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Candidates Tell What They Fear Losing

For the series "Primary Questions: Character, Leadership & The Candidates," CBS News anchor Katie Couric asked the 10 leading presidential candidates 10 questions designed to go beyond politics and show what really makes them tick. Below is the full transcript to the question: "Other than your family, what are you most afraid of losing?" Watch their answers tonight on the CBS Evening News With Katie Couric.

Check out the candidates' full responses in our "Primary Questions" video library.



MIKE HUCKABEE

Katie Couric: Other than your family, what are most afraid of losing?

Huckabee: My health. No doubt about it. And I almost did that. In fact, I did do that. And about five years ago, when my doctor sat me down and diagnosed me with Type II diabetes, told me that if I didn't change my lifestyle, I had, really, the beginnings of my final decade of life. And it scared the daylights out of me. And he described for me what diabetes was going to do. Well, I took an aggressive action against it, and was able to reverse it. And I haven't had any symptoms of diabetes now, in five years. I should live as long as anybody that's never had it. So, I was able to confront it, deal with it, and overcome it because I dealt with it that way. But, I also have this sort of nagging thing in the back of my head knowing that if I go back to living like I did, which is not exercising and, throwing caution to the wind when it comes to nutrition, that I would be right back where I was. And it'd be a very dangerous place to be.

Couric: You lost a lot of weight.

Huckabee: Yeah, 110 pounds over the course of about a year. And, I did something I never thought I would do. And that's start exercising and eventually running. I've now run four marathons, and I'm scheduled to run the Boston Marathon next April. You know, I never would have thought I would have watched a marathon, much less participated in one.

Couric: It's interesting, just as I've been asking these questions, that the natural answer for me.

Huckabee: Yeah.

Couric: And you're the first person who has said that about…

Huckabee: Hmm…

Couric: Worried about how…

Couric: I think, also, because I've lost so many people…

Huckabee: Yeah.

Couric: To cancer…

Huckabee: Right.

Couric: That, or the health of people you love. You know?

Huckabee: Right.

Huckabee: Exactly. Well, and my wife had cancer our first year of marriage. We've been married now, going on 34 years. But, we were still in college. It was a very, you know, tough time. Because you don't think that's going to happen to you when you're 20 years old. And it was a real shaping point of our lives, as well. Because you really do understand that if you lose your health, you lose everything. Nothing else really matters. Because losing your health can mean you lose your life. And then, does it matter what kind of house you live in? Does it matter what kind of car you drive? Does it matter how nice your clothes are? No. And no amount of money can replace that. So it, it's kind of to the point of, Maslov's hierarchy of values. And it gets right down to it. And your next breath becomes your greatest value.

JOHN MCCAIN

Couric: Besides your family, what are you most afraid of losing?

McCain: My country. I lived without my country for a period of time. And that's when I fell in love with America, once I was deprived of her company. I think that it's the most marvelous place in the world, with all our flaws and failing. I'd hate to be deprived of this…of the United States of America.

BARACK OBAMA

Couric: Other than your family what are you most afraid of losing?

Obama: My good name. You know, I always am thinking about making sure that at the end of my days, when people look back, they can say, "Here's somebody who operated with integrity. Here's somebody who was honest in his dealings with the American people and with his colleagues." And, you know, that's very important to me.

You know, because I think that it's the thing that, especially when you're in public life, you know, is always threatened. Because I think people are watching you carefully. And I always want to make sure that I'm, you know, all the people who are taking the time to support me and work so hard on my behalf that I'm living up to their expectations. Which doesn't mean that I'm not going to make mistakes. But it does mean that I want them to feel confident that I'm working in a way that will make them proud and-- and justify that trust.

Couric: Is it ever hard to -- to do that though when you're in the throes of a very intense and at times -- tough campaign where there is, quite frankly, a fair amount of infighting going on (LAUGHS) among the candidates?

Obama: Yeah. Well, you know -- I don't think there's anything wrong with -- being able to throw some elbows a little bit once in a while. I -- you know, I used to play basketball. And I was skinny, but I was tough. And -- you know, I -- I wanna make sure that whenever I -- I talk about difference between myself and other candidates in the campaign that it's based on truth. That I'm not personalizing it. That I'm not taking cheap shots -- or distorting what they say. But, you know, to be clear about the differences that exist between the candidates, I think that is important for the voters to be able to make up their minds. And I wouldn't be running if I didn't think that I was better than any of the other candidates at the job of president.

BILL RICHARDSON

Couric: Besides your family, what are you most afraid of losing?

Richardson: What I'm most afraid of losing is my enthusiasm for being a public servant, mainly because that's all I've been. I've only been in politics and government. And I wake up every morning wanting to make a difference. And I worry about the day when I lose that motivation and I may want to take it easy and that's what bothers me. Losing the motivation, losing the interest in having power to do the right thing.

MITT ROMNEY

Couric: Besides your family what are you most afraid of losing?

Romney: Boy, that's all I'm afraid of losing. I mean, let me pause for a second and think about that. My family's my life. My wife and my kids are what my life is all about. And, I don't think I'm going to lose them. But I'm going be sad, being away from them when, when the end of life comes. I'm concerned about the future of America. I'm concerned about America losing its place as the most powerful military and economic entity upon the earth. I'm concerned about America losing its way, losing its goodness, losing its ability to lead the world, from a position of moral strength. And so it's important to me to see both the protection of my family and the strength of America. And interestingly, those two are connected. I think the best allied peace and prosperity have ever known is a strong America. And keeping America strong is one reason that I'm running. And the other is to keep America so strong that my family and my children and grandchildren will have a bright and prosperous future.

FRED THOMPSON

Couric: Besides your family, what are you most afraid of losing?

Thompson: I'm not afraid of losing anything besides my family. Their safety, I mean, when you say besides, I mean, that's a real big besides. I think about it all the time. They, Gerry flies with me sometimes, and I think about what would happen if something happened to us, that with the children being that young. I think about when she flies separately from me, I think about our children, you know, at home, driving to the supermarket and things like that. I think about that a lot. Other than that, I only, I only think about myself in terms of lost time with them. But other than that, I'm not afraid of dying. And I'm not afraid of anything else. But I I'm, I'm petrified of the thought of anything happening to one of them.

JOHN EDWARDS

Couric: Other than your family, what are you most afraid of losing?

Edwards: I would be concerned about losing my conscience, my integrity, doing something that I knew was contrary to what I believed, that took away who I am as a human being.

Couric: I'm surprised you didn't say your health.

Edwards: Yeah. I don't, I don't actually worry a great deal about losing my health. And maybe that's because of what's happening with Elizabeth, what's happening, what's happened with our family. And I really don't spend any time thinking about that, honestly.

JOE BIDEN

Couric: Other than your family, what are you most afraid of losing?

Biden: My integrity. My reputation for being honest, straight-forward, keeping my word. My dad had an expression from the time we were kids. He'd say to me, to my sister it would be a different phrase. He would always say, you're a man of your word. Without your word, you're not a man. And, so, it's the thing that, is the single most important thing to me. And I think it is to you, and almost everybody. But, you know, I've tried to build my whole, not my career, but my life on having a reputation of being straight-forward and honest. I don't mean the guy Diogenes found. The only honest person out there. Just being straight-forward and being a person of your word. Whatever you say you do. In my neighborhood, you know, a promise made is a promise kept. And I've sort of built my entire image of myself for me based on that. And I think that's the thing I'm most worried about -- be most worried about. And that's the dangerous part of being involved in national politics.

Couric: Why?

Biden: Well, because sometimes you can be characterized unfairly as you having broken your word. Or you've not been a person of honor. Because it's so hard when that sort of 'red tide' starts to flow. To be able to sustain what sometimes are false allegations. This has not happened to me now. But I mean, there, you see it happen to other people. And, it's just a place where you have the least control over your notion of who you are. Is when you are before the whole world or before the whole country. And unless you have had some staying power, unless people have had an opportunity to view you over a period of time, you run the risk of being subject to your life being reduced to a snapshot, rather than sort of a motion picture. And that's what I mean by it's the most dangerous.

Couric: Plus, you know, people will criticize you for saying something at one point, and they won't give it any context or they won't explain what happened, or give the background.

Biden: And they don't even mean it. You know, I used to think that it was done, you know, it was done to just to take an individual down. But the truth of the matter is, it's kind of the nature of the way communications are today. I mean, look, when I got elected, 34 years ago as a young senator, the great networks like yours, there were only three of them. And when you were doing a background check on somebody or checking out some allegation, you would put ten people on it. You know. And you'd double check it and triple check it. And, well now there's so many outlets, you don't have time.

Biden: Now, I'm not suggesting you don't.

Couric: No, I know what you mean.

Biden: But if there's overwhelming pressure to get it up in the air, because if you don't get it on the air someone else will, and if it turns out to be true and you missed it. So it's just a different environment. I think it's tough on reporters, too. I really do. I think it's tough on the media. I mean, how you compete, you know? So it's just that's what I mean by it's a more, the ground's not nearly as steady out there. But if you're around long enough, I think people get a sense of who you are and they put things in context, even when they're not putting context for them.

HILLARY CLINTON

Couric: Other than your family, what are you most afraid of losing?

Clinton: My health. I worry about, you know, some day not being as healthy and vigorous, and having as much stamina and resilience as I have. I'm blessed in having an 88-year-old mother who is in good health and lives with us. And yet I see so many of my friends unexpectedly fighting health problems, some not making it. So, I'm very conscious on what happens as you get older, and you see people's health that used to be perfect begin to deteriorate. So, I try to keep focused on that.

RUDY GIULIANI

Couric: Other than your family, what are you most afraid of losing?

Giuliani: Well, when you say that, you know, you immediately think of your wife or your children. And those are like nightmares that you have. I think, you know, the thing I'd be most afraid of is losing my freedom. Now, in a political sense, I don't have that fear because I'm an American. I have that fear for the world. And then you have that fear in terms of illness too. You know, in terms of I'm a very active person. I move around. I get around. I'm very aware of what's going on around me. And when I see some of the illnesses now that people have in old age, it gives you a certain feeling that, you know, this going to happen to me. And I wonder, I wonder, how you're going to deal with it.

Couric: In a way, mobility for you…

Giuliani: Mobility, freedom, yes. Freedom, mobility, being able to take care of yourself. Being able to be responsible for yourself. I learned that from my mom and dad. My dad fairly early in his 70's. But, my mom lived until she was in her 90's and she was very, very active. She read four newspapers a day until she got to be about 89, 90. And then, she was in and out. And I used to really feel for her because she, I know, she wanted to be the way she was and she couldn't be.

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