From: barrett@cloudgen1.gatech.edu (James Barrett)
Subject: CUOMO: Fox interview transcript
Organization: Georgia Tech College of Computing
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 00:55:06 GMT



            Cuomo To Stump for Clinton/Gore Ticket

    Here is the full transcript of New York Gov Mario Cuomo's
 Tuesday-morning interview on Fox Morning News:
    BRIAN WILSON: Since the Democratic national convention
 last week, Mario Cuomo is being asked to play a bigger part
 in the Clinton campaign. Cuomo will soon be making speeches,
 appearing on television, and acting as a strategic advisor
 for the Clinton run for the White House.
    Joining us now from Albany, New York to talk about his
 new role in the campaign is New York Governor Mario Cuomo. 
 Good morning, Governor.
    GOVERNOR MARIO CUOMO (D-NY): Good morning.
    Q: Let's talk about how you came to the position to help
 out Bill Clinton. For a while--my characterization, you
 seemed to be kind of at arms length with Governor Clinton.
 You weren't thoroughly happy with what you were hearing, and
 now you seem to just have your arm around him and you're
 supportive of this ticket. Where did the change come from?
    GOVERNOR CUOMO: Well, there is no change. He's the
 candidate of the Democratic party. I haven't changed my view 
 on any issues, nor has he. At one point, however, you chose
 a candidate and you enter a new phase. He's your candidate
 against the Republicans. And when it's Bill Clinton against
 the Republicans, then I'm 100 % for Bill Clinton. The time
 for expressing your differences on issues, and we all have
 them--I assume Clinton and Gore have different views on some
 issues. Jackson and Clinton and Gore and Cuomo--Jackson and
 Cuomo have different views. That's true of all Democrats at
 the top levels, and beneath, because we represent such a
 wide variety of the American people. And we all try to 
 think, and if we're all thinking at the same time we're
 bound to come to some different conclusions.
    And so in the primaries, all of that gets aired. And you
 struggle to have your point of view become the accepted one
 to the candidate. And I've done that. I will always do it.
 So will Jesse, so will Clinton, so will Gore. But now that's
 over. It's us against the Republicans, and there you need a
 united front. And if you're serious about this business and
 you're not a hypocrite, and you think your party is better
 for this country than the other one, then you go at it as 
 hard as you can. And that's what I'll be doing.
    Q: So you seem to be saying there still may be some
 differences between you.
    GOVERNOR CUOMO: Of course there are.
    Q: But it's party unity time.
    GOVERNOR CUOMO: Of course there are. And that's true of--
 it's not just Mario Cuomo, there are an awful lot of
 Democrats who are in exactly the same position. And that's
 as it should be.
    Q: Things seem to be going well right now. The polls
 indicate that Bill Clinton and Al Gore are riding high. Does
 that concern you that maybe they'll get a little too
 overconfident?
    GOVERNOR CUOMO: They're not going well, they're going
 great. No, it doesn't concern me. I'm delighted. I've been
 known to be ungrateful from time to time, but never for this
 kind of good fortune. It's not good fortune, they deserve
 it. They had a wonderful convention. I referred to Bill 
 Clinton the way he likes to be referred to himself as the
 "comeback kid." And it's absolutely justified. They hit him
 with everything there was, and he got up, shook it all off,
 and came forward. And that resiliency is something that the
 American people admire a great deal in people, and I think
 it's part of the reason for his popularity. So he's deserved
 everything that's happening at the moment, and it's good for
 the country.
    Because one thing is plain--we do need a change. Every
 day you see President Bush struggling to explain the status 
 quo, which is deterioration everywhere, and not being able
 to offer you a significant change in his own policy. That
 can't win. And it can't be good for the country.
    Someone has to change things for the better, and that's
 Bill Clinton.
    Q: So you see this as more than just a post- convention
 bounce.
    GOVERNOR CUOMO: It will not--it is going to be reduced
 somewhat necessarily, because you'll take your cameras off
 Clinton and put them on Bush, and that's what will happen, 
 as it should, in August. And he'll have a chance to tell the
 best side of this story. He'll get most of the attention and
 that will bring him back up.
    But in the long run, unless President Bush comes up with
 something I can't see at the moment, significant change, not
 around the edges, not a capital gains tax cut and new
 incentive, I'll give you $5000 if you buy a house--great,
 Mr. President, but I don't have a job, how do I buy a house.
    Unless he gives the American people reason to believe
 he's going to add something significant to what he's been 
 doing, he cannot win.
    Q: You get on the bandwagon with Bill Clinton, you're
 going to be an advisor we're told, you're going to make
 speeches, just how much will you be involved?
    GOVERNOR CUOMO: I'm Governor of the state of New York.
 That's a very difficult job. That's why I didn't run for
 president. So that has to come first, obviously.
    But then beyond that there's very little I do other than
 govern. So whatever time is available, I will spend helping
 him any way they want to be helped, is what it comes down 
 to.
    Q: Do you think that Jesse Jackson will come on full bore
 here?
    GOVERNOR CUOMO: Oh, absolutely.
    Q: He's not right now.
    GOVERNOR CUOMO: Well, who says so?
    Q: My assessment.
    GOVERNOR CUOMO: No, I think you're wrong.
    Q: You disagree with that?
    GOVERNOR CUOMO: Absolutely. Jesse will say look, I don't 
 agree with this, I don't think you're emphasis is right,
 emphasis the cities more, he'll always do that. That is his
 mission, that is his belief. He is serious about believing
 that we're not giving enough money to the cities in this
 platform, we're not doing enough for the problems that he
 believes are the most serious.
    And it is right for him to continue to emphasize that. At
 the same time that he goes to everyone who will listen to
 him and says hey look, whatever reservations I have because
 it's not good enough, it's clear to me that it's infinitely 
 better than the alternative, which is George Bush. And you
 must vote, that's the case he'll make.
    Q: Do you think that Secretary Baker coming back to the
 Bush campaign makes him a more formidable opponent?
    GOVERNOR CUOMO: He hasn't announced.
    Q: It's not official yet, but it seems to be just a
 matter of time.
    GOVERNOR CUOMO: I don't know Jim Baker well, Secretary of
 State Baker. I think I know him well enough to admire him a
 great deal and to think that he is one of our really good 
 public servants. So he's a plus, whatever he becomes part
 of.
    However, in this case, he will also be the one most
 dramatic admission by Bush that he's in desperate trouble.
    Q: Thank you.


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James C. Barrett (barrett@cc.gatech.edu)| "I'm speechless...               
Georgia Tech College of Computing       |      I am without speech." - George
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