Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Flooding Threatens Parts of New ; Sanders Lead in Iowa; Chris Christie Back On Campaign Trail In New Hampshire After Spending Last Two Days In New Jersey With Snowstorm; Christie Tied For Fifth Place With Jeb Bush In New Hampshire; Hillary Clinton Trying To Rally Supporters Before Iowa Caucuses; Six States Hit With At Least 30 Inches Of Snow; Fears Of Flooding In States Hit By Storm; New Jersey Shore Still Has Flood Warnings In Effect; Airports in D.C. At A Standstill. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired January 24, 2016 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:09] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Oh my goodness. That is something else. All right. Thank you so much, Tom Sader, we'll check back in with you. Appreciate it.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM begins right now.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

WHITFIELD: Hello again and thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

The East Coast is dealing with the aftermath of record breaking snowfall from Tennessee to New York. The people trying to fly out, it's a travel nightmare at major airports throughout the northeast. And airlines are already canceling flights for tomorrow.

In Washington some areas reported 28.3 inches of snow in the last 48 hours. And airports are at an absolute standstill there. Still many of the runways closed. The mayor of D.C. will be holding a briefing in the next hour and some folks are out making the most of it all as best they can in the nation's capital. You see right there that's Dupont Circle, kind of a tradition whenever there's a big snowfall, a big public kind of snowball fight, friendly, though. D.C. public schools a much more serious matter for Monday, will be closed. The nation's capitol, government offices including congress will not be convening tomorrow.

And we're still awaiting word on whether federal workers as a whole will be able to go to work. The metro rail system will open at 7:00 a.m. with limited underground service in the nation's capital. Then further north to Philadelphia, the international airport there, crews are working to clear runways after 22.4 inches fell in that city. And then even further north, New Jersey, massive snow melt. It's putting parts of the coast under flood warnings now.

More than 28 inches fell in that state and along the coast. 13 inches in some parts. And in New York, 26.8 inches recorded in Central Park. Utility workers and snow plows are attempting to clear the roads for Monday's commute. La Guardia and JFK are open but very few flights are on the runway today.

Let's check in with our Chad Myers who is in the thick of it all. Times Square, it never seems to sleep. People have been out there in full force. How is it looking, Chad?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, they're trying to get it clean. At 7:00 this morning, Fred, it was like somebody shot the starter's pistol and said everybody go. You can get in your car and you can drive around on it. But the roads weren't ready for that. Now I think they're finally ready. Things are going. There are people early. We call them sooners, just like the Oklahoma sooners and the land rush.

We're still trying to clean this up. There's a lot of ice that's on the ground that formed last night. These guys are chipping with back breaking work with this hose and trying to get these ice chippers to get the ice off the roadways. Because that's the law here in New York City. Things are still moving here across parts of New York City and across parts of Times Square. People are back in line waiting for tickets to get back to the shows tonight. The matinees all went off without a hitch today, thank goodness, that didn't happen yesterday as on a Saturday night Broadway was dark. They didn't turn the lights off. Dark means that they didn't have shows.

But the people are enjoying themselves. It didn't get as blustery here as a lot of cities down the road from Baltimore to Philadelphia where you saw winds blowing at 50 and 60. It still is a party atmosphere here in New York because the winds are only blowing 20 to 30. It didn't get to that gusty, oh my gosh I can't breathe state because if I breathe I'll breathe in snow. It was a pretty decent night here. Now they're finally back to relative normal, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness. Well, you know, I'm glad that as many folks as can be said are trying to make the most of it. All right. Chad Myers, thanks so much.

Let's check in with Ryan Young. He's at Penn Station where there are many people who are anxious to get back on any kind of railway, and so how it's it looking?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Definitely, Fred, you think about people getting ready for the Monday morning commute, the Long Island railroad takes some 300,000 people here to the city. That's shut down right now because there's two feet of snow at the rail yards and workers right now, some 2,000 workers are working to get the lines back open.

You can understand that with all the snow that's left over, you think about the city and all the snow that you see around it, someone has to get the railway back open and ready for work Monday morning. Of course, we drove in from New Jersey this morning. We can see snow everywhere. The good thing about this is we didn't see it on the roadway. It was pretty easy to get here from New Jersey. But here at Penn Station, when you look downstairs there are signs telling travelers already be worried about Monday morning because they might not open the railway until a little later on. We're going to get update at around 6:00 to figure out exactly where they are.

But obviously people at home are worried about the idea of how they'll get to the city and it could cause traffic jams if people have to take to their cars in the morning.

[16:05:05]

WHITFIELD: Oh, yes, what a mess that could be. All right. Thanks so much, Ryan Young there at Penn Station, appreciate it.

The storm indeed crippled air travel all along the northeast and mid- Atlantic. CNN aviation correspondent Rene Marsh is all by herself there at Reagan National Airport. Not even the Dunkin' Conuts or the Starbucks are open any more but Rene, I still hear music.

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: You hear music and you may hear my stomach growl next hour. Yes, nothing is open here, Fred. And I can tell you they're still plowing as we speak. But take a look. If you see someone in the distance, that is not a passenger. Most likely some of the workers who are here at Reagan National Airport.

Since Friday, all the way through today there have been nearly 12,000 cancellations. That's a whole lot. Take a look at the board here. This sums it all up for the Washington, D.C., area airports. Things are not up and running here just yet. But if you are flying, I do want to give you some information here.

If you're flying into or out of New York City airports, the good news is there's some limited activity going on there. At New York City airports, LaGuardia, JFK, Newark, Philadelphia also had some limited flights going in and out, the same situation at Baltimore's BWI. So what many people are asking is when will it get better? What do the coming days look like?

I can tell you that as the days go on and they continue to ramp up service, we'll see fewer cancellations. We will not see as many cancellations. I spoke with several airlines today w say they have managed to rebook a lot of the passengers. So people will start going out on flights Monday and then throughout the week. So people will get to where they need to get to.

However, everyone's not going to make it there on Monday. They will have to be patient. So this will be a gradual process, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness. Yes, real baby steps. I mean think of how many people, you know, were bumped since Friday. So it's going to be some slow going. All right. Rene Marsh, thank you so much.

It is frigid and there is flooding in parts of New Jersey. Coming up, watches and warnings that have some towns underwater.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:10:00]

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. In parts of New Jersey more than 30 inches of snow fell during the storm, but it wasn't just the snow and wind. It was also flooding along the coast. Some coastal towns were, in fact, under several feet of water. And there are still isolated flood watches and warnings for some areas up and down the Atlantic Coast.

Boris Sanchez is live for us now in Ventnor City, New Jersey, south of Atlantic City. How are people coping there?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Fred, the cleanup continues here. We've seen this street, this neighborhood in particular change dramatically over the course of the past few hours. Not long ago this whole street was covered in water, in ice and trash. We've seen Ventnor City trucks swing by and essentially clean it up in a matter of an hour or so.

We've also seen neighbors come out and start to sweep out this ice. Actually we're with a neighbor who hasn't lived here for long. This is Butch. Butch, thanks so much for talking with us. You told me that you moved here after Superstarm Sandy. Did you know this was an area that is prone to flooding?

BUTCH, RESIDENT: I did. In fact, I've seen pictures when we first bought the house where the water level during Sandy was up to the window. And yesterday, actually, I've been marking the wall on the inside. And this is the worst since Sandy, since I lived here in three years.

SANCHEZ: Got you. And you also mentioned that a lot of people here have made adjustments to their homes. For example, the room here is kind of a deck. So there's water that can come from underneath it and just sink out as opposed to staying there?

BUTCH: Yes, like I said, when I bought the house, I knew it, it flooded. In fact the day I looked at it the doors were open, the water was inside. And they were drying it out. But we made it like a deck downstairs so it just dried out. After the fact, doesn't hurt anything. Living space is on the second floor.

SANCHEZ: Got you. The other question I have for you. We heard a lot of neighbours tell us that this flooding is becoming more and more common, did you expect it to be like this?

BUTCH: No. It seems like it happens every time that there's a full moon or any kind of offshore, anything happening offshore, you know, we flood. Never like this, though. I mean, this is the worst I've seen it in three years.

SANCHEZ: Got you. Do you think people were prepared for this? I know a lot of people didn't put up sandbags. Many of them told me that that sandbags do nothing. Is there something else that could have been done?

BUTCH: No. In fact, we have friends who just bought a house about three blocks away. And they were rushing down here Friday, and I told them, you know, don't waste your time because you're not going to hold it back. Sandbags aren't going to do anything, the water is coming up from under the ground as the sea level rises. So there's nothing you can do. Just wait it out.

SANCHEZ: And try to clean up as best you can.

BUTCH: Absolutely.

SANCHEZ: All right. Butch, thank you for chatting with us. We appreciate it. We hope nothing was damaged too bad in there.

BUTCH: No, we're good.

SANCHEZ: All right. Sounds good.

So Fred, the cleanup is going to continue here, as you mentioned some flood warnings potentially still in effect. But the winds have shifted. So hopefully those will expire soon and we'll continue the cleanup here in New Jersey.

WHITFIELD: All right, the best to the folks there. Thanks so much, Boris.

We're also learning more about the recovery effort in Washington, D.C., the metro rail will open at 7:00 a.m. with limited underground service. And the mayor is due to give a new storm briefing next hour. We'll also dip into that.

And right now, it is sunny at the White House, and people are starting to come outdoors. Unfortunately, officials are telling people to stay home and stay off the roads as best they can so that crews can try to clear the roads.

Let's turn to meteorologist Jennifer Gray on the National Mall where generally after a big storm, there are a lot of people who just want to be out on the mall because it is so gorgeous and have their snowball fights, et cetera, but it looks deserted behind you.

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Fred, it's beautiful today. Blue skies, we're seeing the snow, you know, still on the ground, and it's just a beautiful sight. Romantic feel here in the city. Of course, you have the Capitol behind me. First time we've really been able to see the Capitol because it has been just so awful for the past 48 hours visibility has been next to nothing.

But kudos to the city and all of the crews out there overnight trying to get these roads cleared. A lot of the primary roads are looking much better. The secondary roads though not the case. So that's why people are still urged to stay indoors for yet another day. Schools are closed tomorrow. The metro will have limited service. It will take a while for the city to get back up and running, but with a little bit of melting today we'll have a refreeze so it will be hard for people to get out and about tomorrow morning because the roads are going to be so icy and so slushy for the next day or so.

This is a lot of snow. This ranked number two for Dulles for the snowiest storm, number four for Reagan. So this is going to take quite a while, Fred, for all of this to melt.

[16:15:05]

However, for the next couple of days, high temperature should be above freezing in the D.C. area. It will take care of quite a bit of it. But Fred, people are excited. They're getting outside over across the street at the Willard Hotel, they've carved out an ice bar and they're serving bubbly to all the people who have been cooped up in the hotel for several days. You can go sledding on Capitol Hill. I think for the most part they're enjoying it.

WHITFIELD: I'm sure they are. They're giddy for that bubbly, I'm sure. I see that a lot of universities from Georgetown, Howard University, they were all closed. But still a lot of federal workers are trying to find out, waiting to find out whether indeed their offices will be closed. Perhaps the mayor, when she comes out at 5:00, may be able to add to that. Because we are talking about a federal city and many people are still wondering if they have to come in from Maryland or Virginia to try to make their way into the city to go to work.

GRAY: Yes, that's exactly right. We haven't heard. We're hoping we get more updates with that 5:00 press conference. We know that Congress has postponed a couple of those votes that were supposed to happen early in the week. So hopefully by the 5:00 press conference we'll have a better idea how well the city will be functioning in the political sense going forward in time.

WHITFIELD: Jennifer Gray, thanks so much. We'll check back with you.

All right. While it is freezing cold at the nation's capital, presidential politics are heating up with Iowa right around the corner. And the latest polls show Bernie Sanders has a sizable lead in the hawkeye state. How he plans to hang to that lead, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

I want to talk you to Fayette, Iowa, where you see democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders there in that town. Just eight days away now from the Iowa caucuses. Let's listen in.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: ... marks the 50,000th group of people, 50,000 people have come out to our meetings. 50,000 people. That's kind of what we do. We just come on out, we chat about the issues. You'll ask me some questions and we move on. If we make sense to you, I hope you'll vote for us. If not, that's fine, too.

[16:20:00]

Because one of the things that we're trying to do in this campaign is to revitalize American democracy because I believe if we can do that, if we can get people involved in the political process today, which is what I call the political revolution, in a way that we've not seen in many, many years, a lot of other issues and problems will take care of themselves.

What is going on now in our country is we have a rigged economy. And by that I mean the people on top are doing phenomenally well. Large corporations are making record breaking profits. The CEOs of the large corporations are making 250 times more than their average worker. So the rich gets richer. Everybody else gets poorer.

And that will continue if, as was the case in the last election last November, 63 percent of the people don't vote. That's exactly what will happen. It will happen. Young people are leaving school with outrageously high student debt. That will continue unless young people get involved in the political process.

WHITFIELD: All right. So Bernie Sanders right there in Fayette, Iowa, just about three hours northeast of Des Moines, Iowa.

Let's check in with his national press secretary, Symone Sanders, with us now. There she is.

So Symone, we're listening to Bernie Sanders there. He's talking about how important it is to get the young voters involved. We're talking about Bernie Sanders leading the latest CNN-ORC poll for Iowa with 51 percent but yet the "Des Moines Register" newspaper which threw its support behind Hillary Clinton.

So you know how do you kind of explain this contrast here? Is Bernie Sanders, you know, feeling rather energized when the polling says that he's out in front?

SYMONE SANDERS, NATIONAL PRESS SECRETARY, BERNIE 2016: Well, look, one, thanks for having me on today. Two, we have great respect for the "Des Moines Register," but they also endorsed Secretary Clinton in 2008 and also they haven't picked a democratic nominee ever. So we're not concerned with not getting the "Des Moines Register's" endorsement. Again, it would have been nice, but we're happy to have the endorsement of the people.

As you heard Senator Sanders talk about the importance of young people. Young people are fuelling this political revolution. It is young people coupled with old people who are black, white, Latino, Asian American, Native American, who have come together to stand up to say, enough is enough and we're going to take America back from the billionaires. So that momentum that people keep talking about, the enthusiasm that you can feel right here on the ground in Iowa, it's real and we're happy to have the support of these folks. And we look forward to seeing those efforts reflected on caucus day.

WHITFIELD: So while the polling, Symone, is showing that Bernie Sanders is doing very well in Iowa, doing very well in New Hampshire, what can you say about your candidate here who is not necessarily taking these votes for granted because he's still spending a lot of time in Iowa and in New Hampshire. Or is that why he's polling so well?

SANDERS: You know what, Fredricka, we are still actively out there working for every single vote. Yes, we're in Iowa. We were in Iowa yesterday, we were here yesterday and today and we'll be here tomorrow. We were in New Hampshire most recently. We are also in South Carolina, we were in Nevada. So we're not taking any vote for granted. We know this is a close race. Polls do go up and down. So a poll could come out tomorrow that could look a little bit differently and the polls could even look more different on Friday. So we're not leaving anything for chance.

I think it's -- the momentum is important here for us. But it's also our good ground game. So we're actively engaging folks in GOTC efforts, get out to caucus, because we really want to see those folks come out for Bernie on caucus day.

WHITFIELD: But then what after Iowa and New Hampshire? You mentioned he spent a lot of time in South Carolina, in fact, he's even spent a lot of time courting people in the African-American community, going to a historically black colleges and universities. But does he feel like there is still work that is yet to be done to try to increase his numbers nationally because Hillary Clinton, if you look at the pollsing, she still has a sizable lead nationally.

SANDERS: Well, Fredricka, again we're not taking any votes for granted, so yes the senator has made a concerted effort to reach out to African-American and Latino voters. And we're not done yet. We have seen those efforts, the fruits of our labor manifest right there in South Carolina. We had really great events when we were there last week. The senator last (INAUDIBLE) but we had lots of surrogates on the ground and people are responding favorably to his message.

[16:25:10]

So we believe that it's important that you meet people where they are in their communities, as I like to say, the barber shops, the beauty shops and the Bible studies. We're not leaving South Carolina, you know, out. They're not forgotten. We've invested substantial resources there. We've invested substantial resources in Nevada.

I don't know if you know but we have state directors in every single one of the March 1 states. We are in this thing for the long haul and we have the resources to fight all the way to the convention and we're going to do so.

WHITFIELD: You know this morning many headlines are talking about Michael Bloomberg, former New York City mayor and billionaire who says he's thinking about running as an independent depending on whether Cruz or, you know, Trump, continue to be out in front representing the Republicans.

And Bernie Sanders was asked this morning on ABC what he thought about it. He said you know what, he thinks that people are tired of billionaires. But you know, how does he combat, you know, the kind of deep pockets that Donald Trump or even Michael Bloomberg have?

SANDERS: Well, just like we've been doing, Fredricka. We raised $73 million in 2015 from over 1.3 million Americans. We have over 2.5 million contributions. This campaign is people powered. So we're not concerned of Mayor Bloomberg gets in the race. We're not concerned -- this race is not about Secretary Clinton, it's not about Donald Ttrump. It's not even about Bernie Sanders.

As he so often say this issue is about the American people and speaking to the issues that are important to them. We've seen that our message is resonating. We're not concerned. We're going to keep running our race and doing what we're doing.

WHITFIELD: All right. Press secretary for Bernie Sanders, Symone Sanders, thanks so much. Good to see you.

SANDERS: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. You're going to want to see tomorrow night's town hall in Iowa. All three democratic candidates taking questions from Iowa voters hosted by Chris Cuomo, airing at 9:00 Eastern time, right here on CNN.

And republican presidential candidate Chris Christie has left his snow gear in New Jersey and is back on the campaign trail. Coming up, how his handling of the storm could impact his bid for the nomination.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:30:01]

WHITFIELD: Hello again and thanks so much for joining me. I am Fredricka Whitfield. New Jersey Governor and Republican Presidential candidate Chris Christie back on the campaign trail in New Hampshire after spending Friday and Saturday in his home state dealing with the snowstorm. This morning during a town hall, he touted his handling of the blizzard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R-NJ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's not that I was somehow innately born with the ability to deal with snow emergencies or -- you know hurricanes. It's that you've done it. You learn. And it's the point I have been trying to make to everybody. And I think this storm helps me to make it really clearly to folks. It matters what you've done before. It matters. You know some candidates in this race are trying to tell you that it doesn't matter what you've done before. It does. It does matter are you going to be ready when you sit in that chair the very first day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: A new Fox News poll shows Christie has work to do in New Hampshire. He's tied for fifth place with Jeb Bush at seven percent. Trump's still the clear front-runner in that first primary state. CNN's Senior Washington Correspondent Jeff Zeleny joining us from outside the scene of tonights town hall or I should say Monday night's town hall at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. So Jeff, does Christie gain political points by taking two days off the trail to deal with the storm?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN'S SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, I am not sure that he gains points, but he certainly doesn't lose points. If he'd stayed on the campaign trail in New Hampshire or in Iowa and there had been some type of calamity, every one of those rivals without question perhaps on both sides of the aisle would have said that he's just simply running for another office. Not focusing on the office he has now. I don't know that any voter is going to necessarily give him credit for doing his job.

He's the Governor of New Jersey. That's what he's supposed to be doing. But it does go to his experience. He talked right there about how he's sort of worked through storms before. Obviously, Superstorm Sandy was a big sort of an item on his resume, if you will. But Chris Christie has other issues to deal with in this Republican primary. It's still a tough road for him in New Hampshire and certainly here in Iowa.

WHITFIELD: This new Fox News poll showing Trump holding a commanding lead in Iowa as well. So is this Trump's to lose at this point or could we indeed see some sort of turn around in the next eight days at least from the point of view of the other Republicans in that race?

ZELENY: Sure, Fredricka. The closing days of Iowa in particular are very important. And things can change. But Donald Trump has been in this leading position for so long, it is his to lose, no question. It's a tighter race here in Iowa with Ted Cruz and Donald Trump, no doubt about it. But Donald Trump is campaigning harder in Iowa than he's campaigned his entire six months or so.

He's holding multiple events everyday. He went to a church service this morning in Muscatine, Iowa, which he'd not done before. He and Ted Cruz are deadlocked here. But Fredricka, if he wins Iowa and then moves forward and he's leading so much in New Hampshire, that's going to be very difficult for anyone to stop Donald Trump. That's why he's putting so much time and energy into this Iowa caucus campaign. He's trying to win it.

Of course, there are so many others that are trying to stop him but so far they've had very, very little success.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jeff Zeleny, thank you so much.

Let's bring in our political panel. They are back. Democratic Columnist Ellis Henican and Republican Strategist Brian Morgenstern, all right, so gentleman, the Des Moines Register has endorsed Hillary Clinton and Senator Marco Rubio, so Ellis, you first. No surprise the Des Moines Register would not throw its support behind Trump, people will remember that opinion column a while back. Instead choosing Marco Rubio, for Rubio, how big of a boost is this for him who has been polling third behind Trump and Cruz?

ELLIS HENICAN, DEMOCRATIC COLUMNIST: Unsurprising, you're right, but also largely irrelevant. There's no evidence that newspaper endorsements in a race like this with so many folks are engaged makes one bit of difference. Yes, they're smiling in Marco camp because they haven't had a lot to smile about lately, but they're going to need a little more than this, I am afraid.

WHITFIELD: So Brian, does it put more mojo behind Marco Rubio to get this kind of endorsement?

[16:35:01]

BRIAN MORGENSTERN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I'll agree with Ellis in the principle that often times that newspaper endorsements don't do much. It contributes to a little moment Rubio is having here. Trump and Cruz are slugging it out. And he's drafting them like a race car driver in third, just waiting to be able to shoot through that gap. This endorsement is good publicity. Combine that with the argument that he's now pushing I think very smartly that -- you know you angry voters, if you want to stick it to the establishment, well, Jeb Bush's pac has spent $2 million attacking me, not Trump or Cruz.

If you want to stick it to the establishment, vote for me. I think the endorsement contributes to this moment where you know we'll see if he's able to shoot through that. The polls say one thing, but if you look at history, the polls have been less than predictive, shall we say. Rick Santorum four years ago was in the single digits. The weekend heading into the caucuses, he wound up with 26 percent of the vote and winning the caucuses. So you know we think we know what's going to happen. But if history tells us anything, we may be in for some surprises.

WHITFIELD: Nobody knows. All right, so now, billionaire, former New York Mayor, Michael Bloomberg is considering a run as an independent if Cruz or Trump were to face Sanders. Sanders already you know responded on ABC, saying that he didn't think America is interested in selecting another billionaire. Ellis, is he right?

HENICAN: My billions are bigger than your billions, Donald. You know I don't know if the complaint with Trump was that he doesn't have enough billions, but Bloomberg is, yes, he can out-buy Donald. I just think it's really, really hard mechanically to make an independent run work in any way other than to tip the balance between the others. I can't imagine Mike Bloomberg does that eventually.

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's talk about the Democrats. You know tomorrow night will be the last chance on a national stage in our CNN town hall meeting before the caucuses. So Brian, will Sanders use this as a way to kind of rebut the Des Moines Register's endorsement? You know or is he kind of like taking the position where he can kind of coast, he's got the wind behind him here?

MORGENSTERN: Yeah, I mean I think he has to play that down as sort of irrelevant and keep doing what he's doing, which is this is the people's campaign and no elites are going to tell us, us meaning Bernie and the voters, what to do. That any establishment -- sort of stick it to the man theme that's on both sides right now. He can actually try to use it as fuel if he really wants to.

WHITFIELD: Ellis, how do you see Clinton using this event to her advantage, this town hall setting? People will be able to ask their questions directly to the candidates.

HENICAN: I'm just trying to get my head around the idea of Hillary saying stick it to the man and vote for me. (CROSSTALK)

HENICAN: I think Bernie -- the passion has driven this campaign so far. Hillary in the end can say, hey, a whole 48 other states out there and don't worry we'll get back then. But for the moment, that's the way it's heading.

WHITFIELD: Iowa, how important in your view, Ellis, is Iowa?

HENICAN: It matters a lot to Bernie, I would say. If he doesn't make a stand in an early race, then there is no momentum and no passion for him to hang on to. Hillary can probably overcome a couple of defeats because of the depth we were talking about.

WHITFIELD: And Brian?

MORGENSTERN: It's a launching pad for people who don't already have a sort of a national infrastructure. The insurgent candidates which, in this cycle on the Democrat side would be Bernie because I think he has less of a national infrastructure. On the Republican side, I think it starts with Rubio in third place then probably on down. It's those guys who haven't been in the lead yet for whom they can make a showing that exceeds expectations and then use it as a trampoline.

WHITFIELD: All right. Brian Morgenstern, Ellis Henican, thanks so much, gentleman, good to see you.

MORGENSTERN: You too, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:43:01]

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. We're going to give you a live picture right now. That is Liberty, Iowa, a suburb of Iowa City. At any moment now, we understand Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will enter the room there and find a room full of supporters. She is trying to get out of the caucus vote. That's the event at the Buford Garner Elementary School. And she hasn't, of course, taken to the stage yet. But with just eight days to go before the Iowa caucuses, she is not taking any of the support by granted there.

The Democratic Presidential hopeful has picked up the coveted endorsement of the Des Moines Register. This comes at a crucial time in her campaign, as our latest Iowa poll shows that Bernie Sanders is leading in the state at 51 percent. Joining me right now by phone is Clinton's Press Secretary for the campaign, Brian Fallon. So Brian, she has been in this familiar setting before in Iowa, campaigning back in 2008. How is she handling this state any differently or is it familiar territory and she is -- you know returning to a very similar strategy?

BRIAN FALLON, HILLARY CLINTON PRESS SECRETARY: Well, I think if there's one difference, it is the depth of the organization that she has built in Iowa this time around. She put a premium from the outset when we launched this campaign back in April of doing small, intimate events where she'd really have the opportunity to listen to Iowans about their concerns that keep them up at night, and has actually developed very detailed plans on some of the issues that have arisen from her conversations that have come up in these town hall settings in Iowa.

For instance, we have developed plans on the scourge of heroin addiction which we've seen, which is a problem across Iowa and New Hampshire and across the country really. Also she has a detailed proposal for how to make a cure possible for Alzheimer's disease and to help deal with caregivers that are providing assistance for loved ones that are afflicted with dementia. These are all issues that have come up in the course of her travels by virtue of the fact that she truly listens to people at these events.

That is emblematic of the ground operation that we built there that is very much in touch with people on the ground. We're doing this vote by vote, caucus goer by caucus goer, and I think that will translate into a very strong showing for us on caucus night.

WHITFIELD: Brian, we mentioned that the endorsement from the Des Moines Register is a coveted endorsement, to what degree, why is this important to Hillary Clinton and her camp?

FALLON: Well, I think that the endorsement was very meaningful last night, especially because it directly considered the two arguments that both Senator Sanders and Secretary Clinton are putting forward. And I think it clarified the true choice that caucus goers in Iowa will have to make in just about one week's time. And if you read it, it was a very full throated endorsement of Hillary Clinton's depth of knowledge and breath of experience and her ability to achieve real results on behalf of the American people.

You know after seven years of progress under Barack Obama, folks in Iowa as well as across the country want to build on that progress because they realize that we still have a ways to go. And I think that they understand that Hillary Clinton is the person to best build on the progress that we've made under President Obama. On an issue like health care, for instance, the Affordable Care Act was a tremendous achievement. It has gotten us 90 percent of the way towards universal health care.

I think that Hillary Clinton has put the plans forward to get us that extra 10 percent of the way, as opposed to Senator Sanders who wants to start from scratch and go from 0 to 100. I think the Des Moines Register poll really clarified the choice in the terms of what the voters will consider going into the caucus next week. It's not just the Des Moines Register. Today, we're also pleased to pick up the endorsement of the Concord Monitor in New Hampshire and two other major papers in New Hampshire, and in the last month, we're pleased to get support from Planned Parenthood and human rights campaign which are on the forefront of aggressive causes.

I know that Senator Sanders has tried to dismiss these endorsements as coming from "establishment," I think that actually demeans the important progressive work that these organizations have devoted themselves to. And I think they rightly understand that Hillary Clinton is going to be the champion for their causes in the White House.

WHITFIELD: All right. Brian Fallon, Press Secretary with the Clinton campaign. Thanks so much. Appreciate your time.

FALLON: Thank you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. And of course, you don't want to miss the town hall tomorrow night in Iowa, all three Democratic candidates taking questions from Iowa voters hosted by Chris Cuomo. It airs at 9:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

[16:48:01]

All right, six states were hit with at least 30 inches of snow in that big winter storm. But now the threat in some of those states, flooding and cold temperatures, we'll tell you how it's going to affect the commute, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. The east coast still dealing with the aftermath of that record breaking snowfall, it's a travel nightmare at major airports in the northeast. Already, airlines have canceled flights for tomorrow. In Washington, D.C., airports are at a standstill. Runways remain closed. Operations shut down, after anywhere from 17 to nearly 30 inches of snow falling at those airports. The D.C. Mayor is holding a briefing at the top of the hour, and you can see that live right here on CNN.

And while kids are out having a little bit of fun and -- you know big kids, there are some adult there's, too, in the nation's capital throwing snowballs. We're also learning that D.C. public schools will be closed on Monday. However, the Metro Rail System will open at 7:00 a.m. with limited underground service.

And at Philadelphia's International Airport, crews are working to clear runways after 22.4 inches fell in that city. And along the New Jersey coast, flood warnings remain in effect. More than 28 inches fell in that state. You can see a whole lot of high water as well inundating some New Jersey coastal communities. Then New York City right there. Utility workers and snow plows are intending to clear the roadways for Monday's commute.

LaGuardia and JFK are open, but very few flights are on the runway today. All right, CNN's Tom Sater joining me now to take us through the record snowfall in some places and the near miss in terms of records, but still a whole lot of snow in other places.

TOM SATER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I have got some numbers to share with you. How about this one, 30, 30 airports are closed.

WHITFIELD: Wow. [16:53:01]

SATER: Is that something, when you think about a massive snowfall like this, to get one or two, yes, even though they're not closed at LaGuardia or JFK as you mentioned. We do have one international flight from Doha was able to fly into Philadelphia. They had one runway open. It will take a while. We can show this all day. But just to give you an idea. Over 40 inches in Shepherds Town, West Virginia, Round hill, Virginia, 36.3, Staten Island, 31, the numbers go on and on.

In fact, here's a few for the airports. Notice JFK at 30 1/2, Dulles at 28.3, but there is a discrepancy going on right now at Reagan National. Because you go to Arlington, you look at 25 inches. Some are wondering if there was a mishap in the way that they measured the snow. They're investigating that. That will be interesting to see what pans out. Here is the near miss. In New York City, if you haven't heard, you only missed the all-time record by a tenth of an inch. That's the hair on your chinny-chin-chin. If you are going to go through this mess, why not break the record, right?

There are problems that we'll find for the next several days. This is the snowfall that has fallen. All of the states in this fuchsia color from Kentucky down into years of south and North Carolina with the icing, schools will be closed for maybe a week because of the secondary streets and the refreezing. This will happen for days. The sun will do a great deal of good. And there will be temperatures well above freezing, as you can see here in New York City and getting into the 40s. But each night we'll have the refreezing.

You're going to have the ice still on the sidewalks, falling from rooftops and the tops of buildings. That's a concern. Even into Washington, D.C., but this is two cities. The entire mass of the eastern U.S., the amount of power outages that we have in the Carolinas is a big concern. A beautiful snowfall and it's always pretty until the lights start to flicker, right? Then you're in survival mode. There's no more snowfall to be found, but the impacts of flight cancellations, some road closures, trying to clear those secondary streets and suburbs, the coastal erosion they're working on now but the power outage is a big concern, thousands without power. We'll have to watch that one closely because temperatures at night are freezing.

WHITFIELD: Yeah, that's very dangerous and scary stuff. All right, thank you so much, Tom Sater, appreciate it.

All right, and then there's football, the NFC championship football game set to kick off in a couple of hours in Charlotte despite that right there, snowfall there. We'll have a live report coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:58:01]

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. Charlotte, North Carolina, was one of the first major cities impacted by this weekend's historic snowstorm. And it's one of the first to experience the warm-up. Officially, three inches of snow fell in Charlotte, but the sun and warmer temps have returned just in time for the NFC championship game. Kickoff between the Carolina Panthers and Arizona Cardinals will take place in less than two hours. Let's check in with Correspondent Polo Sandoval who was there and they are raring to go, hi, Polo.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Fred, standing in the shadow of Bank of America stadium which will host the Cardinals and the Panthers is a place that experienced the wrath of the storm 48 hours ago. It's incredible when you look over this massive crowd that's gathered here ahead of kickoff time. You can see the crews really had to work around the clock to clear not only the sidewalks of all of that ice and snow, because the main concern was to try to make sure that fans got here safely.

And to be able to enjoy the game, including a Cardinals fan, Mr. Tim smith, it was not easy sailing to get into town.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, it was not. We were in Atlanta and we were on a plane going to Raleigh Durham. We couldn't get into Charlotte. They canceled at 1:00 a.m. We spent the night at an airport in Atlanta, and then we went to Raleigh Durham. Then a 3 1/2 hour train ride to Charlotte.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: Right, translation, happy people, happy that the snow did not dampen their spirit or the game. It's on. All right, Polo Sandoval thanks so much. He cannot hear a word I am saying. All right, but you can. Thanks so much for being with me today, I'm Fredricka Whitfield. We have much more straight ahead in the Newsroom with Poppy Harlow in New York.

[17:00:00]