TRANSCRIPT: Charlie Gibson Interviews Hillary Clinton
World News anchor speaks with candidate on state of the Democratic race.
May 14, 2008— -- The following is a complete transcript of an interview with Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., conducted by ABC News World News anchor Charlie Gibson on the state of the Democratic race with Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. The interview took place on Wednesday, May 14, via satellite from Washington, DC.
CHARLIE GIBSON: Senator, taking a, a practical and realistic objective, maybe even cold-blooded view of this race, can you win it?
HILLARY CLINTON: Of course I can. And, that's because no one has won it yet. There is no nominee. No one has reached the 2,210 number, which is the, uh, number of delegates needed to win, if you include Michigan and Florida, and both Senator Obama and I agree that we have to include Michigan and Florida, and get their delegates seated. So I think that we've got some additional contests to go. We've got people who are trying to make up their minds, looking at who they believe would be the better president, and the stronger candidate against Senator McCain.
CHARLIE GIBSON: But the math is daunting. It may be after next Tuesday that Senator Obama will have the majority of pledge delegates, and indeed, superdelegates are coming to him in a rather steady flow. Indeed, in the last week, he won more of those than you were able to pick up in West Virginia.
HILLARY CLINTON: Well, he, um, has, uh, to reach what is the, the magic number of 2,210. And, uh, he's not there yet, and we are working hard. We were thrilled by our victory in West Virginia last night. It was a great validation of my message about fighting for people, and, uh, we're going onto Kentucky, and Oregon, and the rest of the contest, and then we'll see what happens with Michigan and Florida, and by, you know, June 4th, we'll have a clearer idea about where everyone stands.
CHARLIE GIBSON: You have cited often, in campaign appearances, I've heard you talk about your 30 plus years in politics. If you were a pundit, commenting objectively on this race, what would you be saying?
HILLARY CLINTON: I would be saying it's one of the most exciting, closest races, that we've ever had, at least that anyone can remember. That millions and millions of Democrats and other Americans have been energized, and brought into the process. That each candidate has, uh, drawn, in the neighborhood of seventeen million votes. In fact, I'm slightly ahead in the popular vote, right now. And that the Democrats should be celebrating, uh, that there is so much interest and excitement, uh, about their candidates. And like everything in life, there is an endpoint. We're not there yet, but, uh, it will be reached. But to ask someone, uh, to stop, when it's so close, seems to defy political history, or human nature. I've never heard of such a thing going on. You go back and look at, um, uh, political candidates- people went to the conventions with nowhere near the number of votes they needed. Uh, Senator Kennedy kept his, uh, challenge, to President Carter, going for a long time. Obviously, we're going to have a unified Democratic party, when we have a nominee, but we don't have a nominee, yet.
CHARLIE GIBSON: Part of the equation, also, is money. And I know you're meeting with your chief financial people, and chief financial supporters, today. How, how deeply in debt is the campaign?
HILLARY CLINTON: Well, we've had, uh, to compete against, uh, uh, a pretty, uh, well-financed war chest. I've raised more money, uh, for a primary election, than anybody ever in American history, except for my opponent, and, uh, from time to time, for the last month, he's outspent me two, three, four to one. Uh, and as you know, I've lent money to my campaign, and, uh, we've had to, uh, you know, sort of forward some money, but we're going to be fine. We're getting the money we need to compete in these last contests, and, uh, I'm not entertaining any kind of, uh, uh, conclusion, until everybody has a chance to vote.
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