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Tom Vilsack talks about carving out a space for his presidential campaign among Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
 

Tavis: Tom Vilsack is the former two-term governor of Iowa who, late last year, became the first Democrat to set his presidential campaign in motion. When he was first elected back in 1998, he became the first Democratic governor in Iowa in more than 30 years. I'm pleased that one of his early stops on the campaign trail is right here in L.A. Governor, nice to have you back on the program.

Tom Vilsack: It’s nice to be back.

Tavis: If the first one in would automatically win, you'd be president.

Vilsack: (Laugh) Unfortunately, that’s not the way it works, and that’s not the way it should work. We need a vigorous debate, and we’re gonna have one. It’s gonna be great.

Tavis: Did you ... I assume that you did. You had to know that all this other stuff, when I say “stuff,” I mean Hillary and Barack and Biden, you had to know everybody else was coming once you got in.

Vilsack: Absolutely. And I think it’s important to have as many people as possible in this race, to have as many different perspectives as possible, different countries, different parts of the country represented. This is gonna be a great, great debate about the future of this country, and I'm really proud of my Democratic Party, because I think we’re going to have the most vigorous and the most rigorous debate. And I think our nominee’s gonna be prepared to be the next president of the United States.

Tavis: Vigor and rigor, good. Dissention, bad. How do you stop the latter from happening?

Vilsack: Well, I think we just focus on the vision that we have for a better and brighter America. I think many of us are concerned about the anxiety that Americans feel today, and I think all of us will put forward our vision for the country. I know that I'm gonna be focused a great deal on energy security, and the necessity of this country to embrace a comprehensive national program to make us less dependent on oil.

And so many positive benefits will accrue to that. I'm excited about talking about that, I'm excited about talking about America’s place in the world, how we can reclaim more leadership through energy security, and how we can have a different approach in Iraq.

Tavis: To your point about energy, I'm sure you saw the president’s speech the other night, State of the Union address. He had something to say about energy. Let me play that first, and get your thoughts on what he had to say about it.

Tavis: What does that mean, exactly, and how do you do that?

Vilsack: Well, I think the president has the right goal, in terms of reducing our reliance on gasoline and oil, but I don't think he went far enough, and I certainly don't think he was bold enough. And frankly, he ended his discussion of energy by suggesting we have to drill for more oil. So he sent a very inconsistent message.

We have to do three things. First and foremost, we have to conserve. We have to be much better at conserving energy. We have to challenge our auto industries to hire cafÈ standards, mileage standards. We have to encourage new material science, new construction, new engineering, new ways of manufacturing products to conserve and to use less energy.

Secondly, we need to embrace renewables. The president’s right, it can’t just be corn-based ethanol. It has to be from a variety of sources. And we also need to make sure that we have cleaner and greener traditional sources of power in this country. I'm telling you, Tavis, this can create new jobs, it can make healthier communities, it can allow us to reclaim moral standing on the issue of climate change and global warming, and it will make us safer.

Because we will no longer be funding both sides of the global insurgency. The reality is today we’re taking our hard-earned dollars and we’re giving it to countries that wish to do us harm. It makes no sense whatsoever.

Tavis: Let me ask you a really practical question. You sit here in L.A. and in Hollywood, where, perhaps in just a few days, if the prognosticators and pundits are correct, Al Gore may actually win an Academy Award since his piece, “An Inconvenient Truth,” nominated in the documentary category, he is the hands-on favorite at this point, I think, to win that category.

Should that happen, what that means is he’ll have a nice trophy on that shelf, but he didn’t get the Oval Office. Al Gore tried to sell this message about global warming, about energy, about oil. He tried that, and he couldn’t sell that. How do you ... I asked this question last time, in a different way. But how do you ... the message as important as it is, how do you get Americans to understand that, to get that, in a way that it translates into votes for Tom Vilsack?

Vilsack: It’s a different time than it was when Vice President Gore ran in 2000. We now have had 3,000 people die in Iraq, we have over 20,000 who are injured, and many of us suspect that there’s oil involved in the decision to go into Iraq. That makes it a different time. People are much more aware of the issue of global warming, and the consequences of global warming.

That makes it difficult. The shrinkage of the middle class in this country, and the tremendous opportunities to create new jobs, and a concern about the economy for folks in the middle, that makes it a different time. More medical research that ties asthma to emissions, that makes it a different time. So there are a series of issues, a series of happenings that have occurred that make this the time to bring this up.

People are ready for it. They want a positive vision of this country. They don't wanna be mired in the past. They want what is the progressive vision for the future? Better paying jobs, healthier communities, moral leadership for America, a different place and different standing in the world. And we won’t be sending our kids halfway around the world to die for oil.

Tavis: Let me ask you that question that I'm sure you’ve been asked a thousand times already, and certainly will be if you haven’t. So stay on message on this one, and get your answer tight. When Barack and Hillary walk into the room, they suck the air out. Everybody knows that. Take me inside the Vilsack campaign, and tell me strategically, I'm curious about this now, seriously, strategically, how do you carve out space for yourself to get your message out with all that ... with all due respect to both of them ... noise in this campaign?

Vilsack: Sure. They are clearly rock stars, and they deserve to be rock stars. But I'm rock solid. And I think it’s-

Tavis: I like that. I like that. I like that, that’s good, that’s good, that’s good, that’s good, I like that. (Laugh)

Vilsack: As people begin to focus on this, and this is a very serious decision, who the president of the United States is we now know can be a life and death decision for citizens of this country. As people begin to focus in Iowa, in New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina, I think they're going to be looking for rock solid.

They're going to be looking for someone who’s had experience in making the judgments necessary to improve the lives of people. I have a very good record as governor for the state of Iowa for eight years. A record number of jobs, expanded access to healthcare, built this renewable fuel leadership position that Iowa has. I'm anxious to have this debate.

So, I appreciate and respect the positions that they have today, but I'm in this race to win, and I believe I can make the case to folks in Iowa, in New Hampshire, in Nevada and South Carolina, that I belong in this race. And when that happens, then it’s not a race of 10 or 15 people, it’s a race of two or three people.

Tavis: On any number of levels, I can make the argument, and I'm sure your people have done the research. I could make the argument on any number of levels, again, that Hillary and Barack are going to be polarizing any number of ways. You don't expect a guy from Iowa, a moderate Midwesterner, to be polarizing.

I would like to think that that would play in your favor. But how does that politically, strategically, properly best position you amongst these other polarizing figures?

Vilsack: It has to do with electability. The ability to go out in states where Democrats have not done particularly well, and to be able to campaign effectively. In order to win this race in 2008, we have to expand our map. We have to be able to campaign effectively in states like Missouri and Tennessee and Kentucky and Iowa and Colorado, West Virginia.

States where there are rural communities, small communities, farm communities. We have to have a candidate who can be able to speak to the needs, the concerns and struggles of those folks, as well as the folks who live in suburban America and urban America. I believe I can do that with my experience as the governor of Iowa.

I know I can do that, because I've done it in successive races in the state of Iowa. I know I can reach those people. I can expand the map. So it has to do with electability. It has to do with a vision that basically says to those folks, “We’re not going to leave any part of America behind. Every part’s gonna be able to progress. Every part’s gonna have a new and creative opportunity here.”

And I'm excited about this. I think this is the time for Democrats; it’s a time for a very progressive vision for the country.

Tavis: I have studied, extensively, the backgrounds of all the candidates, and continue, like most Americans, to read every day, to make my own decision as an American voter, as a citizen. I don't know that anybody in this race, Republican or Democrat at this point, has started with less and done more than Tom Vilsack. And I say that primarily because people, I think, don't know the story of your having been orphaned as a child. Tell me that story.

Vilsack: It’s interesting you bring it up. About four weeks ago, I found out for the first time in 56 years where I was born. I received a letter in the mail, and it was from the Sisters of Charity, indicating that they knew the circumstances of my birth, and if I was interested in learning more about where I was born and how I was born, and the circumstances, I could make inquiry.

Tavis: Wait, before you go further, is it your sense that came because they got to know you on the campaign trail?

Vilsack: I know it is, because the letter made reference to the fact that I announced in Pittsburgh, my hometown. And there was an article, and it generated some enthusiasm and some interest on the part of the folks in the orphanage. And so I got a picture of this orphanage, this maternity place, where my birth mother went in September of 1950, spent several months in what they referred to as confinement, and then in December of 1950, gave birth to me.

And then I was baptized with a different name than the name I have today. I found I was Kenneth Joseph initially in life. And then my parents who adopted me changed it to Thomas James. That in and of itself was an interesting part of my history. But the great lesson that I learned in life was really from my mom, who struggled with prescription drug addiction and alcoholism for an extended period of time when I was a youngster.

And she overcame those addictions. It’s tough. But she taught me that every single one of us has courage. The courage to create change. And I believe that because each of us individually have it, collectively as a nation, we have it. And there are issues that we have to address and we have to deal with that will require courage.

It’s gonna require courage for us to deal with issues of diversity. It’s gonna require courage for us to change our habits relative to how we use energy, and what we use in terms of energy. Courage to change America’s position in the world. Courage to tackle the healthcare dilemma. The fact is, this is a really sad state of affairs.

President Bush is proposing a tax increase on middle income families to pay for healthcare expansion, when we’re spending hundreds of billions of dollars in Iraq. It just seems wrong to me, and it’s gonna take courage to change the course of that government policy.

Tavis: It won’t surprise you to hear me say that as a person of color, the issue of inclusion and diversity matters much to me. That said, how do you work against the assumption that just because she is a woman, and just because he is a person of color, Hillary and Barack get to hold court. Get to go forth on that issue as opposed to a White male?

Vilsack: Well, I think people are interested not in the gender or in the color, but in the vision you have for this country. And I think what every candidate must do, regardless of where they come from, regardless of their birth circumstances that might distinguish them from someone else, I think it’s about the vision that you have for this country.

Can you articulate it? Can you inspire people? Can you encourage people with your experience and your judgment, that you, in fact, can deliver on whatever your vision might be? I know that I can. I know that I can point to a record of accomplishment that is very consistent with the vision I have for this country. And that will be the challenge for all of us.

And that’s how people in this country are going to make up their mind. I think all of us struggle. All of us try to figure out what’s the right answer for this country. And I think that’s what a vigorous debate is supposed to be about. That’s why it’s so great that the Democrats have so many high quality people interested in this election. It shows how much we care deeply about this country, and the future of the country.

And how we are representative of this new America. A new, progressive, thoughtful, diverse America that is exciting, is challenging, is inspiring. I think that’s what I take from this race.

Tavis: So everybody knows that even with the changes in the primary counter this time around, everybody knows Iowa, New Hampshire are out front. Anybody else ... not anybody, but most persons can survive not finishing first in Iowa and continue. If Tom Vilsack doesn’t finish first in Iowa, the columnists, the pundits, the prognosticators are going to say, “If this guy, like Al Gore, can’t win his home state, he can’t do anything else in the country.” So how much pressure is on you in that early primary to win in your home state?

Vilsack: Well, I’ll tell you, if I don't win Iowa, I’ll be asking you whether or not you want a co-host. (Laugh)

Tavis: Yeah. (Laugh) Fair enough.

Vilsack: Obviously, I have to do very well in Iowa. And I expect to win Iowa. I expect to win Iowa, because we’ll have a superior organization. People do know me. I have to overcome a barrier in Iowa. People perceive that a governor of Iowa ought not to be thinking about this. There’s a certain degree of humility in our state, and it’s understandable.

I've gotta overcome that, I've gotta overcome people perceiving me as a governor, not necessarily as a presidential candidate. And we’re in the process of doing that. Plus, Iowans are not gonna give me a free ride. They want me and they expect me to earn their vote, and I want to earn their vote. I want to earn their participation in the caucus. That is the way we do it in the Midwest. You’ve gotta earn it. It’s not given to you. And it shouldn’t be given to you.

Tavis: What about being a governor specifically ... I'm from the Midwest, as you know, from Indiana. So what about coming out of the Midwest you think best undergirds your campaign politically and personally?

Vilsack: Well, politically, it basically sends a message of the capacity to effectively campaign in the middle of the country, which is absolutely essential, particularly for Democrats, to have success. We’ve gotta win in places like Iowa and Missouri and Ohio in order to be able to win this election. So that’s first and foremost.

Secondly, I think it sends a message that we understand the necessity of working with all sides and both sides. I happen to have been a governor during a period of time when my legislature was controlled by Republicans. The House, through the entire eight years; the Senate for the first six years. And then the last two years, they were split between Democrats and Republicans.

But I had to deal with a legislature not controlled by my party. And so it’s important to send the message, and I think it does when you come from the middle of the country, that you have the capacity, the capability, and the desire to work with everyone. You want a United States of America. And I tell you, getting back to energy security, this is the issue that will allow us to unite the right and the left.

If you go into churches, if you go into synagogues, you go into temples, mosques, faith-based organizations, you're hearing people talk about stewardship. You're hearing them talk about the gift that we have had of this Earth, and that we’ve gotta give it to our children in better shape than we found it. That is an idea that resonates, whether you're a progressive or a conservative. And that is an area where I think I have a particular strength, because I've been able to deliver on that issue.

Tavis: He was the first one at the starting line. We will see how this thing plays out in what, a year and a half or so from now? Governor, nice to see you.

Vilsack: You bet.

Tavis: All the best on the campaign trail.

Vilsack: Take care.

Tavis: Tom Vilsack, former governor of Iowa, now as of a week or so ago, former governor. And now on the campaign trail for the White House.