Lieberman expects to be on the road around the clock until Election Day

Sen. Joseph Lieberman talked to CNN's Larry King from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Tuesday

Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Lieberman, senator from Connecticut, appeared on the Tuesday, October 31, edition of "Larry King Live."

Speaking from Florida, where he said he's spent so much time he feels as if he's running for local office, Lieberman said he believes he and Vice President Al Gore will defeat Texas Gov. George W. Bush and running mate Dick Cheney on November 7.

"But I wouldn't say it's going to be a runaway by any means," he said.

This is a transcript of Tuesday's interview.

KING: We were with him the night Al Gore picked him. Now we are with him just a week before the election. He's Senator Joe Lieberman, Democratic vice president candidate, joining us from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, a state which is neck and neck.

Before we move into politics, I know you knew him, I know you agreed with a lot of what he thought about violence and filth on television. Your thoughts on the passing of Steve Allen today.

SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thanks, Larry. I loved Steve Allen. I mean, I grew up, you know, I also say to people, now that I'm a critic of television sometimes, that I'm a child of the television age, So when I criticize television it's out of love, and that it's become less than it used to be.

Steve Allen was a creative genius, hilarious, gave us so much pleasure. And then it was a thrill for me later in life, over the last several years, to get to know him. And his work on the Parents' Television Council, and to work together to try to raise up the standards of television, particularly during the hours when kids are watching.

This was a great person, leaves a tremendous body of work, and just a lot of wonderful memories. He made us laugh. He made us seen things that we wouldn't otherwise have seen. He was wonderful.

KING: Was he right in that approach? Right to the sponsors if you don't like what you see?

LIEBERMAN: Yeah, absolutely. It was one of the things that people like Bill Bennett and I have done. In some ways, it is one of the more effective things we've done because it says to some of the advertisers, you know, take a look at what you're making possible with your advertising. Or it says to the consumers: If you don't like what is on television at hours when your kids are watching, write to the advertisers. Ask them to ask the producers to give us better stuff because their money is putting it on.

And it did have an effect. The Parents' Television Council mobilized as large a list of just regular people out there who are -- feel like they are in a struggle with the entertainment culture to raise their own kids as it exists. So God bless the memory of Steve Allen.

KING: Senator, how do we explain this? It is one week to go, no poll has any separation of more than 3 percentage points. Someone said today, it's possible that Bush could lose Florida and still win, Gore could lose Tennessee and still win. Explain this race to me.

LIEBERMAN: Well, I wish I could. I mean, we always figured it would be a close race. It's been much more up and down than most people would have expected. And these are, though people have known the Bush family and obviously Al Gore, these are also people who are running on their own for the first time for president. So there's a certain settling out there.

I think also that a lot of people are so accustomed now, in a short time, to the prosperity that they think it's just going to keep going on no matter who is president, Larry, and that is not true.

We sense some momentum in our direction in the state polls we are seeing. I think it's because, as the election gets clearer, people are saying to themselves: Hey, the times have really been good, eight years we've gone from the biggest deficits, biggest surpluses, 22 million new jobs, good, high stock market. Why change horses here in mid-stream? Let's keep going in the same direction. I think that's going to move people to Al Gore.

KING: Why is it close? Shouldn't your ticket be way ahead?

LIEBERMAN: Well, I think it's just because a lot of people maybe have thought, without thinking a lot about it, that the prosperity goes on automatically. It doesn't. It doesn't.

If Al Gore is elected, we are going to continue to have surpluses in the federal government, which is the most important thing the federal government can do. Honestly, an American academy of actuaries said last week, under George Bush's economic plan, Larry, we are going to go back into annual deficits, won't pay off the long-term debt, high interest rates, high unemployment, not where we want to go.

So I think that's the message that we are putting out, and I think that's why there's beginning to be movement in our direction. But you know, I believe we are going to win. I believe with all my heart we are going to win, but I wouldn't say it's going to be a runaway by any means.

KING: Can you win Florida?

LIEBERMAN: Yeah, I'm in Florida. I've been in Florida so much sometimes I have the feeling I'm running for office down here. Florida is key, and I honestly don't believe that Governor Bush could win the election if we win Florida.

I've very grateful to the people here because nobody thought we would be competitive, Al Gore and I, in Florida a week out from the election. But I think people, there's a lot of prosperity here, a lot of seniors are -- want a good, solid prescription drug benefit like we are offering. They don't like the privatization of Social Security that Governor Bush has talked about, which would take a trillion dollars out and dry up the trust fund at the beginning of the 2020s, So we are in a battle here.

Florida reports early on election night. If we can take Florida, I think it's going to be a tough night for our opponents. That's of course what I'm hoping will happen.

KING: We will be right back with more of senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut.

Tomorrow night the Lazios of New York will be here. Last Friday, Dick Cheney was aboard. We'll be right back.

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KING: Senator Lieberman, you've been hitting Mr. -- Governor Bush on experience. And here's what your opponent Dick Cheney said Tuesday, in Iowa, today. "If there's some ticket, one of the two tickets, lacking in experience, it seems to me it's those guys. They've spent virtually their entire careers in elective office, getting paid by the government, Never having met a payroll, living inside the Beltway in Washington, D.C."

How do you respond? That's saying you don't have the experience.

LIEBERMAN: Yeah. Well, you know, public service is a profession. It doesn't mean that the only way you come into it is by being in public service. But president of the United States is the most important, complicated, demanding job in the world. And when you look at the relative experience of these two candidates and how they've handled what their record is, how they handle the experience, I just think that Al Gore is so much more ready to be a great president.

He's had national and international experience that is wide. He knows world leaders. He's worked to balance the budget and keep the economy growing.

Governor Bush, with all respect, his record in Texas on environmental protection is bad; on health insurance for women and children is bad; his education record we thought was good, but the RAND Corporation criticized it pretty severally last week. Story in the papers today about a congressional report on nursing home violations in Texas, tough conditions for seniors because the state pays about the lowest Medicaid reimbursement of most any state in the country.

I just think, when you look at the record, look at his proposals for the future, overspending the surplus, to take us back to debt, the whole business about pulling our troops out of NATO. Now I gather that the Bush campaign was embarrassed about that, and sent word to the NATO secretary-general that, no, they weren't going to pull our troops out of NATO.

I think, on balance, Governor Bush is not ready, with all respect, at this point, to be the kind of president that America needs and Al Gore is.

KING: Are you concerned about, and we had him on last, Ralph Nader?

LIEBERMAN: Well, this is, as we said before, Larry, this is a close election, and any number of factors can swing different states. And no question, Ralph Nader can have an effect on how a handful of states go that could determine who the next president of the United States is.

And you know, we've been saying, in some of these states, a vote for Nader is a vote for Bush. I guess we were validated in that statement by the fact that there's a Republican committee paying money to television stations to run a commercial with Ralph Nader attacking Al Gore.

But our appeal is to people thinking about voting for Ralph Nader to think about the issues that matter to you, environmental protection, consumer protection, right to choose, campaign finance reform, McCain-Feingold. And Al Gore and I are so much closer to your position on that than George Bush and Dick Cheney. I just think about how you're going feel if you wake up November 8, and your vote for Ralph Nader helped elect George Bush president, and a lot that you value will be threatened in the years ahead.

So, but the Nader vote can be very important. I think it's beginning to move toward Al and me. I sure hope so.

KING: We will be back with our remaining moments with Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut. All the candidates have been on with us; the Gores a couple of times; the Bushes two or three times. This is the second appearance for Senator Lieberman. We've had Secretary Cheney on twice as well. We will be right back.

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KING: Senator Lieberman, some personal attributes here. We were with you when this started. What surprised you about running?

LIEBERMAN: What surprised me about it, it's been an extraordinary about experience. I'm just so grateful to Al Gore for giving me the chance, and you know the excitement is that you honestly get to see America and the American people are wonderful. They've greeted me with respect, the warmth, with encourage. You know, you've got love this country.

KING: Have you felt or seen any anti-Semitism?

LIEBERMAN: Not a whit.

KING: Not a sign at a rally?

LIEBERMAN: Not a sign, and you know the wonderful thing is, sometimes I'll talk about the fact that, you know, this was a barrier broken by Al Gore that I'm the first Jewish-American to run on a national ticket. And the first time I said that I was surprised, a crowd out in an area where I don't people many Jewish people live started to cheer because it touches what people want to feel America is, which is a land of opportunity, freedom, where you're judged by your qualifications, not by your religion or nationality, or race or anything else. So it has been an inspiring experience. Win or lose, I love this country and I just want to serve it.

KING: Any second thoughts on staying on the ballot in Connecticut for the Senate?

LIEBERMAN: No, it's over. I did what the folks in the Connecticut Democratic Party who nominated me asked me to do. I will abide by the decision of the people of Connecticut.

KING: Help us. What happens if you win on next Tuesday, the vice presidency? What happens to the Senate seat in Connecticut?

LIEBERMAN: Well I think the legislature will try to have a special election next year. The governor is not so sure he wants that to happen. There will be a push and pull. At worst, there will be a special election two years from now, when everybody who wants to participate can. A lot of them who wanted to run for the Senate were running for other offices this year couldn't, and the voters can participate as they couldn't fully this year, because there was no time to have primaries.

So I think it's in the best interests of the people of the state. But a seat n the Senate shouldn't be filled on the run.

KING: Do you know your schedule the rest of the week?

LIEBERMAN: Do I know my schedule?

KING: Yeah.

LIEBERMAN: You know, sometimes I say we are like a military group, an army, which is making tactical decisions every day depending on intelligence we are receiving. I mean, I'm in Florida tonight. I'll be here tomorrow. I'm then going to Little Rock, on to St. Louis. We are going to be in St. Louis Thursday. Then up into the upper Midwest, in Wisconsin. And then to Pittsburgh Friday morning, back to Florida Friday afternoon, And thank God, no pun intended, then comes the Sabbath, and we rest.

KING: And where are you Sunday and Monday, do you know?

LIEBERMAN: I don't know, but I think what we are going to do is basically keep running for a couple of days and just do a lot of stops in as many areas as we can.

Al Gore and I did a work-a-thon on Labor Day, where we worked through the night, and I wouldn't be surprised, knowing his capacity for work and our desire to do everything to carry our message to every point in America. We are just going to keep running almost around the clock for the last couple of days.

KING: You think you might be then up all night on Sunday night and Monday, and all day might go at it?

LIEBERMAN: I would not be surprised. I don't think the decision has been made, it's so close, and we want to reach out and touch as many people as we can throughout the country with our message to keep America moving forward, keep the prosperity growing, bring in more and more people to the winner's circle, keep America's government in surplus. All that really requires the kind of face to face, and get out the vote. Really to urge everybody, closest election in 40 years. If you can vote, why wouldn't you vote this year? You could really affect the course of history.

KING: Thanks, Joe. Regards to Hadassah.

LIEBERMAN: Thanks, Larry, I love you. Regards to your family, wonderful family.

KING: Thank you, you too. Senator Joseph Lieberman, the Democratic vice presidential candidate.

Tomorrow night, the Lazios of New York. They are challenging Hillary Clinton for the Senate. And Andy Rooney, who takes on everybody, doesn't he?

Thanks for joining us from Los Angeles. Good night, Steve.