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Republicans Prepare to Debate; Mississippi Campus Shooting. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired September 14, 2015 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[15:00:03]

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Maybe he laid the groundwork for Trump. It will be interesting to see if they do meet up there on Wednesday at the debate site.

Meanwhile, Trump has already given his blessing to Schwarzenegger, so the handoff has happened, and the Arnold -- I can't really do the voice, I have to admit -- will be taking over "The Apprentice," "The Celebrity Apprentice." NBC hopes it's a chance to reinvigorate the franchise. So, we will see how he does next year.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Brian Stelter, thank you.

STELTER: Thanks.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BALDWIN: All right, let me get some breaking news in here. This is out of Mississippi.

As we have been reporting through much of the day here, there is still an active shooter situation happening. And when I say that, I mean police are still looking for the shooter. We know a Delta State University professor was shot and killed on campus. That campus is in Cleveland, Mississippi.

That campus is still on lockdown. As I mentioned, they are still looking for the gunman. And people are told, stay inside, stay away from windows.

I have Detective Matt Hoggatt, who joining me here on the line.

Detective, I understand, in addition to this professor shooting, there may be a separate homicide that's being investigated. What can you tell me about that?

DET. MATT HOGGATT, GAUTIER POLICE DEPARTMENT: That's correct.

We're situated geographically about six, five or six hours of the Delta State college. We're located on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. But shortly after 10:00 a.m. Central Standard Time this morning, we received information that there had been a shooting in our town as well. And police responded to the scene and located a female that had been shot and killed. And in the course of our investigation, we learned that the -- an apparent suspect in our case may have ties to the Delta State college and may have been leaving to go to that area. Right now, we're working with authorities up there under the assumption that both crimes are related in some way, shape or form, and we believe that to be the case.

BALDWIN: So a female victim in the Gautier, Mississippi, area, about five to six hours away from the campus there in Cleveland, potentially connected, two homicides. Detective, we will keep in close contact with you and see.

HOGGATT: Sure.

BALDWIN: Obviously, the question, the issue at hand right now is to figure out where the shooter is and to make sure they apprehend him.

Alina Machado is on that as well.

Alina joining me now.

(CROSSTALK)

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brooke, the professor who was -- yes.

Well, we know that the identity of professor who was killed at Delta State University this morning has been released. His name was Ethan Schmidt, and he was a history professor. This is all according to the coroner's office in Bolivar County.

Now, the deputy coroner also tells CNN that Schmidt was shot in the head at least once. And again, according to authorities, this is still an active, ongoing situation on the campus of Delta State University, which again is located in Cleveland, Mississippi, about two hours north of Jackson, Mississippi.

We first heard about an active shooter situation on the campus just before noon eastern in a tweet from the school's official Twitter page saying that a shooter had been spotted near Jobe Hall on campus. The campus was immediately placed on lockdown. Students and faculty have been asked to stay indoors.

And to stay away from windows until they are given the all-clear. The deputy corner has also told CNN that the professor who was killed was in his office at the time of the shooting. The coroner's office also says no gun was found at the scene, but authorities did found two empty shell casings. Brooke, they are still looking for the person who killed this professor this morning.

BALDWIN: Awful. Alina Machado, thank you so much.

And we continue on. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Back now to the pressure, the tension, that excitement that is growing. We are 48 hours away here in Simi Valley, California, at the Reagan Library from our CNN Republican debate Wednesday night. The main event happens at 8:00 Eastern, where the top 11 GOP hopefuls take to the stage inside this just spectacular library to try their best to shine themselves, but also take down the man there at the center of the stage, Donald Trump.

We have some new numbers today. Let me just share these with you. The latest poll really reinforces what we have been seeing, this trend, Trump firmly in the lead with 33 percent here. This is the "Washington Post"/ABC poll. Dr. Ben Carson there with -- the only other candidate in double digits at 20 percent. That's growing. And the rest of the field far behind, single digits

To kick off our coverage this hour, we have our senior digital correspondent for CNN politics Chris Moody, who is in Simi Valley, California, here with me as well.

And so Trump, it's already predicted he will take criticism from all sides. We know this is someone who doesn't care about politically -- being politically correct and doesn't care about apologizing. What are you hearing from other campaigns about the tone? This could be more nasty than the last one.

[15:05:11]

CHRIS MOODY, CNN POLITICS SENIOR DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: When you're at the top of the polls in a large presidential field like this, you're of course target number one.

Trump will be literally center stage here at the Ronald Reagan Library. Also, Dr. Ben Carson is really nipping at his heels. The candidates have a lot of fodder to choose from in how to go after him. Trump is one of the only candidates who has talked about raising taxes on a certain group of Americans.

He's also had pretty strong immigration rhetoric, of course, which we have covered for a long time now. I think you're going to see people really going after him and trying to take him down. If you talk to Republican consultants and people that have been in this game for a long time, they said the summer is over and now it's time to get real.

You're going to seeing a lot of ads, possibly with a lot of money behind them from the Republican side, going after Trump into the fall. What we saw over the summer, I think a lot of people thought was a lot fun, but it's going to start getting very serious as we near through the fall and into the winter.

BALDWIN: OK, Chris Moody, let's get down to brass tacks. You're there in the thick of things. I see the podiums over your shoulder. You see each of the candidates' head shots. Lay of the land, what strikes me and I keep saying over and over, that they are mere inches away from one another at those podiums.

MOODY: Yes. Let me give you a little sneak peek of how things are going to work on Wednesday.

If you look over here, we're going to have about 500 people attending the debate. I'm standing right now on three stories of scaffolding that's taken a week to build for the debate. The hosts will be here and then of course the candidates will all stand, as you mentioned, inches away from each other right in front of one of the most stunning backdrops you can have for a presidential debate, Ronald Reagan's Air Force One.

I think watching on television, it's going to be a real sight to behold. They have done debates here in the past. But where they are sitting down in more of a panel, this will be a full-fledged debate standing next to each other. The sparks will fly and it should be quite a scene to see on Wednesday.

BALDWIN: Look at that Air Force One. I'm getting off the show and I am taking a tour inside that plane. Chris Moody, thank you so much there on the set that we have built ahead of this Wednesday night debate.

Let's get a little insight now into what is at stake for the big showdown.

Michael Smerconish joins me here on set in Simi Valley. He's the host of CNN's "SMERCONISH."

First of all, are you geeking out like I'm geeking out here? Is this not amazing?

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Oh, my God. Come on. It's a Super Bowl and you and I are in the arena where it's about to be played.

I have been here before several times. I love this library. It's a library, it's a museum. It's also his resting place.

(CROSSTALK)

SMERCONISH: There's so much significance and history. And it was his office at the end.

BALDWIN: Let's talk about what is happening Wednesday. You say the word arena and I immediately go to Donald Trump. He's in Dallas tonight, Dallas Mavericks' arena. I'm hearing this is a free event. There are tickets I'm hearing being sold on eBay for several hundred dollars. That's what's at stake.

There will be a counter-rally calling -- it's called like the dump the Trump rally. And it's a bunch of Hispanics. You have seen the numbers, the new Hispanic poll numbers, Telemundo/MSNBC, if we have the numbers, not doing well, basically not polling well among Hispanics.

SMERCONISH: Big story.

BALDWIN: Big story, especially the fact that he says he will win the Latino vote.

SMERCONISH: Right. BALDWIN: Is not reading those polls?

SMERCONISH: He cherishes the Latinos. Oh, no, he cherishes women.

BALDWIN: Right.

SMERCONISH: Let's crunch the data, OK? We all know Mitt Romney did not win in 2012. So, as a Republican, you need to exceed what Romney was able to achieve.

When you crunch the numbers, you can do that one of two ways. You can expand the percentage of the white vote that you get. Mitt Romney got 59 percent. You would need to get 64 percent. That hasn't been done since this man, Ronald Reagan's reelection battle. The alternative way of getting home is to expand the nonwhite vote.

You would need to get 30 percent of the nonwhite vote if you achieve what Romney achieved and Romney only got 19 percent. He's not growing the tent, is my point. When 70 percent of Hispanics say we look unfavorably on Donald Trump, you would think that some of those Trump supporters would look forward and say, I like this guy for whatever reason, but am I throwing my vote away? Because we really want to win the White House. How can he get it done with these numbers?

BALDWIN: You evoked Ronald Reagan in that response. I keep thinking Ronald Reagan will almost be like the 12th man on stage Wednesday night. His presence looms large here in this hallowed ground in Simi Valley.

You talked to Michael Reagan, his son, over the weekend. Let me play a clip, then I want to ask you about what he said.

SMERCONISH: Sure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SMERCONISH: Who is the least Reagan- esque on that stage Wednesday night?

MICHAEL REAGAN, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Donald Trump.

SMERCONISH: And why? I figured you were going to say that. I'm glad that you brought that forth because I have been following you on Twitter, and I sense where you're coming from. But what makes him the least Reagan-esque?

REAGAN: Ronald Reagan didn't attack the people around him. He didn't demean the people around him. He brought everybody together at the end. If Republicans don't bring everybody together at the end of the day, we do not win elections.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:10:09]

BALDWIN: So, no Reaganesque. I don't know if Trump has gotten that memo. We have had Trump mention Reagan ultimate times.

SMERCONISH: All of them do. That was the way I led into the conversation with Michael Reagan is to say, they all invoke your father's name. You're the real heir apparent. Who on that stage might be in his shoes?

And he pretty much said none of them. Actually, he said Rick Perry had some Reaganesque qualities and of course Perry had just gotten out of the race.

BALDWIN: He's out.

SMERCONISH: But the big point, Brooke, that he made was that his father really did believe in that 11th commandment of not speaking ill of a fellow Republican. He said, I know, right? My God, look at the Donald.

BALDWIN: Long gone.

SMERCONISH: And he said, my dad was a tent builder. He was constantly seeking to expand the party and he finds that to be lacking right now.

BALDWIN: What about this pledge? We know that different Republicans have said -- forgive me, I'm going to take my earpiece out -- that they have signed this loyalty pledge that if they don't win the party's nomination as a Republican, they will not run as an independent and then whoever wins the nomination they will support that person.

Over the weekend, Governor Pataki said, I'm not supporting Donald Trump. I have to wonder in the next 48 hours before they are up on that stage, I bet other candidates will be asked the question. How do they respond?

SMERCONISH: Sure. I bet there were a lot of fingers and toes crossed to the extent have been asked to sign it, because, Brooke, you would have a hard time convincing me that Jeb Bush if he should not be successful in capturing the nomination and has to go in there and vote for let's say Joe Biden, right, or Donald Trump is going to pull that Trump lever.

I'm not so sure about that. I don't think Pataki is alone is what I'm trying to tell you.

BALDWIN: Bobby Jindal over the weekend, Pataki. I'm wondering, once we see others perhaps starting to drop out, especially that will be the question asked. Would they throw their support?

(CROSSTALK)

SMERCONISH: It could.

BALDWIN: All right, Smerconish, Michael Smerconish, thank you so much.

SMERCONISH: Great to see you here.

BALDWIN: So awesome to be here.

Make sure you tune in of course to watch his show Saturdays 9:00 a.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

This week, he will be dissecting the Republican presidential debate, which of course is Wednesday night starting at 6:00 Eastern right here only on CNN.

When we come back here, special live coverage from the Reagan Library. Before he takes the debate stage, tonight Donald Trump, as we mentioned, takes on Dallas, Texas. The campaign expecting some 20,000 people in attendance, on Ted Cruz's home turf, perhaps tapping into his supporters. We will take you to Dallas coming up next. You're watching CNN's special live coverage here from the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. I'm Brooke Baldwin. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:16:45]

BALDWIN: Well, they were handed out for free, but now tickets to tonight's Donald Trump for president rally in Dallas, they are the hottest tickets in town, 20,000 tickets all gone. I'm told there's now a wait list.

Sara Murray is there at the American Airlines Center.

So, Sara, obviously, this is a huge night in the big D for Donald Trump. But it has to sting a little bit for Rick Perry, home turf. He's bowed out of the race and here's one of his key rivals racking in thousands of supporters.

SARA MURRAY, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, not just Rick Perry, but also Ted Cruz. Remember, a week ago, when Donald Trump and Ted Cruz were hugging it out in Washington, D.C., and there was quite a bromance going on?

Not so much the case tonight, where Donald Trump is showing up in Dallas, like you said, expecting thousands of people and peeling away those supporters that I think Ted Cruz really thought he was going to win. Now, of course, Texas, as we know, is a deep red state.

Lots of Republicans here. That's why I think we already are starting to see a little bit of a line outside of very conservative Republicans very excited to see Donald Trump tonight.

BALDWIN: Sara Murray, thank you so much in Dallas.

I want to bring in one of my favorites in Dallas. He's Wayne Slater, former reporter with "The Dallas Morning News" and adjunct professor at the University of Texas, joins me from Texas.

So, Wayne, it's wonderful to have you on. Talk about a veteran political reporter. You have been around the block so many years. Let's just focus in on the Mavericks' arena tonight in Dallas, like I said, some of these tickets I'm hearing going for $200 on eBay to a free event.

WAYNE SLATER, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS: Yes, Donald does Dallas. This is unbelievable, the attention.

Look, it's a guy who shows up, he's brash, swaggering and self- important, which means he ought to fit in real well here in Texas, where we all feel that way about ourselves.

He's the show. He's the big thing. That independent streak that he's offering up has obvious, real appeal. I wonder how many of these people who are going to jam the basketball arena tonight will actually vote for Trump once we get to the March 1 primary. Maybe, maybe a bunch of them.

BALDWIN: I'm wondering. I was talking to Kevin Madden, who has worked on so many different campaigns. And he was saying to me earlier off camera, he was saying, this is so much more "American Idol" and so not C-SPAN.

I'm wondering, as I'm thinking about that, a lot of this right now is really about name recognition. And so everyone has known who Donald Trump is, and so that's obviously reflective in the polling. You have someone like Carly Fiorina who with this new ad out so many people are looking at her right now. But she's polling ahead of Marco Rubio, who has more name recognition, but really fewer people know her. How is all of that shaking out, do you think?

SLATER: You look at this, and you look at Trump, Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, and basically this is the product of 20 years of increased polarization in our politics.

Everybody is going to his own corner. Everyone is saying, whatever that guy on the other side says, I'm against it. And it's produced a really dysfunctional government and, frankly, people are sick of it on the right and the left.

[15:20:01]

You see on the left Bernie Sanders drawing big crowds. You see these nontraditional candidates who I ain't part of this Washington elite, I ain't part of the political establishment, who are really getting some appeal.

And the fact that Trump and Ben Carson are so different in demeanor, but both at this moment, "American Idol" or not, have appeal within the Republican voting class tells you something about the attitude of voters right now.

BALDWIN: Van Jones said to me, do not underestimate the quiet guy on stage on Wednesday, the quiet guy being Ben Carson.

Let's talk about Texas, home turf, as we mentioned. Longtime Governor Rick Perry, one of the most outspoken against Donald Trump, he's now bowed out of the race, so that's why we will be having four people on stage Wednesday night instead of five for that initial debate.

My question to you is, who do you think Governor Perry will throw his support behind now?

SLATER: It's not going to be Trump.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: We know that. Who will it be?

SLATER: We know that.

I could see it with someone like Ben Carson -- not Ben Carson, but with someone like a Scott Walker if he resurrects himself. I could frankly see something with a Marco Rubio. And, frankly Perry, might be angling for the idea, if Rubio were the nominee and Rick Perry were the vice presidential pick, then that would be a strong ticket in terms of state electoral votes in the future.

I'm not even sure that Rick Perry has thought in these terms at this point. He did everything right this time, but he did everything wrong three years ago and nobody has forgotten.

BALDWIN: So he's out.

It's interesting you mentioned Governor Walker, who was on with Jake on Sunday morning, saying he realizes he has to be much more aggressive, to your point, if he can even resurrect himself. My last question to you would be, after all the dust settles, after Wednesday night in the debate, who do you think might be the next to go, Wayne?

SLATER: I think it might very well be Walker, having just said that, possibly Bobby Jindal.

It really doesn't -- as you know, Brooke, it doesn't cost much for these candidates to just fly in and get free media at various events. In the case of Perry, he just basically ran out of gas. So these guys could stay on, but it's hard to see a Jim Gilmore, Bobby Jindal, some of the others stay for too much longer. Their donors are going to be saying, what am I getting for my money?

BALDWIN: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Wayne Slater, always a pleasure to have you on. Thank you so much.

SLATER: Sure.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, it could be the next big face-off at this debate, Trump vs. Fiorina. Carly Fiorina supporters now firing back against Trump's "look at her face" comment from "Rolling Stone" last week.

Also, as, of course, we're waiting for the moments during the debate Wednesday night, we will take a look back at some of the best Republican debates over the years and those moments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOHN BREEN, EDITOR: Will the sound man please turn Mr. Reagan's mike

off.

RONALD REAGAN, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am paying for this microphone, Mr. Breen!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:27:24]

BALDWIN: I'm Brooke Baldwin. You're watching CNN.

We're back here live on a gorgeous Monday here in Simi Valley, California, in the middle of this Ronald Reagan Presidential Library here, the home of this huge CNN debate upcoming in just 48 hours from now featuring the main stage, 11 of those top candidates wanting, vying for that Republican nomination for president.

One candidate who didn't make the cut for prime time, former New York Governor George Pataki. His support is less than 1 percent at the moment in the latest polling. And while his share of support is quite small, the government is now voicing a very big protest. Despite this pledge to the nominee that the Republican Party requested, right, so they are saying if they end up losing, they will support whoever wins the nomination, Governor Pataki said this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE PATAKI (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm not going to vote for Donald Trump because he has no chance of being the Republican nominee. He's unfit to be president.

He would hurt our party. And I would think and hope that virtually every one of my fellow candidates seeking the nomination would be willing to stand up and say our party cannot nominate Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: With me now, CNN anchor John Berman.

I don't know if a lot of those folks were crossing their fingers and toe, to quote Michael Smerconish, when they signed, at Trump, but you talked to the campaign manager for Donald Trump. How did he feel about Governor Pataki's word?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I did.

Brooke, I think this pledge was so interesting to begin with. They pushed, they browbeat Trump to sign it.

BALDWIN: Yes, they did.

BERMAN: When, in fact, it may put everyone else in a tighter spot. And Pataki put his finger on it right there. He is saying he will not

support Trump. I asked Corey Lewandowski, Trump's campaign manager, if all these other candidates don't come out and say that they will vote for Donald Trump if he's the nominee, does that just make this pledge totally invalid?

This is what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COREY LEWANDOWSKI, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: This is the problem with politicians. They are all talk. They're no action. They will say something and then they will change their mind. Nothing gets done with these people.

Look, the bottom line is, they are so upset that Mr. Trump is so clearly the front-runner in this race that they are trying to do anything to gain attention for themselves. It's clearly not working. They continue to go down in the polls and Mr. Trump continues to go up in the polls.

If they don't want to keep their word, they don't want to hold to their word, that's on them, not on us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: On them, not on us.

BERMAN: Interesting to see.

And Jeb Bush, for one, before has said he will support whoever the nominee is, including Donald Trump. But you can see that being an issue for Bush down the line if he does end up as the Republican nominee.

The Democrat, whoever it is, can say, hey, you said you would support Trump. What about that?

BALDWIN: I wanted to have a geek-out moment with you that we are here at the Reagan Library.

But forgive me. I need to pull away and go straight to Mississippi. As we know, a professor was shot and killed this morning, professor Ethan Schmidt at the Delta State University. A news conference has just begun.

Let's dip in.