NOVAK:   Welcome back. It's time for "Rapid Fire." Short questions, short answers, no hiding in a spider hole. By pulling Saddam Hussein out of the hole he was hiding in this weekend, the Bush administration has put the crowd of Democratic presidential wannabes in an even deeper hole. Can they dig themselves out or just in vapor (ph)? We're debating that with a Dean supporter, Congressman Joseph Crowley, Democrat of New York, and the House majority whip, Congressman Roy Blunt, Republican of Missouri. 
CARVILLE:   Congressman Blunt, do you think that the capture of Saddam Hussein will help a great deal in making Iraq more secure? 
BLUNT:   I think it will make Iraq more secure. I think the trial will be helpful both to Iraq, Iran, Syria, the Middle East. 
NOVAK:   Joe Crowley, have you got buyer's remorse? You've got this candidate who looks like he's on Saddam Hussein's side. Is he worried? 
CROWLEY:   Now I know why you lowered my seat. You know, people who liked Howard Dean before the capture of Saddam Hussein, like him just as much the day after. And we'll continue to like him. He invigorates. He incites our party. And that's why I'm supporting him. And I'm very confident and I know he's going to do a great job when he's elected president. 
CARVILLE:   Congressman Blunt, the Iranians say they want charges brought against Saddam Hussein for crimes against humanity and committed against them. Should we allow the Iranians to proffer charges against him and have Saddam Hussein tried on these charges? 
BLUNT:   Yes. This guy is a serial killer. You could have charges going on forever. I suspect there will be plenty of charges in Iraq for that system. If the decision be made later what he might have done in other countries and other atrocities. But there's a long list, plenty of things to talk about in that trial that will go on in Iraq. And you know, maybe that will -- maybe we'll get some of that news throughout the Arab world. 
NOVAK:   Congressman Crowley, since Governor Dean went to the draft board with a doctor's excuse from his mother and stayed out of the military and skied instead, do you think he needs General Clark as a running mate to firm up the ticket? 
CROWLEY:   I like his questions better. 
CARVILLE:   Let me ask you a question. 
NOVAK:   No, answer the question. 
CROWLEY:   Let me say this -- you know, it seems to me every person who's run for president, or many of the people who have run for president, have questions about military experience... 
NOVAK:   General Clark.  
CROWLEY:   ... including our present President Bush, as to what his commitment was during the Vietnam War to his military duties. So I think that the Dean administration will look to a look of factors to pick out their vice president. 
NOVAK:   You filibustered me out on that, Joe Crowley. Thank you very much, Roy Blunt. 
BLUNT:   Good to be here. 
NOVAK:   When we come back, live from Baghdad. We'll check in with our CROSSFIRE colleague, Tucker Carlson, who's actually in Iraq. And right after the break, Wolf Blitzer and Nic Robertson have the latest on where Saddam Hussein spent his last hours of freedom.
