Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Presidential Candidates Campaign in Iowa; Jeb Bush Holds Rally in Iowa; Marco Rubio Holds Rally in Iowa; Donald Trump Questions Ted Cruz's Eligibility for U.S. Presidency; Chris Christie Holds Rally; Donald Trump's Views on Abortion Examined; State Department Holding Some E-mails from Hillary Clinton's Server from Release; Zika Virus Spreading Across Americas. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired January 30, 2016 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:00:18] VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: The rooms are packed. We're going to show those to you in just a moment. 2016 presidential candidates are now back on the campaign trail, the final weekend before the Iowa caucuses. CNN live in Des Moines with a look at the final 48-hour push to sway voters before Monday's caucuses.
Also, a snowstorm could arrive in Iowa just in time for the caucuses, although some forecasts now say maybe it will wait until Tuesday. The Iowa Department of Transportation is already making plans to ensure that caucus-goers will be able to cast their votes.
Good morning to you. I'm Victor Blackwell live in Des Moines. The candidates have had their coffee. The teams are up. They're back on the campaign trail right now just two days before voters head to caucus. Take a look here. We have got the candidates there are -- well, the rooms there waiting for the candidates, Kasich, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush. We've got John Kasich, an event as well. We're going to show you the maps as well, the Republicans and Democrats all over. Ted Cruz will be hitting multiple stops as well, one event beginning in just moments.
Republican frontrunner Donald Trump holding three rallies in eastern Iowa. Look at this map. These candidates are everywhere today.
Let's check the Democrats. Two hours from now Hillary Clinton will rally with former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly in Ames, Iowa. They have endorsed Clinton's campaign. Bernie Sanders holding a series of canvassing events that ends with a rally and a rock concert in Iowa City.
Let's start with CNN's Phil Mattingly, who is where that first event will be held today, a Chris Christie town hall. Phil, good morning.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Chris Christi will be here in a matter of minutes, is probably walking in as we speak just about a mile awhile from where Bernie Sanders will be holding that rock concert tonight. Vampire Weekend, Atlanta based hip-hop artist Killer Mike, all of this, Victor, underscoring the urgency of this moment right now. It's 72 hours until voters here in Iowa go to their caucus sights. And it's very close.
It's close on the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton really going back and forth in the polling. And on the Republican side, Donald Trump looking like he's extending his lead even after his decision, Victor, to skip out on that debate. But what you're watching right now is Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio really battling it out for that second tier. And then people like Chris Christie walking in here in a couple moments, really trying to set the bar above the low expectations about their proponents in this state, have an opportunity, Victor, to go to New Hampshire on a bit of a roll and hopefully ride that momentum to bigger showings there.
BLACKWELL: Phil, what is the expectation today for Christie, because we know that he has essentially has moved to New Hampshire, spending to last several months there? I know this last minute stop back in Iowa before the caucuses this weekend and he said he was bringing his wife, Mary Pat Christie, but what is the expectation for Christie?
MATTINGLY: There is a recognition inside the Christie campaign and also with the governor himself. They have to finish as the first governor in New Hampshire. That's John Kasich, that's Jeb Bush, that's Chris Christie, all three of them fighting for the same money, fighting for the same recognition, and really fighting for that establishment lane.
This last couple days in Iowa has been a big push for Chris Christie, nine events over the course of the last 48 hours. But New Hampshire is what will make or break the early stage of this campaign. They're willing to admit that. And that's why on caucus night he will actually be back in New Hampshire. He will be talking to voters in town halls there. And that will set up that last push here, Victor. If he does well in New Hampshire, that sets him up in South Carolina and others state down the line. If he doesn't that could be the death knell for a campaign.
BLACKWELL: All right, the hope in the Christie campaign to be the top finishing governor in Iowa. Phil Mattingly there in Iowa City for us, thank you so much.
Let's talk about Senator Ted Cruz. He has five campaign stops today, one at a middle school in the small town of Hubbard, Iowa, population, 839. Cruz has campaigned in all 99 Iowa counties hope to win over voters while fending off attacks from frontrunner Donald Trump, who last night hammered Cruz again about the Canadian birth.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They didn't even mention that he was born in Canada, right? When you're born in Canada, you're not supposed to be running for the president of the United States. Prime minister of Canada, no problem. No, no, he can run for Canada. He can run for prime minister of Canada. No problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: CNN's Sunlen Serfaty following the Cruz campaign today in Ames, Iowa, a big rally set to happen there today. So what is the strategy from the Cruz campaign to try to hold off these attacks from Trump?
[10:05:00] We've seen those attacks coupled with other strategies and criticisms have dug into that lead that we sat in December. That's now gown.
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's absolutely right, Victor. And pushing back on Donald Trump is a core part of Ted Cruz's closing message here. The argument that the Cruz campaign has really drilling down as they make their way through these town halls and events here in Iowa is that Donald Trump is not a real conservative. He represents New York values. He's a phone evangelical. And we have them really try to ratchet up the warnings in the last week or so here in Iowa for voters, really laying down the stakes of what a potential Trump win here in Iowa would mean down the line. We've heard Cruz say that he would be unstoppable if he wins here, really trying to paint the picture that he would be an unstoppable train that would be really let loose if he got a win here in Iowa. Really the meaning behind that is Ted Cruz trying to communicate to Iowa voters if you want anyone other than Donald Trump, then stop him here in Iowa and stop him with a vote for me. Victor?
BLACKWELL: The Cruz campaign has tried to frame this as a two-man race, even this morning with some of the surrogates who have been here with me. Now we know they're shifting resources to go after Marco Rubio after the momentum, partially from "The Des Moines Register" endorsement, also and Thursday night's debate. How concerned are they about Rubio's momentum and the possibility of maybe a Cruz third-place finish here?
SERFATY: There definitely is some growing concern and anxiety about Marco Rubio, but I think that's more about an eventual threat that he poses, not about an immediate threat that he poses right here. Right now it's all about really the Cruz campaign really trying to blunt the momentum of Rubio coming out of Iowa, really trying to hit at his support here, making sure that momentum is stopped sending him into New Hampshire, sending him into South Carolina.
So what we have seen from the Cruz campaign is this shift in focus, a shift in resources. Now the super PAC representing Ted Cruz and the campaign are redirecting resources from those negative attack ads, usually devoted towards attacking Donald Trump, now attacking Marco Rubio instead. And this keeps in line with what we have just seen from Ted Cruz himself on the campaign trail. Yesterday unprompted he brought up many times Marco Rubio, really laying into his record on immigration, so very clear that they are looking ahead right now and trying to top Marco Rubio from gaining any momentum than they really want.
BLACKWELL: Sunlen Serfaty for us this morning. Sunlen, thanks so much.
Speaking of Marco Rubio, he's holding a rally right now in Sioux City. Let's watch. So we've got the crowd there waiting to hear from him in just a moment. He's there on stage being introduced. We will go back to that in just a moment as soon as we hear from Marco Rubio himself.
We're going to go to Jeb Bush. We've got Jeb Bush in front of a crowd as well. Let's listen to the former Florida governor.
JEB BUSH, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We allow politicians to divide us. And when George and Helena Walker Bush fills out the census form at the age of 21, I can guarantee you if we get it right, she'll say not applicable. It doesn't matter how many hyphens I have. I'm an American. And the thing that defines us is the common purpose that we have. If we lose that common purpose, if we divide ourselves up, if we allow politicians to push down people to make themselves look better, if we have candidates that disparage people or insult them as if somehow that's a sign of strength, the result is that we're not going to be the America that will lead the world.
All the other policies, and I'm a wonk, man. You want to give a city wonk-athon, go to Jeb2016.com. I have laid out detailed plans, and we can talk about them, about taxing, about regulation, about how to restore economic growth, about dealing with preserving and protecting Social Security and fixing the entitlement mess that's going to create debt as far as the eye can see. We'll have a conversation about that.
But first and foremost, we need people in public life that recognize the greatness of this country is the set of shared values that we have. It's the America people that define or greatness, not our government. And that's why I'm running for president, because I'm sick and tired of people that are always trying to push others down to try to make themselves look good. I think leadership is about forging consensus to begin to solve problems.
And I had a chance to do this as a governor of the state of Florida. Florida is a purple state, they say. It's a swing state, I know that. I was governor in 2000. I can promise you there's a lot of Democrats and a lot of Republicans, and we fight it out every year. If you win Florida you have a pretty good chance of becoming president.
[10:10:00] I took conservative principles and applied them in a way that transformed the state. I cut taxes every year totaling $19 billion. Now some of you may know this already, we don't have an income tax in Florida. You have to be pretty committed to tax cutting when you can get to $19 billion without an income tax to cut. We reduced the government employee base by 13,000 because we reformed our career civil service system.
BLACKWELL: You're watching here former Florida governor Jeb Bush making his case on the final Saturday before the Iowa caucuses Monday night. We're going to go now back to that event in Sioux City with Marco Rubio making his case. Let's dip into that one.
SEN. MARCO RUBIO, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: -- powerful truth that our rights come from God, and that we have a government to protect our rights, not to decide them. That's why we have free enterprise, that's why we have individual liberty, that's why we believe all human life is worthy of the protection of our laws.
(APPLAUSE)
RUBIO: And that very principle is now in doubt, because seven years ago a president was elected who was not interested in simply fixing the problems in America. A president was elected who wanted to change America. In essence, in 2008 Barack Obama was elected promising hope and change, but the change he was promising was to change the country, to make us more like the rest of the world. So he views the constitution differently than you do and I do. He views it as an annoyance, as an impediment. That's why he violates it lawlessly, ignoring it with executive orders, undermining the Second Amendment, undermining religious liberties.
He views free enterprise as a greedy economic system. Have you watched some of the Bernie Sanders commercials? This is how they view free enterprise, as a greedy system in which people are left behind deliberately because they only you can ever make any money is if you're cheating someone. They don't believe that hard work is the way you achieve the things you've achieved in your life.
(APPLAUSE)
RUBIO: And Barack Obama views America as an arrogant global power, that it's our fault these countries don't like us, that it's our fault that radical jihadists are doing some of the things they've done against us. So he wants to cut America down to size. That's why he guts our military. That's why he cuts a deal with Iran. That's why he betrays Israel. That's why he apologizes for America. That's how you win a Nobel Peace Prize three months into office without doing a thing is you try to cut America down to size.
And so what's the result of all this? The result is that our identity is now at stake and you know it, and that' why you're here. You're not just here today to hear a political speech. You are here because you feeling what millions of Americans are feeling, and that is the worry, the fear that what makes America special is slipping away and that no one is doing anything about it.
BLACKWELL: Senator Marco Rubio there making his case to voters in Sioux City, Iowa.
I want to Katrina Pierson now. She's is Trump national campaign spokesperson. We've heard from the Cruz campaign that this is a two- man race between Cruz and between Donald Trump. What's your concern about Marco Rubio? He has certainly has had some momentum since the debate.
KATRINA PIERSON, TRUMP NATIONAL CAMPAIGN SPOKESPERSON: I think Senator Cruz is right. It is a two-man race, but it's for second place. Mr. Trump has been clearly the frontrunner since he entered this race back in June and remains the frontrunner today. And we've seen in all of the recent polls that Mr. Trump is ahead in Iowa, and he considers himself a team with the voters when it comes to fighting back against career politicians who are all talk and no action. And I think right now Iowans are going to have to figure out, you know, do they want to continue to further the momentum of Mr. Trump so that we can get out there and really fight for the voters, get the economy back on track, stop illegal immigration, secure the border, and really tackle the Obama-Clinton foreign policy out there.
BLACKWELL: There's a video that has been released by Donald Trump. I'll admit this is my first time seeing it, but we're good to air it and then I'd like to speak with you about it. Let's play it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I really appreciate the support given to me by the evangelicals. They've been incredible. Every polls says how well I'm doing with them. My mother gave me this very bible many years ago. In fact it's her writing right here. She wrote the name and my address, and it's just very special to me. And again, I want to thank the evangelicals. I will never let you down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: All right, a promise to evangelical voters here in Iowa, a very important group here. But I do want to point out something that we saw from Ted Cruz poking fun potentially Donald Trump's dedication to Christianity, his religion. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[10:15:03] CRUZ: -- to spend just a minute a day saying father God, please continue this awakening, continue this spirit of revival, awaken the body of Christ that we might pull back from this abyss. We are here today standing on the promises of Second Chronicles 7:14. You know, two Corinthians walked into a bar.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Citing Donald Trump saying two Corinthians instead of Second Corinthians. What's your response to the Cruz campaign? We had a surrogate this morning who just simply said that Donald Trump is not an evangelical and questions some of the statements, including something like that video that we saw.
PIERSON: I think it's that's kind of theater that is really having voters all across the country questioning the authenticity of Cruz's own faith. Most Christians don't go around telling other Christians who can be a Christian, who is a better Christian. And Mr. Trump does take that very seriously and it's very important.
And Senator Cruz himself talks about you know them by their fruits. Look at the empire that Donald Trump has created. Look at the tens of thousands of jobs that he's created. Look at his family, they're wonderful.
And I'll have to give you an example. I had a young man from Afghanistan who immigrated to this country, and he put it as plain as day. He said he's supporting Mr. Trump because no one in this race Republican or Democrat knows how important it is for a man to put food on his table. And it was really that simple for a lot of people. We have people like Phyllis Schlafly, who is a very strong evangelical --
BLACKWELL: I know that's an anecdote from one of the supporters, but I don't know necessarily that no other person in the race knows how difficult it is to put food on a table.
PIERSON: How important it is. This is what the young man told me, how important it is, because he signs tens of thousands of paychecks, and no one else has done that. So we're looking at a broader space. You have Phyllis Schlafly, who is very strong evangelical, very much a pro-life Christian and widely known in the community. You have Jerry Falwell Jr. who gave a glowing endorsement of Mr. Trump. A lot of people who knows Mr. Trump know his heart, and a lot of voters find it very disingenuous for that to be questioned.
BLACKWELL: Let me ask you about the other element. I think we have the video guys. The question about abortion and the time in which Donald Trump sat down with Tim Russert and talked about being pro- choice. We have that video, I think. And this is part of the new Ted Cruz/New York values ad. Let's watch that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Hey, I lived in New York City and Manhattan all my life. So my views are a little bit different than if I lived in Iowa.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are different, like on abortion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would president Trump ban partial-birth abortions?
TRUMP: I am pro-choice in every respect.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And what does Trump think about Iowa?
TRUMP: How stupid are the people of Iowa?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: So you hear Donald Trump saying that he's very pro-choice in every respect. And the case is, of course, consistency, and there is of course a contradiction between what he said then and what he's saying now.
PIERSON: Well, I think there's consistency issues in most human beings 15, 20 years ago and where they are today. And Mr. Trump has been very candid about in incident where he experienced friends who went through a similar situation that really changed his whole concept of abortion, and he's been very outspoken about being prolife and the importance of protecting life. And, you know, it's just senator Cruz using political tactics trying to smear the man's character today. But I'll also say that Mitt Romney was pro-choice before he was pro- life. And even Rick Perry who is out there campaigning for Mr. Cruz --
BLACKWELL: Did Donald Trump support the concept of partial birth abortion?
PIERSON: He never came out and said I support partial birth abortion. When he was asked the question, he just said all forms. A lot of men don't like to go into the details of that. He did support a woman's right to choose.
BLACKWELL: But would it include that as well?
PIERSON: He supported a right to choose in general.
BLACKWELL: All right, Katrina Pierson, national spokesperson --
PIERSON: But he's very much pro-life today.
BLACKWELL: Thank you very much.
PIERSON: Absolutely.
BLACKWELL: All right, the Iowa caucuses are here. We're in the final hours now. We'll have complete coverage of the Iowa all day Monday, in fact all weekend. Be here with us on CNN.
Coming up next, the controversy over Hillary Clinton's e-mails, of course that's back in the headlines and the news breaking late Friday that the State Department is now holding 22 e-mails because they are top secret or contain top secret information. With the tight race in Iowa, will this hurt her campaign?
And going to back to these live pictures, more live campaign events happening right now, including Chris Christie's event there in Iowa City. We'll dip into these events throughout the morning.
Let's go back to Christi Paul in Atlanta.
[10:20:00] CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Victor, yes, we're back here covering some other things, Victor. Up to 4 million people in north and south Americans could be infected with the Zika virus in the next year. What can be done to stop the spread around the world? We are talking to an expert who has good insight for us here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: Final weekend here in Iowa before the caucuses on Monday night. We are watching all of the live events across the state. Right now presidential candidates New Jersey governor Chris Christie is spending time in Iowa City. Let's listen.
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I know that's not the truth. So we don't need another person like that in the White House who will say to you, do you believe me or your lying eyes? We need someone who is going to tell us the truth about what's going on in our country, deliver it straight, come up with solutions, and then you can either follow that person or not. But that's leadership. Leadership is telling people the truth and trusting the people to hear the truth. The second thing I want to say is who we're going to be running
against in November. Now, I know there's a Bernie Sanders boomlet going on right now, but I don't even think the Democratic Party will nominate a socialist for the president of the United States. I mean, they might. We could get that lucky, but I don't --
(LAUGHTER)
CHRISTIE: but there's something that just tells me we're not going to get that lucky, that we're going to get Hillary Clinton and her husband and Chelsea and the whole rest of the band that will get put back together. And they're going to be coming at us one more time, and, as I said on Thursday night, their inevitable relentless pursue of another stint in public housing. That's what they want.
[10:25:09] And let's think about her this week. Yes, I know it's painful. Hang with me. It won't be long. We heard this week 22 pages of e-mails the State Department refuses to release them from her private server because they are top secret.
Let's remember the things she told us. It's hard. You need a program to follow along with this, but hang with me. When we first find out about the private email server, which, by the way, she kept secret for seven years, let's start with that. Let's start with we never knew about the private e-mail server until seven years had passed. But then she told us at the time absolutely no classified information ever passed through that server, so the fact it wasn't secure should make no difference at all.
Then she said, well, maybe no material that was actually marked classified ever passed through even if it was classified. Then we found out that she actually instructed people to take the classified markings off of certain documents and fax them to her over a non- secure fax.
Now we find out there was top secret information, that's so top secret that even today the State Department won't release it as part of her e-mail release.
Listen, you can't come to any other conclusion than that she lied to us. She just lied to us. She lied, and the worst part is you found out in Iowa just last week when she did her town hall meeting why she lied. They asked her, in Iowa, why the private e-mail server? She said it was for her convenience. Her convenience. Now, of course, that's baloney, too, because let me tell you something, I have had worked in the federal government. I was the United States attorney for seven years. I had a public e-mail account, and it was on my BlackBerry at the time, and it was no more inconvenient than my private e-mail account that was on my BlackBerry. It was just a different account. Remember in the beginning she said she did it because she didn't want to carry two devices.
(LAUGHTER)
Now, like, this is to the extent we're all really stupid. This is like we all don't have smartphones and we don't know that you can have multiple e-mail accounts on one device. But worse than that, then we saw her, she was carrying two devices.
(LAUGHTER)
BLACKWELL: All right, you're listening to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie there in Iowa City. He spent a lot of time in New Hampshire and he'll be back in New Hampshire Monday night, the night of the caucuses, but in Iowa this morning talking about the latest development in the Clinton e-mail controversy, the announcement from the State Department that 22 e-mails will not be released because they contain top secret information.
We've had heard the characterization from Governor Christie, and we'll hear that from many Republican candidates this weekend. Let's now go for the facts from Chris Frates who is in Washington covering this is it story. Chris?
CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Victor. So just yesterday State Department announced that it will not release 22 e- mails from former secretary of state Hillary Clinton because they contain top secret information.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KIRBY, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: The documents are being upgraded at the request of the intelligence community because they contain a category of top secret information. These documents were not marked classified at the time they were sent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRATES: So the Clinton campaign has long argued that same point that Spokesman Kirby made right there, that the e-mails were not marked classified at the time they were sent. And the Clinton folks add that government bureaucrats are now retroactively over-classifying her emails. The State Department has released thousands of pages of Clinton's emails that she kept on a private server while serving as secretary of state, and then news that some of those e-mails now won't be released at all comes only days before the Iowa caucuses and could serve as a kind of reminder of what some voters see as one of Clinton's biggest weaknesses, that she can't be trusted. Republicans not surprisingly pounced on the news that Clinton kept top secret information on a private e-mail server.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUBIO: Hillary Clinton put some of the highest, most sensitive information on her private server because maybe she thinking she's above the law, or maybe she just wanted the convenience of being able to read this stuff on her BlackBerry. This is unacceptable. This is a disqualifier.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRATES: The Clinton campaign says it opposes the State Department's decision to hold back the e-mails.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The facts are that I never e-mailed anything that was considered classified, it wasn't marked classified. And I just think that at the end of the day everybody is going to know that I asked to have all these made public. I would love for them to be public. I would love for people to see what I did, and I hope that will happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[10:30:07] FRATES: So on a separate note, Victor, the State Department also announced yesterday that it would not release 18 emails between then Secretary Clinton and President Obama in order to protect the president's ability to receive what they called "blunt advice." Victor?
BLACKWELL: All right, Chris Frates for us in Washington, Chris, thank you so much.
Let's bring in CNN politics executive editor Mark Preston now with us. We heard from Senator Dianne Feinstein. She said that she saw these e-mails and there was nothing marked classified when it was sent, the report or the statement also saying it included "New York Times" articles that were sent back and forth. But this plays into the narrative that there is a problem of trustworthiness, that she cannot be trusted or is not honest.
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Do as I say, not as I do. And I think that's one of the stumbling blocks Hillary Clinton has had to face in this campaign.
In a Democratic primary, will this matter? It casts some doubt over Hillary Clinton when caucus goers and New Hampshire primary voters and others are looking at who they are going to pick between her and Bernie Sanders, but it's not going to be that big of an issue.
The bit issue is, how does this play out if she becomes the nominee and we roll through the summer, and does the House and the Senate start launching investigations to pull her up to Capitol Hill to testify while she's running for president?
BLACKWELL: We know that the State Department has asked for an extension. Friday was supposed to be the last day, the last released of emails. This now goes into late February, right before March 1st, the Super Tuesday contest. What is the concern from the campaign, that this now drags into a protracted race between she and Senator Sanders?
PRESTON: I think yesterday once this news came out, immediately the Clinton campaign came out and said they want them released now. That is by design. That was not by chance. They came out very forcefully in their statement. They said that these were not classified before and that they think they should all come out now. Of course they want to get this over with now and to move on. They thought that they had in some ways when she does so well when she testified about Benghazi when she was up before the House, but the fact of the matter is she's still being dogged by it. I don't know if it's really going to affect here in the primary, but it's not something that's helpful.
BLACKWELL: Let's talk about the campaign that's under attack, the Rubio campaign, attack from Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz as well. We're going to talk about that in a moment. Mark is staying with us.
And the bad weather in Iowa, could it keep voters away on Monday? I mean, I don't know. We've had Iowans come up here without a jacket, so I don't know if a little snow is going to keep them from the caucus. But we'll see if the weather even comes in on Monday night. We'll check on that. Stay with us. We have an update just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: It is a busy weekend across Iowa. The candidates are out trying to get that last minute support. We know that this is the weekend that a lot of those undecided finally decide, or they have to because the caucuses begin Monday night. Now, we're going to dip into John Kasich's event. He is in New Hampshire. He has staked his race on doing well there. He's showing some strength in the polls. Listen.
JOHN KASICH, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Our problem is China and India. And they had these talks over in Paris. I don't think anything ever came out of them. But the fact is of course we want to have a good environment. We're not here to worship it, we're here to manage it.
So I think consistent and reasonable approaches to these alternatives is really important. We're beginning to see the price of solar come down dramatically. I mean, there's good things happening here. So my view is, and I speak as the governor, we're going to develop these renewables come hell or high water. OK? Yes, right here, young man.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Governor, you recently criticized Governor Snyder, your neighbor up in Michigan, for his handling of the Flint water crisis.
KASICH: No, I haven't said too much about it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was in the paper. We all saw. And I was concerned because I saw something very similar in the Ohio papers about the water contamination crisis in Sebring, Ohio. So I was wondering how that fits in with your narrative of you as a fixer if you haven't fixed the same problem in Ohio.
KASICH: They're not even comparable. Can I -- can I answer the question? Here's the situation. First of all, we had clean water intake into Ohio, and once our top officials at EPA found out there was a testing problem, they sprung immediately into action that day. And two days later they took the license away from the operator. And the federal EPA has come in and looked at everything we've done in Ohio, and guess what they said? Ohio has done everything that could have been expected and maybe even a little bit more. So we're on top of it and things are fine. It's a completely different issue. OK? Yes, ma'am.
(APPLAUSE)
BLACKWELL: All right, pretty tough question there for Governor Kasich of Ohio, asking questions about the water -- I won't call it crisis, but concerns in Ohio and his comments about those in Flint, Michigan.
Let's come back here to Iowa there. The governor is in New Hampshire where he's staked his campaign But candidates here are trying to cover as much ground as they can before the caucuses on Monday, dozens of events over the next two days. The Rubio campaign has just announced a new part of their strategy for the homestretch, planning to air a 30-money town hall special this weekend in every market in Iowa, every television market.
Manu Raju is here with me about it. Tell us about this strategy. We'll of course talk more about it in just a moment on the other side just outside the camera. I've got someone from the Rubio campaign. But tell us what you know.
MANU RAJU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Rubio campaign clearly wants to solidify its third-place standing right now in the polls. Right now it looks like it's going to Donald Trump and Ted Cruz fighting for the one and two spot, but the Rubio campaign believes if they end up a strong number three, they will be able to make the case to the one party that they are the one candidate that can actually take on Cruz and Trump in New Hampshire, in South Carolina, in Nevada, in those Super Tuesday states. They want to have some separation between them and the governors in the race.
And what that really means, probably something in the high teens is a good night for them, something into the 20s. They would probably be ecstatic if they got there. If they were nipping at Ted Cruz' heels or Donald Trump's heels for number two that would be a very, very big night. But the low teens, that would be considered underperforming for them and it would be hard for them to make the case that we are the alternative to Trump and Cruz.
So right now that's why they're spending very heavily. Rubio has been crisscrossing the state from the northwest part of the state to the eastern part of the state in just a matter of days.
[10:40:03] That 30-minute ad is airing in all of the markets in the state, clearly all trying to make sure that they are that person who say I can take on Cruz, I can take on Trump.
BLACKWELL: Manu, stay with us. We know Marco Rubio that is called Ted Cruz the frontrunner for Monday's caucuses. Is he trying to lower expectations or is this signaling some other shift? Let's talk with his campaign's communication director Alex Conant. So I want to talk first about the momentum that we're seeing, and there is some momentum. Is there a possibility your candidate will do better than a strong third, 20 percent or more?
ALEX CONANT, COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR, RUBIO FOR PRESIDENT: We don't see any evidence of that. We're running against the greatest show on earth, which is Donald Trump, and the greatest ground game that Iowa has ever seen with Ted Cruz. They were at 40 percent in the polls and said they hadn't peaked yet. Obviously they feel very confident about Iowa. I expect Marco will come in third. I hope he comes in third. If he comes in, as you said, a strong third I think that makes it clear that this is really a three person race headed into New Hampshire, which is good for our campaign.
BLACKWELL: Let's watch one of the newer Ted Cruz ads casting Senator Rubio as the Republican Obama. Let's watch that.
All right, so we don't have that ad.
CONANT: That's good.
(LAUGHTER)
BLACKWELL: But what about that criticism? That criticism this is another young senator who is a great orator, who has hopes and dreams and a campaign, but is not prepared to lead as many Republicans believe --
CONANT: It's a little ironic that a first-term senator is attacking another first-term senator for being a first-term senator, but that's typically of Ted Cruz who is really willing to say or do anything to try to get ahead in this race. Barack Obama wasn't a bad president because he served in the Senate. He was a bad president because he had really bad ideas. Marco Rubio is running for president because he has an agenda to turn the country around to create a new American century by growing our economy, by strengthening our national security, by strengthening our intelligence programs, programs that were gutted under this program with, frankly, Ted Cruz's help.
BLACKWELL: So we're seeing some strength here, although you're not going to tell me the possibility that your candidate can come in second when a strong third would be good. Where does Marco Rubio win?
CONANT: Where does he win?
BLACKWELL: Where does he win?
CONANT: It's a long campaign. It's a long haul. And so from here we go to New Hampshire where we feel really good about our team on the ground there. We've spent a lot of time in New Hampshire. I think Marco's message for a new American century plays very well in New Hampshire. If we come out of the here with a little bit momentum, we are hoping to finish in the top tier in New Hampshire as well. And then we go to South Carolina and Nevada, and then into the March states.
But I think until we have the winner take all contests in mid-March, which is in Ohio and Marco's home state in Florida, you'll see the candidates -- it's going to be hard for any one candidate to get a lot of separation. That's why we're prepared for the long haul.
BLACKWELL: All right, Alex Conant with the Marco Rubio campaign, communications director, thank you so much. CONANT: Thank you.
BLACKWELL: We'll take a quick break. Of course we're following all of the live events across Iowa in the final weekend before caucus night. Keep it right here on CNN. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:46:58] She is pretty in the morning, the capital here in Des Moines, beautiful shot there. But it could be covered in snow soon because there is a storm expected soon. The timing of the storm is still up in the air a little, but this could start right as caucus goers head out to cast their vote. The hope is that it doesn't. Some forecast estimate between eight inches, maybe up to a foot of snow, possibly. The Iowa Department of Transportation already working on plans to keep roads cleared on Monday so people can go out and participate in those caucus events all across the state.
Tonight "The Des Moines Register" will release its final poll right ahead of the caucuses. It's coming out at about 5:45. So we're going to look forward to that. The latest poll in the Republican race shows Donald Trump leading Ted Cruz by seven points, on the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders running a really tight race, Clinton up by three. You see O'Malley there at three percent. And that's just a dead heat when you consider the margin of error.
Let's bring in Lynn Hicks, the opinion editor for "The Des Moines Register" with us now. We were talking a bit during the break about looking ahead to this poll, but you've told me you've not seen it, so we can't talk about the poll.
LYNN HICKS, OPINION EDITOR, "DES MOINES REGISTER": I haven't seen anything, so I'm on the opinion side, so the opinion section is not involved in the poll. So you can ask me for prediction and I will say the smart person waits until Ann Selzer's poll comes out before they make predictions because she has a great record.
BLACKWELL: We will do that. Let me ask you, though. Do you know if it was taken during or after the debate, the debate and Trump's counter-event? Do we know if it included that time?
HICKS: My understanding is there was a portion of that, and Ann Selzer would be the best person to talk about it when they were in the field. But I understand it caught a part of that. So polling takes place. People should know that polling takes place over a three or four-day period. And it makes a difference. In 2012 there was a huge swing over the four day period. It was looking like Ron Paul was looking very strong at the beginning, and then you saw Santorum surge. So we could see something like that happen again if somebody has momentum coming into the race. And again, it's taken with still three days to go.
BLACKWELL: And there's a lot of movement on this last weekend historically.
HICKS: There's a lot of things happening, and a lot of Iowans waiting to make up their mind.
BLACKWELL: All right, let's talk about the opinion then. We know that "The Des Moines Register" endorsed Marco Rubio last week. I wonder after watching the debate on Thursday night, it seems that those videos, and we saw the videos of previous statements about immigration that were played during the FOX debate that they are cutting into the narrative against Ted Cruz more than they are against Marco Rubio. Do you know why that is? Why do you expect that's happening?
[10:50:00] HICKS: I think part of it is that the immigration question has been one that Marco Rubio has been trying to answer for several months. So I don't think there was anything really new there for a lot of people who are trying to consider that question. I think that -- and we said that, you know, he needs to continue to answer those questions for voters in our endorsement. We put out several challenges for Senator Rubio. It wasn't a glowing endorsement. We challenged him on the kind of candidate we would like to see.
BLACKWELL: The opponents will say that these endorsements don't matter, because they didn't get it. That's why they'll say that. Is there evidence they do? We are seeing some momentum? And what role do you think that the endorsement plays in that?
HICKS: Well, I think it's one piece of a very large puzzle that Iowans are putting together. I won't say that it's going to make the difference for anyone. My hope is that people will read it and give it due consideration. I know they're getting a lot of sustains. You know, I think it's that momentum we're seeing from Marco Rubio, I do believe it's real just from what I'm hearing out there. And I think we've got a lot of notice from ours, and I think that sort of was one part of that wave that he's seeing.
BLACKWELL: There's always a candidate in every cycle that says they are going to get out the voters who have never caucused before. They're going to bring young people in. Those are historically unreliable groups. Is there any evidence that for the Democrats, that Bernie Sanders, that Donald Trump will be able to bring out new voters on Monday night?
HICKS: There's plenty of evidence because of the people coming -- showing up for all the events. You know, we've seen lots of stories out there questioning the Trump organization. You know, from what I have seen, I think they're responding to that. I think that the technology is there. If you go on the website, you can find out where your precinct location is. You can see a video.
So I think that they will get out there. But it matters, too, where they go. If Sanders, most of his support is concentrated in the college towns. He still will not get enough delegates. So he has to be across the board. He had a big event last night at the Des Moines social club with Foster the People. All kinds of young people showed up for that, and here in Des Moines, so who knows if they'll show up on Monday.
BLACKWELL: Quickly, the big headline overnight, the declaration by the State Department that they're not going to release those 22 e- mails because they contain top secret information. What role does that play for the Democrats as we head into Monday night?
HICKS: On Monday night I don't think it holds a lot. I think Hillary Clinton still has a high trust factor among Democrats. So, you know, there's always that undecided that could be considering it, but I don't think there's any huge news here. I mean, people have been waiting for these e-mails, they've known these questions. And so the general election Democrats should be concerned.
BLACKWELL: It certainly will. We've already heard from the Republicans and we will hear that into those last hours for the caucuses. Lynn Hicks with "The Des Moines Register" thank you so much.
HICKS: All right, thank you.
BLACKWELL: Back to you in Atlanta, Christi.
PAUL: All right, thank you, Victor. Listen, new this morning, Peru has been become the latest country to report its first case of the Zika virus, the dangerous virus spreading explosively around the Americas. And the World Health Organization estimating three to four million of us across the Americas will be infected by next year. Doctor Peter Hotez, president of Sabin Vaccine Institute is here with us, here. Dr. Hotez, thank you so much. There's no cure, no vaccine. What can be done to combat this?
DR. PETER HOTEZ, PRESIDENT, SABIN VACCINE INSTITUTE: Thanks for having me on, Christi. There's still a lot we can do. I always remind people that between 1947 and 1962, the mosquito which is transmitting the Zika virus that was eradiated in 18 Latin-American countries and several Caribbean countries. It was done by brute force, insecticidal spraying and being very aggressive in dumping out any kind of standing water. And if we're willing to launch a military-style campaign, a war against the mosquito, we could actually make a huge dent in the Zika epidemic.
PAUL: Is that what it's going to take, something that extreme?
HOTEZ: I think so, and I think the stakes are high. Remember what's happening. This virus is aggressively marching through Latin America. We've seen more than a million cases in Brazil, 700,000 cases Colombia. It's now into the Caribbean. It's probably going to be on every Caribbean island by the end of February.
I think the other piece that no one is really addressing is the role of poverty in this. So people who live under poor housing conditions, have degraded environments, garbage piled up such as a situation in Haiti, which has a depleted health system. Haiti could get decimated.
[10:55:00] We're looking at 250,000 newborn babies every year in Haiti, and they're completely exposed to mosquitos right now. So we're looking at a potential catastrophic situation in Haiti. And we also have the issue of poverty and the fact that we have both mosquitos on the Gulf coast in the U.S. where I work. And I know the narrative coming out of Washington and Atlanta is all about we are a high income country. We have air conditioning. But you have to see the Gulf coast and realize there's this hidden level of poverty there that's quite vulnerable.
PAUL: For those people as you just mentioned in the U.S. who are watching this, is there a risk? We know that there's a risk to people who are infected, who are pregnant and give birth. But to babies who are outside and might be bitten by mosquitos, to toddlers, is there a risk for them?
HOTEZ: Well, so far in older children, in adults, we don't know too much about babies, but we think that here's, not after you're born, we think that the impact of the disease is not very high. In many people it produces a rash, a fever. In a few it can produce more serious neurologic disease. But we think a high percentage of people who are getting bitten by the mosquito have no symptoms at all. And this is what makes it very hard to track the virus also.
PAUL: Dr. Peter Hotez, president, again, of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, we appreciate you being with us and sharing your insight. Thank you so much.
HOTEZ: Thanks for having me.
PAUL: Sure. And that is it for us here in Atlanta. Stay tuned. We have got more on the Iowa caucuses, much more ahead in CNN's Newsroom with Fredricka Whitfield.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
