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Candidates Move on to New Hampshire for Next Primary; Cruz Wins Iowa on Record Turnout. Aired 9-9:30a ET
Aired February 02, 2016 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[09:00:29] SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: God bless the great state of Iowa.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Wow, what a night. An unbelievable night.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I absolutely love the people of Iowa. I think I might come here and buy a farm.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Astounded the world. And now in New Hampshire we're going to astound the world again.
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They told me that we had no chance because my hair wasn't gray enough and my boots were too high.
TRUMP: We love New Hampshire. We love South Carolina.
CRUZ: Iowa has made clear to America and the world morning is coming. Morning is coming.
CLINTON: Join me. Let's go win the nomination. Thank you all and God bless you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.
The presidential candidates hit the ground running in New Hampshire. Some trying to build on the momentum of Iowa. Others trying to get back on track.
Hillary Clinton claims victory but party officials have not yet declared a winner in a race that's still too close to call. One precinct still has to be counted and Bernie Sanders now says he's looking into reports of voter irregularities.
New drama aside, the near tie would have been unimaginable several months ago, Clinton goes into New Hampshire trailing in next week's primaries.
Also some surprises on the Republican side, Ted Cruz scores a huge victory and gives Donald Trump a harsh reality check. Marco Rubio stronger than expected and within a point of Trump, who suddenly sounds, umm, humbled?
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TRUMP: We finished second. And I want to tell you something, I'm just honored. I'm really honored and I want to congratulate Ted.
CRUZ: Tonight is a victory for courageous conservatives across Iowa and all across this great nation.
SANDERS: Nine months ago we came to this beautiful state. We had no political organization. We had no money. We had no name recognition. And we were taking on the most powerful political organization in the United States of America.
CLINTON: So as I stand here tonight, breathing a big sigh of relief, thank you Iowa.
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COSTELLO: We're pushing ahead to New Hampshire where the next elections loom and our crews are already in place. We're following the big players in both parties. Let's begin, though, with Jeff Zeleny, he is in New Hampshire for a Hillary Clinton event this hour.
Good morning, Jeff.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning Carol.
I mean, Hillary Clinton wasted no time declaring victory. But I can tell you on the ground here in New Hampshire it certainly does not feel like that. And she knows she has much work to do after a still deadlocked race in Iowa from Bernie Sanders. Of course Bernie Sanders is already an incredible lead here in New Hampshire. He's from the neighboring state of Vermont. But when she was speaking to her supporters last night, again trying to declare victory a little bit early, she said that this is a fight now for the direction of the Democratic Party.
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CLINTON: It is rare. It is rare that we have the opportunity we do now. To have a real contest of ideas. To really think hard about what the Democratic Party stands for and what we want the future of our country to look like if we do our part to build it.
I am a progressive. Who gets things done --
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ZELENY: And that is the theme we are going to hear over and over for next week until the New Hampshire primary. "I am a progressive who gets things done." But, Carol, I can tell you, I was in the room at the Bernie Sanders
rally and the minute she said those words the crowd booed and someone even shouted that she's a liar. So they do not believe that she is a progressive so that is where the dividing lines are here between these Democratic -- these Democratic rivals and now it is just down to these two. Of course Martin O'Malley dropping out of the race as well.
But Bernie Sanders flew here overnight and is still looking at all of these voting irregularities as he said. We talked with him briefly as he walked off his charter plane. Let's listen.
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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Any concerns about the voter irregularities?
SANDERS: Well, we're studying that right now. We'll see what happens. But I'm just very proud of the campaign that we ran. And the thousands of volunteers that worked so hard.
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[09:05:12] ZELENY: So these irregularities we're talking about was a very slow night of counting in some Democratic precincts and one precinct in Des Moines is still out.
But, Carol, this is so, so close. It was a fight over delegates of course. This is how close it is. 699 delegates for Hillary Clinton, 695 delegates for Bernie Sanders. So essentially a draw here and it's one sign that this race is going to go on for weeks and maybe even months to come. So the next week in New Hampshire will be fascinating -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Yes, it will. Jeff Zeleny reporting live from New Hampshire.
Bernie Sanders springboarding out of Iowa and sailing into the New Hampshire as well. We caught up with him, as you heard Jeff said, as soon as his red eye flight landed. Sanders says his strong showing should make people believe that they could send a message to Washington.
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SANDERS: That's what this campaign is about. It's asking working people and middle class people to stand up and fight for their rights, help us take on a billionaire class who's greed is doing so much damage to our economy. Second of all, in the last election, the midterm election, 80 percent of young people didn't vote. Eighty percent.
I am very proud that we're bringing a whole lot of young people, all of this country, into the political process, that we're revitalizing American democracy and if we're going to change America that's what we've got to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: CNN's Joe Johns is in Keene, New Hampshire, with more on the Sanders campaign.
Good morning.
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Bernie Sanders did get started quite early today here in New Hampshire as well. With that stop in Beau, New Hampshire, around 3:00 Eastern Time.
Here in Keene, New Hampshire, he's expected to see supporters. This is very much seen as Bernie Sanders country. In part because of geographically he is from Vermont which is a neighboring state. Also politically because the state has such a large number of independent voters who really are expected to sort of buy into his arguments about economic inequality, as well as campaign finance reform.
My colleague Chris Cuomo did catch up with him a little bit after he got off the plane here in New Hampshire. Talked about the past in Iowa as well as the future here in this state. Listen.
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SANDERS: We started our campaign, you know, 40, 50 points behind. Whether we lose by a fraction of a point that we win whatever. We're very proud of the campaign that we won. And I think the significance is that for folks who did not think Bernie Sanders could win, that could compete against Hillary Clinton, I hope that that though is now gone. We're going to fight really in New Hampshire. And then we're going to Nevada, we're going to South Carolina. We look forward to doing well around the country.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Do you take this as a victory regardless of what the margin is?
SANDERS: Absolutely. Look, what you're talking about is one way or the other, a couple of delegates when we're going to need 300 delegates to win this thing. So maybe we lost by two, maybe we lost by one, maybe by zero, whatever it may be. But what this shows is that this campaign has started in a very forceful way, starting way, way back and coming to a virtual tie. And we are going to fight here in New Hampshire. Look forward to winning here and doing well around the rest of the country.
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JOHNS: So a bit of a different landscape here in New Hampshire than in Iowa, though some of the demographics are very similar. It will be interesting to see just how the photo finish in Iowa affects the voter turnout for the Democrats a week from today here in New Hampshire, Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Joe Johns reporting live from New Hampshire. Keene, New Hampshire, this morning. Thanks.
As Hillary Clinton declares herself the winner in Iowa, Bernie Sanders, as you heard, told CNN's Jeff Zeleny he is, quote -- he's talking about his campaign, he says, "We're going to have to look a little bit more thoroughly at the election results in Iowa." For its part the Iowa Democratic Party calls the race historically close and says it's awaiting results in one county.
So let's talk about this and more. Lisa Caputo is a former press secretary to Hillary Clinton, Ron Brownstein is the editorial director for the "National Journal" and Hadley Heath Manning is a senior policy analyst for the Independent Women's Forum.
Welcome to all of you.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning.
COSTELLO: Good morning. So, Ron, I'll start with you. The "Des Moines Register" reports that coin tosses were held in six precincts to award delegates. The paper says Clinton won each toss. Any chance that what, you know, Bernie Sanders camp -- is there any chance that this could develop into something bigger?
BROWNSTEIN: I have a feeling they're not going to push it too far. But look, last time the Republicans couldn't count the votes. This time the Democrats couldn't count the votes. Iowa gets this enormous attention. A year of candidates holding their laundry. You would think at least they could do is count the votes. And it's -- I think it's really disappointing.
[09:10:06] Can I just say, Carol, real quick? Iowa did answer two big questions in this Democratic race, but at least two more -- two still to be determined. I mean, it did show that Bernie Sanders' dominance among young voters is very real and it also showed that he's not just a wine track candidate. Meaning he's not just dependent on white upper middle class liberals. He won non-college white men, stayed close among non-college white women. That's very positive signs for him.
On the other hand, even while doing so well he lost self-identified Democrats by double-digits and he did not do particularly well among those small minority population in Iowa. He'll have to improve on both of those fronts to truly make this a competitive race going forward.
COSTELLO: Yes. I was going pose this question to Lisa knowing that you're a Clinton supporter. Let's talk a little bit about Bernie Sanders. He actually should have won Iowa big. Right? He had momentum going in. Big huge campaign rallies. Filled with -- hundreds and hundreds of people. But Clinton, she did just fine. So why didn't Sanders just skewer Clinton in Iowa?
LISA CAPUTO, FORMER PRESS SECRETARY TO HILLARY CLINTON: Well, I think a couple of things are at play. First, Hillary took some lessons away from 2008 and had a incredibly strong field organization out in Iowa. I talked to a lot of friends of mine in the media who were out in Iowa who said the organization across Iowa is just awesome. Second, I think that Hillary Clinton did extraordinarily well with older voters and female voters. Right? So really relying particularly on those female voters. First female president. They came out and they came out in spades for Hillary Clinton.
So she did better than she may have expected to do when she said, I'm breathing a sigh of relief. Because there was clear momentum in the closing weeks that it started to feel like it was tipping towards Bernie and she managed to thwart it, I think, really, with her field organization. Robby Mook, the campaign manager, and a lot of her senior folks, friends of hers, former staff, everybody was out in Iowa actually going door-to-door so retail politicking seemed to rule the day for her in Iowa.
COSTELLO: OK. Let's look more closely at the entrance polls. And Hadley, I'm going to pose this question to you. So Sanders did well among those under 40, you heard Ron say that. Not so great with older Democrats.
Hadley, I know you're a Republican, but what should we take away from this?
HADLEY HEATH MANNING, SENIOR POLICY ANALYST, INDEPENDENT WOMEN'S FORUM: Well, on both sides of the aisle this is a big election year. Big turnout on both sides. Every voter should feel as if his or her vote will matter in this election, especially in those early states. So I think what we see is enthusiasm on the side of Senator Sanders because of course what's important in every election is the expectations game. And Senator Sanders recently has been exceeding. For months commentators said this nomination was essentially former Secretary Clinton's to lose. And now it seems that in a tight race she's underperforming expectations. He's overperforming and that puts momentum on his side.
COSTELLO: Interesting. OK, so, Ron, Bernie Sanders is expected to do well in New Hampshire. Of course it's a state in his own backyard. Right? But he's not showing great in South Carolina or in Nevada. So does Iowa or New Hampshire really tell us anything about the strength of a Sanders' candidacy?
BROWNSTEIN: It tells us to a point. And New Hampshire probably isn't going to add much new information because what we know is that Bernie Sanders does very well with independent voters who are a big part of the puzzle in New Hampshire. And he's also very competitive among white voters and that New Hampshire like Iowa will be over 90 percent white.
I think Nevada and South Carolina are going to fill in a lot more information about how this is going to look down the road because that's when the diversity of the Democratic Party comes into play with Hispanic voters in Nevada, African-American voters in South Carolina.
The Sanders campaign thinks they are making inroads with Hispanics. They are more kind of -- you know, guarded in what they expect among Africa-Americans. But, Carol, that's what he's going to have to do to make this a race. If white voters divide the same they did in Iowa and Bernie Sanders doesn't improve among minorities he simply won't win any of the big diverse states. So they know that's what they have to do. New Hampshire won't tell us much more but Nevada and South Carolina will tell us a lot. COSTELLO: All right. I have to leave it there. Ron Brownstein, Lisa
Caputo and Hadley Heath Manning, of course you're all going stick around for our next conversation and I appreciate that. So thank you.
Hillary Clinton will be live on CNN this afternoon. Her interview with Wolf Blitzer airs at 1:30 Eastern Time and tomorrow night for the first time after the votes are counted in Iowa, the Democrat presidential candidates will appear at a town hall in New Hampshire.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM it is back to business for these Republicans. Now the top three candidates move on to New Hampshire. We'll talk about that, next.
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[09:18:46] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Ted Cruz looking to take the momentum from his Iowa win all the way to New Hampshire.
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SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is breathtaking to see what happens when so many Americans stand up and decide they are fed one what happened in Washington. And they want something different. They want a leader they can trust. Heidi and I are overwhelmed, we're gratified and we're encouraged.
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COSTELLO: Jim Acosta live in Manchester, New Hampshire, with more on the Cruz campaign.
Good morning, Jim.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
That's right. It was an unbelievable night for Ted Cruz. The polls have him in second place, heading right into the Iowa caucuses. But in the end, it was a huge disappointment for his arch rival Donald Trump.
In the end, it seems the unconventional Trump may not have been conventional enough. We watched him in Iowa. He didn't do the retail campaigning Iowans claim every four years. He didn't go to the pizza ranches, instead opting for the big flashy rallies.
He was outdone by Ted Cruz's impressive ground operation. Ted Cruz went to just about every nook and granny of Iowa, hit all 99 counties. He was invested for months and months and Donald Trump simply was not.
Donald Trump was coming to places like here in New Hampshire, going down to South Carolina as Iowans were making up their mind.
[09:20:03] And, you know, Ted Cruz told our Dana Bash that he's going to keep on fighting. He believes that he is still in a good position to win this nomination after what happened last night in Iowa. Here's what he had to say.
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SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I like and respect Donald Trump. I like and respect Marco. I like and respect everyone.
Donald and Marco both had a good night. I congratulate them, their second and third place finish. Ben Carson had a good night.
There are a lot of people. Everyone in this field I like and respect.
We are going to stay focused on making the case to the American people that we can't have another campaign conservative. We've seen these in the Republican primary over and over. People who talk a good game. People who say they will defend conservative principles and get elected and don't do it.
And last night, I was watching the news and on every station, every media pundit was saying Cruz is going to lose. I heard that over and over again, "Trump will win, Trump will win, Trump will win." Every media pundit.
And suddenly when the grassroots proved the media wrong, then, suddenly, well, of course, it was a foregone conclusion Ted was going to win. This is the power of the conservative grassroots and there is a silent majority in this country.
And I think it is entirely possible we know our nominee by the end of March.
If you look at the states, the states are frontloaded. A great many of the delegates are chosen by the end of March. And winning Iowa was a good first step.
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ACOSTA: Now, as for Donald Trump, he was humble, even gracious in defeat, losing to Ted Cruz there in Iowa. He almost was soft-spoken, but he also vowed to keep fighting.
Here's what he had to say.
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DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't know who's going to win between Bernie and Hillary. I don't know what's going to happen with Hillary's got other problems maybe bigger than the problems she's got in terms of nominations. But we've had so many different indications and polls that we beat her and we beat her easily.
And we will go on to get the Republican nomination. And we will go on to easily beat Hillary or Bernie or whoever the hell they throw up there.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ACOSTA: So, Carol, why did Donald Trump seem to lose steam at the end? If you look at our entrance polling, it appears the last minute undecided voters opt forward Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz over Donald Trump. Many of them determining that Rubio is the more viable candidate.
The question now comes to New Hampshire as to whether Rubio's strong third place finish causes trouble for Donald Trump here as it did in Iowa. Trump's challenge is proving that Iowa was just a fluke. He was riding high on the polls here in New Hampshire up until last night. We'll have to see whether or not the poll numbers change because now Trump looks beatable.
One final thing, Carol, there was some speculation Donald Trump could pick up the endorsement of Mike Huckabee who dropped out of the race last night. Trump was planning on holding a rally in Arkansas, of all places tomorrow. But Huckabee's spokesman Hogan Gidley says that endorsement is not happening.
And you have to wonder Carol whether or not Donald Trump is going to continue to have this rally out in Arkansas after what happened last night in Iowa. He'll want to pay more attention to what's happening here on the ground here in New Hampshire, Carol.
COSTELLO: Perhaps so. Jim Acosta, reporting live for us this morning, thank you.
As Jim said, it's on to New Hampshire for Marco Rubio after his big surge in Iowa. But the candidate made sure to deliver a big old thank you in the Hawkeye state before he took off.
CNN's Manu Raju live in New Hampshire with more on that.
Good morning.
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Good morning.
Now, Marco Rubio was here this morning, greeting voters, really feeling positive about last night in Iowa. Remember that the polls going into last night had him about 15 percent of the vote. He did much better than that almost beating Donald Trump, exceeding expectations.
He's today making the argument about electability. His conservative super PAC starting to go after Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, saying that they're not electable, only he's electable, that is the big argument that he is making, and he's been very bullish about his chances as he talked about last night.
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SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have taken the first step, but an important step, towards winning this election. If I am our nominee. And I will be our nominee thanks to what you have done here in this great state.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
When I am our nominee we are going to unify this party and we are going to unify the conservative movement when I am our nominee we are going to grow the conservative movement. We are going to take our message to the people who are struggling paycheck to paycheck, to the students living under the burden of student loans, to the families struggling to raise their children with the right values. We will take our message to them, and we will bring them to our side.
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[09:25:04] RAJU: Now, of course he's got to do well in New Hampshire, Carol. This is a state where he will have a significant amount of competition from moderate Republicans, those who are vying for that so called establishment lane.
The governors in this race who did not do particularly well yesterday, people like Chris Christie, John Kasich, Jeb Bush, all of whom have polled within the same margin as Marco Rubio, the challenge for Rubio is to ensure that he ends up ahead of them in New Hampshire next week.
If he is actually behind them next Tuesday that could be a big problem for him going forward. So, they are going after Jeb Bush as well as Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. That is how Marco Rubio is going to play this in the coming days, Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Manu Raju, reporting live for us this morning -- thank you.
So time to talk winners and losers on the Republican side. Ted Cruz easily a winner. Marco Rubio, winner.
Donald Trump? He did not win. And the New York tabloids took notice. "The Daily News" called Trump "Dead clown walking". "The New York Post", you can see it there, "Cruz-ified."
And as for Trump so far, he proved he can be gracious in defeat.
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TRUMP: We finish second. And I want to tell you something, I'm just honored, really honored. And I want to congratulate Ted and I want to congratulate all of the incredible candidates.
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COSTELLO: There you have it.
Our panel here once again to discuss, Lisa Caputo, Ron Brownstein, and Hadley Heath Manning, welcome back.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.
COSTELLO: So, Hadley, "The National Review", that magazine that posted a scathing anti-Trump edition is separating this morning, tweeting a picture of Cruz and words, "a good night for conservatives". "The National Review" says the Iowa caucuses prove Trump is beatable.
But is he beatable in New Hampshire?
HADLEY HEATH MANNING, SENIOR POLICY ANALYST, INDEPENDENT WOMEN'S FORUM: That is a different story. Of course, in Iowa the past couple of election cycles, we've seen social conservative, evangelical conservative, people who self identify as very conservative typically show up to caucus and their candidate usually wins. That was the case with Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum and now Ted Cruz.
Ted Cruz won handily with those he called themselves very conservative, with 44 percent of those votes. So this proves that the caucus goes to those who show up.
But, of course, the voters in New Hampshire are very different. In 2008 they selected John McCain and in 2012 Mitt Romney. So we see a different pattern.
COSTELLO: Definitely, and you talk about very conservative voters in Iowa did vote for Cruz, 44 percent, somewhat conservative 19 percent. Moderate, only 9 percent.
But for Trump, moderate and somewhat conservative Republicans. He did pretty well, 34 percent with moderates, 24 percent from vote who are consider themselves somewhat conservative.
So, back to Trump coming in second place, because all the polls said he's going to win in Iowa.
So, Lisa, what hurt Trump? Was it skipping the debate? Was it Sarah Palin? Was it the Cruz attacks on New York values?
LISA CAPUTO, FORMER PRESS SECRETARY TO HILLARY CLINTON: I think what hurt Donald Trump frankly is the notion that all politics is local. I think that in Iowa, we've heard it time and time again "retail politicking", and he did not invest in the field operation. Ted Cruz really invested, going to 99 counties. Marco Rubio also having a strong presence.
So, I think the lack of a field operation and the retail politicking really hurt Donald Trump. I also think that it can't be underestimated that Ted Cruz, you know, when you look at the caucus voters in Iowa, two-thirds of them on the Republican side are evangelicals. And Cruz took a third of those and then Trump and Rubio split the rest.
But it is very interesting to note that Rubio got the late deciders. And he also got the suburban Republicans. So, again I go back to all politics is local. And you really got to invest in that ground game. And that hurt Donald Trump.
COSTELLO: People actually like to meet and greet and all that and feel like they are important, right?
CAPUTO: They do. COSTELLO: So, Ron, Marco Rubio, let's talk about him. He came in a
strong third. Do voters want an establishment Republican who can win in a general election?
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: It means there is a lane for that candidate, right? So, I mean, what we saw in Iowa was pretty similar in some ways to what we saw in '08 and '12.
Ted Cruz won evangelical Christians but lost voters who were not evangelical Christians and with that exact profile, Huckabee and Santorum were able to win a bunch of southern states. But not really to grow into a full fledge competitor for the nomination. Cruz doesn't have to expand beyond that beachhead.
The non-evangelical voters divided pretty much in half. Those who are blue collar went to Trump. That's his core constituency. Blue collars who are not necessarily motivated by social issues.
We saw Marco Rubio win the more white collar, more secular voters, and that is a big chunk of the New Hampshire vote. That's exactly where he's competing with Jeb Bush, John Kasich and Christie and that's where Rubio has to establish himself as a leader of that lane.
By the way, Carol, if you look at it that way, you see the potential for something Republicans had never really had in the modern primary era.
