Chris Wallace: 'War on Terror key issue again'

Chris Wallace believes that the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Bhutto could put the focus of the 2008 Presidential election back on National Security. Wallace told Trace Gallagher, "This will make national security, the war on terror a key issue again."

This video is from Fox's Studio B, broadcast on December 27, 2007.



Rush transcript via closed captions

trace: presidential candidates park are attacking each other -- candidates -- presidential candidates are attacking each other. they' re running out of time. we have chris wallace. we have not talked a lot about security. in the wake of this assassination, the question is, who appeals to them?

:: if you look at the polls, and there has been polling done on who' ve voters see as the strongest, an interesting poll was done very recently when they ask, who do you see is a strong commander in chief? on the democratic side, hillary clinton has a big lead, 40%. 19% -- 29% 4 barack obama. -- for barack obama. a wide margin on the republican side. they see giuliani and romney as a better commander in chief over romney and huckabee. the people who have had some experience in this area, clinton, giuliani, mccain, are all leading the so-called newcomers by wide margins. we will have to see how that plays out in iowa and new hampshire. this will make national security, the war on terror a key issue again. people have been straying away from that as the war has been going very well. the national intelligence has shown that iran does not having nuclear weapons program. benazir bhutto' s assassination reminds us this is a dangerous world. trace: all of a sudden, john mccain goes from being the oldest candidate to being the trusted on all the people are looking at right now. you look at romney and it seems that they have been trying to get their foreign affairs legs underneath them. that is the picture people are seeing across the country.

:: i think that is right. it is not a coincidence that you read seen mccain very actively out on the cable networks talking about his -- that you have seen mccain very actively out on the cable networks talking about his experience, that he has been to places that the other candidates do not know how to spell. not to say that clinton has such foreign policy credentials, but it is an advantage over obama and edwards. trace: she has been there when some of these things were being discussed.

:: that is right. i have thought for some time that one of the reasons we have seen the rise of huckabee and obama is because of the fact that this was not a national security election. the situation seemed better in iraq and less threatening in iran. people were looking to issues of change, a new phase, a new approach. as this becomes a national security election again, that is going to favor the older, wiser, more experienced hands.