'Meet the Press' transcript for March 9, 2008

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March 9: An exclusive debate: Hillary Clinton supporter Gov. Ed Rendell, D-Pa., squares off against Barack Obama supporter and former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., on who is best positioned to win the Democratic nomination. Then a political round table on Decision ’08 with Dan Balz, Ron Brownstein, John Harwood and Gwen Ifill.

‘Hard-fought’ primaries loom for Dems

Democratic re-do in Florida, Michigan?

Obama ‘qualified’ to be Clinton’s VP

Deadlocked Dems look to broaden base

Superdelegates set for integral role

Take Two: McCain steps into the spotlight

Slide show

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MR. RUSSERT: Karl Rove wrote a piece in The Wall Street Journal saying, you know, this is not good for John McCain because the Democrats, in effect, will be under the limelight and get all...

MS. IFILL: Oh, John McCain. Right. That guy. The guy who clinched the nomination this week. That's right.

MR. BROWNSTEIN: Yeah. Yeah.

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MR. RUSSERT: But the Democrats are getting all the press coverage and poor, you know, John...

MS. IFILL: Yeah.

MR. RUSSERT: On the other hand, you can make a case that if Obama's the nominee, what happens to these white women over 50, making under 50,000, so dedicated to Hillary Clinton? Do they stay home or vote for John McCain? If Clinton's the nominee, what happens to young voters, African-American voters? Bill Bradley said you could lose a whole generation who thought that politics was something different. Dan Balz:

MR. BALZ: Well, I mean, it goes back to...

MR. BROWNSTEIN: Solve it, Dan.

MR. BALZ: It goes--well, it goes back to the idea that has been raised now any number of times, which is both of them on the ticket. Almost no matter who is the nominee, I think it's likely that they are going to have to offer, or at least consider, the other as the vice president.

MR. RUSSERT: But if Obama's a change agent and he puts Hillary Clinton on, he goes on the ticket with Hillary Clinton, how does he enhance his credentials for a future run as opposed to saying, "I'll go back to Illinois, run for governor of Illinois."

MS. IFILL: He'll have eight years to redefine who he is, if he did do that.

MR. HARWOOD: It might get the party out of the ditch.

MR. BROWNSTEIN: Right.

MR. HARWOOD: That's the issue.

MR. BROWNSTEIN: Right. And, and that is--look, I mean...

MR. RUSSERT: Would Hillary ever take V.P.?

MR. BROWNSTEIN: Right now, you'd have to say no. But, you know, we have a long way between now and when this ends.

MR. BALZ: Let's also not forget that in, in either case you have the first African-American and the first woman.

MR. BROWNSTEIN: Yeah. And neither...

MR. BALZ: But that is a ticket-shattering--history-shattering ticket no matter how you put it together.

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MR. BROWNSTEIN: Yeah.

MR. RUSSERT: Is it a winning ticket?

MS. IFILL: The Clinton people are convinced that...

MR. BROWNSTEIN: It's a strong ticket.

MS. IFILL: The Clinton people are convinced that their, their voters are more likely to support--let me get this right--that their voters are likely to support Obama than the Obama voters are likely to come to them. So that it's weaker--that the Obama voters are not members of the party, regular members of the party anyhow, and therefore you need to split issues...

MR. BROWNSTEIN: These are candidates with voters that have...

MR. HARWOOD: But it...

MR. BROWNSTEIN: ...become complementary, though.

MR. HARWOOD: The Democratic victory in that Illinois House race last night shows the magnitude of the Democratic opportunity. The party does not want to blow it this year.

MR. RUSSERT: I wish we had another hour. To be continued. We'll be right back.

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MR. RUSSERT: More of our roundtable on Take Two this afternoon on our Web site, msnbc.com. That's all for today. We'll be back next week. If it's Sunday, it is MEET THE PRESS.

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