ANNOUNCER: THE POINT WITH GRETA VAN SUSTEREN. A congressman's future hangs in the balance.
REP. RICHARD GEPHARDT (D-MO), MINORITY LEADER: I've talked to other members, as I will in the days ahead.
ANNOUNCER: Secret meetings, anonymous sources and leaked drafts of denials. Tonight's POINT, is Gary Condit staying or going?
We don't know what happened during those four interviews with the police department. However, now they're coming out and saying, well, he wasn't as forthcoming as we would have liked him to have been.
ISIKOFF: Well, they had said that all along, but Gephardt was responding to not what was being reported in the newspapers, but to watching Condit answer the questions put to him by Connie Chung. And you know, this is a matter of public relations and also politics. I mean, you know, Condit is the most well-known Democrat, the most famous congressman in America right now, and he's not the best face for the Democratic Party.
VAN SUSTEREN: Let me give you a hypothetical...
KANNO: Well, I think...
VAN SUSTEREN: ... Chuck first to you.
KANNO: OK, sorry.
VAN SUSTEREN: Chuck, this -- Chandra Levy's been missing 130 days. Let's assume that she shows up, hopefully alive, but let's assume that it could be that she shows up and she's dead, but unrelated at all to the congressman. How does that change things for a Congressman Condit?
TODD: Oh, I think it might even turn to a Richard Jewell situation, where, you know, he can seek his ultimate redemption. And...
VAN SUSTEREN: But he's got Anne Marie Smith out there as well. He's got these other girlfriends, allegations. Does that make a difference?
TODD: You know, it makes some difference. I'll be curious to see if the grand jury, we're all waiting to see that piece of mail go to Anne Marie Smith's attorney and see what it says tomorrow -- from the Modesto grand jury. But you know, it -- it's probably tough for him to rehabilitate a little bit.
But you know, if he's got nothing to do with this and they prove it, he's still going to have to make the media eat a lot of crow, and that's going to play. You know, voters love a comeback story, and they love, you know, if a little man is getting pounded, they feel like, then they -- you know, who knows? It could happen. VAN SUSTEREN: Michael, same hypothetical to you -- what happens?
ISIKOFF: Oh, sure. If Chandra Levy emerges safe and sound, or if -- if not but somebody else is arrested for what might have happened to her, that's -- that's certainly a scenario that could save Condit. But that's what people have been saying and Condit's people have been hoping and prayer for, for the past, you know, several months and it hasn't happened. And the longer time goes on, the less likely that is to happen.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right. Thank you, gentlemen. Michael Isikoff, Chuck Todd and John Kanno, thanks for joining me tonight.
TODD: Thanks, Greta.
VAN SUSTEREN: As if Gary Condit doesn't have enough to worry about it here in Washington, there's a grand jury getting down to business back in California, and we'll check out that part of the story when THE POINT returns.
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VAN SUSTEREN: In California, a civil grand jury convened this week. Jurors will consider a complaint filed against Gary Condit by attorneys for flight attendant Anne Marie Smith.
Smith says Condit tried to get her to sign a sworn statement saying she never had a relationship with him, even though Smith says the two had a year-long affair. Smith's attorneys want Condit indicted for obstruction of justice and trying to make Smith sign a false affidavit. Condit denies he had a relationship with Smith and that he asked her to sign a false affidavit.
Grand jury proceedings are secret, so everyone in Modesto and beyond will have to wait until a decision is announced. But while voters in Gary Condit's home district wait, what are they thinking?
Joining me from Modesto with some grassroots perspective is John Zank, who works as a marketing director, and Lucille Mejia, who is a doctor's administrative aide.
Welcome to both of you, and first to you, Lucia, did you vote for Congressman Condit last November?
LUCILLE MEJIA, DOCTOR'S ADMINISTRATIVE AIDE: Yes, I did.
VAN SUSTEREN: Would you vote for Congressman Condit again a year and a couple months from now if he elected to run?
MEJIA: I sure will.
VAN SUSTEREN: Why?
MEJIA: He's proven himself. I know him. He knows the district. I can't think of anyone to serve the 18th district than Congressman Condit. VAN SUSTEREN: John, did you vote last November for the congressman?
JOHN ZANK, MARKETING DIRECTOR: Yes, I did.
VAN SUSTEREN: Why did you vote for him?
ZANK: I voted for him because I think Gary's done -- done a good job as a representative for our district. He's been a great grassroots politician, great, you know, the kind of person that slaps a lot backs, goes to a lot of community functions, does those types of things. Probably better known, in my opinion, in his district for -- for being a grassroots local boy than -- that for anything legislatively he's done in Congress or when he was in the state legislature.
VAN SUSTEREN: John if the election were held tomorrow would you vote for Congressman Condit again?
ZANK: No, I would not.
VAN SUSTEREN: Why not?
ZANK: Well, actually, I was sitting on the fence. I hadn't really decided if I would vote for Gary again or if I wouldn't until I saw the Connie Chung interview. And once I saw the Connie Chung interview, then I made up my mind -- in fact, probably the first 10 minutes of the interview -- I decided right then that no, he would not get my vote again. He lost my support.
VAN SUSTEREN: What -- what was it about that interview, John?
ZANK: Well, the thing that I took from the interview was that, you know, Gary -- I think his constituents deserved more after 30 years of support. Thirty years of support, they -- we voted Gary into as a lower -- as a mayor in one of our small communities, you know, through the state legislature, now into Congress. You know, he'd win -- he would win the elections with wide margins of support. And then he sits up there with Connie Chung and basically thinks he can fool all of his constituents.
You know, maybe Gary's fooled some of us all the time and maybe he's fooled all of us some of the time, but I really thought on that interview he thought he could fool all of us all of the time. And that's just not the kind of congressman I would support in the future.
I just can't believe him.
VAN SUSTEREN: Lucille -- Lucille, what do you think when you hear John talk that way?
MEJIA: Well, that the interview that I saw was not the Gary Condit that I know. I believe that Gary was under a lot of stress, and I believe that now. And if he was under different circumstances, we would have seen what Cadee had mentioned about the twinkle in his eye, how he's real direct, you know, how he's real free to talk to us. And he didn't have that -- he didn't have that opportunity. And I just think it's really unfair.
VAN SUSTEREN: Lucille, do you know the congressman personally? Have you ever had like a conversation or met him?
MEJIA: Yes, I have.
VAN SUSTEREN: And what was your impression of him?
MEJIA: What I appreciate about him most is the fact that once he meets you, he remembers your name, and if he sees someone across the room, he'll go ahead and mention them. You know, "How are you doing your homework, how's your family?" He knows us, and that's what's real important, is the fact that Gary knows us.
VAN SUSTEREN: Lucille, what do you make of the sort the details about his personal life? At least, Anne Marie Smith claims that she had an affair with him, and he's married, of course. Does that enter into your sort of equation as to whether or not you would -- you think that he should serve in Congress?
MEJIA: Absolutely not. Anne Marie Smith should be ashamed of herself. She went into, if she did have a relationship, she went into it knowing darned well that, you know, Carolyn Condit's at home. Shame on her. And you know, to flaunt it and to be on every news channel that will go ahead and hear her, shame on her again. You know, that's nothing to be proud of.
VAN SUSTEREN: John, do you think the press has been overbearing on the congressman?
ZANK: No, I don't think so. In fact, I think that the press has done a terrific job in this whole case, just for the simple fact that the more that it's in the light, the more we can continue to think about and look for Chandra Levy. But no, I don't think they've been too hard on him. In fact, I think they should keep pounding, quite frankly.
VAN SUSTEREN: John, what would -- what would change your mind and make you want to vote for the congressman again? What facts could arise?
ZANK: Wow, that's a good question, because it would take a lot of facts. It would take a lot of change in Gary for me to make that decision again.
VAN SUSTEREN: Give me an idea of what he could do, how he could change.
ZANK: Well, between now and the election I don't know if he could do it. He would have to come forward, be very contrite, be very apologetic, very sincere. He would have to come out and be the Gary Condit that Lucille just mentioned about, that everyone knows, and but obviously we saw a different side of him, and so I don't know if we could see that again. But other than that, it would take a lot to change my mind.
VAN SUSTEREN: Lucille, what would change your mind so that you wouldn't vote for the congressman again if he ran?
MEJIA: There is absolutely no way that I would ever change my mind and turn my back on Congressman Gary Condit. He's and outstanding man. I cannot think of anything that would -- that he would ever say or do that would ever make me change my mind. I will always be in his corner. I'll pound the pavement, knock on doors, register new voters, go out and get the new, if we need new voters, I'll go out and get them. But you know, come election day Gary Condit will once again win.
VAN SUSTEREN: And Lucille you think he's going to run?
MEJIA: Oh, you bet. I don't see him see him walking away. You know, he's -- no, I think he just needs to look at everybody dead in the eye and say, you know what? I have done absolutely nothing wrong. My constituents believe in me.
VAN SUSTEREN: And unfortunately I've got to cut you off because that is all the time we have, John Zank and Lucille Mejia, thanks for joining me.
The residents of Washington, D.C. got a wakeup call this week. Unfortunately, they got it about one hour before midnight. A final point about some noisy new neighbors after a quick break and our "MONEYLINE" update.
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VAN SUSTEREN: Tonight's "Final Point": Fireworks about fireworks. They pulled out all the stops here in Washington for this week's visit by Mexican President Vicente Fox. There was a glittering state dinner followed by a surprise: 769 booming, blazing fireworks fired off from the White House ellipse. That was at 11:00 at night.
It was a school night, a work night, and well, fireworks are not quiet. As you might guess, Washington's citizens just didn't feel as jolly and jubilant as the celebrating presidents. The complaints rolled in. Then, we heard about the cost, estimated to be about $175,000 for a 15-minute wake up call in the middle of the night.
My point: I am all for fun and celebration. But just like any party, it's always better not to be so loud and ostentatious that you annoy the neighbors, especially when they have a say as to how soon you'll have to move out. This reminds me of President Clinton's not- so-neighborly $200 haircut at the start of his first term. Remember, the one that held up flights while Air Force One sat on the runway for several hours? Don't presidents ever learn?
Let me know what you think about late-night fireworks and whether Gary Condit should run for re-election. Send an e-mail to askgreat@CNN.com, that is one word, askgreta.
I'm Greta Van Susteren in Washington. Have a great weekend.
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