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 (VII)
FROM THE CDF TRANSCRIPT

JUDY WOODRUFF: All right. Finally, we are going to ask each of the candidates to make a closing statement, and because it's been a little bit unfair to you, Senator Braun, to have you begin every round, we're going to start over here with Reverend Sharpton and go in this direction.

So Reverend Sharpton, your closing statement, for a minute.

REVEREND AL SHARPTON: Last Friday, April 4th, was the 35th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King. He died at a time that he was fighting the war in Vietnam. planning a march in Washington for poor and working class people to provide for their children, as well as at a time he was fighting for laborers in Memphis, Tennessee. I'm running for president around the King dream. I want to make it a right for people to have health care, a right for people to vote, a right for people to have a quality education, not just a new program, but a new Constitution that guarantees our rights. Dr. King said there are two types of leaders, there are thermostat leaders and thermometer leaders. Thermometers judge the temperature, thermostats change the temperature. I intend to turn up the heat in America for the children, for working class people, for those that are ignored.

And, Marian, I'm the youngest one up here, I'm the child of this panel. When the vote is in, I will not be left behind.

(Applause)
 

JUDY WOODRUFF: Senator Lieberman.

SENATOR JOSEPH LIEBERMAN: Thank you, Judy, and thank you to CDF for sponsoring what I think has been a very healthy and constructive discussion.

We might disagree on some things, but I think it's clear to everybody who has listened to this debate and discussion tonight-every one of us is prepared to invest more in America's children than the Bush-Cheney Administration. This is a matter of leadership; leadership is a matter of priorities, and priorities are a matter of values. Our kids deserve more from the White House than a T-ball game on the White House lawn.

And let me give you an example of what I mean. Today, the CARE Act passed the Senate. I worked for years on this. It provides tax incentives which can create $30 billion of new contributions to charities around America, and it gives $1.2 billion, at our insistence, in social services block grants. We got bipartisan support for this in the Senate today. This afternoon, the Bush Administration said it was against the social service block grant funding. You know what? That's going to deprive the president's armies of compassion of the ammunition they need to fight to help America's poorest families. We've got to turn that around.

Let me say a final word. I think there are some people who would say, "Well, you've had an interesting debate, but really, ultimately, what's the use of it? You can't beat George W. Bush." I want to tell you why I know we can beat George W. Bush, because Al Gore and I did it in 2000.

(Applause)
 

JUDY WOODRUFF: Representative Kucinich, your closing statement.

REPRESENTATIVE DENNIS KUCINICH: To my good friend, Joe Lieberman, here's why this election will not be close. This election will not be close because the people will show up when the Democratic Party shows up with health care for all, with fully guaranteed Social Security and moving the retirement age back to 65. The Democratic Party will show up when we repeal NAFTA and the WTO. The Democratic Party will show up when we have universal free kindergarten and guaranteed public education from free kindergarten all the way to college. People will show up when a candidate takes the stand and says no to war, no to preemptive war, and says no more building of nuclear weapons, yes for nuclear disarmament, works to relate to the whole world community because the whole world community wants to work with a peaceful America. Protect this country with economic and social justice, because that is the security that America is really asking for. The security of a job, the security of health care, the security of decent schools, the security which no child truly left behind will bring to us. Let's reach out and let's lift up the children, and let's lift this nation up.
 
Thank you very much.

(Applause)
 

JUDY WOODRUFF: Senator Kerry.

SENATOR JOHN KERRY: Judy, thank you very much.

I want to join everybody in thanking Marian Wright Edelman for extraordinary leadership for 30 years, and thank you for everything. I want to share with you a story. About eleven years ago, I had the privilege of answering an invitation to go up to 118th Street in Harlem and visit a program-a terrible word to a lot of Republicans-but real kids were working in a building that I saw, 15 of them, learning a skill. And they were out of gangs, they were off the street, they were out of at-risk programs. One of them is here tonight. His name is Robert Clark. He was in jail for a period of time, got his life together, and took part in this program called Youth Build.

And today, Robert Clark is a graduate of college, who testified before the United States Congress today about this program. It is a program that, because I was chairman of a committee, I could walk back to Washington and I wrote it into HUD, and I'm proud to say it's in 43 cities, 171 programs, and more than 25,000 kids today are productive citizens and have a future in America because of it. But, for that program, for every childcare center in America, for every early childhood education program, for every opportunity we are providing, there are many more children left outside than will ever cross the threshold of those places. And it is not a lack of capacity in the United States of America; it's a lack of willpower and a lack of leadership. And I am running for president of the United States to make certain that never again in America will we abandon our children the way we have the past years, that we will give our children the opportunity to become full citizens, not just because it's good for them, but because it's the only way we're going to vitalize our own democracy and have a citizenry that have the ability to make this country what we want it to be. Let's do that together.

(Applause)
 

JUDY WOODRUFF: Senator Graham.

SENATOR BOB GRAHAM: I also want to tell a story. When the American historian Stephen Ambrose wrote the book about Lewis and Clark, he made an observation that if Julius Caesar rather than Thomas Jefferson had asked Lewis and Clark to conduct the same expedition, they would have done it exactly the same way in 1803 as they would have done at the turn of the first century. Why? Why had there been no progress in science, in transportation over those two millenniums? The answer was because too many children had been left behind, were unable to develop their full potential and, therefore, contribute to their society.

America led the way with free public education, and we have brought, through that, we have brought all of the full capabilities of our people to serve our people. When we talk about opportunities for children, this is a fundamental issue for the future of our nation and our world. President George Bush has decided that it is more important to give massive tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans than to invest in our children. That is wrong. As president of the United States, I will reverse that policy, and assure that all of our children have the opportunity to be the very best that they can be.

(Applause)
 

JUDY WOODRUFF: Representative Gephardt.

REPRESENTATIVE RICHARD GEPHARDT: Thank you, Judy.

My wife, Jane, and I have a child by the name of Kate, and she's 25 years old. She's an early childhood teacher. When she was in college, she would call me all the time and she'd say, "Dad, should I really do this?" And I would always say, "Kate, it's what you've always wanted to do. Why do you keep asking me this question?" And she said, "Because my classmates laugh at me because I'm not going to make any money." I told her money wasn't the important thing in life. What she had to do was follow her heart and her passion.

She got her degree, she got her graduate degree. She went out to get her first contract, $17,000 a year. She came home and said, "Now I know what they were laughing about." I said, "Kate, I know you can't pay rent, so you can live with us." She is living with us. She'll be living with us a long time. I don't want to miss any more Kates. When I am president, I will ask the Congress to pass a program. I'll call it ROTC for teachers. If it's good enough to get the right people in the Marines and the Navy and the Army, I'd pay the college loans of any kid who wants to be a teacher, and that would agree to teach where we need them for five years. Nothing is more important than having good teachers in front of every one of our kids, and our kids each deserve to have that teacher. When I'm president, we will make that dream a reality.
Thank you very much.

(Applause)
 

JUDY WOODRUFF: Senator Edwards.

SENATOR JOHN EDWARDS: Thank you, Judy, and thank you all very much.

I want to tell you why I should be your nominee for president. First, I will take this fight right at George W. Bush in the toughest possible way. I will give the American people a real choice, a real alternative. I will stand for something. This is the alternative the American people will get if I'm your nominee, somebody who comes from you. My dad worked in a mill all his life. I was the first person in my family to go to college. I spent 20 years as a lawyer fighting for the same people I'd grown up with, people like my father, people who worked in the mill with him. They are the reason I want to be president of the United States. I believe they're entitled to somebody in the White House who will fight their fight.

This president comes from a completely different place. Among other things, his father was president of the United States. I still believe that the son of a mill worker can take on the son of a president for the White House.  And I think all of us believe that in America today. It is the reason, it is the reason I fight for everything I fight for, to make our schools better, to give kids access to health care. It is the reason after-school programs matter so deeply to me. My wife and I started two after-school programs in North Carolina. I have seen the impact these programs can have on the lives of young people who need a safe place to go. It's about self-respect. It's about these kids feeling like they actually have an opportunity to compete.

There are some things that ought to be obvious in today's world-life is precious, families are hope, children are the future. Let's fight for the future of this country by fighting for the families of America.

God bless you all and thank you very much.

(Applause)
 

JUDY WOODRUFF: Governor Dean.

FORMER GOVERNOR HOWARD DEAN: I have two advantages in this race, one of which I share with Bob Graham; I'm a physician, and I'm a former governor. You've heard a lot of great things and I'll be happy to support the nominee of my party, and I intend to do that vigorously, because I expect it to be me.

(Applause)

FORMER GOVERNOR HOWARD DEAN: But the advantage of a doctor is that I know what happens when people don't have health insurance, and we put health insurance in, in our state, for everybody under 18, and I know how to do that for the United States. The advantages of a governor is that we home visit 91 percent of all the kids in our state. We've reduced the child abuse rate by 43 percent, and those kids are going to go to college instead of prison 10 years from now.

(Applause)

FORMER GOVERNOR HOWARD DEAN: You know, I want to thank my liberal friend Marian Wright Edelman. People have often called me a liberal too, and I appreciate it, because if being liberal means balancing the budget-and no Republican president has done that in 34 years-then you can call me a liberal. If being liberal means figuring out a way to have health insurance for every single American and joining every other industrialized country on the face of the Earth, then you may call me a liberal. If being liberal means investing in early education, which we have done, and subsidizing childcare for working people, which we have done, and making sure that child abuse is down, and college attendance is up, then you may call me a liberal. I am tired of living in a country that's divided by race; I am tired of living in a country that's divided by income; I am tired of living in a country that's divided by gender; I am tired of living in a country that's divided. I want to be a president that brings this country back together, where we admit, again, that we are responsible for each other, and to each other, where it's not only important for my kids to have health insurance, but for my neighbor's kids to have health insurance, where it's not only important for my kids to go to good schools, but for my neighbor's children to go to good schools. If you want to help us, Deanforamerica.com.

Thank you very much. (Applause)

FORMER GOVERNOR HOWARD DEAN: What we're going to do, we're going to give young people a reason to vote again in this country. Let's go to it. (Applause)
 

JUDY WOODRUFF: Senator Braun.

FORMER AMBASSADOR CAROL MOSELEY BRAUN: Thank you very much. I, too, want to thank Marian Wright Edelman for giving us this opportunity, and for her fabulous advocacy on behalf of people and children who would not otherwise have a voice. Thank you, Marian, and thank all of you for supporting her work.

You know, my grandfather fought in France in World War I, and he came back to a country where he could not vote, or even sit on the front of the bus. It was before women were allowed to vote, and yet he fought in that war because he believed in the promise of America. He believed that in this country that one day there would be opportunities that would build on the core concepts of this great country, that we would have liberty, that we would have opportunity, that we would have the blessings of this great nation. I am running for president because I believe in that same dream of America, and because I am a patriot, and because I believe I have a responsibility to do my best to contribute to my country, and to keep this the greatest country in the world. But the challenge for us all in this race is to make sure that America believes in itself again, that America believes that its greatness is not behind it, but in front of it, that America believes that we can provide education for every child, that we can provide health care for every person, that we can provide a living wage for every family. Those dreams should not be out of our reach. And, indeed, I hope to bring my experience, as a diplomat, a United States Senator, as a state legislator, to bear on these issues in the way that I have over the last 20 years. I have legislated in this area. I have worked in this area, but as much to the point, I want to be the candidate for president who will talk about bringing us together and providing for the harmony of the whole community.

My late mother used to say, it didn't matter if you came to this country on the Mayflower or a slave ship, through Ellis Island or across the Rio Grande, we were all in the same boat now. I want America to believe that a woman can lead the ship of state, can put us in the direction of getting our-

(Applause)

FORMER AMBASSADOR CAROL MOSELEY BRAUN: ...that preserves the liberty, and the privacy, and the freedom that so many generations have struggled to preserve on our behalf. That is the challenge. We have to get our country back from the people who would tap our emails and tap our phones, who would take our liberties away, who would spend money halfway around the world and leave children behind here at home. I join with my colleagues in the Democratic Party in saying, we have a case to make to the American people, and we will inspire the American people in this campaign to come to the polls, to take their country back, to make this democracy work for every generation, and distinguish our generation as the greatest American generation ever.

(Applause)

JUDY WOODRUFF: On behalf of the panelists, Mark, and Michelle, and Juan, and myself, I want to thank all the candidates, and I believe Marian Edelman has some closing remarks.
 

MARIAN WRIGHT EDELMAN: First, I just wanted to thank Judy Woodruff and the panel. They've been wonderful.

(Applause)

MARIAN WRIGHT EDELMAN: I also want to make very clear that we invited President George Bush to come tonight to say how he was not going to leave any child behind, but he was unable to be here. So I want you to know that, but most of all I want you to thank all the candidates for coming and for a very lively debate.

Thank you very much. (Applause)

MARIAN WRIGHT EDELMAN: Thank you all so much.