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CNN LIVE AT DAYBREAK

Talk of CNN: Massachusetts' Governor's Race

Aired October 30, 2002 - 05:44   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: With elections only a few days away, some of the nation's hottest races are gaining steam. One of them is the race for governor in Massachusetts. Mit Romney and Shannon O'Brien squared off in their final one-on-one debate last night and nothing gets things heated like a little tax talk.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIT ROMNEY (R), MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: Let me tell you, it would be really helpful if in this debate, Shannon, you would just answer it directly. He -- keep -- you said I wouldn't sign it until I'd found that. Does that mean that you would sign it once you had found everything had been rung out?

SHANNON O'BRIEN (D), MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: And I would hope that you would tell the truth about the positions that you take.

ROMNEY: Shannon -- Shannon -- Shannon,...

O'BRIEN: Let me just repeat.

ROMNEY: ... can I -- can I not ask...

O'BRIEN: On page seven of your environmental plan, you want to increase excise taxes...

ROMNEY: Shannon,...

O'BRIEN: ... two and a half.

ROMNEY: ... let's go back to...

O'BRIEN: On page 11 of your housing plan, you want to increase housing tax.

ROMNEY: Go ahead, Tim, you're going to have to take over.

TIM: Let me...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Wow!

COSTELLO: Polls currently show the two candidates in a dead heat and many voters still appear to be undecided. So what is the buzz this morning about the governor's race in Massachusetts? For this morning's "Talk of CNN" we're checking in with Matt Pitta at WQRC Radio in Hyannis, Massachusetts. He joins us live by phone.

Good morning -- Matt.

MATT PITTA, WQRC RADIO, HYANNIS, MASSACHUSETTS: Hey, Carol, how are you today?

COSTELLO: Oh I'm fine. What a contentious debate.

PITTA: You know I -- you can call me silly, but I don't think these two are exchanging holiday cards this year. I just don't think it's going to happen.

This is -- I mean we joke, but this race has become increasingly bitter. You saw -- your viewers saw a little clip there last night from the latest debate. Tax has become a big issue and, of course, for, you know, viewers around the country, they may be familiar with Mit Romney, he was the head of the Salt Lake Olympics. And Shannon O'Brien here in Massachusetts is the current state treasurer. And these two are just getting down and dirty in the last couple of days.

And I think what's happening is they're both looking at the polls. Two polls out yesterday from two news organizations, one had O'Brien up by six points but still about 8 percent of the voters undecided and another poll had them in a dead heat. So this is going down to the wire. Less than a week to go, and they're battling it out. Taxes have become a huge issue in this campaign.

COSTELLO: And from what I understand from reading the newspaper article about the debate is they were both in the private sector in business and they're both complaining to the other about each other's service there.

PITTA: And not only that, but Mit Romney is -- has been bringing Shannon O'Brien's husband into the fray as well during the campaign commercials for his connections as a private lobbyist on Beacon Hill, the State House here in Boston, over the past couple of years. So, yes, over the last couple of days, both of them, Romney and O'Brien, have been using that private sector club. And in fact O'Brien has brought out some pretty -- some pretty tough TV commercials about Mit Romney's service as a venture capitalist in some of the companies that he was involved with over the past couple of years. Romney's campaign crying foul in that some of the actions taken at some of these companies actually happened when he was at the Olympics and not overseeing these companies. This is just classic politics at its best here in Massachusetts. These two candidates...

COSTELLO: Oh it's a hot race. So if you had to call it, you know, living in Massachusetts for as long as you have, who would you call the winner?

PITTA: You know, Carol, I don't want to avoid the question, but I have to tell you, I've watched politics for a long time in this state and this race is very fluid right now. I think that if you had to take a vote right now, today, if we -- if everyone went to the polls here in Massachusetts this morning and this afternoon, perhaps O'Brien would eke out a victory. However, we have five, six more days to go before this campaign is over, a lot of time for the Romney campaign. This race is just too fluid. Even both polls show it too tight to call and both polls have a percentage of undecided voters, which would swing it for either candidate right now. These next five, six days are critical for both of these candidates.

COSTELLO: Got you. Matt Pitta, thanks for bringing us up to date. We appreciate it.

PITTA: You're welcome.

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