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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Sanders Keeps Pressure On Clinton; Trump Leading In New Hampshire Polls; Bill Clinton Blasts Bernie Sanders; Rubio Trying To Recapture Momentum; Broncos Beat Panthers 24-10 In Super Bowl 50; Refugee Crisis Overwhelms Turkey. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired February 08, 2016 - 05:30   ET

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


[05:30:00] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The candidates all out on the stump today making their last minute pitches and we heard a surprising tone from a surprising different voice last night. All the latest coming up.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: But before that, there was a football game. The Denver Broncos taking home the Super Bowl 50 championship title. The game's big moments and emotional post-game interviews. Welcome back to EARLY START this Monday morning. I'm Christine Romans here in New York.

BERMAN: I'm John Berman live in Manchester, New Hampshire. We are 30 minutes past the hour. We are just one day away here in Manchester and across this state from the first in the nation primary. And this morning, we're hearing a new line of attack from someone not even running. Bill Clinton is turning heads this morning, speaking more directly, more pointedly about Bernie Sanders and his supporters than he ever has. This is a real shift from the former president who until now has really only spoken about Hillary Clinton, her record, her experience -- listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For us, "The Boston Globe", "The Concord Monitor", "The Portsmouth Newspaper" -- they're all part of the establishment. Except "The National Newspaper", they endorse her, too, but Bernie took what they said good about him and put it in under all these endorsements. Except they didn't endorse. Today they used a veteran's name saying he endorsed, he didn't endorse. But if you point it out, it just shows you how tied you are to the establishment. I mean when you're making a revolution, you can't be too careful about the facts. You're just for me or against me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Again, this is very different from what we have seen with Bill Clinton. We were out on the stump with him in Iowa. He barely even mentioned Bernie Sanders' name. Now he's going directly after him. Hillary Clinton has been trailing consistently here in New Hampshire. The latest Monmouth University poll has Bernie Sanders up by ten points here.

Senior Washington correspondent, Jeff Zeleny here in New Hampshire with the very latest.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, one full day of campaigning left here in New Hampshire before the primary on Tuesday. Bernie Sanders not letting up on Hillary Clinton's record. At a rally on Sunday in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, he drew the biggest applause when he went after her record on Iraq, specifically that vote on the Iraq War in 2002.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Lately, I have been lectured on foreign policy. The most important foreign policy issue in the modern history of this country was the war in Iraq. I was right on that issue, Hillary Clinton was wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: Now Hillary Clinton is back in New Hampshire after taking a brief detour to Flint, Michigan. She'll be campaigning all day today, but she addressed something with CNN's Jake Tapper on State of the Union about that double standard that still exists between men and women and some critics who have said she's shouting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are still living with a double standard. I know it. Every woman I know knows it -- whether you're in the media as a woman or you're in the professions or business or politics. You know, sometimes I talk soft and sometimes I get passionate and get a little bit excited. I don't know any man who doesn't do the same thing and I find it sort of interesting that all of a sudden this is a big discussion about me, once again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: Now both sides agree, Sanders has a commanding lead here, but the question is how much and the next question, what will those independent voters do? Oh, so fickle New Hampshire independent voters will hold the key to this primary election. John and Christine --

BERMAN: All right, Jeff Zeleny here in New Hampshire.

What will those independents do? Every strategist wants to know the answer to that including on the Republican side. There's a new fascinating dynamic emerging in the Republican race right now. Donald Trump seems to be out in front, you can see it right there. But then look at the bunching at second place right there. John Kasich, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, all within two points of each other vying for second place. What a race it is. Now Trump, the frontrunner, he seems to be taking a bit of a different tone right now. Yes, the kinder, gently Donald Trump here out on the stump. Also, a new tactic, you saw him there actually shaking hands, retail politicking.

Speaking to Dana Bash, he was talking about the expectations game.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So if I had two seconds, I think I'm doing OK. I'd much rather win. I could say to you, if I came in second or third, I'd be thrilled, OK? And that way we lower expectations -- I know all about expectations. We lower expectations. If I came in second, I wouldn't be happy. OK? So now if I come in second, you can go around and say boom. I would much prefer to win in New Hampshire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[05:34:52] BERMAN: He can't even think about coming in second place. That's Donald Trump. Joining us now to talk about the race, Goldie Taylor, editor at large for "The Daily Beast". Goldie, good morning. And this morning, there's something different going on in New Hampshire this morning. Bill Clinton is on the attack. He is naming names, talking about Bernie Sanders directly. We heard him a short time ago talking about campaign tactics, the idea that the Sanders campaign is misrepresenting endorsements. But he's gone further than that, too. Bill Clinton's talking about Bernie Sanders' health care plan directly and he's talking about Bernie Sanders supports, saying that people online, Sanders Supporters, are out and out sexist. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

B. CLINTON: People who have gone online to defend Hillary and explain, just explain why they supported her have been subject to vicious trolling and attacks that are literally too profane, often, not to mention sexist, to repeat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Now this campaign, Goldie, was supposed to be different for Bill Clinton. After 2008 when he was criticized for talking about Barack Obama in some fairly direct terms when Hillary Clinton was running against Obama -- this time around he's really only been speaking about Hillary Clinton's record. Now the shift two days before the New Hampshire primary, because he said it last night. We're one day before right now. What are the risks here for the president and Hillary Clinton?

GOLDIE TAYLOR, EDITOR AT LARGE, THE DAILY BEAST: I think there are very big risks. I mean first of all, if I'm going to have a surrogate, I could not choose one better than someone like a Bill Clinton. But that's a double edged sword, especially when you're talking about a great share of Bernie Sanders' support coming from young women. And if you're calling young women trolls, if you're saying that they're sexist, if you're saying that they are online punishing that kind of vitriol, you kind of get yourself into a bit of trouble. Listen, I think that what we see online in terms of the (ph) venom of the campaign is really apparent to everyone. I haven't used my mute or block button more in my time than I have at this period. But he does really have to be careful about that. We remember South Carolina when he called Barack Obama's campaign the biggest fairy tale he had ever seen. He's got to shy away from that kind of thing. ROMANS: Bernie Sanders this weekend on Saturday Night Live, you talk about those young women Democrats who like Bernie Sanders, he's appealing to this young vote. What does the Clinton camp have to do to get those young women, those millennial voters on board? The numbers in Iowa were really shocking. The lead he has, Bernie Sanders has, over Hillary Clinton with the young people.

TAYLOR: You know, I'm really lucky to be the mom of two millennial young women and two who could care less about whether or not Hillary Clinton's going to be the first female president.

ROMANS: Why do they take that for granted?

TAYLOR: I think they've seen a different world than we have seen, as boomers and as Gen X'ers. What they've seen is a more diverse world, they've seen is a more diverse world, they've seen a world that has markedly more opportunities than maybe the world that we've seen, coming along, and so they take it for granted that a woman can be president if she wants to. So they don't really look, some of the -- well, maybe they do, but they don't count for it in real-time, some of the stuff. So they assume that someone like a Hillary Clinton can be president, that she has an opportunity to really do that. And they're probably right about that. She is the frontrunner in this Democratic nomination. She's the frontrunner in the general election without even having counted a single vote. And so I think they're right about that. But what these young women and young men are looking at is Bernie Sanders talking about free health care. Something that a young 26-year-old professional can't afford.

ROMANS: Free education.

TAYLOR: Free education. Get rid of those college loans. That kind of thing. He's talking about taxing Wall Street to help me pay for four years in college. I don't know many young millennials who are going to push back on that. And so I think Hillary Clinton really has to start talking about the issues that they confront in their lives rather than being the historic bid.

BERMAN: So Goldie, I have to tell you, the Republican side of the race right now, a lot of these campaigns think it's a completely different race this morning. I've heard from advisers to Jeb Bush. I was at a Kasich campaign event hearing from Kashich's strategists. They think that Marco Rubio, with his debate performance Saturday night, opened up the door for the rest of them. There is a real battle for second place right now and it feels achievable, they say, to all of them all because of this. All because of Marco Rubio and what some critics have said was a robotic performance. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And let's dispel once and for all with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing.

Let's dispel with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. Here's the bottom line, this notion that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing is just not --

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R-NJ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There it is. There it is, the memorized 25 second speech.

RUBIO: Well, here's the response. I think anyone who believes that Barack Obama isn't doing what he's doing on purpose, doesn't understand what we're dealing with here. This is a president who's trying to change this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: When you play to your narrative, when you play to what negative stereotypes there are about you, there's no bigger risk than politics. Marco Rubio walked right into it. Can he recover, Goldie, by tomorrow?

[05:38:56] TAYLOR: I don't think he can. I think that this represents a reset, at least for the middle and back of the pack, at least for everyone whose name is not Donald Trump. I think that John Kasich has never seen these kinds of numbers before in this primary. You're watching, for the first time, Chris Christie really having a shot of coming at least in a solid second in an early state. And so I think there is a reset going on and whether or not he recovers over the next couple days. I don't think he does, but whether or not he recovers even by the time we get to South Carolina or Nevada is going to be really, really tough for him. The fact of the matter is, the stumbling was just too large.

ROMANS: Goldie, the Bush camp is saying they're feeling good about things after the past few days after the debate performance on Saturday night. And Jeb Bush kind of going after Donald Trump with some of his own verbiage. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And by the way, let me echo what Lindsey said. It is a sign of real weakness when you call John McCain or Leo Thorsness or anybody else that was a P.O.W., who served this country in a way that should be admired, American heroes -- calling them losers. Donald Trump, you're the loser.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: So you think that Bush has got the momentum here heading into New Hampshire?

TAYLOR: He's got a bit of momentum he can harness coming into New Hampshire. Whether or not he can sustain it after that really remains to be seen. He does have a multi-million dollar Super PAC supporting him and so it's not like he won't be able to afford gas money to get to the next state. But you got to hand it to Jeb Bush, he's fighting in a race where everyone counted him out, where people said he was far too liberal to win, a very conservative Republican primary -- he's in this race, it seems, for the long haul. I don't know if it will serve him going over the course of time, but like I said, he can afford to stay in and it looks like he will.

ROMANS: Double digits. Something he hasn't seen for a long time. Now he's got them. John --

BERMAN: All right. Goldie Taylor, thanks so much for being with us.

I have to tell you from talking to all the campaigns up here over the last few days, they think, again, with this Rubio performance, it could be a real reset. There has been some talk that only one of the governors, for instance, could emerge from New Hampshire right now. These really only have maybe three candidates, maximum, four, going ahead to South Carolina. Now they say that might not be the case. If you see a real grouping like we saw with those polls there, with four candidates tied for second place, there's no reason not to have five go on to South Carolina so this race could be very interesting for quite some time.

ROMANS: New Hampshire is always very interesting. The undecideds, New Hampshire voters -- they will make up their mind when they are good and ready, and that's tomorrow. John Berman, thank you.

Warm up a little bit because we're going to talk about the Denver Broncos beating the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50. Who are the real stars? CNN's Coy Wire has the answers for us. He joins me live from Santa Clara right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: All right. If this was indeed Peyton Manning's last rodeo, the ending was sweet. His Denver Broncos are Super Bowl champions. They beat the Carolina Panthers 24-10, in Super Bowl 50. The real star of the game, the Denver defense. Unstoppable Denver defense.

Coy Wire joins us live from Santa Clara, California. He got to watch the big game. He's with me live now, hey, Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm a little happy this morning. Hi, Christine. I had the honor and privilege of playing against Peyton Manning during my NFL playing days and now his fans -- what a privilege for all of us to be able to watch one of the NFL's all time greatest players perform right before our very eyes for possibly the last time. At 39 years old, Peyton became the oldest starting quarterback in Super Bowl history. 18 years in the NFL, he's no spring chicken. He has mentioned that this might be his last rodeo. He was asked about what's next after the game and here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PEYTON MANNING, QUARTERBACK, DENVER BRONCOS: I don't know the answer to that. It's been an emotional week, an emotional night, and the night's just beginning. I look forward to celebrating with my friends and family and I think I'll take time after that and I think I'll make a good decision and I think I'll be at peace with it whichever way it goes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Now if this was his last game, what a way to go out. Super Bowl champion for a second time. Now his teammates came through for him big time in this one, especially that defense. Oh, my goodness. Straight up dominant. Especially Super Bowl MVP Von Miller. Cam Newton was under duress and stress all night. He was sent home deflated and defeated. The Denver Broncos and Peyton Manning hoist that Lombardi trophy. And if this is the final chapter of his story, it's a fairy tale ending for a living legend and one of the greatest figures in American sports history. Christine --

ROMANS: All right, Coy. What a great game. Thanks so much, great to see you this morning. Get some sleep.

All right, let's take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY" Alisyn Camerota and Chris Cuomo join me now. Good morning, you two.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": Yes, a rare two-fer for you, though Chris is eating his breakfast as we speak. How is that?

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": It is very good. New Hampshire oats.