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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Ted Cruz's Closing Argument In Iowa; Iowa Caucuses: The Home Stretch; California Jail Break; Futures Pointing Lower; Zika Virus Active In More Than 20 Countries; College Grads Making More Money. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired February 01, 2016 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:30:05] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Voters get to cast actual votes for president of the United States at the Iowa caucuses tonight.
Today, the candidates will be everywhere. Last-minute pitches trying to get their loyal backers to the right caucus site at the right time with the right instructions on how to actually vote because it is not easy, particularly on the Democratic side.
The old saying goes it is all about turnout because whoever turns out the most voters actually wins. Curious how that works, the most votes actually means you win.
On the Republican side, the main battle is between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. CNN's Phil Mattingly is following the Cruz campaign -- Phil.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Christine. Don't roll the dice. Those were the four words Ted Cruz has been repeating. It's his closing argument.
For Evangelicals, don't roll the dice on Donald Trump, someone who's made a big push for their support even gained it in recent polls, but maybe ideologically hasn't been as aligned with him over the course of his career.
Don't roll the dice on amnesty, on immigration, on whenever you want to call what Marco Rubio did in the Senate. Ted Cruz spent much of the last couple weeks hammering him on.
Ted Cruz has had a rough last couple of weeks under firm attack from Donald Trump. Marco Rubio really swinging toward sharp attacks in last couple days. He is trying in this closing argument to push back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SENATOR TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Every candidate will say they oppose Obamacare. The question we need to ask is show me when have you stood up and fought against Obamacare?
Every candidate is going to say they oppose amnesty. Even if their name is on the leading amnesty bill and they led the fight to try to pass it. The question we should ask is when have you stood and fought against amnesty and for the rule of law. (END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: Today, he will reach his 99th county calling Full Grassley named after Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, part of the vaunted ground game that Ted Cruz has had. They spent millions on data. They spent on digital and 10,000 volunteers knocking on doors trying to get that key turnout.
And that's the big question today, what will prevail? Donald Trump? A message that has really expanded his lead in the polls over the last week or two or Ted Cruz and the ground game that he and his team have invested millions in over the last nine or ten months? We will see. John and Christine, back to you.
BERMAN: All right, Phil, thanks so much. That is the Republican race. What about the Democratic side? Well, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, it has been tight here for weeks, 47 percent for Clinton and 44 percent for Bernie Sanders in the latest polling.
Both campaigns think that is an accurate sense of where things stand heading into caucus night. That doesn't mean that Clinton is a sure thing. Not at all because Bernie Sanders has the passion and energized base and people overflowing crowds at his rallies.
Will they show up to caucus? That is the big question. That is what the Clinton campaign is wrestling with right now. Can they overcome that? CNN's Brianna Keilar at Clinton's campaign last rally last night.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, a very enthusiastic crowd of thousands here at Hillary Clinton's final campaign event before Iowans caucus, a far cry from the first very small event that she held here in Iowa all the way back in April.
Hillary Clinton making the case that she is more electable than Bernie Sanders and more capable of getting things done in Washington.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you agree with me that we need to build on the progress we have made, we need to prevent it from being ripped away and undermined by the other party whose views and values are opposed to what I believe, then I hope you will go caucus for me tomorrow night.
I hope you will go. I hope you will stand up for me. I hope you will fight for me. And I promise you this, I will stand up and fight for you every single day of this campaign and then when we win, I will fight for you in the White House. Thank you and God bless you.
KEILAR: Talking to Clinton campaign sources, they feel good about Hillary Clinton's prospects going into caucus day. That she has done everything she can when it comes to messaging and
organizing.
They are looking at the polls, this consistent few points lead that she has in so many of them. That is making them feel about, but they are cautious because they are haunted, many of them who are in the campaign in 2008 by what happened here in Iowa.
They went into the caucus state and thinking they were going to win instead she got a stinging third place defeat -- John and Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: All right, Brianna Keilar following the Clinton campaign. Let's talk about where things stand just a few hours before voters line up to caucus all around the state.
I'm joined by "Wall Street Journal" White House correspondent, Colleen McCain Nelson, and also with me CNN Politics reporter, Eric Bradner.
[05:35:06]Again, we are at the Mars Cafe in Des Moines. Colleen, I want to start with you. What does this turnout effort that we have heard so much about? What does it involve over the next few hours?
COLLEEN MCCAIN NELSON, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, "WALL STREET JOURNAL": Hillary Clinton is probably not going to be doing a lot of rallies in the next few hours. Instead, she will probably stop by and talk to some campaign volunteers and get the troops fired up.
There will be a very concerted effort to organize the volunteers. The good news for Hillary Clinton is that she had a month's long head start on Bernie Sanders in this regard. She spent a long time building a huge operation.
Meantime, Bernie Sanders was not expecting to do as well overall and certainly not expecting to do this well in Iowa. So even when he was drawing large crowds for a while, he was not building this infrastructure.
And so he has had to play catch up and scramble very quickly to build an infrastructure in 99 Iowa counties.
BERMAN: You know, in these campaigns, they are dragging supporters to the caucus sites in some case. You need a ride? I'll give you a ride. You need someone to open the door for you? I will open the door for you.
ERIC BRADNER, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Right. I was at the Sanders' organizing office a few days ago. A young volunteer was excited because she tried to reach someone 18 times. On the 19th time, got them.
It is calling, texting, e-mailing, door knocking, everything. All about reaching the people they amassed contact information for, for a period of months.
As Colleen pointed out ten months for Clinton versus two months for Bernie Sanders so it's a much tougher job especially because Sanders is trying to turnout people who have not participated in the past, college students. People he may not have reached over the course of campaigning even in these large crowds that he is drawing. He is hoping for an organic turnout that could reach not quite 2008 levels, 240,000 people going to the Democratic caucuses, but high 100,000, something like that. It will be a challenge.
BERMAN: Donald Trump has a similar challenge on the Republican side.
NELSON: Absolutely. He has done everything differently from start to finish on this campaign. He has not immediately hired the normal political advisers you have seen. You see him hiring people on "The Apprentice" for starters and filling in with more normal political hands.
So it is really unclear exactly what his infrastructure looks like when you look closely under the hood. In talking with Donald Trump voters, you eventually hear them say, I have been hearing from the campaign. They seem to be more organized.
But not to the degree that you are seeing with the other campaigns. The other campaigns will call you up and tell you where the caucus site and offer you a ride. Trump supporters say they have not heard real detailed information or instruction.
BERMAN: The messaging strategy, though, from the Trump campaign does seems to be ever more focused right now. They seemed to know what message they want to send and what they want to do in these closing minutes.
BRADNER: Yes, absolutely. Trump has spent a lot of time in the closing days really going after Evangelical voters, which is a group that Ted Cruz is expecting to do well with. In the 44 counties west of Des Moines, where we are now, more rural and more conservative and they could be key.
If Cruz could win by a significant margin, that means he wins Iowa. Trump has spent a lot of time really going after them in recent days, campaigning with Jerry Falwell Jr. He is out with Sarah Palin today.
So yes, Trump is really has built an impressive organization here. He is not totally flying by the seat of his pants. He is for real.
He has experienced Iowa operatives working for him, but he needs same thing as Sanders does, a bigger turnout. People that haven't been in the process in the past.
BERMAN: Eric Bradner, Colleen McCain Nelson, thanks so much for being with us. Fascinating to talk about, fascinating to see what happens over the next few hours here in Iowa. I should say obviously it doesn't end tonight in Iowa.
Because after the caucus tonight, everyone, all of us, all of the candidates and campaign staffs go to New Hampshire in just two days. CNN has an amazing event.
A CNN town hall with the Democratic presidential candidates, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, and Martin O'Malley on stage with Anderson Cooper in a town hall 8 p.m. Wednesday night in the town of Derry.
That will be fascinating because someone will come out of here with momentum and someone will come out of here with a grudge -- Christine.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: It will be interesting, John, to see if team Trump can get all of the people lining up in the cold to see him speak, if they can get them to turn out at 8:00 p.m. to go and actually caucus for him.
[05:40:06]BERMAN: You know, he placed a bet. He hired real Iowa strategists a few months ago and everyone was asking, does he really mean it. Does he really mean it? If you are a political junkie, you know who these guys are.
They've been Iowa politics for a long time. It does seem that there is a little bit of the machinery you need to campaign in a traditional way.
You know, Donald Trump has bought a campaign machine and it may be working. Will they be able to get that last bit from voters from their kitchens to the caucus sites? We will know.
ROMANS: Kitchen to the caucus site. A different candidate running a different campaign. I like it, John. All right, thanks, John.
Other news we are following this morning, three dangerous inmates who escaped a California jail are now back behind bars. This morning, we have the new details on their capture next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:45:07]
ROMANS: Welcome back to EARLY START. The California jail worker accused of helping three violent inmates escape will make her first court appearance today. She is charged with being an accessory to a felony.
The three fugitives are now back behind bars in Orange County after more than a week on the run. Now one fugitive turned himself in on Friday.
The last two were arrested after a tip from someone who saw their stolen van in the parking lot of a Whole Foods in San Francisco. We get more this morning from CNN's Dan Simon.
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, the one thing you always hear police say is that if you see something, say something. That came to play here in Ashbury neighborhood in San Francisco. Someone who is in the area recognized the two fugitives and flag down police.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY GRAY, WITNESSED ARREST: Get on the ground. Get on the ground I knew right then there was more than a homeless person. Then I saw the complexion of the guy on the internet and the newspaper.
GRACE SCOTT GATPANDAN, SAN FRANCISCO POLICE DEPARTMENT: A citizen saw someone, saw something suspicious, notified an officer and that notification ultimately led to the apprehension of two armed and dangerous suspects.
SANDRA HUTCHENS, ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF: I can say this morning that the entire state can breathe a sigh of relief because we have the other two dangerous individuals back in custody where they should be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIMON: Authorities had offered a $200,000 reward for information that led to the fugitives capture. The sheriff in Orange County says that the witness here in San Francisco deserves at least part of that reward. It seems like the fair thing to do -- John and Christine.
ROMANS: All right, Dan Simon, thank you for that, Dan.
Two Virginia Tech students are being held without bail in connection with a kidnapping and murder of a 13-year-old girl. Nicole Lovell disappeared last week. Her body was found Saturday in North Carolina near the Virginia border.
The 18-year-old David Eisenhauer is charged with murder. Police are not commenting on how she died or possible motive. They say Eisenhauer and Nicole were acquainted before her disappearance. A second Virginia Tech student, Natalie Keepers, is charged with helping dispose of the body.
Later today, investigators plan to release more than 2,000 pages of evidence from last spring's deadly Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia. Eight commuters were killed and more than 200 others hurt.
The evidence is expected to include data from the train's black box and it could explain why the engineer was traveling at 106 miles an hour as he entered a sharp curve north of the Philadelphia station. The speed limit for that particular curve was 50 miles an hour.
Four anti-government protesters remained holed up in an Oregon National Wildlife refuge in a standoff that has gone on now for nearly a month.
Authorities are concerned about ongoing negotiations after the protesters reported they lost communications channels. They are the last of the armed occupiers who took over the refuge headquarters to protest the imprisonment of two local ranches.
The group's leader, Ammon Bundy was arrested last week and one of his followers was killed in a shootout with police.
Attorneys for Boston marathon bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, are seeking so overturn his conviction and his death sentence. They filed a notice of appeal last week.
Earlier this month, a federal judge denied Tsarnaev's request for a new trial after his lawyers claimed he could not get fair treatment in Boston.
It's 48 minutes past the hour. Time for an EARLY START on your money. Stock futures are lower, big rally on Friday. Global markets dropping this morning after a weak reading on manufacturing in China. Oil prices are down as well.
The Iowa caucuses are happening today. The economy is the topic of conversation there. A recent CNN/ORC poll shows the economy is number one among Democrats and Republicans.
A respondent say it is more important to them than things like terrorism and foreign policy. Iowa's economy by the numbers is strong. The unemployment rate statewide is 3.4 percent. That's below the national average.
Median household income is $52,000 a year in Iowa that's right at the national average. Home prices in Iowa have been steadily rising up more than 10 percent in the past year.
College grads are making more money, finally. One important decision can really boost the paychecks. I'll tell you how college grads can make sure they have a fat paycheck.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:53:21]
ROMANS: With the Zika virus now spreading explosively to two dozen countries, the World Health Organization is holding an emergency meeting today in Geneva. Scientists and government leaders from around trying to come up with a plan to halt the outbreak.
Travel warnings are already in effect for pregnant women and officials could decide to declare something a public health emergency of international concern. The Zika virus was first detected in Uganda.
That's where CNN's David McKenzie joins us live. David, you are there in the Zika forest, this virus was named for the very place where you are.
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That is right, Christine. The Zika forest is where they identified this virus in 1947. All those years have passed by with Zika generally being unknown to the general population only affecting a few humans and then exploding on the scene in Brazil with devastating effects.
The fact is scientists in the area that test viruses, particularly mosquito-borne viruses, say they find new ones all the time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JULIUS LUTWAMA, LEAD RESEARCHER, UGANDA VIRUS RESEARCH INSTITUTE: We don't know for sure. We don't know confidently what is in the forests. We have not done enough. We can't say we know anything. Every other year, we come across new viruses. In the last five years or so, almost each year, we come across a new virus in the country. (END VIDEO CLIP)
MCKENZIE: This is the bio-diversity hot zone, Christine. That is why it is important for further study of viruses. Initially, they did not think the Zika virus warranted the attention that other viruses like the yellow fever got and did not get a vaccine, and even no way to easily identify it in a human carrier -- Christine.
[05:55:07]ROMANS: So interesting, David, that it got from Uganda to Brazil and now we are talking about these outbreaks in Latin America. How did that happen?
MCKENZIE: Well, we don't know exactly how it happened. That is part of the mystery behind Zika because it effectively vanished off the face of the earth for many decades. Cropping up in Micronesia in 2007 for the first real major human outbreak.
Now they believe that the strain of virus that's here in Uganda and one that hit Brazil are two separate ones. The Asian lineage appears to be a mutated virus or evolved virus that attacks humans more effectively and potentially with more harm.
There is not a direct link yet to some of these horrible birth defects and autoimmune issues. There could be very difficult period ahead. Many scientists say that areas like this need constant study to prevent something like this taking everyone by surprise -- Christine.
ROMANS: All right, David McKenzie at the Zika forest for us in Uganda. Thank you so much for that report, David.
It's 56 minutes past the hour. Let's get an EARLY START on your money. Welcome to February. Stock markets around the world are lower this morning. Weak manufacturing data from China and oil prices lower as well.
Recent college graduates are getting jobs and making more money. Millennials with college degrees are entering the best labor markets in years depending on what they study.
The jobless rate for college graduates ages 22 to 27 fell to 4.9 percent last year. Median incomes rose to $43,000. Wages for the same age group with high school diplomas are falling at $25,000 a year.
Look at the starting salaries by major incomes very widely depending on what the kid studies. Chemical engineers earn the most out of college. Theology and religion got jobs that paid $28,600 a year. Those rank among the lowest of the 73 majors in that study.
All right, President Obama wants students better prepared for those high paying jobs. He is asking Congress for some big time funding.
A new program called "Computer Science For All" will teach tech skills from elementary school through high schools. Obama plans to ask Congress for $4 billion to help states increase computer science budget. Another hundred million would go directly to school districts and additional $135 million would come from science foundations. The money used to train teachers and pay for key instruction materials and resources.
The president also wants help from the corporate sector to get everyone up to speed in public education on computer science.
It's 57 minutes past the hour. In just hours, the big show begins. It is go-time for the Iowa caucuses. The first contest of the 2016 presidential campaign. "NEW DAY" picks it up from here.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We want to make America great again. That's what we want to do.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I hope you all fight for me. I will fight for you in the White House.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We will beat Hillary Clinton.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Join the political revolution.
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will unite the conservative movement.
JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You need to have a president who knows what he's talking about.
TRUMP: Ted Cruz is a total liar.
RUBIO: As more people learn about his record, they will learn he is very calculated.
BUSH: Shame on Donald Trump.
SANDERS: The email situation, this is a serious issue.
CLINTON: This is very much like Benghazi. It is clear they are grasping at straws.
TRUMP: We are going to have a winner, you better believe it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: The Mars Cafe. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Monday, February 1st. Mich is in New York. Alyson and I are coming to you live from Des Moines, Iowa. Show them the headline, my friend. Caucus. That's the headline word --
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: It has an exclamation point. Caucus! CUOMO: One word says it all, 1,681 precincts to canvas. A massive ground game going on right now in the most unpredictable presidential race we have ever witnessed to this point. The hype is over. The question is, who makes history tonight?
CAMEROTA: So candidates making their final push across Iowa's 99 counties before the caucuses, which get under way 14 hours from now. Turnout tonight will be the key because this race is razor thin on both sides.
Can Donald Trump show his strong showing into caucus goers? Can Hillary Clinton fend up Bernie Sanders? We will speak with Secretary Clinton in our next hour, but first we have the Iowa caucuses covered the way only CNN can.
Let's begin with Sunlen Serfaty. She has the look at the Republican feel. Hi, Sunlen.
