MELLISA BLOCK, host:
In politics, there's a movement afoot to try to fix a broken, polarized system - or at least there's a one-day bipartisan forum geared in that direction. A group of centrists will gather at the University of Oklahoma on Monday. Among them, and most notably, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg who has not definitively ruled out a third-party run for the presidency.
The others who are expected to attend are former politicians, including former senators Jack Danforth, Bill Cohen, Gary Hart, and David Boren - former Democratic senator from Oklahoma; now president of the University of Oklahoma. I asked Boren why he thinks the political system needs fixing.
Mr. DAVID BOREN (Former Oklahoma Senator; President, University of Oklahoma): What we've seen really, and it's been growing over the last 20 years, is partisan polarization that is just literally paralyzing the country. We're not able to take action because if one party's for something, the other party is automatically going to block it.
And I think that's really why we're seeing the polling data from the American people saying that we're on the wrong track. They'd say they don't believe the future is going to be as good as the past, and that just breaks my heart to hear that. And I really think the people see it. They may not use the term polarization, but that's what they're reacting to.
BLOCK: But Senator Boren couldn't you look at the results from last night in Iowa which had record turnout - nearly double the turnout on the Democratic side - and say, look, there's a lot of enthusiasm from voters on both sides here?
Mr. BOREN: Well, I think there's certainly participation because I think the people are worried, and I think the people want to see us move in a different direction, you know? But I don't think it's embracing the old kind of politics which, frankly, what we've been seeing in this country for too long is let's hit the emotional hot buttons to score points for ourselves as individual politicians. And people want real leaders, they want leaders who will talk about how they're going to unite us, how they're going to bring us together, what are their strategies to build bipartisan consensus because they know that's the only way you get progress.
BLOCK: Now, a big question that's hanging out there: Is your meeting on Monday really a platform for Michael Bloomberg to launch an independent bid for the presidency?
Mr. BOREN: No, it is not. And both Senator Nunn who's co-hosted this meeting and myself and other participants have made that very, very clear. It is not a Bloomberg for president meeting. There are members of both parties that I think many of them will continue to and will end up supporting their own party nominees. But what it does say is it's time to refocus the campaign; let's have some specifics about forming a government of national unity and how it can be done.
But if not, I think, certainly, there is the possibility of an independent candidacy out there and the resources to launch one. And if you want to call it something of a warning shot; that there are other possible alternatives out there if the two-party candidates and the ultimate nominees don't rise to this occasion.
BLOCK: If it were to come down to an independent run, given what you've seen with independent candidacies before - John Anderson, Ross Perot - do you think, say, a Bloomberg-Hagel, for the sake of argument, a Bloomberg-Hagel ticket would have a chance?
Mr. BOREN: Well, I think, yes. A Bloomberg-Hagel, Bloomberg-Nunn, who knows? I think that would. When you look at it, I really think the Perot candidacy which received 19 percent of the vote, and that was even after he got in and got out and a lot of things happened, and also, very different times. The level of frustration, even fear about where our country is right now or worry about the future was not nearly as great then as it is now.
We've had, what, another 15 years or more of party bickering and frustration, and people seeing erosion of the strength of our country and our standing in the world - political and economic. And so I think that's the base, that's the lowest possible thought - 19 percent. Doesn't - it's - when circumstances change like they have with - if a Bloomberg, for example, were to get into it with his resources, not having to go to the special interest groups to get funding, you know, there's a real possibility - doesn't, you know, 35 percent, 36 percent.
Again, though, I want to state, I hope that's not what has to happen. I hope that we can do this within the two-party system, and I don't think it's romantic to think about it.
BLOCK: Okay. David Boren, thanks for talking with us.
Mr. BOREN: Thank you very much.
BLOCK: That's David Boren, former Oklahoma governor and senator who's hosting a bipartisan conference this coming Monday at the University of Oklahoma.