'Meet the Press' transcript for April 6, 2008

MR. TIM RUSSERT:  Our issues this Sunday:  Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama continue their pointed exchanges.

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY):  Senator Obama has been very timid and unenthusiastic about doing anything with the economy.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL):  When somebody asks you who you want to answer the phone call at 3 in the morning, you tell them what you want is somebody who will actually read the intelligence.

MR. RUSSERT:  All the while, John McCain moves to unite his party and travels the country on his "Service to America" tour.

The next Democratic primary, Pennsylvania, April 22nd.  Who would be the strongest Democratic nominee?  Pennsylvania Democratic Senator Bob Casey says Barack Obama.  Pennsylvania Democratic Governor Ed Rendell says Hillary Clinton.  Casey and Rendell square off on Obama vs. Clinton.

Then, 40 years ago Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. shot dead in Memphis, Tennessee.  We reflect on his legacy with Tom Brokaw of NBC News; Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, author of "April 4, 1968:  Martin Luther King Jr.'s Death and How it Changed America"; and Ambassador Andrew Young, former aide to Martin Luther King Jr.

But first, just 16 days until the Pennsylvania primary.  Here to talk about what's at stake, the man for Obama, Democratic Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania.  And the man for Clinton, Democratic Governor Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania.

Gentlemen, welcome both.

GOV. ED RENDELL (D-PA):  Good morning.

SEN. BOB CASEY (D-PA):  Good to be with you, Tim.  Thank you.

MR. RUSSERT:  Governor, let me start with you.  Here's the Clinton campaign spokesman in Pennsylvania, "We operate from the assumption that Pennsylvania is Clinton country.  ...  We can build a team here that is unbeatable." Congressman John Murtha, who supports Hillary Clinton, "I think Hillary Clinton's going to win it by a double-digit figure.  No question in my mind about that." "Unbeatable," "double-digit," you guys are pretty confident.

GOV. RENDELL:  No, not, not true, Tim.  Anytime you're outspent 3-to-1, you can't be overconfident.  Look, this is a great state for Senator Clinton. She's well-known here, well-liked here.  This is almost a partial hometown in Bob Casey's part of the state, the northeast.  She's got some great advantages.  But Barack Obama has a huge amount of money.  We're being outspent woefully, and he's a great campaigner.  So I'm saying that we will win this state, but we'll win it somewhere between 5 and 9, 5 and 10 percentage points.  But any victory over a man who outspends you 3-to-1 and is a good a campaigner as Barack Obama is, is an impressive victory.

MR. RUSSERT:  Senator Casey, less than a month ago this is what you said, you "won't take sides before his state voters head to the polls.  `I said I'd be neutral throughout our primary, which I will maintain.  ...  The winner of this nomination will be the president.  So, when that much is at stake ...  we need people in the middle to bring people together.'" You changed your mind.

SEN. CASEY:  I did, Tim.  And the reason was because I was, when I said that, an undecided voter.  I became a decided voter.  And at that point, you have to make a decision when, when a competition is going on in your state.  Do you sit on the sidelines as a public official when you have a strong feeling?  And I'll tell you, I have never been more inspired by a candidate for president in my life.  This is a candidate, in Barack Obama, who can bring about the change that we need in this country.  He's someone who's inspired people of all ages. And I think the people of Pennsylvania are getting to know him now.  I think we can make progress.  It's certainly an uphill fight, but I'm very excited about his candidacy.  I think he can win in November, and I also think he can become a great president.

MR. RUSSERT:  Can he win Pennsylvania?

SEN. CASEY:  It's going to be tough in the primary, we're--it's certainly uphill.  But I think what he does in the spring will lay a foundation for the fall, and I think he's connected.  Tim, we were in western and central Pennsylvania on a three-day bus tour.  I had to go back to Washington to vote. But in those communities, small town Pennsylvania, small town America, people were waiting in line in the cold just to shake his hand, just to be able to get close to him.  And I think he's inspired people.  We're going to need that kind of inspiration to take on the the tough challenges the country faces. It's part of being a good leader.

MR. RUSSERT:  Some are suggesting in Pennsylvania that your endorsement was also part of your own political interest to broaden your coalition.  "For Casey, Obama's base of college students, African Americans and upper-income voters is vital to broadening his appeal beyond the smokestack set."

SEN. CASEY:  I'll leave that to others to analyze, Tim, but one thing I know for sure is this is a candidate, in Barack Obama, who, who has made a--not just a commitment to change, but has demonstrated it already.  You know the problems we have, Tim.  We're, we're facing a $10 trillion debt that the president left behind, a war in Iraq, a divided country in a dangerous world. All of that means that we've got to politics, politics a different way. Barack Obama, I think, is uniquely qualified not just to lead in a general sense, but to take on the special interests.  They have not funded his campaign.  He's raised money like no other candidate in American history.  I think he's ready to bring about change.

MR. RUSSERT:  And yet you were asked less than a month ago, Senator, "Who's the stronger candidate going into the fall election against John McCain?" Casey:  "I don't know.  I don't know the answer to that question."

SEN. CASEY:  Well, I, I think we'll--we're going to see in the next couple of months, but I, I really believe, at the end of the day, because of what I've seen from this candidate, because of the speech he gave recently on race, a tough issue that he took on head on, did something that politicians don't usually do, I don't think there's any question he can run a strong general election.  But I think Senator Clinton can also win in the fall.

MR. RUSSERT:  Will, will Obama be a stronger candidate in the fall than Hillary Clinton?

SEN. CASEY:  I think he will.

MR. RUSSERT:  And Reverend Wright's comments have not hurt him in parts of Pennsylvania?

SEN. CASEY:  Oh, I'm sure they, they might've, but I think what you saw there was a leadership test, and, in my judgment he got an A plus because he was honest about it, he was honest about his own, his own feelings.  He was honest about the debate, and he lifted the debate on a very difficult issue.  And I think it was a, it was a real demonstration of the new kind of leadership, the new kind of politics he brings even to tough issues.

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