BEGALA:   Welcome back to CROSSFIRE. A just released CNN/"TIME" magazine poll shows Howard Dean is starting off the new year at the very top of the pack of nine Democratic candidates. But Dean's opponents say that the former Vermont governor would almost surely lose to President George W. Bush in a fall matchup. So, is Howard Dean unstoppable or is he unelectable? Joining us from the Big Apple to discuss is New York Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner, who is a Wesley Clark supporter. Congress Weiner, good to see you again, sir. Happy new year. 
WEINER:   Happy new year to you as well. 
NOVAK:   Congressman Weiner, we all know that your candidate, General Clark, is a rookie. He's made all the rookie mistakes that are made. But I think the thing that hurts him so much more than anything else is a quote in September by his former commanding officer, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Hugh Shelton, a real soldier's soldier, one of Bill Clinton's favorite soldiers. And Hugh Shelton this: "I will tell you, the reason he" -- that is General Clark -- came out of Europe early had to do with integrity and character issues, things that are very near and dear to my heart. Wes won't get my vote." How do you explain that? 
WEINER:   Well, first of all, General Shelton's boss, Bill Clinton, disagreed with that. But, more importantly, it isn't about one vote, General Shelton's vote. It's about who is going to be the person to take this battle to George Bush. Look, any of the Democratic nominees, on their worst day, is better than George Bush on his best day. But if we want to look at who has the best chance of beating President Bush, I want to see President Bush try to make national security and defense his defining issue when he's looking across the podium in a debate at General Clark. He's not going to be able to do it. General Clark has shown he can raise the money to keep up with just about anyone in the field. And that's why I'm supporting him. But make no mistake about it. Any one of the nominees that emerges from the Democratic field would be preferable to George Bush. 
NOVAK:   I understand you feel that way, but I'd love to have you try to answer the question, because I've been trying to get the Clark supporters to answer it for months. What are these integrity and character issues? You must have looked into it, if you're supporting the man for president. And a man with the reputation of General Hugh Shelton said that. You must wonder, what in the world is eating him about his fellow officer? 
WEINER:   Well, you also have to wonder about General Shelton not answering that question himself. He's refused to, ever since he has made it. He's hiding under a desk somewhere, hoping that you never find him to ask that question in person. Get him on, on the show. But he certainly is out of sync with just about everyone else who has worked with General Clark, who say that he's a true American hero. And I think that President Bush would also probably say that about General Clark, if pressed.  
BEGALA:   Congressman Weiner, first, thanks for coming on. Good to see you again. I want to ask you about that war. It's become the central issue in the Democratic primaries, that -- the vote to use force in Iraq. Now, you supported the use of force in Iraq. But your candidate, General Clark, has said, he would have never supported such a resolution. So, were you wrong, or was General Clark wrong about the most important issue in the election? 
WEINER:   Well, he and I came from a very similar position to this to begin with. We both thought we wanted to be supportive of President Bush. We wanted to be supportive of the commander in chief in negotiating to disarm Iraq. Came to a different conclusion about whether to vote yes on the resolution. I don't begrudge him that. But I certainly want to tell you something. He's someone that has a record second to none on defense issues, is much smarter on national security issues than President Bush is, and someone I think would be a preferable president. And I have to tell you, our party was -- is and was split on the right thing to do on that vote. It was a very difficult call. There's probably no vote that's tougher for a member of Congress. But our nominee has to be able to go into this debate with answers and solutions on a broad slew of national security and anti-terrorism matters. And if that's going to be the seminal issue of the campaign, I want General Clark as our nominee. 
BEGALA:   Well, let me press it. Is Howard Dean qualified to be commander in chief? 
WEINER:   Absolutely. 
BEGALA:   He is? 
NOVAK:   I want to ask you this. You know, you talk about electability and all that and who can win. In the Democratic Party, among registered Democrats, according to a poll just taken over the New Year's weekend by CNN/"TIME" -- let's put it on the screen -- Howard Dean, 46 percent, General Clark, 32 percent. That -- that isn't even close. I mean, this is -- he's got -- this early, Governor Dean has almost half of the Republican -- of the Democratic votes. Congressman, that's going to be very hard to beat, isn't it? 
WEINER:   Well, there's no doubt about it. Dean is the front- runner and General Clark is the alternative. I think that, right about now, Dean in many of the polls in Iowa, New Hampshire and other places has plateaued at about 40 percent, which, in a seven- or eight-way field, is pretty impressive. No doubt about it, Governor Dean is the front-runner. The question that I hope that Democratic primary voters, who, by the way, have not cast a single vote, I hope they focus on the question, who is the most electable in a general election, not who gets us fired up, not who do we send a message with. Who do we put in the field that is going to win? Who is the best person to kind of put together this Clinton coalition of moderate Southern voters, liberal Eastern voters, and everyone in between? And I think General Clark is the perfect candidate for that. 
BEGALA:   Congressman, do you think it was fair for General Clark to attack Governor Dean for failing his draft physical about 30 years? Was that a fair attack? 
WEINER:   I -- I hadn't heard that, but if he -- and I don't know much about that. 
BEGALA:   Here's what he said. Let me fill you in on the background.    Let me fill you in on the background. He -- General Clark pointed out that Governor Dean submitted to a physical and failed and so was not drafted and then went skiing in Aspen. He pointed out that, while Governor Dean was skiing, he was recovering from his war wounds in Vietnam. Do you think that that's a fair issue to raise, the fact that... 
WEINER:   I think that... 
BEGALA:   ... General Clark is a decorated military hero and Governor Dean did not serve? 
WEINER:   I think it's fair to point out that General Clark is a decorated war veteran a decorated patriotic American. I don't believe that Governor Dean is not patriotic. I don't believe he's any less of an American. But, look, one of the things that they're doing is comparing biographies now. There's no doubt about it that some voters are going to be interested in hearing that, while one candidate was skiing, another candidate was risking his life in Vietnam. 
NOVAK:   Congressman, try to enlighten me on something, because I really always try to find the truth 
WEINER:   That's why I come on the show, to enlighten you, Mr. Novak. 
NOVAK:   Thank you.    You know, it was just last year, General Clark was appearing at Republican fund-raisers in his home state of Arkansas, saying that there was a dream team that had been assembled of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld. And -- and he -- he told people he was a Republican. What do you think suddenly turned him overnight into a Democrat and a Democratic presidential candidate? Do you think it might have been that the job, as far as the Republican nomination, beating George Bush for the Republican nomination was pretty tough, and that, if he wanted to be president, he had to be a Democrat? 
WEINER:   No, I think that he was voiced where a lot of Americans were. They were supportive of president. They wanted him to do well. They were rooting for him. Then they watched after month after month, he drove the economy into the ground, bungled the recovery in Iraq, and essentially said where a lot of voters are going to be come November 2004, and said, listen, I was pulling for this guy, but he's let us down and I'm going to vote the other way. 
NOVAK:   Why is it, Congressman, that all you left-wing New Yorkers, like Charlie Rangel and you and several members of your delegation, you like this general who used to be a Republican? Can you explain that to me? 
WEINER:   Well, I don't know where to start correcting the question.    First of all, I would probably say that General Clark is one of the more moderate voices in the primary, not the more liberal one. And any -- anyone who is supporting General Clark, one of the reasons that's highest on their list is his electability. And many Democrats want to follow the model that Bill Clinton drew up for us in 1992, with the help of Paul Begala. And that is, try to figure out ways to get elected first. And then we can all find our ways to govern for the next eight years. I think Democrats are unified in our desire to get rid of President Bush. General Clark is our ticket to doing that. 
NOVAK:   Congressman Weiner, thank you very much for being with us. A happy new year to you. 
WEINER:   Happy new year to you, too. 
NOVAK:   And right after the break, we'll be joined by a congressman who is a Howard Dean supporter. Can the doctor operate under all the political heat? But first, a news update on those canceled flights and security concerns facing people who are trying to fly to the United States.
