I. Introduction by Marian Wright Edelman and video.
II. One-minute opening statements.
III. "Lightening" round--responses of "30 seconds or less than a minute" to question on the war.
IV. First round of questions and follow ups from the panelists.
V. Second round of questions and follow ups from the panelists.
VI. "Lightening" round--question on affirmative action.
VII. One-minute closing statements.

Transcript (III)
FROM THE CDF TRANSCRIPT

JUDY WOODRUFF:...I just want to say briefly, we do have questions from our panelists, we have a rotating system. Each panelist will be asking questions of two candidates. By the end of the evening, every candidate will have been asked two questions, that is, if we can move along here. We are going to give you a minute and a half for the first question, a minute for the follow up, which you're going to get. But before that we're going to start with what we're calling a lightning round, where I'm going to ask one question of all nine candidates, and I want you to make your answer as brief as possible, ideally 30 seconds or less than a minute. Here it is. As we gather tonight in Washington, as some of you have pointed out, the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq is crumbling. The war is coming to an end; we saw the people of Baghdad celebrating today. Before we go on to discuss resources for America's children, I want to ask each one of you if you opposed this war, as five of you did, you saw the excited faces of these Iraqi people today in Baghdad. Are you still convinced this war was the wrong thing to do? And if you voted for the war resolution, how much do you think it's going to end up costing? We already see $80 billion, and we know it's going much higher, and can you assure us it's not going to hurt domestic priorities? A minute or less, Senator Braun.

FORMER AMBASSADOR CAROL MOSELEY BRAUN: Thank you very much, Judy. I would point out I went under a minute on my opening, or close to it. In any event, the first answer is, I'd rather-if we spent $80 million to kill Saddam Hussein, that's $79, 999-

JUDY WOODRUFF: Billion.

FORMER AMBASSADOR CAROL MOSELEY BRAUN: Billion, $80 billion to kill Saddam Hussein, that's $79 billion too much. I'd rather see that money spent on providing health care for children, universal health care for our country, to build schools and provide quality education, to deal with domestic concerns of the American people. It is an outrage that we are going to pass along budget deficits to the next generation based on a war, as President Carter called it, of choice and not necessity.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So the war is not worth it, you're saying?

FORMER AMBASSADOR CAROL MOSELEY BRAUN: I'd say that charity begins at home, and if we're going to attend to our priorities, we should take care of America first, and American children first. And it is an outrage to suggest that we are going to rebuild another country when our own communities are falling apart and people are unemployed. It's just not right.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Governor Dean.

I'm sorry. I know you all want to applaud a lot, but every time you applaud it's coming out of question time later-I mean answer time, sorry.

Governor Dean.

FORMER AMBASSADOR CAROL MOSELEY BRAUN: I didn't get a chance to use my whole minute. I didn't get a chance to use my whole minute the first time, so if you don't mind, just be as nice to me.

JUDY WOODRUFF: We'll be fair.

FORMER AMBASSADOR CAROL MOSELEY BRAUN: Thank you. JUDY WOODRUFF: Governor Dean.

FORMER GOVERNOR HOWARD DEAN: Sure. The reason I didn't support the war-and I continue to maintain this position-is because it opens up a new, dangerous, preemptive doctrine. And the war resolution urged the president to go to the United Nations, but made no such requirement. I think it's a dangerous thing to do, to give the president six months ahead of time a blank check, which is what I think the resolution did. We have more dangerous foes in front of us, North Korea and AI-Qaeda; there's been no such concentration on those dangers. And I think Senator or Ambassador Moseley Braun is right. We're going to spend a lot of money in Iraq. We're at $80 billion, it's going to be $200 billion. For $200 billion, we can insure every child under the age of 18 in this country, just like we do in the state of Vermont. It seems to me that that's a better investment. We need to contain Saddam, we should have contained Saddam. We've gotten rid of him, and I suppose that's a good thing, but there's going to be a long period where the United States is going to need to be maintained in Iraq, and that's going to cost American taxpayers a lot of money that could be spent on schools and kids.

JUDY WOODRUFF: All right. I'm going to alternate a little bit and go with Reverend Sharpton next.

REVEREND AL SHARPTON: I oppose the war, and I'm still saying that I do not see the necessity for the war. I do not see where we've seen the nuclear weapons that we were told were there. I do not see the imminent danger. I do not see the necessity for military action. I'm glad Saddam was toppled, but I also would like to see things toppled in this country, like no health insurance, like illiteracy, like childhood obesity. The real question to me is, if we can come up with billions to occupy Imq, why can't we come up with money for the budgets of the 50 states we already occupy?

JUDY WOODRUFF: Senator Lieberman.

SENATOR JOSEPH LIEBERMAN: Thank you, Judy.

As you know, I supported the war, and I did because I believe one of the first responsibilities of government, as our Constitution says, is to provide for the common defense. And history teaches us that if you leave a brutal, immoral dictator with weapons of mass destruction, eventually he will use them. And all of our liberty and everything else we strive for will be compromised.

But the choice between security for our nation, and a better life for our children is a false choice. If we re- order our priorities based on our values, if we pull back this outrageously unfair and irresponsible tax cut program of President Bush's, we could protect our security and provide a better life for our children. That would be my goal as President of the United States.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Senator Edwards.

SENATOR JOHN EDWARDS: This is not an either/or choice. It is actually the responsibility of the President of the United States to be able to do two things at the same time. I support the cause in Iraq, I have always supported the cause in Iraq. I think it is a just cause. I think that what we're doing there is right. I think it is a fight, among other things, for the liberation of the Iraqi people. We have to now show that we went there for the right reason by, as soon as we reasonably can, turning over the governing of the Iraqi people to the Iraqi people by turning over the oil fields and the revenue from those oil fields to the Iraqi people. We have a wonderful opportunity.

But this is a false choice. We can do two things at the same time, particularly if we get rid of the tax cut for the top 1 to 2 percent that would save us $1-1/2 trillion over the next 20 years and allow us to invest in programs like after-school programs and the work that needs to be done in our schools.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Representative Kucinich.

REPRESENTATIVE DENNIS KUCINICH: I led the effort in the House of Representatives to challenge the war in Iraq, and I'll continue to lead the effort and any effort to take America in an aggressive pose against any nation in this world. I think that we have to know the difference between defense and offense. I also think that this war was about a pretext, that it was not about whether they had weapons of mass destruction. I mean, let's face it, poverty is a weapon of mass destruction, homelessness is a weapon of mass destruction, lack of adequate education is a weapon of mass destruction, our children not having good neighborhoods is a weapon of mass destruction. We're blowing up bridges over the Tigris and Euphrates; we're not building bridges in our own cities. We need a new urban policy; we need a new national security strategy; we need a strategy for peace and prosperity.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Representative Gephardt.

REPRESENTATIVE RICHARD GEPHARDT: Our highest responsibility is to keep our people safe, and the reason I supported this action was that I do not want to have another 9-11. I do not want weapons of mass destruction used in this society. And I think we have to do what we have to do to defend the security of our people. We also should feel very proud tonight of the young men and women who are in Iraq putting up their lives and their injuries for us to be safe. They've done a magnificent job.

Let me just add one point. We are going to have more deficits as a result of this war. We have to get rid of almost all of the Bush tax cut, the one last year and whatever he tries to put on the books this year. We cannot have those tax cuts, most of which go to the wealthiest Americans in this country. We need to use that money to get every person and certainly every child in this country covered with good health insurance. When I'm president, that's what we'll do.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Senator Kerry.

SENATOR JOHN KERRY: Well, I really fall in a different place from what has been said. I voted for the resolution to provide the president with a credible threat of force, which I believe the president has to have and should have been able to use, presuming also that a great country like ours can respect multilateral institutions that work with the world to build a coalition. And I said that the United States of America should not go to war because it wants to, we should go to war because we have to. And you have to when you've exhausted remedies available to you. So I support the use of force. I support disarming Saddam Hussein, but I have been very critical of the way this administration went at it, because it leaves the American people carrying a greater financial burden and an enormous repair job within NATO, the United Nations, the European Community, and the rest of the world.

And now the Bush Administration is laying out an enormous plan for building roads, schools, hospitals, and providing books in Iraq, and it's time for us to demand that they layout a plan to do the same here in the United States of America. No to the Bush tax cut, yes to those plans for America.

JUDY WOODRUFF: All right. On the cost, Senator Graham.

SENATOR BOB GRAHAM: I voted against the resolution to authorize the president to use force against Iraq. I did so because I thought the war against Iraq would make us less secure, not more secure. Saddam Hussein is an evil person, he lives in a neighborhood with a lot of evil people. The question is, where do we put our priorities for the safety of Americans? In my judgment, those priorities should be to eliminate the shadowy group of international terrorist organizations that killed almost 3,000 Americans on September 11 tho I believe that the war in Iraq has actually reduced our ability to effectively carry out the war against terrorism. It has shattered our alliances that will be critical to success in the war on terrorism. At the same time, we have given a pass to some of the countries which have been harboring terrorists so that we could get their vote in the United Nations. I believe the standard should be, what is in the best security of the people of America, and the answer to that is to pursue without distraction the war against terrorism.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Thank you.