CNBC EXCLUSIVE: CNBC EXCERPTS: CNBC'S MARIA BARTIROMO INTERVIEWS REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE SEN. JOHN MCCAIN AND VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE GOV. SARAH PALIN TODAY

CNBC EXCLUSIVE: CNBC EXCERPTS: CNBC'S MARIA BARTIROMO INTERVIEWS REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE SEN. JOHN MCCAIN AND VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE GOV. SARAH PALIN TODAY

WHEN: Today, Tuesday, October 28th

WHERE: CNBC's "Closing Bell with Maria Bartiromo" and "Wall Street Crisis: Is your Money Safe?"

Following are unofficial excerpts of a CNBC EXCLUSIVE interview with Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain and vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin that took place this morning in Hershey, Pa. The excerpts focus on answers to "what is wrong with the redistribution of wealth" as well as "how is the McCain/Palin partnership going" in the last week of the Presidential campaign.

The full interview will air this afternoon on CNBC's "Closing Bell with Maria Bartiromo" (4-5 PM ET) as well as on CNBC's live primetime special "Wall Street Crisis: Is Your Money Safe?" (7-9 PM ET).

All references must be sourced to CNBC.

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Maria: On the issue of redistribution of wealth, which Obama talked about as far back as 2001 in an interview, what is wrong with the redistribution of wealth? How are you going to help the people on the bottom of the income scale?

Sen. McCAIN: Well, obviously that's been tried. That is a bold left-wing

liberal view of how you help people in--they've tried it in other countries.

America--look, you don't take money from one group and give it to another.

You get--you let people have the ability to accumulate wealth, create jobs,

create opportunities, create all the things that a free society, a free

enterprise system. Of course we have an obligation. We have Social Security,

we have Medicare, we have unemployment insurance. We have all of those

things. But to somehow say that we're going to take money because "Joe the

Plumber" reaches a certain income level, now we're going to take that money

from him and give it to somebody else, that's a fundamental contradiction to

what's made this country the strongest and greatest nation in the world. It's

a fundamental contradiction, and the American people are beginning to figure

it out.

Gov. PALIN: So...

BARTIROMO: But we know that there's an income gap.

Gov. PALIN: But instead of taking more from our families and our small

businesses, that's creating this atmosphere where we cannot create jobs,

hiring more people, not if we're taking more from our businesses. Instead of

doing that and then spreading that income according to a politician's

priorities, let's do what John McCain has been saying, let's spread

opportunity so that people like "Joe the Plumber" and others can create more

jobs, they can hire more people. Because they'll be able to reinvest their

hard earned money according to their priorities. We can be compassionate and

we can be generous with others without government mandating where those

dollars should go to. (Unintelligible)...minimum wage...

Sen. McCAIN: One additional point. One of the reasons for that inequality

you pointed out, of course, one of the major reasons is because the rising

cost of health care. Fewer and fewer lower income Americans are able to

afford it, and small businesses. We want to make health insurance and health

care affordable and available in America. That's a key item.

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BARTIROMO: How's the partnership going? Governor Palin, when I spoke with

you in August, you weren't sure if you were on anybody's short list, and then

two days later you get the call.

Gov. PALIN: Yeah.

BARTIROMO: How did it all come down?

Gov. PALIN: It came down the way it was supposed to, and it's all good. And

it is very good, the partnership is very good. And John McCain, he is a true

leader, and a true leader in his campaign in unifying and creating this

cohesiveness that we need in order to get the message out there, allowing

voters to know the stark contrast between these two tickets. And it's a world

of difference what voters will have in front of them on November 4th. To

understand that our ticket supports policies that will create jobs and get the

economy back on the right track and win the war, as opposed to a ticket that

supports policies that will kill jobs and will harm our economy.

Sen. McCAIN: Can I just say, I couldn't be happier. I couldn't be happier.

The enthusiasm, the support, the people who come to--and look, here's two

mavericks. Here's two mavericks. Did anybody expect us to agree--to agree on

every issue? I think we'd be pretty dull--we--on ANWR, we continue a

discussion about that. We're not going to agree on every issue, but that's

the fun of our relationship. And I am so--I can't tell you the excitement

that she has generated and the role model she is. I couldn't be happier.

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