Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Event/Special

Huge Win for Hillary Clinton in Kentucky; Barack Obama Wins Oregon; Barack Obama Spoke in Des Moines, Iowa

Aired May 20, 2008 - 01:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

LARRY KING, HOST, LARRY KING LIVE: We're out of time. Don't forget our "Quick Vote" question tonight. Should the Democrats pick their candidate already? Go to cnn.com/larryking. Cast your ballot. While you're there, download our latest podcast. It's Barbara Walters. And check out our new feature "About Last Night."
More election coverage and news coming your way. Here's my man, Wolf Blitzer, at the Election Center in New York.

Wolf?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Larry, thanks very much. We've got a full hour of coverage right now on what has happened on this night. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Let's start off with Oregon right now.

In Oregon, the polls are closed. More than half of the vote has now been officially counted. It's all a mail-in ballot in Oregon. And Barack Obama will be the winner in Oregon. 58 percent right now to 42 percent for Hillary Clinton. If we zoom in on the numbers, you can see how he's doing in Oregon. He was projected to win. He will win. The polls all showed that he was doing very well. And he is, 258,000 for Obama, 187,000 for Hillary Clinton.

A very different picture in Kentucky on this day. 100 percent of the vote in Kentucky is now in. Look at this very decisive victory for Hillary Clinton. 65 percent to 30 percent for Barack Obama. A very, very lopsided win. Let's take a look at the actual numbers that have officially been reported. Almost a half a million, 459,000 for Clinton, 209,000 or so for Barack Obama.

This has been an important win for Hillary Clinton in Kentucky. She needed to win there to keep this going. It is going on. There are going to be three more contests coming up. Let's go over to John King. And get a sense of what has happened on this day. Two states, John, two very different outcomes. Yet both of these states, largely white voters.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Largely white voters. The key in these two states -- the difference, Kentucky here, Oregon out to the west is education and affluence. Let's look at Kentucky first. As you know, a sweeping win for Senator Clinton, following the pattern that she has shown in Ohio, in West Virginia, down here in Tennessee, winning large in small-town America.

Not a lot of people there, but she wins by big margins. Barack Obama winning in the City of Louisville and the surrounding Jefferson County and a little bit in the smaller county way over here just to the east of Lexington. But otherwise, Wolf, just a sweeping win for Senator Clinton. And you mentioned her margin.

Remember, one of the debates in the Democratic race about superdelegates is the popular vote. Senator Clinton picks up just shy of 250,000 votes in that contest there. But an impressive win for her here. And part of the argument she wants to make to superdelegates, look out here from Pennsylvania over toward the traditional Midwest. Swing states in a presidential election. She says she would be a stronger candidate. That is her argument.

BLITZER: The light blue are the states that Hillary Clinton carried. The darker blue, the states that Barack Obama carried.

KING: Right. And then let's come across the country. And one thing worth noting is that we're almost out of states to vote in the Democratic contest. Just two left. Let's come out and see what's happening in Oregon as the votes come in.

Here you see 62 percent of the vote saying Barack Obama winning right now. And if he wins and continues to carry this margin, he'll cut somewhat into the popular vote. Pick up Senator Clinton had in Kentucky. But it doesn't look like he will cut into it by as big a margin because he's shy of 60 percent here. But again, Senator Clinton winning as she has in other states, in these largely less populated, sparsely populated rural counties. But Barack Obama winning where the people are and winning by rather healthy margins.

The City of Portland is right up here, Wolf. 64 percent to 36 percent. Drop down throughout the county. Another 10 percent of the population there, 53-47. We zoom back out to the state, Salem. One of the college towns in the State of Oregon. An impressive margin there, 53-47. A bit closer there. Not that many people voting. Less population there.

And again, down Eugene where we would find the University of Oregon, about nine percent of the state population. Obama there, back above 60 percent. So an impressive win for Obama here and even more impressive win for Senator Clinton out there.

The key bottom line in all this, Wolf, is that we are almost done with the Democratic contest. And from the Obama campaign, they believe they crossed that critical moral threshold tonight by getting above the majority. 16-27 is a majority of the pledged delegates. And he is now above 1636 with still some more delegates to allocate from the State of Oregon. In the Obama campaign, they say that is a significant moral and mathematical threshold. The Clinton campaign of course disputes that.

BLITZER: And their argument is that it would be unlikely that the superdelegates who are the party elders, the members of Congress, the elected officials, the insiders, that they would overturn what the elected delegates have decided. That's the case that the Obama campaign makes. KING: That is the case. That these 215 remaining superdelegates who have not publicly announced their preference, the Obama campaign says, how could you overturn the will of the Democratic voters. It's the voters in the primaries and caucuses who have settled these darker blue lines here. Senator Obama now at 1636. That will grow some based on Oregon. Senator Clinton here at 1481. That will also grow based on Oregon. She's going to get a decent chunk of the delegates out of Oregon based on the proportions.

But Senator Obama, Wolf, if the headlines tonight is simply this, that two more contests tonight -- yes, an impressive win in Kentucky with Senator Clinton, but Senator Obama is inching ever so closer to the finish line right here.

BLITZER: But that finish line could still be moved theoretically to a further point if something happens on May 31st when the Democratic National Committee meets.

KING: Yes. Where it might be moved is the big, open question. Right now the finish line is 2026. Watch that number right here because here is the scenario the Clinton campaign wants. All of the delegates in Michigan and Florida counted. That would move it out to 2210, as you see up here. And it would certainly still leave Obama in the lead, but it would leave a bigger gap to the finish line.

Senator Clinton would be back here. And the question then would be how do you proportion more than 300 of the delegates then, would be the Michigan and Florida delegates in this pool of delegates down here. And the question would be, how are they proportioned?

Senator Clinton wants them proportioned based on the results in Florida and Michigan. The Obama campaign says no way. Those contests were in violation of the Democratic National Committee rules, and they cannot count, at least not by those numbers.

BLITZER: Is it fair to say that since she carried Kentucky and he carried Oregon, that she would have a better chance of carrying Kentucky in a general election, and he would have a better chance of carrying Oregon in a better -- in a general election against John McCain?

KING: It is certainly fair to say there are number of ways we could peel the layers of that onion, if you will. But it's certainly fair to say that a primary, while it is not a general election, that things are different. Many of the Democrats say who voted for Senator Clinton in Kentucky may well be Democrats -- registered Democrats.

In a lot of these states you have registered Democrats who vote Democrat for governor, Democrat for mayor, maybe even Democrat for Congress, but who for years have voted Republican for president. So it is not -- you cannot say absolutely that every vote Senator Clinton got in this primary would even go to her in the general election if she were the Democrats' candidate.

But it is safe to say in an area like this that she would be a stronger candidate in rural America, small-town America based on the primary results. But Barack Obama would be a stronger candidate where you have sizeable African-American populations as you see from his sweep across the southern states. So those are certainly fair statements to make.

Some would find debating points without a doubt. If you look at the map of the Democratic race so far, you see she does very well in these blue-collar and rural areas. He does very well where there are African-American voters. He has been impressive across these Midwest and then to the west, the prairie states and the rocky mountain west and out in the Pacific Northwest. In these states, there are more Latino voters. And Senator Clinton has done better with Latino voters.

So if you look now as we've almost filled in the map, they all have little cases they can make about the strength of their coalition. But as Paul Begala was noting earlier, they've split the party a little bit in half, advantage Obama.

BLITZER: And the final two contest down on Puerto Rico on June 1st. And in June 3rd, Montana and South Dakota. John, stand by. I want to go to Bill Schneider because he's been looking at the exit polls, the phone surveys that we've been doing with the voters up in Oregon.

Bill, tell us what we're seeing as far as the white vote is concerned in both of these states.

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, Wolf, the white vote is the overwhelming majority of voters in both states. 85 percent to 89 percent of the voters in these two states are, in fact, white. At least these Democratic voters in today's primaries. Now the controversy is, will white voters vote for Barack Obama? The answer is yes and no because, you know, there is no such thing as a typical white voter.

Take a look at how white Democrats voted today in Kentucky. They voted 72 to 23 for Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama. That is a huge landslide. But these white voters turned out to be very different from the white voters in Oregon.

Look at how the white voters in Oregon turned out to vote. 57 percent for Obama. 43 percent for Hillary Clinton. They voted for Barack Obama. So the answer is there is no such thing as a typical white voter. Some vote for Obama. Some vote for Clinton. They are divided because they are different political voters. Among Appalachian whites like those in West Virginia and Kentucky, and what you might call Coastal whites like those who live in Oregon.

Wolf?

BLITZER: And that's why this contest has been so fascinating for all of us political news junkies. Bill, thanks very much. Let's bring in the Best Political Team on Television to assess what has happened tonight.

And Gloria Borger, I want to start with you. She wins a real lopsided victory in Kentucky. He wins impressively in Oregon. So what does it all mean?

GLORIA BORGER, SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: It doesn't really mean very much for the future of this race. Honestly, Hillary Clinton has a real mathematical problem right now. As you know, Barack Obama this evening said that he had reached a majority of pledged delegates which his campaign considers to be a real milestone.

The math is clearly not in her favor. She has a very, very slim chance, if a meteor would fall out of the sky, you know, maybe. But it's tough. But Hillary Clinton has said, for many reasons, that she wants to finish what she started, continue this campaign and so, Wolf, I think that's what we're going to see. And we've seen the tone shift in this campaign.

They're not attacking each other the way they were. They're clearly directing their barbs more at John McCain, but she is still making the argument that she is the more electable candidate.

BLITZER: Carl Bernstein, what do you think?

CARL BERNSTEIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I think that there's a real problem Barack Obama now has. Which is there is a genuine, angry, committed Hillary Clinton movement in this campaign as her campaign is collapsing. They would take a near miracle for her to get the nomination and yet she's got this army out there. She's founder voice at the end of the campaign and these people, particularly women, who are committed to her candidacy are saying no we won't surrender.

And we want her to be the vice presidential nominee if she's not the presidential nominee. And Barack Obama doesn't want her. So we're heading into a situation where instead of this surface comity which we see, there's some real underlying tensions including the fact that, you know, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, they don't really like each other.

BLITZER: Well, how do they make peace, though, Roland, because they're going to need to work together if they're going to be able to beat John McCain in November. Barack Obama, assuming he's going to be the Democratic nominee. He's got to make sure that all of those Clinton supporters -- and that's almost half of the voters so far, at least -- they're going to come into his tent.

ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Look, Democrats have a great problem. They have two awesome candidates -- candidates who appeal to core constituencies, OK? That's what this boils down to. That's why it's been so close. I think what Obama does is say, look, that's your candidate. She run a great race, tough race, went down to the wire, he wins the nomination, but this is very simple.

We have an opportunity to capture the White House. We sit at home, we risk the potential of losing. You sit at home, you risk the a potential of John McCain appointing three Supreme Court justices with issue dealing with privacy, issue dealing with (INAUDIBLE), dealing with civil rights. All of that comes into question.

Not only that, if you actually care about ending the war in Iraq, if you actually care about the economy, how would you sit there and say, my lack of participation allowed for him to win. It has to be that forceful and get it right in folks' face and say, look, this is the ball game. If Hillary Clinton was leading right now, she would be saying the exact same thing to African-Americans. I know you're ticked, I know you're upset, but guess what? John McCain, the Republican Party, George Bush, is still our enemy. That's what they have to say.

BLITZER: All right. Let Alex Castellanos weigh in as well. You're a Republican consultant. You like John McCain, obviously. When you see what's happening on the Democratic side from your perspective, what do you see?

ALEX CASTELLANOS, REPUBLICAN CONSULTANT: Well, I think Paul Begala was saying tonight and it's great for the party -- the Democratic Party because of course they are raising more money and getting more volunteers, but he doesn't seem to be real eager to continue that great process all the way to the convention.

So I think that tells you a little something. Sure, it's causing some deep fissures in the party. You know, one of the things we see is that the percentage of voters who voted for Hillary Clinton who are willing to vote for Barack Obama in the general election has decreased in the last three weeks. So that's a painful thing. How do you actually heal that wound? I thought Barack Obama gave a great speech tonight. The way you bring people together is you lead them. You take them somewhere. Roland, I think you're exactly right. He did a lot of that tonight.

BLITZER: Hold on guys because I want to play some of that speech that Barack Obama gave tonight. He was in Iowa of all places. Early in January, that's where this victory for him -- potential victory for him started when he won the Iowa caucuses and he delivered a powerful address to date. We're going to play some of that for you right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back to the CNN Election Center. I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting. A split decision tonight. A huge win for Hillary Clinton in Kentucky. An impressive win for Barack Obama in Oregon. Barack Obama spoke in Des Moines, Iowa, earlier tonight and gave a lengthy and powerful speech on where this campaign stands right now and what he expects to see in the coming days and weeks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Many of you have been disappointed by politics and politicians more times than you can count. You've seen promises broken, good ideas drown in the sea of influence, and point-scoring, and petty bickering that has consumed the Washington. And you've been told over and over and over again to be cynical, and doubtful, and even fearful about the possibility that things could ever be different, could ever be better. And yet, in spite of all the doubt and disappointment -- or perhaps because of it -- you came out on a cold winter's night in January in numbers that this country has never seen and you stood for change.

(APPLAUSE)

You stood for change, and because you did, a few more stood up. And then a few thousand stood up. And then a few million stood up.

(APPLAUSE)

And tonight, Iowa, in the fullness of spring, with the help of those who stood up from Portland to Louisville, we have returned to Iowa with a majority of delegates elected by the American people, and you have put us within reach of the Democratic nomination for president of the United States of America.

(APPLAUSE)

AUDIENCE: Obama! Obama! Obama! Obama! Obama!

OBAMA: You know, the road -- the road here has been long. There have been some bumps along the way. I've made some mistakes. But also it's partly because we've traveled this road with one of the most formidable candidates to ever run for this office. You know, in her 35 years of public service, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has never given up on her fight for the American people. And tonight, I congratulate her on her victory in Kentucky.

You know, we've had our disagreements during this campaign, but we all admire her courage, and her commitment, and her perseverance. And no matter how this primary ends, Senator Clinton has shattered myths and broken barriers and changed the America in which my daughters and your daughters will come of age, and for that we are grateful to her.

(APPLAUSE)

Now, some may see the millions upon millions of votes cast for each of us as evidence that our party is divided. But I see it as proof that we have never been more energized and united in our desire to take this country in a new direction.

(APPLAUSE)

More than anything, we need this unity and this energy in the months to come, because, while our primary has been long and hard- fought, the hardest and most important part of our journey still lies ahead.

We face an opponent, John McCain, who arrived in Washington nearly three decades ago as a Vietnam War hero and earned an admirable reputation for straight talk and occasional independence from his party. But this year's Republican primary was a contest to see which candidate could out-Bush the other, and that's a contest that John McCain won.

The Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans that once bothered John McCain's conscience are now his only economic policy.

The Bush health care plan that only helps those who are already healthy and wealthy is now John McCain's answer to the 47 million Americans without insurance and the millions more who can't pay their medical bills.

The Bush Iraq policy that asks everything from our troops and nothing of Iraqi politicians is John McCain's policy, too. And so is the fear of tough and aggressive diplomacy that has left this country more isolated and less secure than at any time in recent history.

(APPLAUSE)

The lobbyists who ruled George Bush's Washington are now running John McCain's campaign. And they actually had the nerve the other day to say that the American people won't care about this. Talk about out of touch. I think the American people care plenty about that.

(APPLAUSE)

Now, I will leave it up to Senator McCain to explain to the American people whether his policies and positions represent long-held convictions or Washington calculations, but the one thing they don't represent is change.

Change is a tax code that rewards work instead of wealth, by cutting taxes for middle-class families, and senior citizens, and struggling homeowners, a tax code that rewards businesses that create good jobs here in America, instead of the corporations that ship them overseas. That's what change is.

(APPLAUSE)

AUDIENCE: Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can!

OBAMA: Change is a health care plan that guarantees insurance to every American who wants it, that brings down premiums for every family who needs it, that stops insurance companies from discriminating and denying coverage to those who need it most. That's what change is.

(APPLAUSE)

Change is an energy policy that doesn't rely on buddying up to the Saudi royal family and then begging them for oil, an energy policy --

(APPLAUSE)

Change is an energy policy that puts a price on pollution and makes the oil companies invest their record profits in clean, renewable sources of energy that will create millions of new jobs and leave our children a safer planet. That's what change is, Iowa.

(APPLAUSE) Change is giving every child a world-class education by recruiting an army of new teachers with better pay and more support, by promising four years of tuition to any American willing to serve their community and their country, by realizing that the best education starts with parents who turn off the TV, and take away the video games, and read to their children once in a while. That's what change is.

(APPLAUSE)

Change is ending a war that we never should have started.

(APPLAUSE)

Change is finishing a war against al Qaeda in Afghanistan that we never should have ignored.

(APPLAUSE)

Change is facing the threats of the 21st century, not with bluster or fear-mongering or tough talk or suspending due process, but with tough diplomacy and strong alliances and confidence in the ideals that have made this nation the last best hope on Earth. That is the legacy of Roosevelt and Truman and Kennedy. That, Iowa, is what change is. That is the choice in this election.

(APPLAUSE)

The same question that first led us to Iowa 15 months ago is the one that's brought us back here tonight. It's the one we will debate from Washington to Florida, from New Hampshire to New Mexico, the question of whether this country, at this moment, will keep doing what we've been doing for four more years or whether we will take that different path.

It's more of the same versus change. It's the past versus the future. It has been asked and answered by generations before us. And now it is our turn to choose. We will face our share of difficult and uncertain days in the journey ahead. The other side knows they have embraced yesterday's policies, so they will also embrace yesterday's tactics to try and change the subject. They'll play on our fears and our doubts. They'll try to sow discord and division to distract us from what matters to you and your future.

Well, they can take the low road if they want, but it will not lead this country to a better place. It will not work in this election. It won't work because you will not let it work, not this time, not this year.

(APPLAUSE)

AUDIENCE: Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can!

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLITZER: And there he is Barack Obama. He was speaking in Des Moines, Iowa, earlier tonight as just before the final results in Oregon came through. And where he did win. Hillary Clinton won decisively earlier in Kentucky.

We're going to play an excerpt of Hillary Clinton's remarks. She was in Louisville, Kentucky. That's coming up. Also, we have some exit poll numbers. Bill Schneider going through all of that to see what was on the mind of the voters as they actually cast their ballots on this day. Much more with the Best Political Team on Television.

Remember, cnnpolitics.com. You can get all the numbers, all the analysis, all the information coming in. Cnnpolitics.com. We'll be right back to the CNN Election Center.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back to the CNN ELECTION CENTER. I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting. I wanted to walk over to Bill Schneider, our senior political analyst, who has been looking at exit polls in Kentucky, the voter phone polls in Oregon where it was all mail-in ballots.

And what do you see?

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, Obama says he's on his way to getting the nomination. And if he does, how will the Clinton supporters feel about that? It depends on where they are. We asked Kentucky Clinton supporters, would they be satisfied if Obama wins the nomination? Seventy-seven percent said no, they would not.

Obama didn't campaign much in Kentucky, and his views may be a little exotic in Kentucky's political culture. But now take a look at Clinton's supporters in Oregon. He's not an exotic candidate there, 58 percent of the Clinton supporters in Oregon said, they'd be happy, satisfied if Obama wins the nomination.

He spent a lot of time in Oregon, and his views seem to be right in line with that -- with those of most Oregon Democrats. So it depends.

BLITZER: Bill Schneider, thanks very much. Let me walk over to the best political team on television. Because as we're looking at the exit polls, these voter phone polls, one of the most disturbing numbers if you are a Democrat, Carl Bernstein, are the Clinton supporters who say they'd rather vote for McCain than vote for Obama. And you've got to be nervous when you see those numbers.

CARL BERNSTEIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, that's the whole point or part of what he was saying tonight, Obama. He's trying to keep those people from bolting, do the least harm that you can do.

And he's appealing to them and saying, look, the problem is John McCain. The problem is not what I stand for. And we've got to be together in this thing. But there is a huge problem. Every election you have a certain number of people who won't go. On this one, it looks to me, and those numbers look like there's a lot bigger number...

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: In Kentucky, the Clinton supporters said that more of them said they would actually vote for McCain than would vote for Obama.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. I think what you've seen over the last few primaries is a real hardening of those views. However, this election isn't going to happen tomorrow. There's a lot of time between now and then, and Obama has to convince those voters if he's the nominee to vote for him.

What he's got to know is let them know that he does share their values. That has been a big problem for him with these working class voters. And tonight in Kentucky, 53 percent of the Democrats voting said that Obama did not share their values. That, I think, is a bigger problem.

ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, but first of all, I think that these are going to have to define what does it mean by their values? I mean, what, person of faith? Person of faith. Is it a matter of, what, economics? I mean, that's there.

I mean, whenever -- Democrats have to be very careful when they begin to use those kind of phrases, because Congressman Davis said -- last week on Campbell Brown's show when he said that we want to make this a culture issue, the Republicans desperately want a culture election because they know they have a candidate who is weak with evangelicals.

And so, when Democrats begin to say "my values," they'd better do a very good job of defining that or they're walking right into the Republican trap.

BLITZER: Let me get a Republican to respond. Alex?

ALEX CASTELLANOS, REPUBLICAN CONSULTANT: Well, I think Barack Obama has left a big cultural hole in the Democratic coalition. He has built a strange coalition, and that is, you've got young people, you've got upper income elites, you've got a diverse base of the Democratic Party.

But what you don't have are those working class Jacksonian Democrats that the party frankly with.

(CROSSTALK)

MARTIN: No, no, working class Jacksonian white Democrats, because you've got some working class black folks and Hispanics who are in this.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: OK, guys. Hold on. We've got time. We've got more to discuss. We're going to take a quick break.

MARTIN: Come on, Wolf, it's 1:30, let's do it.

BLITZER: When we come back, though, we're going to hear from Hillary Clinton. She spoke to her supporters in Louisville, Kentucky. And we'll hear some of that speech. That's coming up. Remember, cnnpolitics.com where you can get the county-by-county results in both of these states tonight.

And look ahead, three more contests coming up. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: About two hours after Hillary Clinton was projected the winner in Kentucky, she delivered a rousing speech to her supporters in Louisville. And she made it clear, she's continuing this fight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Tonight we've achieved an important victory.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: It's not just Kentucky bluegrass that's music to my ears. It's the sound of your overwhelming vote of confidence, even in the face of some pretty tough odds. Some have said your votes didn't matter, that this campaign was over, that allowing...

(BOOING)

CLINTON: That allowing everyone to vote and every vote to count would somehow be a mistake, but that didn't stop you. You've never given up on me because you know I'll never give up on you.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: This is one of the closest races for a party's nomination in modern history. We're winning the populate vote, and I'm more determined...

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: I'm more determined than ever to see that every vote is cast and every ballot counted. I commend Senator Obama and his supporters. And while we continue to go toe to toe for this nomination, we do see eye to eye when it comes to uniting our party to elect a Democratic president in the fall.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: But I need your help. Your support has made the difference between victory and defeat. Though we have been outspent massively, your support has helped us make our case on the air and on the ground, and your help will keep us going. We've made it this far together, so please go to hillaryclinton.com...

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: ... and together we will make history. And I can't do it without you.

Now, you know that the stakes are high. After all this country has been through the past seven years, we have to get this right. We have to select a nominee who is best positioned to win in November.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

AUDIENCE: Hillary! Hillary! Hillary! Hillary! Hillary! Hillary! Hillary! Hillary! Hillary! Hillary!

CLINTON: And someone who is best prepared to address the enormous challenges facing our country in these difficult times. That's what this election is all about.

Now, I'm told that more people have voted for me than for anyone who has ever run for the Democratic nomination.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: That's more than 17 million votes. Now, why? Why do millions keep turning out to vote in the face of naysayers and skeptics? Because you know that our political process is more than candidates running or the pundits chattering or the ads blaring.

It's about the path we choose as a nation and whether or not we will solve our toughest problems, whether or not we will have a president who will rebuild the economy, end the war in Iraq, restore our leadership in the world, and stand up for you every single day.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: And, you know, the people I meet along the campaign trail don't always make the headlines: the nurses and teachers, the truckers and soldiers, the waitresses and firefighters, the police officers and coal miners, the college students and line workers, the men and women who get up every single day, work hard to make a difference for their families, the people struggling to make ends meet, to find a good job, to pay the bills, to have a shot at the American dream.

For too long, too many Americans have felt invisible in their own country. Well, you've never been invisible to me. I have been fighting for you my entire life.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: And I want you to remember we are in this race because we believe that every single American deserves quality, affordable health care, no exceptions, no one left out.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) CLINTON: We are in this race because we believe everyone deserves a shot at the American dream, the opportunity to work hard at a good job to get ahead, to save for college, for a home, for retirement, to fill the gas tank, and buy the groceries with a little left at the end of each month to build a better life for you and your children.

We are in this race because we believe this new century poses new challenges to meet and new opportunities to seize, if we only had a president ready, willing, and able to lead...

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: ... and turn the climate crisis into an energy revolution and create millions of new jobs, to turn the risks of the new global economy into the rewards of new prosperity shared by all of our people. We are in this race because we believe it will take a commander- in-chief with the strength and knowledge to end the war in Iraq, safely and quickly, and a president with experience, representing the people of the United States in more than 80 countries, to restore our leadership and moral authority in the world.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: And, yes, we are in this race because we believe America is worth fighting for. This...

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: This continues to be a tough fight, and I have fought it the only way I know how: with determination, by never giving up and never giving in.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: I have done it -- I have done it not because I have wanted to demonstrate my toughness, but because I believe passionately that, for the sake of our country, the Democrats must take back the White House and end Republican rule.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: This country needs our combination of strength and compassion to help people struggling with their bills, living the hard reality of everyday life, in need of our leadership on issues from health care to energy to Social Security. That's why I'm still running, and that's why you're still voting.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: And I'm going on now to campaign in Montana, South Dakota, and Puerto Rico.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: And I'm going to keep standing up for the voters of Florida and Michigan.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: Democrats in those two states cast 2.3 million votes, and they deserve to have those votes counted.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: And that's why I'm going to keep making our case until we have a nominee, whoever she may be.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: Now, it's especially sweet tonight because Kentucky has a knack for picking presidents.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: This state delivered two terms to a president named Clinton.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: And it has often been said, as Kentucky goes, so goes the nation.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: Neither Senator Obama nor I has won the 2,210 delegates required to secure the nomination. And because this race is so close, still separated by less than 200 delegates out of more than 4,400, neither Senator Obama nor I will have reached that magic number when the voting ends on June the 3rd.

And so...

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: ... our party will have a tough choice to make. Who's ready to lead our party at the top of our ticket?

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: Who is ready to defeat Senator McCain in the swing states and among swing voters?

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: Who's ready to rebuild the economy and the war in Iraq and protect our national security as commander-in-chief? Who is ready on day one to lead?

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEOTAPE) BLITZER: Hillary Clinton speaking to her supporters earlier in Louisville, Kentucky on this, the day she crushed Barack Obama in Kentucky. He had an impressive win over her in Oregon.

There was other important news that happened on this day, involving Senator Ted Kennedy. He was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. When we come back, we'll give you the latest on what we know. Much more of our coverage from the CNN ELECTION CENTER right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: we were stunned earlier today when we learned that Ted Kennedy, the Democratic senator from Massachusetts, has now been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. I spoke about it at length with our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, himself a neurosurgeon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Sanjay, you've got some very, very graphic, dramatic images that we've received courtesy of GE. I want you to tell our viewers what we know, what we can see about this diagnosis of a malignant brain tumor.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This is a very rare look deep inside the brain here. This is demonstration software, not FDA approved. This is not the senator's brain.

But take a look, Wolf, as you sort of cut through, this is something that is so important to doctors. You get a pretty rare look inside the brain here, cut through all of these images and you can see this is a head, these are the eyes, the nose. But if you come over here to this part of the brain, it is this area right here known as the left parietal lobe that is so important and is an area of the brain where this tumor is located in the center.

That's what we know. What's so important here, and worth pointing out is that right around here is an area of the brain that is responsible for strength, motor strength on the right side of the body, a little further forward is an area that's responsible for speech.

This is the area -- these are the areas they want to avoid. And this is where the tumor may infiltrate. Now again, this is a pretty rare look inside someone's brain with this particular software. Let me show you something else very important here.

Back in October, the senator had an operation on his carotid artery. That's this artery right here, Wolf. That's the artery that supplies...

BLITZER: Along the neck.

GUPTA: That's along the neck. You can see it. You can see its relationship to the jawbone here, to the angle of the jaw. It is right in here where doctors actually went in there, opened up his neck, opened up the artery and actually removed some plaque. They were first concerned about that, as you know, Wolf, that maybe the seizure was caused by a stroke. We now know it was caused by a tumor right there in this area of the brain.

BLITZER: So when he had the seizure Saturday morning and he was rushed to the hospital, then he was Medevac'd to Boston, to Massachusetts General. The seizure, the fact that he had a seizure already as a result of this brain tumor, what does that say to a neurosurgeon like you?

GUPTA: It is one of the most common ways that someone first shows that they have a brain tumor.

BLITZER: It's the first symptom really?

GUPTA: It's the first symptom in so many patients. More than half of people will have a seizure if they are an adult at the first sign of a brain tumor. What happens is that this area of the brain, you sort of get this mass in here, you can sort of see this area gets so big.

And you see that area of neurons around that get a little angry. And they start reacting by giving bursts of electricity, electrical activity that causes one side of the body to go rigid and to start to shake. And that is what people know as a seizure, as a convulsion. Again, it happened in this particular area of the brain.

BLITZER: How do they find a tumor?

GUPTA: What they specifically do is actually look at an MRI scan and they actually do this -- let me take you all the way back down here again, and they do these images all the way from bottom to top, looking at every single slice, millimeter by millimeter by millimeter.

And then they put all of these slices together and look for any specific abnormalities. This is a normal scan. If this were the senator's scan, you would see something white, you would see something abnormal, and it would be located just about in that area there.

BLITZER: And so the technology is pretty accurate in determining that there is, in fact, a tumor.

GUPTA: That's right. It is very accurate. It was very suspicious already based on his story. But this was basically what they were looking for. Again, this is demonstration software, this is something that you really don't see on TV very often. Doctors start to use this kind of technology in their offices. But it is very clear, Wolf when it is present.

BLITZER: There's a GE advantage, this technology that you're showing us which is a remarkable, a remarkable opportunity to see what is going on. If you take a look at these images, can you determine whether it's malignant by these pictures, or do you have to do a biopsy to find out if it's malignant in terms of the brain tumor? GUPTA: The only way to really tell for sure is to actually do a biopsy and look at some of those cells under the microscope. A pathologist looks at those and sees some abnormalities that are consistent with a tumor, and in this case, specifically a malignant tumor.

But by looking at a scan like this alone, you have a pretty good sense. Doctors were probably very concerned on Sunday or Saturday when they actually got the scan that something was wrong, and it looked pretty serious.

BLITZER: Amazing technology. And just to button this up, right now he's looking at either surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, all of the above? None of the above? What is he looking at right now?

GUPTA: Let me show you something I think is so important. In this area of the left parietal lobe, if that motor area is too close to the tumor, or if that speech area in here is too close to the tumor, surgery probably just won't be an option, especially for someone who so relies on being able to walk and speak.

In that case, chemotherapy and radiation are probably going to be the first options. If they don't work, if you don't start to see some shrinkage of this tumor in that particular area again, then they may go to some clinical trials, some less tested therapies.

BLITZER: Experimental trials.

GUPTA: Experimental therapies. They actually teach the body's immune system to attack that tumor. They may train a virus to attack that tumor. Again, these are experimental, they're in clinical trials.

BLITZER: Do any of them have any good track records yet?

GUPTA: They're early. They're early, you only have a few-year data on some of them. But one of them, the immunotherapy, for example, has managed to double survival in some of the worst kind of tumors. That may only mean, Wolf, going from nine months to 18 months, it is still a very, very difficult prognosis, especially again, when you get tumors in this particular area.

BLITZER: Sanjay, we're going to be talking a lot about this, thanks very much. This is has been fascinating material. Thanks for...

GUPTA: We're going to have a lot more of it.

BLITZER: Happy to be -- I want to thank GE too for this technology.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: That was Dr. Sanjay Gupta, speaking with me earlier. He's a neurosurgeon. He understands the very, very serious condition in which Ted Kennedy finds himself right now. I think I speak for all of us, all of our viewers in the United States and around the world, we wish him only, only the best. Senator Ted Kennedy, a longtime senator from Massachusetts.

This has been an important day in the road to the White House. Hillary Clinton wins decisively in Kentucky, but Barack Obama wins decisively in Oregon. The contest will continue on June 1st in Puerto Rico and then on June 3rd in Montana and South Dakota. We will be here every step of the way.

And don't forget, on May 31st, the Democratic Party will be meeting to determine what to do with Michigan and Florida. Our coverage continues right now on CNN.