This is a partial transcript from “Hannity & Colmes,” July 2, 2007, that has been edited for clarity.
SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: You are looking at live pictures from a rally in Des Moines, Iowa, where former President Bill Clinton is making his return to the campaign trail. He is stumping with Hillary in the state that he largely ignored in his 1992 White House run. And own Carl Cameron, “Campaign Carl,” is live on the scene in Iowa with the very latest on the Bill and Hillary show — Carl?
CARL CAMERON, FOX NEWS CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they’re back, Sean. This is the first time they’ve actually campaigned today, though Bill and Hillary have done a couple of fundraisers. And I guess we’re back on Clinton time. They’re running about 45 minutes late.
This is meant to kick off three days of campaigning, and the Clinton campaign has spent a tremendous amount of time trying to figure out tactically when it would be best to bring out their biggest piece of artillery, Bill Clinton, tremendously popular in Democratic politics, arguably the most popular Democrat in the country, if not on the planet. And yet there is always that possible double-edged sword, because he could either overshadow Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail or, for some, dredge up bitter memories of the ’90s and sort of increase what some think is the polarization of the Clinton candidacy.
So we’re expecting them to get to the podium. But as the introductions have begun, they’ve just told us that the motorcade is still a few minutes away. So, evidently, Clinton time returns, with Bill Clinton at his wife’s side on the campaign trail.
HANNITY: All right, Carl Cameron in Des Moines tonight. Carl, thanks for being with us.
And with more on the Bill and Hill show, we are rejoined by the New York Times best-sellering author of “Outrage,” former Clinton adviser Dick Morris is with us.
Let me go over these numbers, because first we had the “Sopranos” ad. Now Bill is taking to the campaign trail. Obviously, he’s trying to bail out Hillary here. Here are the Mason-Dixon numbers: 52 percent of Americans will not consider voting for her; 60 percent of independents; 56 percent of men; and 47 percent of women. This is your area of expertise. That is devastating for any candidate.
MORRIS: … but let me point out why Bill Clinton is in Iowa with her.
HANNITY: To help out these numbers.
MORRIS: No, but it’s more than that. You remember when had you [Repubican pollster] Frank Luntz critiquing the Democratic debate and the Republican debate, and with the Democratic debate, and when Edwards attacked Hillary indirectly, he said that was the worst moment of the debate. His focus group dials went down. And he said no Democrat may speak ill of another Democrat.
So Hillary’s only issue against Obama, her big one is inexperience, that Obama is an ingenue and she’s experienced. Now, in fact, Obama has been in public life longer than Hillary and elected office. And in the Senate, Obama has been there for four fewer years, and what did Hillary do? She wrote a best-selling book and autographed it for those years. But to stress the experience angle, Hillary needs to have Bill right there so that, by osmosis, they become co-president.
HANNITY: Does that work?
MORRIS: Yes.
HANNITY: It does work. You really believe that?
MORRIS: Absolutely, and the polling shows that it does. The minute he’s there with her, they become the “Clintons,” and they’ve been president for eight years. And it’s her method of highlighting the experience issue vis-a-vis Obama.
HANNITY: At some point though, doesn’t that come back to hurt her in some way though? You know, she’s been out there on the attack. She does not have his skills, she does not have his warmth, as phony as I may think it is, in a lot of ways. She went after the president, literally said this weekend here, “It’s time for a woman to come in and clean up the house. We have a lot of cleaning to do, so grab your buckets and grab your brooms.” Can you imagine if a guy said that, by the way?
MORRIS: By the way, I don’t understand why Barack Obama doesn’t do the same. He goes to a black debate in Howard University. And everybody is spouting Headstart and day care and this and that, and he doesn’t say, more than any of your programs, think of the impact of electing an African- American president on young people. He should say it.
(CROSSTALK)
COLMES: I need to point out that Hillary does not need bailing out at this point. She’s ahead in all the polls. She’s doing very well. She’s clearly headed for the nomination at this point.
MORRIS: Yes, but, in Iowa, in the last eight polls, Edwards has led in four of them. And therefore her national lead isn’t translating here. But I agree with you; Hillary is way ahead for this nomination. But she needs Bill because she needs to become the co-president.
COLMES: But people criticize Al Gore for not utilizing the talents of Bill Clinton. If Hillary Clinton didn’t use her husband strategically, she’d be criticized for not utilizing the greatest asset she might have, in terms of what he successfully did.
MORRIS: Well, the circumstances are different 2000, as opposed to 2007. But Hillary has always done this in-out dance with Bill’s record. When they ran, it was two for the price of one, co-president. Then for the first two years, they were together. Then when I joined the administration, she got lost. She went around the world, doing all kinds of stuff. Then when Monica [Lewinsky] came in, she was back. Then when she ran for the Senate, she was just Hillary. She left off the “Clinton.” Now she is “the Clintons.” So it’s in and out and in and out.
COLMES: Look, given how unpopular this president is and this administration is right now…
HANNITY: And Congress.
COLMES: … I think we’d be thrilled to go back to the way things were in the ’90s and how popular the president was compared to what’s going on right now.
The big news today, though, is John McCain getting rid of 50 staffers. That’s really the big political news today.
MORRIS: Well, I think the big political news was how well Obama did in fundraising. But McCain is on his way out. He is the permanent casualty of this immigration debate. And what I think is going to — and Romney has never taken off above 10 percent in any convincing way.
I think that now you’re going to see the Thompson boomlet. It’s going to soar. It’s going to be like a 4th of July firecracker. Then I predict it’s going to fade, and then I think Newt may come in and he may fade. And then you may have to look at the existing cast of thousands — my favorite is Huckabee — for a replacement candidate from the extreme right. The problem with Thompson is that people are voting for an actor. They’re not voting for a senator.
HANNITY: What about Rudy?
COLMES: Wasn’t that true with Reagan?
MORRIS: No, but they weren’t voting for him, because he did a good job in “Bonzo.” They didn’t have that image in mind. They were voting for a guy — now they’re voting for Arthur Branch, not for Fred Thompson.
HANNITY: All right, Dick, good to see you. We’ll see you back here next Monday.
HANNITY: Thank you
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