‘A Common Experience’

How can you win the nomination when the math looks so bleak for you?
It doesn't look bleak at all. I have a very close race with Senator Obama. There are elected delegates, caucus delegates and superdelegates, all for different reasons, and they're all equal in their ability to cast their vote for whomever they choose. Even elected and caucus delegates are not required to stay with whomever they are pledged to. This is a very carefully constructed process that goes back years, and we're going to follow the process.

If you lose, and can ' t be at the top of the ticket, do you think you ' d be an asset to Senator Obama as a vice presidential nominee?
When you're the presidential nominee you get to pick whomever you choose to be on the ticket, and that person gets to say yes or no because, obviously, it's a very important decision. But we're not anywhere near that. It's premature, so we're just going to keep going and I'm going to try to get the nomination.

But you certainly appeal to — look at Ohio. That ' s a core Democratic —
We both have strong constituencies. I think my constituencies are broader and deeper and more likely to produce winning margins in the general election. But he also has obviously energized African- American voters, young voters, and we need to bring them together. We need to have a unified Democratic Party because we're going to win in November.

You ' ve been advocating seating delegations from Michigan and Florida. But Senator Obama wasn ' t even on the ballot in Michigan. Does making this argument risk alienating voters who think you ' re breaking the rules or changing the rules?
I don't think so. I mean, he had a choice to be on the ballot. He chose not to be. I chose to stay on the ballot. So that was a choice he made. His campaign then ran a very vigorous effort to try to defeat me with uncommitted delegates, and he lost. So it wasn't as though there wasn't a contest. There was a contest. And I won. And I won resoundingly in Florida … I don't think we should be about the business of denying voters in Michigan and Florida the right to be heard.

Will you release your tax returns before the Pennsylvania primary?
Well, we're going to do it in April, and I would assume that would be before [the primary].

The meta question: do you think you ' ve won the media back over?
You know, I've been around long enough to know it's kind of a rollercoaster ride. [Laughs]

© 2008