(May 21, 2008) George Stephanopoulos, chief Washington correspondent for ABC News and former senior adviser to President Bill Clinton, shared his perspective on the 2008 presidential election at the California Chamber of Commerce Business Legislative Summit yesterday.

The 51-minute presentation/question-and-answer session, came after Stephanopoulos was welcomed by CalChamber President Allan Zaremberg to the crowd of business leaders, state politicians, local chambers of commerce and others.

Stephanopoulos asked for a brief moment of silence for Senator Edward Kennedy, who was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor earlier that morning, and then jumped right into discussing the significance of and the enthusiasm surrounding this year’s presidential election.

George Stephanopoulos at the Legislative Summit

"This is a very big election, I'm sure all of you can feel that," Stephanopoulos said. "Going back to the spring of 2007 we were seeing 65, 66 percent of the public saying they were paying close attention to the presidential race. You usually don't see those kinds of numbers until the conventions, just a few months away from the general election."

Stephanopoulos pointed to the economic woes, an extraordinary batch of candidates and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as the main reasons for the record number of voters and enthusiasm.

John McCain

Stephanopoulos discussed Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign in detail, describing how he was nearly counted out a year ago, and has since stormed back to the forefront as the presumptive Republican nominee.

"His campaign was floundering, it was hemorrhaging money, he was getting battered by the immigration issue, his campaign basically fell apart," said Stephanopoulos. "He came back; a lot of that has to do with his pure grit and determination."

McCain’s personal story and patriotic background is what Stephanopoulos said will be the Arizona senator's best chance at bringing the Republican Party back to the White House.

"When he was being held prisoner in Vietnam in the 1960s for more than five years, the North Vietnamese came to him again and again and again and said 'you can leave, you can walk out the door,' and every single time he said, 'no,' and that is a testament to his personal strength."

The crowd applauded.

The other key strategy that Stephanopoulos said McCain must use to his advantage against Senator Barack Obama in the general election is to take a play out of the 1988 playbook of President George H.W. Bush when he made Michael Dukakis an "unacceptable candidate."

Stephanopoulos said McCain must make Obama "too unknown," "too inexperienced" and "not really one of us."

Democratic Primary

Stephanopoulos said that when he accepted the invitation to speak at the Summit a few months ago, he "never would have believed that the Democratic Primary fight would still be going on."

He declared that the race will end in the next couple of weeks and it is going to take a serious anomaly for Senator Hillary Clinton to overcome Obama's lead.

Stephanopoulos said the best way for the Democratic Party to be unified around Obama is to do something that he probably doesn't want to do — "That is make Senator Clinton his running mate."

Stephanopoulos said Obama has been successful over the course of the primary season for several reasons including "embodying change in a year when that is exactly what people want," building a tight, disciplined campaign, having an appeal to super delegates and learning from his mistakes.

Possible Vice Presidents

In response to questions, Stephanopoulos said he thinks possible running mates for John McCain are: Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford and former Director of the Office of Management and Budget Rob Portman, among others.

For Obama, Stephanopoulos said possible options could be: Senator Joe Biden, former Head of U.S. NATO Forces Jim Jones, U.S. Army General Wesley Clark and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson.

Stephanopoulos

Stephanopoulos currently oversees ABC’s coverage of Congress and reports political and policy stories for all ABC platforms. Such platforms include World News Tonight, Nightline, Good Morning America, and online content. He also is the anchor of ABC's Sunday morning program, This Week with George Stephanopoulos.

Before joining ABC News in 1997, Stephanopoulos served as the senior adviser to President Clinton for policy and strategy. He is also the author of All Too Human, the New York Times best-seller on President Clinton's first term and the 1992 and 1996 Clinton/Gore campaigns.