This is a partial transcript of "Special Report with Brit Hume", Jan. 26, that has been edited for clarity.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thanks to the people of New Hampshire, we are in a three-way split decision for third place.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
WESLEY CLARK (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're heading south. We're heading west. And we ain't slowing down until the final buzzer sounds.
(CHEERING)
EDWARDS: We're going take this energy and momentum that we saw in Iowa, this extraordinary energy and momentum that we have seen in New Hampshire and we're going take it right through February 3.
SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST, "HANNITY & COLMES": You are staying in until the convention?
REP. DENNIS KUCINICH, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Absolutely.
HANNITY: Under no circumstance will you get out.
KUCINICH: No. I'm in this all the way.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
BRIT HUME, HOST: One day after New Hampshire, John Kerry (search), given up for dead a month ago, is now leading. Howard Dean (search), the presumed nominee only weeks ago, is trailing and has dumped his campaign manager. This is the kind of moment political junkies live for.
And there's no junkie we'd rather talk to than Professor Larry Sabato, head of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, who joins us from Charlottesville, Virginia.
Larry, let me ask you first off, what is it about these guys? I mean we heard first there from the guy who finished third, the guy who finished fourth, the guy who finished fifth and the guy who finished sixth. And they're all claiming momentum out of New Hampshire?
LARRY SABATO, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Yes, well, I tell you, the country just saved a lot of money, Brit, because we don't need to send men to Mars. Some are already living there.
HUME: And running in the primary.
SABATO: And running in the primary. Look, I mean Clark and Lieberman in particular, are totally out of touch with reality. They had their shot and it's not going well for them. Now, Edwards has a shot in South Carolina. He can -- he's the only one who has any realistic chance to derail the souped-up, metro liner called John F. Kerry that is heading into the station in Boston in the summer. But that's it.
HUME: You don't think that Howard Dean can recover here?
SABATO: I think Howard Dean might be able to recover to the point where he starts winning a few primaries and caucuses here and there. But we're talking about somebody who gets a slot at the convention, who makes his point, who is a very large footnote in the 2004 election, but is no longer serious contender for the nomination.
HUME: Let me ask you this question. If you are Roy Neel (search), someone we all know and who has been around Washington for a long time, a very nice guy, a very able guy who's taken over that campaign. I just wonder what you advise Howard Dean to do.
It would appear that what fired his candidacy and many of his supporters was his anger and sense of righteousness about the Vietnam War and some other issues -- I mean, about the Iraq War and other issues.
Now he's after Iowa in a position where the message seems to be that anger doesn't play very well. So you know, where does he go? How does he retool his campaign? What does he say?
SABATO: Well, my actual advice to Roy Neel would be to get a long- term contract if it's possible so it will be a payoff when the campaign ends. As far as what Neel tells Dean, given the fact that Joe Trippi brought Dean this far, and I think, did a remarkable job and will be remembered for a lot of things, I don't think there's a whole lot Neel can do.
You know, candidates define themselves and they often think it's the manager's fault. It's really their fault.
What can Dean do at this point? He is what he is. He is what he has said. He will be remembered for the screech. He will be remembered as the early front-runner who faded in record time. And that's it.
HUME: Do you sense that the playing field will be all that different? I mean we're always get -- we're all familiar with the great, New Hampshire bounce that candidates tend to get. And there's always has been a surge for a New Hampshire winner.
Does that mean really that John Kerry is sort of the de facto front-runner nearly everywhere in this group of seven states upcoming for next week in your judgment?
SABATO: Brit, it's amazing and you've seen this too. You look at these polls in all of the other states and when somebody wins New Hampshire, it's like somehow God from heaven reached down his hand and placed it on this front-runner because the front-runner rises in all of the surveys everywhere. That rising tide lifts just one vote, the vote of the front-runner and all the others start fading.
Now look, it's possible that one or two of them will win one or two of the seven states up next Tuesday. But I'd be willing to bet anybody a large, sum of money that John Kerry will once again be the big winner.
HUME: All right. Larry Sabato, it's always great to have you. One last quick question, will we ever see the end of Dennis Kucinich?
(LAUGHTER)
SABATO: Well, he told you he'd stay around forever. Look, if they start at debates and on the campaign trail feeding him meat, he's a vegetarian; I think that's the best way to get rid of him.
HUME: All right. Larry Sabato, thanks very much.
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