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Gary Hart for president?
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- It has been 16 years since former Sen. Gary Hart, D-Colorado, last ran for the Democratic presidential nomination, but he may be getting ready to take another shot. Why does he think the White House hasn't done enough to fight terrorist threats? Hart joined "Crossfire" hosts Robert Novak and Paul Begala on Monday to make his case. NOVAK: Among the Democratic presidential candidates who belong to either the House or the Senate, every one of them, I believe, four, voted for the Bush resolution to authorize an attack on Iraq. If you were a member of the Senate, would you have voted for that resolution? HART: I would have considered it if the president had answered at least four questions. One is, who's going with us and I don't mean who's holding our coat, but boots on the ground. Second, How long will we be there? Third, How much will it cost? And, of course, we recall Mr. Lindsay said $100 to $200 billion and he lost his job. And I don't think it was for telling the truth. And fourth and most importantly, how many casualties? Now I know the president doesn't know exactly how many, but ... it matters to the American people how many casualties [there will be.] How many Americans and civilians on the Iraqi side will die? That has not been told to us. And finally, we should not invade Iraq until this country is prepared for the inevitable retaliatory attacks and we are not today prepared. NOVAK: So you would have voted no. As you know in the Senate, you vote yes or no, not maybe. HART: I'm sorry. BEGALA: So you would have voted no is what Bob said, senator. HART: No, it depends on what the president's response was. If those are reasonable answers, I could have voted for it. BEGALA: Did President Bush answer those questions about duration and casualties in preparation for retaliatory terrorist attacks that you just mentioned, in the debate you watched unfold last fall? Did he answer those questions for you? HART: No, I didn't hear answers to any of those questions. He has suggested we would be out in 18 months, but there are those in the administration who suggested a longer term strategy of semi-permanent positioning of American military forces in Iraq and replacing Saudi oil with Iraqi oil. If that is in fact our policy, I think the American people ought to know about it. ... BEGALA: Sen. Hart, will you run for president, and when and how will you make up your mind? HART: What I'm doing now is in fact giving what are usually called major policy speeches. I spoke Tuesday night in New York on national security, on the 10th of February in San Francisco on foreign policy, and probably in Los Angeles fairly soon on a new economic restructuring plan. I'll end up the series with a speech on restoration of our republic at the University of Virginia. And then I'll make a decision sometime in March. And I generally do not know what that will be, and I'm not trying to be coy about it. BEGALA: Well what will you base that decision on? The groundswell of support that comes from these ideas that you put out in your speeches, the money you can raise? I mean, what are you looking at as benchmarks? HART: The reason I was candidate in 1984 was [because] I had the opportunity to travel the country in 1982 on behalf of other Democratic candidates, and I heard people say they were looking for someone that had not announced at that point at that time a newer, younger face. I think it is quite the opposite now. Of course I would think so. But it was based on the '82 experience that I then decided to run in '83. So what I'm trying to do now is compress that experience of the fall of '82 into about a six or eight-week period in the early part of '03. NOVAK: Senator, the renowned Democratic pollster, Peter Hart, no relation, I believe, said of you recently, "He is a man of the past. The real question he faces today is simply, why Gary Hart? He has to answer that." How do you answer that? HART: First of all, I seem to recollect some things like that being said about Ronald Reagan when he was running the first time. In any case, I think it is all a question of ideas. If I don't have anything different to say from the other Democrats, then I shouldn't run. But I do have a feeling of intensity about the issue of homeland security, and it is a genuine one. I've said to many of the journalists who have been kind enough to interview me in recent days and weeks, if it had not been suggested that I was running for president, would you be here? And they said no. So in a way, I'm seeking a platform, but not by tricking anyone. I genuinely think I would be a very good president, probably better today than 15 years ago. But if I don't have anything different to say and ... there is no resonance from what I have to say, then I shouldn't run for president. NOVAK: Senator, the thing that a lot of people remember about you and your last campaign unfortunately is how it ended with allegations of an affair with a woman who wasn't your wife. How do you get beyond that, how do you get rid of that? HART: Well I keep repeating, as you know, over the past number of days and weeks, indeed, over the past number of years, reminding people that I assumed full responsibility for that. Apologized to everyone concerned on national television and went on with my life. And frankly, what a lot of people are interested in is what I did in the last 15 years. I didn't disappear. I chaired these commissions, which you were kind enough to mention. I earned a doctorate degree. I wrote seven books. I've lectured and talked all over this country and the world and mentored students. And I helped pioneer in building economic bridges to Russia and other countries. And I think that's a pretty active 15-year life. So I haven't disappeared from the public or the private scene. I've tried to make a contribution. I believe in public service and I simply continue to try to find a way to serve my country.
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