Q: We're here with Bob Shrum, veteran leader of various Democratic presidential campaigns. You're so happy about Barack Obama, aren't you, Bob?

Shrum: I am, actually. I think it's a great thing for the party, but more than that, it's a great thing for the country. We really need a new beginning.

Q: I laughed when I saw you on the "Today" show on Thursday with Herbert Hoover's great-granddaughter, when Matt [Lauer] was making fun of Bill Richardson getting secretary of Commerce and you pointed out that Herbert Hoover was secretary of Commerce before he was president.

Shrum: And went straight from secretary of Commerce to being president of the United States.

Q: So, I'm sure that Bill Richardson is feeling better if he saw your interview, because poor Matt didn't know. Bad researcher -- I wonder if that producer got fired.

Shrum: Well, I hope not. It was actually a fun moment, and Matt Lauer was really sort of copacetic with it. It was funny because I also pointed out Bill Daley had done that job and has gone on to be a major force in American business and in Obama's campaign.

Q: I want to talk to you about Obama's campaign, Bob, because I think they've sort of changed things already -- not just in the election, I want to move forward. But right now, as we look at it, the greatest asset they have -- this incredible good will, and they have these incredible online lists, right? They have built a grassroots organization. How well do you think that's going to serve them when they have to govern?

Shrum: If they handle it right, it will be the greatest grassroots lobbying enterprise in American history. I think it can be a very powerful adjunct for him as he tries to move forward. We've never seen anything like it in this country. I mean, you know, they have 4-6 million names. They have 4 million contributors, but they have several million more people who are on their e-mail lists. That's just a very, very powerful base for grassroots lobbying. And he's going to need it because there's some big legislation that's going to have to be moved in the next few months.

Q: And what about all the big names and all the big people who do not have personal relationships with him -- from Hilary Clinton to you-name-it -- how is he going to lead them? It almost feels like he's going to have to spend all his time managing them.

Shrum: Oh, I'm not sure that's true. I was talking with someone who was in the back room as they were getting ready to go out and announce the national security team, who said if you were in that room, it was no doubt about who was in charge; he was in charge. I think that he's going to give people a hearing. I think he wants to give them a hearing and wants to hear their views. He wants vigorous argument and dissent, but then he's going to decide what happens. I suspect that this is going to work a lot better than the skeptics think.

Q: You do? And what about the appearance this week by the CEOs of the -- I'm laughing because I can barely get it out -- the car company executives who drove to Washington? Do you think that will help them get a bailout?

Shrum: You know, I think actually they could have done something in between what they did last time and driving to Washington. Maybe they could have just bought a coach ticket on Northwest Airlines and flown from Detroit, which is one of the biggest hubs in the country.

[Laughter]

No, I don't think that's going to help them get a bailout. I think each of them taking their private plane hurt them the first time they came. Look, what ought to help them get a bailout in the end -- and I understand that there's a lot of blame to go around here. They didn't move in the right direction, they didn't move fast enough. The government, by the way, was part of this, because starting in 2000 after Bush won, there was no pressure on Detroit to move in a different direction. Now, they still could have made the decision as companies that we have to change, but they didn't.

There are too many jobs at stake, too much of the American economy at stake, too much shaken confidence in the world right now, in the world economy, in the global economy to just let the American auto industry collapse.

Q: But Barney Frank has already criticized Obama. He says, "He's going to have to be more assertive than he's been."

Shrum: Well, that's a tough question, you know. People were saying this to Franklin Roosevelt in 1932 during what was then a longer interregnum because presidents got inaugurated on March 4 -- that was the last time that happened. It's tough, because George Bush would basically have to say, "I will sign the bill that Obama favors." I don't think Bush, for example, is going to cede that kind of power. So I don't know exactly what he means by more assertive. He's told us he is going to propose a very robust stimulus package. He's told us that -- we know there is going to be a lot of energy innovation in it. He's leaning forward into saying that we need to do something to help the auto industry. I don't know what more he can do other than becoming president, which under our Constitution doesn't happen until January 20.

Q: I have to ask you about the reports that Caroline Kennedy -- you're a longtime adviser to the Kennedy family -- may step in in Clinton's Senate seat. Do you think she'd be a good senator?

Shrum: I think she'd be a terrific senator, I don't know anything about it and have nothing to say about it.

Q: Okay. Well, we're not going anywhere there.

[Laughter]

That's all right. And I have to ask you because...

Shrum: I really don't know anything about it, so it was an easy answer.

Q: What about Robert Kennedy? Will he step into EPA? Any word on that, Bob?

Shrum: I don't know.

Q: Okay. Then let me ask you about something you probably know a lot about -- David Gregory -- I see you on MSNBC with him, and he will be stepping into your old, dear friend Tim Russert's seat on "Meet The Press." How do you think he's going to do?

Shrum: Well, he did very well on.... Listen, it's not for me to say, but you know, as someone who was on "Road To The White House" a lot with him in the runup to the election, he did a terrific job there. I think he'll do a terrific job on "Meet the Press."

Q: Well, you were a regular when Tim was hosting the show, and you know the pressure that's there and also the impact in politics of anyone hosting or appearing on that. I mean, it's a different level than being on cable -- and I'm a cable baby, it's nothing against cable -- right?

Shrum: It is a very powerful program. It has probably more political electricity and juice to it than any other political program on television. And its hallmarks are, first, really fair but tough questioning and secondly, really interesting conversation about politics and government. And what I think David will bring to this that I think Tim brought to it, is a real love for both politics and government. You've got to like it. You've got to enjoy it or the gestalt of that show won't work.

Q: I can't let you go without talking about the Senate. [Saxby] Chambliss won; we're waiting to hear on -- although I guess it is looking unlikely for [Al] Franken. Everyone in town talks about the magic number 60. Is it going to make a big difference if the Democrats don't get the 60?

Shrum: No, I think that we probably put too much weight on the number and not enough weight on the fact that a lot of Republicans, I think, either genuinely want to cooperate or are going to be fearful of the political consequences of not cooperating with President Obama in a period like this. So I think you'll see Arlen Specter, Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe and even some more conservative Republicans -- John McCain, for example, on issues like torture and Guantanamo could end up being a real ally of the new president.

Q: How fast does Obama have to shut down Guantanamo Bay?

Shrum: Well, they've got to clearly go through a process of deciding what they can do with all the people who are there and where they're going to send them. And I'm not the legal expert, so I'm not going to speculate about that, but the one thing that I am certain of is that you can't just use some technical excuse to not do what Obama clearly promised to do and McCain clearly promised to do.

Q: When you don't see Bob Shrum on the "Today" show, you can read his columns in The Week. Thanks, Bob.

Shrum: Thank you.

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