" I still haven't forgotten that I said 'Keep an eye on her' in '10"
Rat wasn't the only one watching her.
'The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell' for Sunday, Oct. 31st, 2010
Read the transcript to the Sunday show
O‘DONNELL: One of the biggest races for the future of American politics is getting no national attention. Karl Rove is so concerned by the political star power of Kamala Harris that he‘s doing everything he can to stop her in her race for attorney general of California. Kamala Harris joins me next.
Later, the last word Tea Party summit. We get behind the rhetoric to find out what their actual policy proposals are.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O‘DONNELL: Karl Rove goes from the architect to the political wrecking ball. He‘s trying to prevent the next big national Democratic Party star from winning statewide office. Kamala Harris joins me to talk about what she‘s doing to fight back in the California race for attorney general.
And later, four Tea Party leaders join me. We‘ll try to get to the bottom of what they actually stand for. It‘s a Tea Party exclusive ahead on THE LAST WORD.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O‘DONNELL: What would Karl Rove have done if he knew in 2002 a young African-American state legislator in Illinois, who no one outside of the state had ever heard of, was already on his way to becoming the next Democratic president of the United States? Would he have tried to stop Barack Obama in his tracks? Would he have pumped national Republican money into attack ads against Obama while he was still campaigning to be a state legislator?
Well, Karl Rove learned the lesson Barack Obama taught him, and he is applying that lesson in California‘s attorney general race against San Francisco‘s Democratic district attorney, Kamala Harris. She is the Democratic candidate who some pundits, including this one, have called the female Obama.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), ATTORNEY GENERAL CANDIDATE: We are the state that creates leadership for the rest of this country based on our belief that we can be tough and we can be smart, and all the time be dedicated to our history while being empowered to know our destiny.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O‘DONNELL: That is San Francisco district attorney Kamala Harris. If she were to win California‘s attorney general race, she would be the first woman and the first African-American attorney general in that state. Karl Rove, using the Republican state leadership committee he co-founded, has launched attack ads against Harris to try to stop her now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My son was killed in the line of duty with an AK-47 by a gang member.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Even before his burial, Kamala Harris refused to seek the death penalty against his killer. Tell Kamala Harris California‘s worst criminals deserve the toughest punishment the law allows. No exceptions. No excuses.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O‘DONNELL: Joining me now from Los Angeles, California‘s Democratic attorney general candidate, Kamala Harris. Kamala, can you tell the country the story behind that ad that Karl Rove is running against you?
HARRIS: Well, Lawrence, about a week ago, we learned that Karl Rove and Gillespie put together about $1.1 million in money to fund an independent expenditure attack ad against my campaign focused on Los Angeles. We also learned that the expenditure was funded by tobacco, oil and insurance companies. And as you have mentioned, there‘s a lot of speculation about why. But what that tells me is that they clearly know that we can win and they obviously don‘t like our position on many of the issues that I believe are important clearly not only to California but the rest of the country.
And in particular, I‘ve taken a very, very specific and very obvious point in saying that we should not fund and Texas oil companies should not be funding Proposition 23 in California, which is designed to roll back advances that we have made around preserving our environment and encouraging green technology. AB-32 is the law that is in place that they are trying to essentially kill.
And to the point of the earlier discussion on your show, AB-32 is a bipartisan effort led by Governor Schwarzenegger and Democrats saying that we want to have a state that reduces greenhouse gas emissions and also encourages a new and growing economy and does the work of reducing reliance on foreign oil.
Well, the measure, the proposition that is being funded by Valero and Texas oil companies to kill that advance is, I think, part of the reason that Karl Rove and those others are getting involved in the California state attorney general‘s race, and in particular, because my opponent, the district attorney of Los Angeles, has taken money from Valero in this campaign for attorney general. So I think our positions are clear, and they‘re betting on my opponent because they think that his position is probably better suited to their interests and agenda.
O‘DONNELL: The death penalty is old politics in California. It didn‘t hurt Jerry Brown, the attorney general you would be succeeding. Jerry Brown is personally opposed to the death penalty, but as a law enforcement official, he was sworn to, you know, follow it through wherever necessary...
HARRIS: That‘s right.
O‘DONNELL: ... which is your position. But the—it seems to me that focusing on the death penalty makes sense in a campaign for attorney general because most voters don‘t realize what the actual job of attorney general is and what its scope is. As you‘ve just indicated, it does involve many environmental issues and the enforcement of all sorts of environmental laws in California, which generally, you don‘t hear about in these campaigns.
HARRIS: You‘re exactly right. And just so we can be clear, my position—I am personally opposed to the death penalty, but I will follow the law. And my position on the death penalty, to your point, is the same as four of the last nine attorneys general of California, including the current one, Jerry Brown. The work of the attorney general‘s office has not changed under any of those nine and would not be different under me or my opponent.
But he is using that issue as a very base-level way of talking with voters to create an emotional response to, really, a non-issue in this race, and in that way, distracting from issues like the environment, issues like the fact that my opponent has said he would join with those 20 conservative state—mostly Southern state attorneys general who have said and are challenging and actually suing health care reform. He has said, my opponent, that he would have California with her precious resources weigh in on that lawsuit, which we know would be a game-changer in this country.
And I‘m very clear. I think that that‘s a very irresponsible position for him to take. It‘s misguided, and it‘s political, and not in best interests of the people that we swear to protect.
And you know, it also should be said that I am in my second term as the chief elected law enforcement officer of a major city in this country. I have personally prosecuted some of the worst crimes you can imagine. I am proud to be supported by leaders in law enforcement in this state. And I believe that the voters are going to see through the Karl Rove attack and through what is basically an attempt to distract voters from real and practical issues.
O‘DONNELL: This is a classic California race, north versus south, the San Francisco district attorney versus the Los Angeles district attorney for the statewide office of attorney general. And the—how difficult is it—the LA population is much, much, much bigger than the San Francisco region‘s population...
HARRIS: That‘s right.
O‘DONNELL: ... and so there‘s a much stronger base to be running from in Los Angeles, as the Republican district attorney is in Los Angeles. How tough is it to come down from San Francisco and pick up votes in Democratic Los Angeles? I mean, the party advantage you have in Los Angeles is strong. And in fact, by the way, parenthetically, I‘m not sure people realize that the Los Angeles district attorney is a Republican. I live in Los Angeles, and you don‘t—I can tell you most people don‘t quite realize it. But how difficult is it to come down into Los Angeles and pick up the Democratic votes you need there?
HARRIS: Well, for example, this morning, the last Sunday before the election, I visited seven churches. We have been spending a lot of time in Los Angeles and in many other parts of the state. But I‘ll tell you, the most recent poll, the Field poll that just came out, shows that we‘re actually ahead of my opponent in Los Angeles, in spite of the fact that he‘s in his third term as district attorney of Los Angeles. So clearly, we‘re making headway.
And I think also, you know, we can associate certain stereotypes about what it means to be a Democrat from San Francisco versus a Republican from Los Angeles, but the reality is, at this day and age, I think that most people really cannot afford the luxury of a conversation that is fueled by ideology. I have stood in many living rooms in this state, from the conservative Kern County or San Bernardino County to a liberal county like Alameda County, and the conversation is the same. The conversation is the same when in—you know, in Orange County, half the room is a Republican group of people.
And it is about the fact that we need reform of broken systems. We need to infuse metrics into our measurement of our effectiveness as government. We can no longer afford to judge our effectiveness based on some blind adherence to tradition. And frankly, I think my opponent stands in complete defense of status quo, and we just can‘t afford that kind of narrow-minded focus when there are issues that must be addressed and systems that must be fixed.
I have created innovative initiatives that have been recognized by the United States Department of Justice and others as models of innovation in government and law enforcement. We have proven they can work. And I think that‘s why we are gaining on my opponent in Los Angeles and have actually advanced in front of him in Los Angeles. But that being said, we‘re still a 1-point difference across the state. So it is neck and neck and it is coming down to these last days and hours of the campaign, and I am walking and talking and knocking on doors with anyone who will talk with me.
O‘DONNELL: You know, I just want to give the audience a financial perspective. They might not think a million dollars in a California campaign makes a big—is a lot of money because they‘re seeing $100 million spent in the governor‘s campaign. But in this campaign, a much, much smaller numbers, and a million dollars in the Los Angeles media market that Karl Rove has pumped in there can absolutely be decisive.
Kamala Harris, Democratic candidate for attorney general in California, thank you very much for taking...
HARRIS: Thank you, Lawrence.
O‘DONNELL: ... giving us some minutes of your final campaign weekend.
HARRIS: Thank you. Thank you.
O‘DONNELL: The Tea Party rails against out-of-control government spending, but if the party gets the chance to govern, what spending cuts would its candidates make? Will we‘ll talk to four different Tea Party leaders ahead on THE LAST WORD.
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