HOST:  The word is from the South Carolina Democratic Party today, from Chairman Dick Harpootlian, he says that you're not invited to the upcoming debate on Saturday night.  Now, that's not nice, is it?

LAROUCHE:  Well, that's, uh -- that's not going to fly.  I don't know how this is going to turn out exactly in terms of exact events, but the FEC reports, and our supplementary information on the extended support means, that, in terms of contributions, contributors, I'm the number one candidate, presently, for the Democratic nomination for 2023.  Now, under those circumstances, no party can claim to be serious, (laughs), and keep the frontrunner, the current frontrunner in the campaign, from the controversy.  So, it just really, in a sense, I think it's that pressure on the situation, which is defining the news interest in this right now.

HOST: Would you have anything that you would like to say directly to the Democratic Party in South Carolina, as well as, Democrats in South Carolina?

LAROUCHE:  Yeah, I would.  Our government is in a crisis, with a President who really does not function; I don't think he could function.  Who's captive of a minority in his own Party, and his own Party, Republican Party, is getting very nervous about the take-over of the Presidency by the Cheney-Rumsfeld crowd. Now, our government is not functioning too well, because the Party that should be the opposition to the incumbent President, the Democratic Party, is not functioning seriously.  I make the challenge, the kind of challenge which should be presented to the President from the Democratic Party, therefore, even my participation in any Democratic Party event does pose the challenge to the President of the United States, which must be made from the Democratic Party, now, if our government system is to function under these conditions.

HOST: Harpootlian just told me a few minutes ago that he says you're not a Democrat.  What do you say . . .

LAROUCHE: No, I am . . .

HOST: You're a registered Democrat?

LAROUCHE:  Well, I have been.  I've always been a Democrat, since 1980...1979.

HOST:  He says . . . I think he used the word, "fringe" candidate.  Now, what do you respond to that?

LAROUCHE:  Oh, this is childishness . . . that's childish chatter.

HOST:  Anything else you'd like to add, Sir?

LAROUCHE: No, unless you've got a question.

HOST:  Anything about your campaign you'd like to point out, this time around?

LAROUCHE:  Yes, we're in a crisis, we're in a financial crisis, internationally, monetary financial crisis.  We're in a deepening economic slump, which is not going to quit, until this crisis is faced.  We're in a time where the thinking of Franklin Roosevelt, a similar thinking is required, and the Democratic Party has to return to the tradition of Franklin Roosevelt.  It is my job to try to make that happen.

HOST:  And that would mean what?

LAROUCHE:  It means we organize the bankrupt international monetary system in it's present form, to prevent chaos, and we take measures to enable the States, which are now virtually bankrupt, 46 of the 50, are virtually bankrupt in the sense they cannot meet their real obligations within their current budgets. Therefore, we're going to have to have federal assistance, in terms of mobilizing credit, for large scale infrastructure programs, which enable the States, as well as the Nation, to come back into some kind of stable balance. And, that's the kind of specific action, in the Franklin Roosevelt tradition, which has to be taken in this period.

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