of wealth, there's a big difference, Governor, and if we don't drill.

RENDELL: But, Sean.

HANNITY: . Barack Obama says it's going to be $12 a gallon.

RENDELL: But, Sean, explain to me then why John McCain wouldn't endorse the bipartisan plan for offshore drilling. He wouldn't endorse it because it included cutting out subsidies to big oil.

HANNITY: All right, based on -- all right.

RENDELL: He's in the pocket of big oil.

HANNITY: Oh that's silly. Well, then based on your standards then Barack Obama's a fraud because he said he supports public financing, now he's against it. He said Iran's not a serious threat. Now Iran's a grave threat. He'd meet with rogue dictators, now he won't.

So is Barack Obama, based on your standard, a fraud?

RENDELL: No, because he hasn't put commercials up saying I'm going to.

HANNITY: Oh, the commercials.

RENDELL: . build renewable energy. He hasn't put -- he hasn't staked this campaign on it. He's going to build a renewable energy economy.

HANNITY: All right. Let me ask you an important question.

RENDELL: John McCain never believed in renewable energy. And he doesn't really believe it.

HANNITY: No, he does because the price of gasoline is $4.50 a gallon. But let me ask you this. You said, ladies and gentlemen, the coverage of Barack Obama has been embarrassing, and this is a point that I've been making that in many, many ways, I think journalism has failed the American people in this campaign.

If the media did their job, if the media vetted Barack Obama on issues like Wright and Ayers and Rezko and all these other issues where Barack barely crossed the finish line, would this be Hillary Clinton's convention tonight?

RENDELL: Sean, I think it's hard to go back and say that. I think Barack Obama had some momentum, and it may have been that it was just unstoppable, but it's hard to answer that.

But, look, the media can make you, and then it turns, and it can break you. And I think the media has been tough on Obama in the last four, five, six weeks.

HANNITY: Well, then, what did you mean when you said it was embarrassing?

RENDELL: I've said the coverage of the primary. Certain media outlets were openly partisan, had really brought into Barack Obama as a savior. He's not a savior.

HANNITY: What.

RENDELL: He's an awfully smart, good guy who's going to be a great president.

HANNITY: All right so -- so what -- so what networks were fair and what networks were very biased?

RENDELL: Shockingly, during the primaries.

HANNITY: Shockingly?

RENDELL: . the most fair and balanced -- I'm going to get killed for this -- the most fair and balanced network coverage was FOX. I said that, and I wound up as the worst person in the world. But you guys were.

HANNITY: Listen, Governor Rendell, we love you. And when I'm.

RENDELL: Thanks, Sean.

HANNITY: When I'm back in Philly, Pat's, Geno's, and it's on you. So good to see you.

RENDELL: And you know what? I've got a donkey tie for you, Sean?

HANNITY: I got -- an elephant tie for you, so good to see you.

RENDELL: Good taste.

HANNITY: Thanks for being with us.

And coming up, all eyes are going to be on Hillary Clinton tonight when she addresses the convention crowd to express her support for Senator Barack Obama, but will her supporters fall in line and do the same? Dick Morris is going to be here and tell us what we can expect.

And also, later on in the program tonight, former presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani and potential vice-presidential running mate Mitt Romney will join us, as well as New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, all coming up.

We're live. We're at the DNC convention. We're in Denver. Alan's having a blast and we'll continue.

COLMES: And you're not.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: And as we await Hillary Clinton's speech tonight, James Carville had harsh words to say last night about the first night of the convention. Now he said, quote, "If this party has a message, it's done a hell of a job hiding it tonight, and I promise you that," end quote.

Joining us now is another former Clinton advisor, author of the "New York Times" best seller "Fleeced," Dick Morris.

Dick?

DICK MORRIS, "FLEECED" AUTHOR: But my remarks will be addressed -- will given in English unlike James.

HANNITY: All right. All right.

Look, Bill Clinton said today Obama has the instincts of a Chicago thug according to the "Politico." The "Hill" reported today.

MORRIS: Bill said that?

HANNITY: Yes. That he's been saying this privately, according to sources as reported in the "Politico." He said it as reported by "The Hill."

Suppose you have a -- you're a voter, now candidate X, candidate Y, and they agree with you on everything. But you don't think that candidate can deliver on anything at all, You're aware of that?

MORRIS: Yes.

HANNITY: What is going on here? Is Bill trying to undermine this campaign of Barack Obama?

MORRIS: Yes. Yes.

HANNITY: Explain.

MORRIS: Bill has cultivated carefully this image of being not. He -- as did all campaign where you can't govern him. He just says what he wants. And people have all these theories that it was the hot-run machine and all that.

And it's like Richard Nixon. He said the first thing a president has to do is convince the Russians he's crazy.

HANNITY: Right.

MORRIS: That he could push the button.

HANNITY: Right.

MORRIS: So Clinton now gets this pass, and he can say these things about Obama.

HANNITY: Right.

MORRIS: I don't know if anybody has.

HANNITY: All right.

MORRIS: . could be said to be ready to be president.

HANNITY: And we're awaiting -- Hillary Clinton is going to be addressing this crowd tonight. I would expect a thunderous applause, huge response, and I talked to Terry McAuliffe and a number of other Clinton insiders.

They are saying she's going to attack John McCain. She is going to urge every one of her supporters to vote for Barack Obama.

Will that help? Do you think that's sincere?

MORRIS: It's sincere, but it won't help, it will hurt.

HANNITY: Why?

MORRIS: The better Hillary does tonight, the more everybody in this convention is going to be thinking why didn't he pick her?

HANNITY: Is she trying to do that on purpose?

MORRIS: Yes.

HANNITY: She wants to outshine Barack Obama.

MORRIS: She wants to outshine Joe Biden.

HANNITY: Oh, ouch. Ouch.

All right, let me talk about this, this new McCain ad, and we're going to show it later in the program. It's a John McCain version of the 3:00 a.m. ad, and in it they quote Hillary Clinton in the ad.

And it says I know Senator McCain has a lifetime -- of experience that he'll bring to the White House. And Senator Obama has a speech that he gave in 2002.

That's hard-hitting. That's.

MORRIS: I think that you have to look at this as if it were like a movie that opened and they put on as the female lead somebody that wasn't that good.

HANNITY: Yes.

MORRIS: And then the person they should have selected auditions and does great, and everybody says why didn't they pick her in the first place?

HANNITY: Yes.

MORRIS: That's Hillary's goal tonight.

COLMES: Well, let me ask you. You're one of these conspiracy theorists. She wants McCain to win so she can run in 2012. She really is going to undermine -- along with Bill Clinton, they've got this conspiracy to undermine the Barack Obama campaign.

The last thing they want.

MORRIS: Couldn't have said it better myself.

COLMES: . is Barack Obama -- I can do Dick Morris.

MORRIS: Couldn't have said it better myself.

COLMES: You really don't think she cares about her country as much as she cares about her own self-ambition?

MORRIS: I think she feels her self-ambition and her country as synonymous. I think that she feels the major thing she can do is get elected as president. And I think that what they're doing now is a carefully calculated two-step.

Hillary will be as effective an advocate for Obama as she could be, as aggressive against McCain as she could be, precisely to show up Obama for not choosing her as vice president.

COLMES: You know.

MORRIS: And Bill will go around pretending he's some kind of demented loose cannon dropping these stink bombs as he goes.

COLMES: You know you say she's going to get up there and she's going to be so electric, and she's going to overshadow -- but yet, on the other hand, I keep hearing yourself and others say Barack Obama -- what a great orator, gives a great speech, he'll be in Invesco Field.

MORRIS: Yes.

COLMES: You know, it's going to be the second coming of the.

MORRIS: Well.

COLMES: And so how -- you know that's not going to overcome the.

MORRIS: Yes.

COLMES: . presentation of Barack Obama.

MORRIS: I'm going to do this show with you, I think on Thursday night, and let's talk about Obama's speech then. I have some definite thoughts about it, but I don't much want to tip off Obama right now. My feeling.

HANNITY: Good for you, Dick. That's my buddy.

COLMES: I'm sure -- and I'm sure that -- I'm sure that Obama is saying I wonder -- I want Dick Morris to tell me what I should do.

MORRIS: I bet you that they'll listen.

COLMES: All right. Go ahead.

MORRIS: The -- but I do feel that what she's doing is not trying to overshadow Obama, she's trying to overshadow Biden, and she wants voters to come out of this convention saying Obama goofed in not naming her, and she does that for two reasons.

First, it will help her, and secondly, it will hurt him. So the better she does tonight, the worse it is for Obama.

COLMES: All right. Let's talk about what James Carville said which we upon just for a moment at the beginning of the segment about he really thinks perhaps that this should have been more about McCain day one, go negative, hit McCain.

Did the Democrats -- should the Democrats be running a negative convention, negatively attacking John McCain? Is that what they should be doing?

MORRIS: Yes.

COLMES: They should be?

MORRIS: They should. Right now this is a referendum on Obama. If -- do you trust him, do you not, do you think he's experienced, do you not?

The Democrats are losing the opportunity to make this an election between Obama and McCain. And they should have gone huge amount of negatives.

COLMES: Then they're accused of being negative, everything Obama said he wouldn't do, just like McCain is now doing by him going negative.

MORRIS: One of the things I'm learning about Barack Obama is he can be bluffed, fooled, and intimidated. He was bluffed out of naming a woman, he was intimidated out of going negative, bluffed out of keeping Clinton off the platform during primetime.

This guy can be pushed around.

COLMES: All right, Dick, thank you very much. Appreciate you being with us.

Coming up, as we await Senator Biden's speech here at the DNC tomorrow night, we ask our next guest, Governor Mitt Romney, if he thinks he's the best pick to go up against Joe Biden. We're going to have that and much more as we continue our special live edition of HANNITY & COLMES, live from Denver.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLMES: Welcome back to HANNITY & COLMES. We are coming to you live tonight from the Democratic National Convention in Denver, and for all of the live action straight from the floor, don't forget, you can also log on to FOXnewspolitics.com.

And joining us now from the convention floor is Missouri senator, Claire McCaskill.

Senator, welcome to HANNITY & COLMES. Thanks for being with us tonight.

CLAIRE MCCASKILL (D), MISSOURI SENATOR: My pleasure. Thanks for having me.

COLMES: All right, now, what does Hillary have to say tonight to convince women that they should move away from supporting her and support Barack Obama? That is really what her key mission is for this evening, correct?

MCCASKILL: Well, I think Hillary Clinton only has to point out that there is a chasm of difference between her and John McCain when it comes to issues that are important to women.

I mean this is -- John McCain is a senator who didn't even think it was important enough to show up to vote for equal pay for women and on many women's issues. He has never been a champion in all the decades of service inside Washington.

So I think she's just got to point out the policy differences. Anyone who is supporting John McCain and Hillary Clinton at the same time -- I don't know what kind of common sense they have, but they don't have much in common.

COLMES: But you probably heard that there are a lot of disgruntled women. They're really upset, either they're going to sit on their hands -- and I don't -- I don't know how you vote for John McCain if you supported Hillary Clinton. They'd have different appointees to the Supreme Court.

But the other issue is women who may decide to stay home.

MCCASKILL: Well, this was a clash of two historic candidates, and there was a lot of passion on both sides. I'm sure if Hillary Clinton had prevailed, we'd be dealing with the same problem with Obama supporters.

It takes time.

HANNITY: Senator.

MCCASKILL: It takes a strong candidate like Hillary Clinton to come out and do the right thing, which she's going to do tonight and disappoint a lot of your viewers.

HANNITY: Well, I'm not sure what you mean by that.

Senator, it's Sean Hannity. Welcome to the program.

I could tell you that, you know, Bill Clinton -- it got very contentious during this nomination process, and Bill Clinton himself felt that the Obama campaign -- and these are his words, not mine -- played the race card against him.

And he is -- according to Howard Wolfson who'll be on this program later, he would like that issue addressed in Barack Obama's speech at Invesco.

Will Barack Obama do that?

MCCASKILL: I think Barack Obama will bring people together on Thursday night.

You know that was a primary, Sean. And you're about to have a guest, Mitt Romney, who said some pretty tough things about John McCain in their primary.

HANNITY: Yes, but he never.

MCCASKILL: That doesn't mean he's not.

HANNITY: But he never accused.

MCCASKILL: . supporting him now.

HANNITY: But he never accused him of being a racist nor -- or like Joe Biden, did Governor Romney ever praised Barack Obama. He might have had some a few differences with John McCain, but there's a big difference.

MCCASKILL: Well, I think if you pull out some of the quotes, there's some tough quotes from Mitt Romney about.

HANNITY: Yes.

MCCASKILL: . John McCain, and I will tell you, Barack Obama never accused anybody of being a racist, ever.

HANNITY: No, no. Bill Clinton said that about Barack Obama. Bill Clinton said that they played the race card, so there was a lot of tension there.

Now I expect that Hillary is going to fully come out and try and unite the ticket, but there's a lot of resentment. I interviewed the head of the group PUMA yesterday, and he's saying, you know what, he feels that Hillary supporters were ignored in this campaign.

Is there any sensitivity in the Obama campaign to how they feel?

MCCASKILL: We need the Hillary Clinton supporters. We want them to come in to the fold and unite for our country, because at the end of the day, it's not about Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. It's about whether or not you think things are going well right now in America.

If you're happy with the way things are going now, John McCain's your guy.

HANNITY: He is, that's right. Thank you, Senator.

COLMES: All right, Senator. Thank you very much for being with us tonight.

MCCASKILL: Thank you.

COLMES: We appreciate it.

The McCain camp released a new campaign ad today, and this time they took a page right out of Hillary Clinton's playbook.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's 3:00 a.m., and your children are safe and asleep. Who do you want answering the phone?

Uncertainty. Dangerous aggression. Rouge nations. Radicalism.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), NEW YORK SENATOR: I know Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience that he will bring to the White House, and Senator Obama has a speech he gave in 2002.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLMES: Joining us now is former presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Governor, thanks for being here tonight.

MITT ROMNEY, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thanks, Alan. Good to be with you.

COLMES: First, the question everybody wants to know, and I'm sure you're prepared to answer it, VP.

ROMNEY: Well.

COLMES: Are you being vetted?

ROMNEY: You know the process in selecting a VP is one that John McCain is keeping very close to his chest. He's a person I have a lot of confidence in, I think he's going to do the right thing. He's got some great people to choose from, and from my standpoint, my guess is John McCain can win Utah without me.

COLMES: Yes, but -- do you think you're going to get that call?

ROMNEY: I have absolutely no input -- no insight as who he's going to choose. My guess is as good as yours, yours is as good as mine. And I just got nothing for you on that.

COLMES: All right. You know you've been supporting -- obviously, you're supporting John McCain, and you heard Claire McCaskill. You know we can go down the list of all the things you've said about him, he said about you.

One other thing that Obama is being hit about is leadership. You said during the campaign a president needs judgment, not experience, and you said, you know, you can hire people to do foreign policy, and that this is not what a nation needs in a president -- somebody who necessarily has foreign policy experience.

Do you still feel that way?

ROMNEY: Obviously, I was campaigning for myself, but there's no question that John McCain has the qualifications and the experience and the judgment to be president, and Barack Obama doesn't.

And one of the interesting things about our primary campaign, even though we disagreed on a lot of issues -- each of the candidates did -- I don't think a single Republican on those debate stages ever said that John McCain was anything other than an American hero, a patriot.

They respected him and they believed he was qualified to be president. We all said we'd endorse and support our president.

You have Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton, both questioning whether Barack Obama has the judgment and experience and qualifications to be president. And the answer is no, he doesn't.

COLMES: You said about John McCain about foreign policy experience -- you said that's not what we need in a president. You also said he was too liberal. He said you were too liberal.

So we can play that game, we can go down that.

ROMNEY: Look, there are going to be a lot of things.

COLMES: Yes.

ROMNEY: . that we said about each other and about differences that we have, and there's no question. I don't agree with John McCain on every issue.

COLMES: Right.

ROMNEY: But on the major issues of our times, I do believe with him. I agree with him that to build our economy you've got to trade with other nations, you got to get energy independence and drill offshore, you got to keep our taxes down.

I agree with him that the greatest threat to our national security is radical violent Islam. You don't even hear that phrase coming from the Democrats, from Barack Obama, or Joe Biden. So.

HANNITY: Hey, Governor.

ROMNEY: You know, I'm lining up with John McCain on the issues of the day.

HANNITY: Hey, Governor.

ROMNEY: Yes.

HANNITY: . you're right about one thing. If you were chosen, you might have had some substantive disagreements, but you pointed out many times that John McCain was a hero.

You never said that the presidency doesn't lend itself to on-the-job training as Biden did about Obama. You never said that talking points on foreign policy doesn't get you there. Biden said that about Obama. Those are pretty devastating quotes and.

ROMNEY: Yes, I was -- I must admit when I saw the ad where Biden was asked by George Stephanopoulos, did you, in fact, say and do you believe that Barack Obama is not qualified to be president, and he said, yes, I stand by that.

HANNITY: Yes.

ROMNEY: That's pretty powerful. It's one thing to say, look, John McCain is more liberal than me on this issue, or he's got this default compared to me. It's another thing to say that the -- that the candidate of your party is not qualified to be president of the United States.

HANNITY: And Joe Biden even said that he want to run with John McCain. I'm not sure if he's on the short list, but it's an interesting thing.

I want you to get to respond to what Hillary just said in this latest McCain ad. "I know John McCain has a lifetime of experience that he'd bring to the White House and Senator Obama has a speech that he gave in 2002."

ROMNEY: Well, she's saying the same thing that Joe Biden said.

HANNITY: Yes.

What credibility will she have then tonight.

ROMNEY: Well.

HANNITY: . going out there and firing up the crowd?

ROMNEY: Well, that's why the McCain folks are making sure people heard what she said when there was a battle going on, what her assessment was. It's one thing to disagree with someone on issues.

HANNITY: Yes.

ROMNEY: And to say you've got better strengths than the other, or that they're wrong on an issue. It's another thing to say they don't have the qualifications and experience to be president.

Barack Obama is a charming guy, he's a well-spoken guy, but he just is not ready to be president at a time when our economy is in really trouble, when energy is costing too much, and we face real challenges around the world.

HANNITY: Yes. One other thing we're talking about -- well, Governor Ed Rendell, he said the media coverage of Obama was embarrassing. Do you think there's some truth to that, that there has been a lack of vetting from -- I would argue that had the media done their job, this might very well be the Hillary Clinton convention.

She started doing better once the media paid a little attention to the background of Barack Obama.

Is that fair statement by Ed Rendell?

ROMNEY: Well, you know, the media is free, and people are able to advocate whatever they'd like, and there's no question, a lot of people in the mainstream media really want Barack Obama to be president.

When you see "TIME" magazine running seven covers of Barack Obama to two for John McCain, you can see what they feel. When you see the "Washington Post" coverage three times as much for Barack Obama.

HANNITY: That's true.

ROMNEY: . as John McCain, you know where they are. And the Clintons, if you will -- or get dished some of the medicine that they used to get (INAUDIBLE) favor in the past.

HANNITY: All right. I just want you to promise, if you are selected vice president, and you win, we get at least three interviews a year.

COLMES: And you come on with me as well, Gov.

HANNITY: Forget about him.

ROMNEY: Don't worry about -- don't worry about that, Alan. Don't worry about that. OK. Always fun.

HANNITY: All right. Good to see you. Governor, thank you for being with us.

And coming up we have a brand-new poll out today. It has Senator John McCain and Barack Obama in unfamiliar waters. We're going to reveal the surprising numbers. That's right after the break straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Welcome back to a special edition of "Hannity & COLMES:"

There you can see former president, Jimmy Carter. We are live. We are in Denver. We're at the DNC convention.

Now Senator Barack Obama was hoping to get a bounce in the polls leading up to the DNC after he announced his VP pick, that, of course, being Senator Biden, but according to the latest Gallup poll, John McCain is leading Barack Obama 46-44. Now, this is the first time that Senator McCain has pulled ahead since Obama clinched the nomination in early June.

But the Obama campaign, well, they were quick to respond, saying, quote, "This is a tight race. It will remain a tight race. The lead will fluctuate between now and November. If the spread were greater than the number of houses that John McCain owns, then we'd be concerned."

By the way, how many homes did John Kerry own last -- four years ago?

Joining us now with reaction, former Clinton communications director, Howard Wolfson is here with us.

Howard, how are you?

HOWARD WOLFSON, FORMER CLINTON COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: I only own one home.

HANNITY: Is that right? OK. How many do you own -- well, forget it.

Let's start with, for example, Hillary -- I've spoken to a lot of people in your camp. She's going to do everything that's expected tonight. She's going to go after McCain. She's going to be a good, loyal party activist. What else can we expect?

WOLFSON: She's going to make a heartfelt endorsement of Senator Obama. She's going to urge all of her supporters to be for him.

HANNITY: Now you wrote a column, and I thought you gave some very sound advice, what the Clintons are looking. Because look, this is real. Obama and the -- and Hillary Clinton agree on most issues. So the real difference -- there is a personality difference between the two, right?

WOLFSON: You know, it was a long primary.

HANNITY: There's a conflict that remains. Fair statement?

WOLFSON: You know, what I recommended to Senator Obama -- now he wasn't looking for my advice.

HANNITY: You're laughing again. I got you going.

WOLFSON: I appreciate it. He wasn't looking for my advice. What I said was in the context of his speech, give a line or two and say, you know, "The '90s were a good period. Under Bill Clinton we had economic prosperity. We had peace and prosperity." Just...

HANNITY: Acknowledge it.

WOLFSON: Acknowledge it.

HANNITY: What about the issue -- I understand that one of the real areas of contention is when Bill Clinton felt that he was being accused of racism. He even said, "They played the race card against me."

How important would it be and how -- how -- how would it help mend the fence if Barack Obama acknowledged Bill Clinton on issues of civil rights?

WOLFSON: Critically important. I mean, what I wrote was say good things about the '90s, talk about the successes of his administration, and talk about the lifetime of work that he has done to bring people together and to unify this country.

HANNITY: All right. Let's talk about this latest McCain ad. Once again, starring role for Hillary Clinton.

WOLFSON: Yes.

HANNITY: And it has Hillary Clinton saying, "I know Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience that he'll bring to the White House, and Barack Obama, he has a speech that he gave in 2002."

WOLFSON: I remember it well.

HANNITY: You may have even helped write it. That's very hard- hitting, but regardless of what she says tonight, that will be remembered. And people will also hear that, so the question will be which Hillary Clinton should we believe?

WOLFSON: Well, I think her 18 million supporters, the people who voted for her, are going to be watching tonight very closely, very intently. They want to hear what she has to say. I think they're going to take what she has to say tonight.

HANNITY: Dick Morris, love him or hate him, agree or disagree, he believes that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, that the personality conflict is so deep that she would like to outshine him at this convention, give a better speech, get a better reaction. Do you think there's any truth to that?

WOLFSON: I think it's very difficult to outshine Barack Obama in speech making. I mean, the guy is one of the great orators in the American history, so I don't expect that she's going to give a better speech.

COLMES: Yes, I can't imagine. He's going to be in Invesco with 75,000 people.

Welcome back to the show. Good to have you with us.

You know, it's divide and conquer. They would like to go with this narrative that the Clintons hate the Obamas, and the Obamas hate the Clintons. I'm sure there's some healing that has to take place. But the bottom line is, the united Democratic Party. That's what has to be achieved here.

WOLFSON: I agree. You know, I talk to delegates on the floor. I see people wearing Clinton buttons on one side, Obama buttons on the other side. I think that's the direction we're heading.

HANNITY: And Hannity buttons on the back.

COLMES: Yes. One of the other -- one of the other issues is that we mentioned the race issue, but you wrote in this piece that Sean referred to that there's -- Bill Clinton somehow feels that the Obama camp, if not Obama himself, has been dismissive of his accomplishments as president.

WOLFSON: Well, look, I think the Obama campaign ran, to some extent, against the '90s, against the Clinton years. And I think it would go a long way to healing some of the rifts that still possibly exist if they acknowledge the fact that the '90s were pretty good.

COLMES: In fact, when Bill Clinton gets up, isn't that a good reminder about, you know, the last time we had -- when this guy was president, things were pretty good in this country. We weren't at war, the economy was good, we had a surplus. What are we complaining about?

WOLFSON: I think it's in Barack Obama's interest, by the way, to acknowledge that, because people are reminded that Democrats know how to run this country.

COLMES: Is he going to do that?

HANNITY: You're losing me here, Howard. You've done really good up until now.

COLMES: See, now, when we talk it drives...

WOLFSON: The problem is once I gave the advice, it was probably dismissed, but I still think it's good advice.

COLMES: It wouldn't hurt, actually, to bring someone like you in and have you give advice, having been a Clinton...

WOLFSON: No, because then I would -- I'd miss out on quality time with this man here.

COLMES: I don't know how much time you want to spend with Sean.

WOLFSON: I'm here all night.

COLMES: So what -- what -- are you confident that Hillary can accomplish the goal tonight...

WOLFSON: Absolutely.

COLMES: ... which is obviously -- are people going to believe her when she says -- you know, we hear, Sean referred to Dick Morris, who believes it's a conspiracy, that Hillary, she wants McCain to win so she can run in 2012.

WOLFSON: Right. You know, Hillary Clinton has spent almost her entire adult life working for Democrats, electing Democrats to the White House, trying to get Democrats elected to the White House. She is committed to the causes that she has fought for her whole life. And the way to get them accomplished is to elect Barack Obama president.

COLMES: But she would like to probably have another run for the White House. And if not, she probably would have liked to be where Joe Biden is right now.

WOLFSON: Look, there's no question that Hillary Clinton would rather be the nominee, giving the speech on Thursday, than tonight. But that's not going to happen. She's going to go out and give a great speech tonight.

COLMES: You know, is there truth to -- I read that she wasn't even vetted. She wasn't even considered. They didn't give due consideration to Hillary Clinton. Is that accurate? That -- should she have been given at least more consideration from the Obama camp?

WOLFSON: Look, my feeling is that she would have made the best possible VP for Barack Obama. They made the decision they made. I'm not going to argue with it. I think Joe Biden is a very good choice.

COLMES: But should -- the question is did they give her enough due consideration? Or did they decide, you know, we're not even going to go near.

WOLFSON: You know what I think? I think that they looked at her over the course of 18 months. They saw her in action. They have a lot of information about her. Their research shop was churning overtime.

COLMES: Right.

WOLFSON: They knew all they needed to know, I guess.

COLMES: There was no real bump with Joe Biden. Should there have been, and do we expect there will be a bump out of this convention? Normally, a VP pick gets a little bit of a bump.

WOLFSON: You know, I think you've got to look and see what happens at the end of the week. I expect that we are going to get a bump, but we've got to wait until the end of the week to see.

COLMES: All right. Could expectations be too high? I mean, how much of a bump do we expect to get?

WOLFSON: Four or five points is historic.

COLMES: And if not, then of course, the other side goes, "Oh, look, he didn't even get a bump after his own convention."

WOLFSON: Right.

HANNITY: All right. Let me go back to the polls here for just a second here. I mean, now Obama's down five in the Reuters/Zogby polling, down two in the Gallup daily tracking poll. He lost ground after the first night of the convention. That's not a good sign.

If you were running this convention, I don't think you'd be too happy, Howard.

WOLFSON: You know, I think you've got to judge the convention at the end of it, not after the first night. I think Michelle Obama had a lot of business to do last night, and I think she did a lot of business.

HANNITY: Let me ask you a tough question.

WOLFSON: As opposed to the other ones you...?

HANNITY: They're pretty easy. Ed Rendell says that the coverage of Obama was embarrassing.

WOLFSON: I saw that.

HANNITY: If the media had vetted Obama earlier, do you think it's more likely than not, considering Obama barely crossed that finish line, that this would be Hillary's convention?

WOLFSON: Look, you know, Ed Rendell and a lot of our supporters feel strongly about this topic. It's hard to go back and, you know, rewrite history.

HANNITY: In some ways, you've got to admit -- I will acknowledge -- I think the media coverage of Obama has been one-sided, and I think it's been unfair, and I said so at the time, and I have not been the strongest Clinton supporter over the years.

WOLFSON: Look, Barack Obama gets good press. On the other hand, as a Democrat who wants to get him elected, I'm glad he gets good press.

HANNITY: By the way, we are -- ladies and gentlemen, we're waiting for former Virginia governor and Democratic Senate candidate Mark Warner, who's going to be giving the keynote address in just a few minutes here.

Well, but you know, there's a statement to say that it's embarrassing. That's on a very deep, profound level. In other words, if we're talking about the presidency, you know, I would argue John McCain went to Iraq and Afghanistan ten times. Katie Couric, Charlie Gibson, and Brian Williams never went, but they went with Barack Obama. That is not insignificant to me. That shows that they have an agenda.

I don't think -- once they started vetting Barack Obama, Wright, Ayers, you notice the poll numbers went down and you started winning more primaries.

WOLFSON: I don't have any doubt that the end of this process from November, the American public is going to know all they need to know about John McCain and Barack Obama.

HANNITY: I want to go back to the issue of Joe Biden. How important is it when he says that John McCain would be a great president, that he'd like to run with him?

WOLFSON: You now, it's probably something he'd rather take back at this point.

COLMES: Or against him, by the way. He said run with him or against him.

HANNITY: He did say with him.

COLMES: Or against him.

WOLFSON: You know, I think Joe Biden is a good pick. I think people understand that people -- candidates say things in the context of primaries. That's what happens in the primaries.

HANNITY: He said the presidency doesn't lend itself to on-the-job training. Those are very, very cutting words.

WOLFSON: Barack Obama has gotten a lot of training during this campaign. He's ready.

COLMES: I just want to say, look, if the media were really in Barack Obama's court to the extent conservatives say, he'd be far ahead in the polls right now. And wasn't it John McCain who said the media is...

HANNITY: All right, guys. We've got to interrupt you.

COLMES: Thank you, Howard.

HANNITY: The gentleman you can see walking out on the stage is former Virginia governor, Mark Warner. He's here tonight to deliver the keynote speech. So as you can see, he walks to the podium, walks to the stage.

Of course, very key state, key state of Virginia in this election, one that the Obama campaign is fighting very hard to get. He steps up to the podium, and we give a quick listen to the keynote.

MARK WARNER (D), FORMER GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA: Are you ready? Hello, Virginia. My fellow Democrats.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Warner, Warner, Warner!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Warner, Warner, Warner!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Warner, Warner, Warner!

WARNER: My fellow Democrats. My fellow Democrats. My fellow Americans.

The most important contest of our generation has begun. Not the campaign for the presidency. Not the campaign for Congress, but the race for the future.

And I believe from the bottom of my heart, with the right vision, and the right leadership, and the energy and creativity of the American people, there is no nation that we can't out-hustle and out-compete, and no American need be left out or left behind.

The race for the future is on. And it won't be won if only some Americans are in the running. And it won't be won with yesterday's ideas and yesterday's divisions. And it won't be won with a president who's stuck in the past.

We need a president who understands the world today, the future we seek, and the change we need. We need Barack Obama as the next president of the United States.

Now I have a unique perspective on this race for the future. Like many of you, I'm the first in my family to graduate from college. It was made possible by supportive parents, great public schools. And since my folks didn't have the resources...

COLMES: That is Governor Mark Warner, former governor of Virginia, giving the keynote address tonight. You can hear the crowd react.

In just a moment we come back. Coming up next, Barack Obama strikes back after an ad tries to link him to the former Weather Underground leader, William Ayers. Former presidential candidate, Rudy Giuliani joins us. That's coming up in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLMES: In other election news, an independent group supporting John McCain released an ad last week, attacking Barack Obama's ties to former Weather Underground leader Bill Ayers. The Obama campaign responded, releasing this brand-new ad in Ohio.

Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With all our problems, why is John McCain talking about the '60s, trying to link Barack Obama to radical Bill Ayers? McCain knows Obama denounced Ayers' crimes, committed when Obama was just 8 years old. Let's talk about standing up for America today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLMES: With us now is former presidential candidate, John McCain supporter, Rudy Giuliani.

RUDY GIULIANI (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Alan.

COLMES: Mayor, good to have you with us. Are they treating you OK here? I mean, you were a Democrat -- in your '20s you were a Democrat.

GIULIANI: I was mayor of a Democratic city, so I saw some of my city council members that I used to work with, and actually, I was safe.

COLMES: John McCain has said no one should question Barack Obama's love of his country, and that shouldn't be an issue in this campaign. Should he denounce this ad being done, which suggests that somehow Barack Obama is linked to a terrorist?

GIULIANI: Well, before he got a chance to denounce it or say anything about it, John McCain had nothing to do with it. Barack Obama is trying to hold him responsible for it. Methinks the man protests too much.

COLMES: Why is the group linked to John McCain? The guy who did it had done work in the past for McCain.

GIULIANI: There are a lot of 527 groups linked to Barack Obama.

COLMES: Didn't John McCain say, "Look, this is not the way I want to run my campaign. I reject that ad."

GIULIANI: I mean, he might, he might not. He has nothing to do with the ad. The reality is Barack Obama has now made it an issue by making an ad against John McCain. But the reality is why did he have an unrepentant terrorist who seems to want to do more bombing...

COLMES: He had very little relationship with him.

GIULIANI: Wait a second. Wait a second. He held a fundraiser -- his first political fundraiser. If I did that the New York Times would have that right on the front page.

COLMES: You had a fight. You were linked to Bernard Kerik during your campaign.

GIULIANI: I sure did.

COLMES: You didn't like the fact that you can't...

GIULIANI: I didn't like it. And the New York Times wrote about it how many times?

COLMES: The guilt by association should not be part of the campaign. Did you like -- did you kept getting...

GIULIANI: No, I had to answer for it. I didn't run away from it. I answered for it. I explained that I made a mistake.

COLMES: And Barack Obama explained that he rejected what he did, does not support that, and it happened when he was 8 years old.

GIULIANI: He wasn't on a board with him when he was 8 years old. He was on a board with him when he was an adult. He didn't have the fundraiser with him when he was 8 years old. He was an adult running for an office.

HANNITY: Mr. Mayor...

GIULIANI: So I don't like 527's, I don't like what they do, but the reality is he has made too much of this by responding to it, by claiming that John McCain is responsible.

COLMES: You've got to...

HANNITY: Hang on a second.

GIULIANI: I think maybe he's worried about it.

HANNITY: Well, let me -- let me just tell the truth. It was Obama's spokesmen who said they were friendly. He went to his house...

GIULIANI: Well, they were friendly. They were on a board together.

HANNITY: They were on a board. They gave speeches together.

GIULIANI: And the guy raised money for him.

HANNITY: And he said he was respectable and mainstream.

GIULIANI: And this is the guy who...

HANNITY: That's right.

GIULIANI: ... if I recall correctly, didn't he right after September 11...

HANNITY: On September 11 in the New York Times, he says, "I don't regret setting the bombs. I wish we did more."

GIULIANI: Well, I mean, this is a legitimate...

HANNITY: Why -- why did you sit on a board with him? Why...

GIULIANI: No wonder Obama reacted -- overreacted to it.

HANNITY: Well, it is pretty amazing. I also think the effect -- I think the ads that John McCain have been running are hilarious between Joe Biden's comments about McCain versus...

GIULIANI: They have actually gone further on Senator Obama than anything I've said or Senator McCain has said. I say there's a question about his experience. They say he's unprepared to be president. That is a heck of a thing to say about the nominee of your party.

Joe Biden said he was unprepared to be president. Hillary Clinton said the same thing.

HANNITY: Let me ask that. He said the presidency doesn't lend itself to on-the-job training. Hillary Clinton in the new ad says, you know, "Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience he'll bring to the White House. Barack Obama has given a speech in 2002."

How credible will Hillary be tonight? How credible will Joe Biden be tomorrow night when they say just the opposite of what they had been saying?

GIULIANI: I don't think that it will have a great deal of credibility, because we're not talking about just a difference in position.

John McCain will select a vice-presidential candidate, and it may well be that that vice-presidential candidate criticized John McCain about something, about taxes, immigration.

HANNITY: I doubt he praised Barack Obama.

GIULIANI: But -- but this is criticism about the most fundamental thing about being president of the United States, the core, which is are you prepared for it or not? And if Democrats are telling us he's not prepared to be president of the United States, we better take it seriously.

HANNITY: It seems to be the two remaining -- unless there's a surprise, the two leading candidates for John McCain for V.P., Mitt Romney, who we just interviewed, and Tim Pawlenty. Do you have a preference among the two?

GIULIANI: If I do, I'll express that to John McCain, and I'll support John's choice. John is one of the most experienced people that we have, a real leader, a great insight into character. He'll pick the right guy.

HANNITY: One week from now, you'll be giving a keynote speech yourself. Mr. Mayor, good to see you.

GIULIANI: I'm looking forward to it.

HANNITY: See you in Minneapolis.

GIULIANI: I know that my candidate is prepared.

HANNITY: Good to see you.

COLMES: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you very much.

HANNITY: And coming up, as we await tonight's speech from Senator Hillary Clinton just moments away, another former presidential governor, Bill Richardson, he's going to be on the floor right here in the middle of all the action. And he'll be joining us next, right here from the Democratic convention, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLMES: Joining us now is New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson.

Governor, welcome to "Hannity & COLMES:" Good to have you with us.

GOV. BILL RICHARDSON (D), ARIZONA: Thank you so much.

COLMES: How close did you come to becoming the vice-presidential choice?

RICHARDSON: Well, I think it was close, but in the end what you saw was Joe Biden. I think it was a good choice. But Obama treated me well. He called me in the last few days and basically said I'd done a good job, I was a contender, but that I was heading in -- he was heading in another direction.

COLMES: What did he mean by that?

RICHARDSON: Words I didn't like.

COLMES: Heading to Delaware.

RICHARDSON: No, no. And I think it was a good choice. Joe Biden brings foreign politics for peace. He brings a sense of humor, personal chemistry. He's qualified to be president.

COLMES: You bring all those things, too, by the way.

RICHARDSON: You know, I can still help Senator Obama get elected. You know, I'm going to concentrate on Arizona and Colorado and New Mexico and Florida.

COLMES: Every time we ask, you say, "I love my job. I don't want anything..."

RICHARDSON: I do. I'm very happy where I am. I mean, Sean has visited me in New Mexico. I love...

COLMES: Beside Hillary on the ticket.

HANNITY: We had a big crowd.

COLMES: He knew he wouldn't be able to attack the ticket if you were on it. That was his big fear.

RICHARDSON: You guys are always fair to me.

COLMES: What does Hillary have to do tonight? And can she do it?

RICHARDSON: With dramatic enthusiasm she has to say, I want all my supporters to go with Senator Obama. It's got to be the chemistry. It's got to be the delivery, the words. I saw her do it two weeks ago in New Mexico when we did two fundraisers for her for her debt. She was very passionate about Obama.

COLMES: Is she -- is she going to mean it? And can she make believe -- or make people believe that she will...?

RICHARDSON: I believe she means it. I saw her. Her supporters, they're coming around. You're seeing a lot of Obama movement, but I think it's important that she say it at the convention with conviction, with strength.

COLMES: What kind of bump do you expect Obama -- there's been no bump. It's been 50/50 all along here. We've been waiting for that bump to happen. Do it happen now?

RICHARDSON: It's only a day. There will be a little bump, five percent, but I think this race will be a tight race.

COLMES: Why is it as tight as it is?

RICHARDSON: Well, because the American people don't focus until after the conventions, after Labor Day.

You know, John McCain is a strong opponent. Obama is a change candidate. People are getting to know him. They're getting to like him. they like Michelle Obama. I think what you're going to see...

HANNITY: Governor, I think the polls are showing just the opposite. There is a lack of likeability among a lot of people, as it relates to the Obamas. A lot of questions remain about his experience, his background, his radical associations, you know, inexperience. Even Hillary Clinton said John McCain brings a lifetime of experience but Barack gives a speech.

RICHARDSON: I think, Sean, those are political ads that we all say in the heat of battle. You know that. You know, we should say, "Hey, I was kidding when I said that."

COLMES: Right.

HANNITY: "I didn't mean it."

RICHARDSON: But I do think that the convention's gone well. Positive message the first day. Today, Senator Clinton, reconciliation. Tomorrow, Clinton again, President Clinton. Obama gets to know him, family man, strong leader.

HANNITY: Howard -- Howard Wolfson was just on the program. And he thinks that Barack Obama has a challenge in terms of reaching out to the Clintons, more specifically Bill Clinton, who according to a lot of political Clinton insiders, they're telling me he is resentful. He feels the race card was played against him, and he feels that they were unfair to his wife. And he wants some credit for his achievements as president, and he wants this race issue to go away.

Howard Wolfson advises him to do it. Would you advise him to follow that advice?

RICHARDSON: Well, President Clinton has a major speaking role tomorrow, and it is true, he does come around a little slower than Senator Clinton. You know, Senator Clinton and I made up. I endorsed Obama. There was resentment. We did a fundraiser for her. But he's still made at me. I haven't heard from him. But it takes him longer to come around.

HANNITY: We were just talking about the Bill Ayers issue. Unrepentant terrorist. Barack Obama did have a relationship. He was friendly with him. He did give speeches with him. Would you give speeches with a terrorist?

RICHARDSON: You know, Sean, when was that, like 45 years ago?

HANNITY: No. He gave the speeches just in recent years. He sat on the board with him in recent years.

RICHARDSON: You know, I think Obama is a candidate of change, bringing people together.

HANNITY: You're ducking the question.

RICHARDSON: No, I'm not. I think it was 15 years ago.

HANNITY: No, but the speeches he gave, he said they're friendly. Should Americans pay attention to that? I think they should.

RICHARDSON: You know, Sean, many of us in our careers, including Senator McCain, they do and say things that we regret later. That is meaningless.

HANNITY: Governor, it's always good to see you. We love going to New Mexico.

RICHARDSON: Good to see you.

HANNITY: Thank you for being with us.

RICHARDSON: Thanks, buddy.

HANNITY: And folks, we have a lot more to come tonight. Obviously, we are awaiting the speech of Hillary Rodham Clinton and what she'll be saying both about Senator McCain and about Barack Obama.

And that is all the time we have left this evening.

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