TRANSCRIPT

                        October 28, 2023

                           NEWS EVENT

                                

        REP. DEAN PHILLIPS (D-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE

                                

                                

                                

       REP. DEAN PHILLIPS (D-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE IS
                  INTERVIEWED ON CNN'S "SMERCONISH"

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     REP. DEAN PHILLIPS (D-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE IS
     INTERVIEWED ON CNN'S "SMERCONISH"

     OCTOBER 28, 2023

     SPEAKERS:
     REP. DEAN PHILLIPS (D-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE

     MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN ANCHOR

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN ANCHOR: Congressman Dean Phillips announced on Friday that he's challenging President Biden for the Democratic nomination. He'll join me in just a moment.

Would he be doing so if Americans felt that they were better off now than they were four years ago? I ask that because in the final week of the 1980 campaign, presidential campaign, Governor Ronald Reagan, in his one and only debate with Jimmy Carter, he asked a question that was thought to both crystallize and maybe sway the election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RONALD REAGAN, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Next Tuesday, all of you will go to the polls. You'll stand there in the polling place and make a decision. I think when you make that decision, it might be well if you would ask yourself, are you better off than you were four years ago?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMERCONISH: Carter was then beleaguered by the misery index, a crude economic measure invented by economist Arthur Okun in the 1970s. It's a combination of unemployment and inflation rates. The number was more than 20 percent during the 1980 campaign.

When Ronald Reagan won re-election, it was now 11.4 percent. When George W. Bush won a second term, the misery index was 9. For Barack Obama's second Election Day, it was 9.5. Today, as Joe Biden runs for re-election, it's only 7.5.

And the economic numbers only seem to be improving. Despite high interest rates and ongoing inflation pressures, this week, new GDP numbers were released revealing that the U.S. economy grew even faster than expected in the third quarter. From July through September, the gross domestic product, GDP, which measures all goods and services produced in the U.S., rose at annualized pace of 4.9 percent, up from 2.1 percent in the second quarter.

And yet, compared with other presidents dating back to Eisenhower in this period of their terms, President Biden has the lowest popularity of any president except Jimmy Carter. This week, Gallup revealed that the president's approval rating is now at 37 percent. That matches his personal low. Driving those numbers, Biden's job approval among Democrats, has stumbled by 11 points in the last month.

Brand new survey data from the American Communities Project and Ipsos of 5,000 Americans spread across 15 communities cast doubt on whether Biden's numbers bear any relationship to the economy and whether people feel that they're better off.

Consider this, when asked a very Reagan-esque question, do you think your life is generally headed in the right direction or is it off on the wrong track, 87 percent said, yes, it's on the right track.

Similarly, when asked about their communities, 63 percent say they're going in the right direction.

It's only when asked about the country at large that 79 percent of Americans say, America as a whole is on the wrong track. Only 18 percent say America is going in the right direction.

So, the perception is individuals are doing well, their communities are doing fine, but the country is going to hell in a hand basket. Why the disconnect?

Maybe because perception of the nation at large is being driven by a 24/7 news cycle dominated by footage of snatch and grabs, subway shovings and violent protests, worries about migrants surging at the border, defense spending spiraling while people's pocketbooks are hurting.

When Congressman Dean Phillips threw his hat in the ring this week, he mentioned not only chaos at the borders and in our cities, but he also said that the torch needs to be passed to a new generation of leaders. Perhaps the biggest factor in Biden's low polling is something that the president can't do anything about between now and the election, and that's his age.

Joining me now is Congressman Dean Phillips of Minnesota.

Congressman, what do you make of what I just had to say? It seems like that the president has got the data, but he can't sell it. Why?

REP. DEAN PHILLIPS (D-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, Michael, good to be with you.

And I think you just made the case for why I entered the Democratic primary. The country is feeling really fearful, uneasy, divided. And I think -- I call it anger-tainment. We have an anger-tainment industry that would have us all believe that we are more divided than we really are.

And I believe it's time for an American president to focus on literal repair. Look at the word -- it's repairing the country. We need it now more than ever.

To the economic numbers, the macro economic numbers are good. I admire Joe Biden. I voted for his policies as a member of the House Democratic leadership team. I helped market those policy.

But I've been talking to people here in New Hampshire over the last 24 hours since I declared my candidacy. People cannot afford health care. Families are struggling, 60 percent of America still lives paycheck to paycheck, 40 percent can't afford a $400 car repair.

The president has done a fine job of being the very bridge that he promised he would be, the transitional president that our country needed at the time.

I admire Joe Biden, but 80 percent of the country wants change. It's time for it. It's time to walk to the future.

And I tell you, as I listen to people, I hear it everywhere I am right now, Michael, that it's time for a new generation to take the reins.

We have a lot of challenging.

SMERCONISH: Give me --

PHILLIPS: I think the ones that we're going to be facing are going to be ones that only newer generations can tackle. And, by the way, as long as we fight each other, we're not going to fight for America. And that is exactly my message, to do this differently, thoughtfully and bipartisan fashion that this country deserves and frankly has earned.

SMERCONISH: Okay. So, give us the elevator pitch on how you can actually win the nomination.

PHILLIPS: Well, the good news, Michael, is thank goodness, we still live in a country voters make the decision. If they want, this is a choice.

Now, I've got the Democratic National Committee competing against me, an extraordinarily large machine. Of course, it's rigged against any challenger candidate under any circumstance.

But what a beautiful example of American democracy, where anybody 35 years old, U.S. citizen, born here, can enter this ring in New Hampshire just like I did yesterday, first in the nation primary since 100 -- 103 years ago, talking with people, making your case.

We're going to win New Hampshire. That will put us on the radar screen, and I'm going to introduce myself to the country and only give people a choice.

I'm not running against President Biden. I admire him. I'm running for the future. I'm running to provide people a choice because if Democrats with a big D defeat democracy with a small D by pushing people aside, telling them to stand down and get out, that is antithetical to meeting the moment and it's our generation's turn to take those reins.

(CROSSTALK)

SMERCONISH: But, Congressman -- Congressman, when you say -- when you say you admire him and admire his record and be supportive in the Congress, you then are going to have to complete the sentence which says, but I don't think he can beat Donald Trump. Are you ready to make that case in order to win the nomination?

PHILLIPS: Absolutely. That is my case. I don't need to make it. Look at the polls.

Last week's ABC News poll has President Biden down 9 points nationally. The Bloomberg poll has him losing in five of these six key battleground states. You just referenced the lowest -- some of the lowest approval ratings in American presidential history.

I don't know how more loudly American voters can speak. Over 50 percent of Democratic voters simply want an alternative. I'm raising my hand. I'm entering this ring because I think Americans deserve that very alternative.

I'm going to run a spirited, joyful, optimistic campaign based on strength and fortitude and give people a choice. And if I don't succeed, rest assured, I will do everything I can -- I will work just as hard for President Biden or whoever the nominee might be to ensure that Donald Trump does not return to the White House.

And if that wasn't enough, Michael, Matt Gaetz of all people, Matt Gaetz yesterday tweeted that it would be harder for Donald Trump to beat Dean Phillips than to beat Joe Biden. That is the very case I'm going to be making --

(CROSSTALK)

SMERCONISH: Congressman, I have -- I have no doubt that there is a craving, that there is a hunger. I'm very familiar with all the data. I track this of Americans who want a choice, and don't like the status quo.

The fundamental question is whether your route is the best way to get it done, meaning within a Democratic nomination fight where you're a unique guy willing to talk about border security and crime, as opposed to running as an independent, maybe a No Labels candidate. Surely, you evaluated that path and ruled it out.

What's the short answer as to why?

PHILLIPS: I say shame on anybody who might run as an independent candidate in this consequential race, the most important election in our country's history, whether it's Cornel West, whether it's Robert Kennedy, whether it's any other initiative that would have an alternative candidate that would peel votes from whomever would be taking on Donald Trump -- shame on you. I would never do that.

I'm doing this in the way that we have constructed our democracy and we as Democrats do it -- through a thoughtful, spirited primary. And I do not intend to undercut the president. I do not intend to demean him, diminish him.

I will make my case for the future. It is complimentary of him, but it's also more bold for the future. And I think that's exactly what Americans need.

I'm troubled by those who somehow are fearful of choice, fearful of freedom and fearful of doing exactly what our Founders intended when they created our country almost 250 years ago.

I think once people see how I'm doing this, it might surprise, it might delight, and it might actually inspire our country to make the choice to move to the future. It's not that difficult if you're really paying attention to what people are listening to. And that's what I've been doing.

SMERCONISH: Congressman, thank you for being here. We appreciate it.

PHILLIPS: Anytime, Michael.

END