It's "Meet the Candidates" Day

This Sunday's talk shows offered a series of interviews of 2008 presidential candidates (as well as of one quasi-candidate: "Comedy Central" mock pundit Stephen Colbert, who says he's seeking both parties' nominations in South Carolina).

From the Republican side, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, Sen. John McCain and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee sat for interviews. So did Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.).

Here are the highlights from each:

Romney on CBS's "Face the Nation"

Romney talked at length about how his Mormon faith might affect the election. Romney shrugged off the suggestion, put forward by some analysts and drawn from some polls, that his religion has alienated a segment of Republican voters.

"I think the reason that some 28, 29 percent are not comfortable voting for a Mormon is they think they're voting for Harry Reid," Romney said, referring to the Democratic Senate leader who is also a Mormon. "I think as people say, would you vote for Mitt Romney, and they get to know me and my wife and my family, they realize that our values are as American as any values you'll find in the country, and they're comfortable with us."

But he added: "Of course there will be some who don't come on board."

Asked whether there are particular tenets of the Mormon faith he does not follow, Romney said there are not. "I'm not going to try and distance myself in any way, shape or form from my faith," he said.

Romney was asked several questions about comments he made in his unsuccessful 1994 Senate race against Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.). Romney was supportive of abortion rights, told gay voters he would be a better steward of their interests than Kennedy, and criticized the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Rival campaigns have seized on the remarks to attack Romney's GOP credentials, even though the former governor is proving popular with social conservatives in the party.

Romney acknowledged that his position on abortion has changed since that race, but he rejected the notion that he has also changed his views on gay rights.

"I ... told gays in 1994 that I opposed gay marriage and civil unions. ... At that time, people weren't talking about gay marriage and civil unions," he said. "But at the same time, I don't discriminate against people. I don't discriminate against gay people. And I believe that gay people are entitled to have civil rights and not be discriminated against."

As for the criticism of two former Republican presidents, Romney said, "When I was running in '94, I wasn't trying to return to Reagan-Bush. ... I was talking about my own vision. I wasn't trying to be a copy of anybody else. I was trying to say what I wanted to do and laid out my position."

Romney also addressed a question that has been knocked around among GOP contenders: Who's the real Republican?

"I'm not the only real Republican. John McCain is a real Republican. So is Rudy Giuliani. There are a lot of real Republicans. I'm not the only one, but I'm one," he said. "And I believe in the principles of my party, and believe that the only way that we're going to take the White House is not by acting like Hillary Clinton, but by holding true to the principles of our party."

Biden on ABC's "This Week"

The 29-year Senate veteran and long-shot presidential candidate said that many voters think he would be a good president, but the reason he is not higher in the polls is that they don't think he'll win.

"A lot of serious people think I'm capable of being president. And if they thought I was going to win, they'd be for me," he said.

Biden said his ticket to winning will be to continue to focus on his signature solution to the war in Iraq, which is to partition the country into three semi-automonous regions, each controlled by one of the country's sectarian groups, with a weak central government that would administer the army, distribute oil revenue and do a few other tasks.

Republican candidates have criticized his approach, but Biden counterattacked, saying they have no idea what to do in Iraq.

"The only offer that's put out there now is the president -- and John [McCain] and all the Republicans adhering to it are running for president: Build a strong, central, unified government that can gain the confidence of the Iraqi people to end the civil war. Will not happen in your lifetime," Biden told host George Stephanopoulos. "It will not happen in your lifetime."

With the exception of McCain, Biden added, the Republican field of candidates knows "virtually nothing about foreign policy."

What about former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani? Stephanopoulos asked.

"Virtually nothing about foreign policy. Virtually nothing. He's been the mayor of a city, a great city. How does that qualify him to be -- what has he demonstrated he knows about even national security?" Biden said.

In fact, Biden took credit for one of Giuliani's major credentials - the staggering reduction in violence during his eight years as mayor. "He did that with a Clinton-Biden crime bill. He got another 3,000 cops," Biden said.

Biden also discussed his wrenching personal story and how he blamed God after his wife and son were killed in a car accident.

"I was outraged. And I went from thinking there was a benevolent God to blaming God," Biden said. "And it took me a while to figure out, I'm not that important."

Biden said he considered suicide at the time. "I never consciously contemplated going to a bridge, but ... I could understand how people could do that. I used to think you just had to be stark raving mad. But in the depths of despair a lot of people have shared, like I have, I can understand how it could be a conscious decision," he said. "One of the reasons, I suspect, among many others, was I had two young boys. I couldn't imagine anybody -- my sister explaining to my two young boys why their father is gone."

McCain (R-Ariz.) on "Fox News Sunday"

McCain was asked about the fact that no senator has been elected president since John Kennedy in 1960. Perhaps, host Chris Wallace suggested, that's because senators tend to lack experience running anything. "What have you ever run in your career?" Wallace asked.

"I've run the largest squadron in the United States Navy, and I didn't run it, I led it. It was tens of millions of dollars of assets, training brave young Americans to go fight and defend the country," McCain responded. "I'll defend my leadership of a 1,000-men and -women organization with the management of anything that anybody else has done."

He added, "And that's direct service to the country, and by the way, also it happens to help that I have a background in military national security issues. I need no on-the-job training."

The founder of the "Straight Talk Express" said his campaign's overriding message was that McCain would always shoot straight with voters.

"You can't con the voters. If you want to win their respect, you've got to give them your respect," he said. "And by giving them your -- you give them your respect by telling them exactly where you are, where you're going, what you stand for and you don't change with the political season."

Huckabee on Fox

Huckabee, who took second this weekend in a straw poll sponsored by the Family Research Council (and won among those who attended the council's Values Voters Summit in Washington), said he is the social conservative's candidate.

"I think it is becoming clearer and clearer that this part of our party and our country wants somebody who is a hard-working, consistent conservative with some authenticity about those convictions," Huckabee said.

But Huckabee said he's not the only conservative in the race. He had especially effusive words for McCain. "Let me say Senator McCain, no matter what anyone may say, is a genuine conservative and I have great respect for the senator, and he knows that," he said. "I think he's a terrific human being and has been a great public servant of this country. Sometimes he gets, you know, slammed for not being a conservative, but if you look at his record, he's got a solid record on things that really matter, and -- pro-life. He's strong for our country's defense and security."

Huckabee acknowledged Iowa would be a largely win-or-lose experience for him. Iowa's Christian evangelicals play a particularly role in the GOP nominating process in that state. "I've got to do very well. I think we have a real shot to win Iowa," he said.

-- By Zachary A. Goldfarb

By Post Editor |  October 21, 2007; 2:00 PM ET
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