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New Hampshire Primaries Underway. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired February 09, 2016 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:29:40] CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Voter turnout has been steady, and they expect that they'll get 9,000 people through here today. There was a big question about the weather. It snowed here overnight. Would that keep people away?

And what we are finding talking to officials here that it didn't really slowdown turnout. People were still coming out to vote today and in fact very orderly. They know how to get it done here in New Hampshire. The roads were plowed. They were clear. They have police directing traffic.

The lines are moving quickly and it's still pretty steady here even though it's into the working hours. We expect it will pick it up again around lunchtime and, of course, after work as well, they think maybe they'll get even more voters out here. But across the state, they say they might get record breaking turnout today. And here it's been very, very steady -- Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: My goodness it looks good. Ok. So most of the polls closing in New Hampshire at 7:00 p.m. Eastern time, we should get some results trickling in by 11 p.m. Eastern. You'll just have to watch CNN to find out what happens. Chris Frates -- many thanks to you.

Back to Manchester now and Erin Burnett -- Hi Erin.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Hi there -- Carol. All right. I am live here in Manchester, New Hampshire.

On the Democratic side it's not just about who wins New Hampshire. It's really about the margin of victory that's going to be crucial.

If Clinton can make inroads on Sander's margin there, it's going to be very significant for her. Could this give her campaign the boost that she needs going ahead in these key crucial southern states?

Raymond Buckley the chairman of the Democratic Party here in New Hampshire joining me from Manchester. I guess the big question here is then what about this whole margin game? Because it has been a margin expect -- no one expects her to win. That's a good position to be in, actually because she just needs to close that gap and she could be perceived as a winner. What's the math here?

RAYMOND BUCKLEY, NEW HAMPSHIRE DEMOCRATIC PARTY CHAIR: Well, it's very exciting. As you heard, the Independents are showing up to vote. They don't always show up in the presidential primary, but with 43 percent of the state as Independents and tens of thousands of people do same day registration here.

The polling really wasn't exactly sure, but that said, nobody has really won the New Hampshire primary by the margin that the polling is suggesting that Senator Sanders is ahead by. So it would be surprising if he was able to get that high.

BURNETT: Right. So you would expect a little bit of narrowing looking at it that way. I guess the other question is though when you look at the word Independents, I was talking to a pollster earlier today who's saying -- from here in New Hampshire saying look, a lot of people say they're Independent but they're not really. He thinks, you know, we throw around this 40 percent number, but really only 3 percent to 5 percent of the electorate here is actually Independent.

BUCKLEY: I think it's a little larger, but there's a good percentage that are really Republicans that don't want to be named Republican or really Democrats that -- but you only have to look to the 2000 primary when those who are Independents overwhelmingly voted for McCain and swung the primary in his favor against George W. Bush. What it also did is because a lot of those independents were undecided between John McCain and Bill Bradley and by leaving the Democratic side alone, it gave Al Gore the victory.

BURNETT: So you have said a trump win could hurt the primary process itself. Obviously you're the head here of the Democratic Party. So you're not going to be a Trump supporter. Why do you feel so strongly that it could hurt the whole primary process itself?

BUCKLEY: Well, because, you know, for generations we've talked about the New Hampshire primary process about going into people's living rooms, going into the local Dunkin Shops lot going into the town hall meetings where you're really taking the tough questions.

Donald Trump hasn't done any of that. In fact, his remark last night just shows that he's just not up to being president. It would be pretty embarrassing if somebody that uses that sort of word and that language won him the New Hampshire primary.

BURNETT: So you don't think that the world is changing in many ways? That social media and all of the connectivity that we've experienced especially with younger voters is going to change it? Do you still believe there's going to be this retail politics going to the diner in the future?

BUCKLEY: I think that's exactly what hurt Donald Trump in Iowa, and I think it's going to hurt him here in New Hampshire.

BURNETT: What's the bottom line for Bernie Sanders coming out of New Hampshire?

BUCKLEY: Well, I think that all indications indicate that he will have a very, very solid victory, and certainly Senator Clinton is already geared up for many other states following New Hampshire. So we're only in the second 57 different voting states and territories. I think we have a spring effort going on here.

BURNETT: You don't want to forget the Mariana Islands --

BUCKLEY: Exactly.

BURNETT: Secretary Clinton visited last time around.

All right. Thank you so much. We appreciate you taking the time Raymond Buckley as we said head of the Democratic National Committee here in New Hampshire.

And still to come: voting underway in New Hampshire. Were key votes won on the ground? This question -- you just heard Raymond raise it about who has actually been going to the Dunkin Donuts and who hasn't. The final push of the campaigns in these final hours.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:38:44] COSTELLO: Ground game, two key words that we've heard ad nauseum in this young political season. But the importance of that frontline offensive is hard to overstate unless, of course, you're Donald Trump.

CNN's Sara Murray has more for you.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Good morning -- Carol. You can see behind me voters are already heading out to the polls and this has been the name of the game for campaigns for the last couple of days. It's all about turnout. And perhaps for no one is that more important than Donald Trump who admitted in Iowa his ground game could use some work.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, certain --

MURRAY: If Donald Trump plans his first victory of 2016 in New Hampshire Tuesday, even he says it won't be because of his ground game.

TRUMP: Personally I think the debate tonight is more important than the ground game because in New Hampshire the people, they like you and they're going to go out, they're going to vote and they're going to go back, you know. There's not so much of a ground game.

MURRAY: That's not stopping Trump's team from putting it on display.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you mind if we ask if you're a supporter of Mr. Trump.

After barring reporters from campaign offices in Iowa --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been told to turn all media away. We have no comment on any matter on anything.

MURRAY: Trump shifted stances in the wake of his second place finish allowing reporters to tag along with volunteers.

JAMES RADCLIFFE, TRUMP CAMPAIGN VOLUNTEER: By far, we have the most organized and passionate team. We're just the fire is lit in our bellies, and we're going for it every day.

[10:40:05] MURRAY: The team is led by campaign manager and longtime New Hampshire operative, Corey Lewandowski. He has experience in the nitty-gritty of voter registration. But as efforts to ramp up Trump's ground game appear to rest on a flimsy foundation --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're Donald Trump volunteers and we're going in.

MURRAY: According to campaign finance reports Trump has spent little on data or voter targeting -- a cornerstone of rival campaign.

For eight months Marco Rubio's camp has been knocking on doors and making phone calls, laying the ground work for late breaking voters.

KATHY BOVE, RUBIO CAMPAIGN VOLUNTEER: New Hampshire listens and wait and wait to make up their mind.

MURRAY: Right, is it driving you crazy the number of people who are still undecided?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, not really because I'm used to it.

MURRAY: Just days before the primary, Trump was still soliciting volunteers. Meanwhile John Kasich's campaign brought in several hundred out of state helpers, putting them up in farmhouses and supporters' living rooms and dispatching them daily.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But the end of the day, I was really tired.

MURRAY: All to persuade New Hampshire's coveted Independents to vote for Kasich.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope you will join me in supporting John Kasich for President on February 9.

MURRAY: As other camps put their trust in turn out efforts, Trump is still betting on celebrity, adding the kind of retail stops he regularity skipped in Iowa and pressing voters to show up for him or not at all.

TRUMP: A lot of these politicians say it's not important who you vote for, but you have to go through the process. I feel differently. If you're not going to vote for me, do not vote.

(END VIDEOTAPE) MURRAY: Now even though Donald Trump may still be struggling to

nail down some of the fundamentals of building a strong ground game, I talked to a number of rival campaigns and strategists here in New Hampshire who say they still believe Donald Trump could win the primary in the Granite State even with a weaker ground game than some of his competitors. And Carol, we'll know the answer in just a few hours.

COSTELLO: Yes, we will -- Sara Murray - and many thanks.

The ground game and John Kasich, the Ohio governor he actually won the race in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire -- not that it matters so much. There were just nine votes cast total. Kasich got three -- still, the governor could not be happier about how his campaign is going in New Hampshire.

Here he is on GMA.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've been positive. We've had 106 town hall meetings. People come, they laugh, they cry. They talk about the things that matter to them. We've been positive. Our ground game, Gordon Humphrey a former senator said it's the best ground game he's seen in 40 years.

I mean our people -- last night we were out there in a driving snow storm, probably 300, 400 people standing out there cheering. It was like a movie set.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. Here are some of John Kasich's tweets from that event. You can see it's a pretty big crowd. And that is not atypical. They're not Trump sized rallies, mind you, but there's a sizable number of people in the crowd.

W. me now to gauge what it all means, John Sununu, a former New Hampshire senator and now chairman of the Kasich campaign in New Hampshire. Welcome, sir.

JOHN SUNUNU, FORMER GOVERNOR OF NEW HAMPSHIRE: Great to be with you.

COSTELLO: Nice to have you here. So the ground game, obviously, it's important to Governor Kasich. Not so important to Donald Trump. Although he seems to -- I don't know, find it a little more important this time around. Do you think it will matter?

SUNUNU: Sure it matters. It matters a great deal. And, in fact, I think what you saw in Iowa was that total lack of a ground game, lack of grass roots support meant that Donald Trump dramatically underperformed in the polls.

If you want to be surging on Election Day, if you want momentum, if you want to make sure that your voters turn out to vote, you need that ground game. It's not just having a couple volunteers knock on doors.

I think your piece was pretty comprehensive. You need to have been at this for weeks and months-- making calls, identifying those who are with you, those who are leaning, those who are persuadable, and then follow up not just on Election Day but with the right message to that targeted audience.

COSTELLO: You know, it's interesting. CNN's Chris Moody is at a precinct, and he talked to just one voter. And it's just one voter mind you -- that voter was an Independent. He was trying to figure out -- because you can vote any which way in New Hampshire, Democrat or Republican.

He was trying to decide between Bernie Sanders and John Kasich, and he voted Republican in John Kasich. It just seemed kind of odd to me that he would be for Bernie Sanders and John Kasich, because they have opposite views in many respects.

SUNUNU: Sure. As John has said and many times in his town hall meetings, he doesn't agree with Bernie on anything, but voters want someone who are going to shake things up, who aren't afraid, who are fearless and will fight for their principles and their ideals.

[10:44:47] John Kasich fought tooth and nail to balance the budget, to cut America's taxes, to privatize prisons and reform programs in Ohio, created 400,000 new jobs in Ohio. Someone who's doggedly determined to see their vision through has great appeal, I think to people across the entire spectrum of politics, but certainly Republicans who are looking for someone who will get the country back on track after seven wasted years under Barack Obama. And Republicans who really want to see us get our fiscal house in order are for John Kasich.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Al though I will say there was an article recently on the conservative Website, red state that called Mr. Kasich quote, "the liberal flavor of the day". Another conservative blog carried the headline, the Republican for people who hate Republicans.

SUNUN: Sure. Well, that's not nice of you to quote the most sort of right wing of right wing blogs, but the fact is that's because John Kasich is surging, and they're supporting another candidate. So -- if it was Chris Christie surging or Jeb Bush surging, they would probably be saying the same thing about them.

Look, John Kasich has an unparalleled proven conservative record of cutting taxes and balancing budgets for America, for Ohio, of bringing money and power back to state cities and towns.

He doesn't talk about this like some candidates. He's done it. On education, on welfare, reforming those programs, getting the money and power out of Washington and that's just a fact.

Again, when you have a record, you have an enormous advantage. That's why he's done so well in the past few weeks, because when you carry your message to 106 town hall meetings, you understand what voters are concerned about, but you also have real ideas, real vision, that resonates with them.

So look, it's been a great campaign. Of course, with 12 candidates, you can always find someone who hates John Kasich, but the fact is he is the right kind of leader for the country right now.

COSTELLO: All right. I have to leave it there. John Sununu -- thanks for stopping by.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM: John Kasich and the power of the undecided voter in New Hampshire. Will his gamble pay off on this primary day? We'll talk some more about that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:51:17] BURNETT: All right. Ohio Governor John Kasich has really been surging here in the final hours, fighting for votes in New Hampshire. He has been voicing optimism that he's picking up undecided voters on this primary day. Just last hour, we happened upon one voter who said he is now voting for Kasich. Here's the rationale.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL YORKELL, HUDSON NEW HAMPSHIRE VOTER: My original thought was to vote Democratic, and then I was going to vote for Bernie against Hillary. And so forth, because I think she's of the old school. But as I thought about it more and more and I got up to the table, I decided to go Republican because I'm definitely Republican, very conservative, and I ended up voting for John Kasich.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: All right. Well, Governor Kasich is going to be joining Kate Bolduan next hour. They're very excited. They feel that they have momentum. He comes on, he talks about, what is it now -- 102 town halls.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: 106 town halls --

BURNETT: 106 so he's jammed. He's going all the way to the final hour.

BOLDUAN: They feel optimistic. We have spoken with a senior advisory with the campaign and they think that everything that could break you way in the last 36 hours has broken their way. They're not making predictions of kind of where they think they're going to end up. But they think their internal tracking has shown Kasich trending up. And that was even before the debate over the weekend which they thought he had a strong performance as opposed to other candidates.

BURNETT: In terms of the ticket out of here and every time you talk to him -- he's been very honest. Look, I just want people to know my name. Once I get known, I can make hay out of that. What's the sense of coming out of here? BOLDUAN: I mean he's been candid surprising candid about it

saying that if he gets smoked here, he doesn't really see. He's not going to carry on a fairy tale, I think is how he said it. But in speaking to his campaign they're sending his bus. It's already on its way to South Carolina. He's going to be waking up in Charleston. So there are indications at least to them that he's not going to get smoked.

I mean they think the story, of course, in New Hampshire is the undeclareds. They see -- in their evidence, they see some evidence that folks who could be thinking about going to the Democratic primary, they might be uninterested in it, they might be disinterested in it because Bernie is ahead by so much they think. They could pick up some of those voters. They think they have a big chance.

BURNETT: And of course, you know, it's interesting. He got the endorsement from the New York Times on the same time the New York Times endorsed Hillary Clinton. And then a lot of it -- a lot has been made of a case that a bad thing in a Republican primary. But certainly if he can hold on, they're making the case for look, there's a lot more primaries in this country that are open and you would think, yes Democrats can vote for Republicans and that they could benefit from that.

BOLDUAN: And In South Carolina, they have a different path. They see they would need a different path on the rest of the field. They kind of see their spot would be more on the coast -- Tilton Head and beyond -- kind of what more moderate area of South Carolina.

They're thinking about it. They think they've got the ground game. They're looking even beyond that to Michigan they're really interested in. You can see him before if he could make it to Ohio, where clearly he's a very popular governor there are a couple of opportunities he could pick up. He could pick some up.

You can see him doing well in Vermont and Massachusetts. You could seem him doing well in Massachusetts. But Right now they feel as good as they can feel that they put all their eggs in the New Hampshire basket. They feel good about it today. So I'm really excited to get a sense from him later this hour.

BURNETT: All right. Well, that is coming up on "@THIS HOUR WITH KATE BOLDUAN and JOHN BERMAN". We're looking forward to seeing that interview with the Governor of Ohio coming up in just a few minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:58:43] COSTELLO: Checking some top stories for you at 58 minute past. Four anti-government protesters are still occupying an Oregon wildlife refuge. They posted a series of you Tube videos mocking FBI agents, calling them losers.

Eight protesters including leader Ammon Bundy were arrested late last month. One was killed in a shoot out with police. The four hold outs refused to leave without assurances they will not be arrested. Michigan's governor, Rick Snyder will not testify before as

Democratic House investigating the Flint water poisoning crisis to help Glint. Sanders say if he can't testify tomorrow because he has a budget presentation to make. The Republican governor says that pitch will include significant resources to help the people of Flint. The Democratic (inaudible) in policy committee does not have the power to force Snyder to testify.

Well, that's not supposed to be there. A three-and-a-half foot alligator at a Florida fast food restaurant; it was tossed through a drive through window by a Florida man. He told wildlife officials he picked up the alligator on the side of the road. He ordered a drink at the drive through and then decided so throw the alligator through the window. Well, the gator has been caught and released but 23-year- old Joshua James is in jail. He faces assault charges -- and unlawful transportation of an alligator.

Thank you so much for joining me today.

I'm Carol Costello.

"AT THIS HOUR" with Berman and Bolduan starts now.