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Fight for Primary Votes Focuses on Wisconsin; Trump to Hold Third Rally of the Day in Wisconsin; Clinton: Elect People Who Can Get Things Done; "Shark Tank" Host Suffered Dyslexia; U.S. Women Soccer Stars Claim Pay Discrimination; The "Nice" Factor in Wisconsin. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired April 02, 2016 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:11] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everyone. Top of the hour, 7:00 p.m. Eastern, 4:00 p.m. Pacific. I'm Poppy Harlow in New York. So glad you're with us.
We begin tonight with politics. And right now, the center of the presidential election universe is in the Badger State, Wisconsin, all five candidates, three Republicans, two Democrats fanning out across the state, rallying supporters and trying to convert the undecided, all before Tuesday's primary.
Neither national front-runner is pulling ahead in Wisconsin. Hillary Clinton is trailing Senator Bernie Sanders just by a small margin and Donald Trump is trying to play catch-up with Senator Ted Cruz in the Badger State.
And this just in to CNN -- word from the Republican front-runner's camp that Melania Trump will begin stumping for her husband starting on Monday.
Sara Sidner is live tonight in Rothschild, Wisconsin. That is where Trump held his campaign rally today. And he's gearing up for his third town hall shortly. He's reportedly had the toughest week thus far of his campaign from the charges against his campaign manager for simple battery and the four different stances on abortion in one week and the talk of nuclear proliferation.
Do you get the sense that the camp is worried or they think they can pull ahead of Cruz in Wisconsin?
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, the folks traveling with the camp, the folks that are there every day in and out are saying they are very tight-knit group and if there is any consternation or worry they're certainly not showing it. They are exuberant, just as they have since the beginning of this campaign, and certainly, we haven't seen anything to indicate Trump is nervous.
And you saw him here and one other event earlier today, where he was telling the crowds how great he was, how he would do such a job, how he's a great business person and how everyone will be able to make much more money if they followed some of the policies that he would like to implement, for example, trying to get money from Saudi Arabia for buying so much of its oil, saying that the economy here would turn around completely if just that one thing was put into place.
And so, we talked a lot about his business acumen. He also told the crowd that he was, you know, going through so much, that the media was bashing him so much, but that he's going to get through it. And you're really hearing the same kind of exuberant speech that he's been giving across this country.
But he did say one thing. He said, exactly. He said one thing, though, he said, look, this is a really important state, as we all know, and as his campaign clearly know, and he says, please, do me a favor, go out and vote. But then, Poppy, he turned around and said, well, if you don't vote, you're also doing me a favor because I could go home and relax a little bit, laughing and joking about it. So, it's an interesting tone, said it one after the other but that was the tone here, exuberant, happy, joking --
HARLOW: And, Sara, I'm just interested in the female vote because if you look at the numbers, just overall voters, 73 percent of voters when you look at Democrats and Republicans together that are women have an unfavorable view of Trump. And this was taken before his position changes this week on abortion. You met a woman who is standing by him.
What did she say to you?
SIDNER: Yes, I mean, if that poll is correct, there is a lot of women who are not happy with some of the things he's been saying and some of the policies he's been talking about. However, we talked to quite a few women in the crowd and just so you know this crowd was predominantly men, but there were a lot of women here. And we talked to a few of them, couple of them undecided, but none of them felt strongly about his comments about women or felt strongly about his comments about abortion.
In fact, this lady that you're just going to hear from now, a mother who's gone back to school, she's 47 years old, her daughter is first year and she's going to be able to vote, she was actually proud of him and said, "You know what, he tells it like it is."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNY SQUIRE, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: It bothers a lot of people, but I think he's just real. He doesn't have a teleprompter. He just answers questions. Do we not all change our opinions sometimes?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER: You know, and she also said, look, sometimes he speaks off the cuff, I like that. I don't care. I don't care about political correctness. I like that he speaks off the cuff. Has he changed his mind? Well, I've changed my mind many times as well. I don't see there's anything wrong with that. I'm going to vote for Trump.
Her daughter, 18, said she's pretty sure but not completely sure and came to this rally to help her decide whether or not she was going to go Trump or not -- Poppy.
HARLOW: Sara Sidner with a view of the voters ahead of the critical primary there on Tuesday. Sara, thank you so much.
Let's talk about all of this with our political commentator, conservative Buck Sexton is with us. He's supporting Ted Cruz, representing the Democrats tonight, Angela Rye, former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Thank you both for being here.
We saw a rare moment of contrition from Donald Trump.
[19:05:00] He just did an interview with Maureen Dowd of "The New York Times," fascinating read, I'm sure the buzz tomorrow morning when people get their Sunday papers. And he was asked about retweeting that very unflattering photo of Heidi Cruz.
Here's what he said. Yes, it was a mistake, if I had to do it again, I wouldn't have sent it.
Buck, this coming from someone who I can't recall the last time he said he was wrong.
BUCK SEXTON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: This is indefensible. Even his most stalwart defender, the people that have been with Trump all along and have refused to back away from many comments people thought were indefensible, but honestly, this was just too far, bringing wives into it, bringing the looks of Ted Cruz's wife into the debate.
It was beyond the pale even for Trump. There was a limit. He found the limit. He went beyond the limit now, he's paying the price.
HARLOW: There's something bigger here going on in the Trump camp or mind-set he came out and said I was wrong. I wouldn't have done it.
SEXTON: It's particularly bad timing that he retweeted this and then also you have the assault charge against or battery charge rather against his campaign manager and then his comments on abortion. It's been a certainly a tough week for the Trump campaign when it comes to women across the board. And so, showing some contrition maybe it pulls him out of this a little bit, but I think most of the Trump campaign and apparatus behind it is, they're just hoping that this is going to sort of pass and they move on to the next news cycle.
HARLOW: Angela, let's talk about the poll numbers. We just showed them, let's show them again -- 73 percent of female voters when you look at Republicans and Democrats together have an unfavorable view of Donald Trump. Even if you just look at Republican female voters, their unfavorables have gone up 10 percent in the last few months against Trump.
If the general is Trump versus Clinton, what do you think the fight for the female vote will look like? Because it's not as though Clinton hasn't struggled especially with winning those young female voters against Sanders. ANGELA RYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think in this situation
where you have Hillary Clinton opposite of Trump, Hillary Clinton I think would do very well with that. But I think -- I just want to go back for a second, Poppy, because, I think Trump acknowledging a mistake but still not apologizing is pretty significant.
Why? Because we continue to pretend, right, that Republicans have been the party of women empowerment or in some way have embraced women. I think when we go back to this GOP autopsy report which came out after Mitt Romney, got really beaten very badly in 2012, we continue to ignore that networks allowed Republican pundits and hosts to bash the first family, to bash the first daughters, to bash Michelle Obama, and now we're surprised that Donald Trump has in some way done this and he's on an island unto himself. He's not.
HARLOW: Are you blaming the media? That's what --
(CROSSTALK)
RYE: No, I'm not blaming the media. I am saying there are folks who have media platforms who were encouraged to do this kind of thing, from Rush Limbaugh to other hosts including Glenn Beck, who were bashing the first family on their looks, on their appearance, on their weight. I'm saying it's not new and we shouldn't be surprised that Donald Trump followed suit and did the same thing. He's done the same thing he's not anti-establishment in that way. Republicans were doing that as well.
HARLOW: Buck, I just want your response to that as a Ted Cruz supporter, what would John Kasich say to that.
SEXTON: I would like to hear one example of what she's talking about.
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: You want to give an example?
RYE: Happy to do it.
SEXTON: There was a clear directorate from most of the media not to attack the first lady or the first family, certainly in the early days of the Obama administration. I follow these things pretty closely. I'm not aware of anybody who has a prominent platform attacking the looks of President Obama's family in any way. So --
RYE: I'm happy to share it.
SEXTON: I can't think of one time it's ever happened.
RYE: Buck, as soon as this segment is over, I will tweet it to so you see the link. It's actually from Media Matters. Everybody like Rush Limbaugh talking about Michelle Obama's butt and Barack Obama's butt, talking about how much she weighs. Another -- I don't know who this guy was -- but another host saying she looks like merman.
So, these aren't just random things that I'm pulling out of there. I'm talking about posts folks are relying on in the Republican Party to give them guidance and leadership. So, I'm happy to share the link with you after this.
HARLOW: Angela will tweet that.
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: I want to talk about something else other than anyone's looks, and it is important because it was brought up in the campaigns in the last two weeks and now you have Trump telling Maureen Dowd, "I wouldn't have done it."
Also incredibly what Trump said this week about nuclear proliferation. He drew a lot of criticism. He has a long history of expressing unconventional views on national security. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Would I approve waterboarding? You bet your ass I'd approve it.
I would take away the oil. Bomb the hell out of those oil fields. I wouldn't send many troops because you wouldn't need them by the time I got finished.
You go in and you say, we have to have our hostages back. They'll say, no way.
[19:10:00] You say bye-bye. Good-bye, everybody.
NATO is obsolete.
What's a sovereign nation? Do you think Iraq is a sovereign nation?
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.
TRUMP: I don't think so. Iraq essentially doesn't exist.
COOPER: It's been a U.S. policy for decades to prevent Japan from getting nuclear weapons. Now Korea --
TRUMP: Well, there might be policy but maybe -- can I be honest? Maybe it's going to have to be time to change.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: OK. So, Buck, to you as a Ted Cruz supporter, no doubt this gives him fodder right to go after Trump, but at the same time, you're talking about someone who talked about carpet bombing ISIS until the sand blows.
SEXTON: So you want me to compare Trump on foreign policy with Cruz on foreign policy?
HARLOW: What I'd like you to tell me how does he go after Trump on foreign policy given that statement? SEXTON: I think it's easy for him to go after Trump just based on the
lack of knowledge that Donald Trump has displayed over the course of his campaign on foreign policy. That hasn't particularly worked. I think what you see is there are few reasons why people support Donald Trump. His thoughtfulness on foreign policy or on women's issues are not those reasons. Those are well outside of what's motivating people to support and support Trump. I don't support Trump. I'm speaking to people that do to the best of my ability.
So, attacking him on foreign policy doesn't really work very well. Ted Cruz has been trying to do it, because Trump supporters will say, we just trust his executive acumen. We just think that he has the judgment and wisdom to know who the bad guys are and to take the fight to them. It's sort of surface level talking points, but that's worked for Donald Trump.
I mean, Ted Cruz is a smart guy. He gets down to the weeds on these things sometimes. I'm not sure that translates as well as it should with the GOP faithful with the conservative base, which was more of an issue.
HARLOW: All right. I got to get a break in. Angela, you're next on the other side of the break.
Buck Sexton, Angela Rye, thank you. Stay with me, because next, we're going to talk about the Democratic side. The Democrats running for president have played relatively nice with one another, especially if you compare it to the back and forth in the Republican Party, but this is a hard-fought race for delegates and all of it may be changing, especially when you talk about the last 24 hours back and forth between Sanders and Clinton.
And now, you're looking at Sanders live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He's been in a mean back and forth with the Clinton camp. When, where, and why Sanders believes the Clinton campaign is playing games with the debates, coming up next. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARLOW: Hillary Clinton and rival Bernie Sanders are squabbling over a possible New York debate.
[19:15:03] This would all happened ahead of the all-important New York primary in April 19th.
Both camps have strong ties to New York. Clinton, of course, calls New York home and former senator. Bernie Sanders, you know it from the accent, Brooklyn born and bred.
According to the latest Quinnipiac poll, Clinton is ahead in New York, 54 percent to 42 percent ahead for Sanders.
Dan Merica is outside a Clinton event in Wisconsin, laying out the fight between Clinton and Sanders over when and where and if to debate.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN MERICA, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: That's right, Poppy. It's a debate about debates. Now, it's not what the Democratic Committee would like to see. They'd like to see candidates talking about issues at events like this in Wisconsin. But the Sanders campaign and the Clinton campaign are currently arguing over when to have a debate before the April 19th primary in New York.
The Sanders campaign made the opening salvo at the end of March. The Clinton campaign then worked with the DNC to figure out when they're going to debate and propose three days, which the Sanders rejected. Now, the Sanders campaigns says that they're working with the DNC to figure out when to exactly have a debate and it's likely we'll have a debate in New York before the primary between the two candidates.
Why this matters? The Clinton campaign and the Sanders campaign both view New York as very important. Sanders needs to win to close the gap. He's around 240 delegates shy of Hillary Clinton's lead, while Clinton views the New York primary as important because she represented the state, she lives in the state. And she wants to win the state that is close to her heart.
Right now, the candidates are campaigning in Wisconsin where they'll have the primary on Tuesday. The Clinton campaign is lowering expectations here and is pretty confident that Bernie Sanders will perform well in this state.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: Dan Merica, thank you so much from Wisconsin for us tonight.
Let's talk a little bit more about this debate squabble. Back with me, conservative pundit and former CIA counterterrorism analyst, Buck Sexton. Former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus and a Democrat, Angela Rye.
Thank you both for being here.
The debate, Angela, over the debate. What gives? What should happen? Come on.
RYE: Well, a couple of things. One, I absolutely e agree there should be a debate. I hope they can work out the date soon because folks continually demonstrate that they want to hear from these candidates. The differences I think are surmountable. I've talked about this often, the fact their voting records were 93 percent similar in the Senate when Hillary Clinton served as a senator of New York.
I think the frustration here is the gap has tightened and the Clinton campaign feels like there have been enough debates but I think the reality of it is for Bernie Sanders, who's currently the underdog, although he's closing in on the gap, he wants to demonstrate why he can be the Democratic nominee and he's got to have some more air time if he's going to do that after this Wisconsin primary coming up. Of course he's pushed for the debate to be after that because he thinks he'll come out strong and on top.
HARLOW: Buck, what do you think? Who do you think a debate in New York benefits most? And if you think of New York, you sort of think of -- a lot of things, sort of New York, land of opportunity, sort of a melting pot. You also think of the Occupy Wall Street movement. On the other side, you think of Wall Street, you think of huge wealth and income gaps.
Who does it help more?
SEXTON: Well, I'm a born and raised New Yorker. I have to say I think that Bernie Sanders is likely to be the one helped here and that's why the Clinton campaign is acting the way it is on this issue so far. I've seen some of the back and forth. For example, they wanted to hold one of their dates was the same night as the NCAA Finals.
HARLOW: Right. Monday night.
But they threw out three nights.
SEXTON: They threw out a few nights. But look, the point is the Hillary Clinton campaign wants minimum visibility for these debates because they have nothing to gain from the debate vis-a-vis is Bernie Sanders campaign.
HARLOW: They don't say that.
SEXTON: Ii think it's a straightforward reading of the facts. They're ahead. Why would Hillary Clinton want to risk continuing the momentum Bernie Sanders had? You showed a poll when we came in. That's a fraction of what it was eve an few months ago in New York. So, the gap has been closed considerably by Bernie Sanders. He has a tremendous amount to gain.
By the way, if the superdelegates, a long portion, at least, were convinced to switch over, he would, in fact, be ahead of Hillary Clinton if the superdelegates that give her rather such a large looking lead right now.
RYE: That's a big if, buck.
SEXTON: If he ca win -- it is, I totally agree. It's a huge if. And I don't think it's going to happen. I do think the Democratic machinery is behind Hillary Clinton. But that's why if Bernie is able to win in New York state, it changes the narrative, and it puts the Clinton campaign on the definition in a big way.
HARLOW: No question the 200-plus delegates in New York are critical.
Listen to what Hillary Clinton said today in Wisconsin to voters trying to play on and woo those angry voters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Many people are feeling left out and left behind in our great country. And they're looking for answers, and I don't blame them one bit. But I have watched how we make progress in America. Once you finish venting your anger, then you have to elect people who can get things done and we have to work together. And that is what I am promising.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[19:20:01] HARLOW: Do you think, Angela, that Clinton can be successful at tapping into the anger that Bernie Sanders is so successfully tapped into? Can she woo any of them? Can she get the fervor?
RYE: Sure. So, interesting that she played that clip because I think it actually is a duplicative strategy. I don't think she was talking about anger in Bernie Sanders supporters. I think that was an example of the campaign trying to go for both Trump voters and Bernie Sanders voters, like it's OK to be frustrated. But at some point progressive as she said in other debates means making progress. You make progress by moving on issues.
So, I think she's continued to kind of follow that mantra. I don't think that she's going to be able to successfully woo Bernie supporters without Bernie. She's going to at some point have to have his support going into a general if he's to lose the primary season. And I think that that's going to be also to make fun of Buck earlier, a huge if.
They really need to figure out how they'll close some of these now very toxic challenging arguments and discussions they've had, whether you're talking about Wall Street or now it's the fossil fuel debate. They have to figure out how they're going to get on the same page and acknowledge, hey, we do have some differences, but they're not insurmountable like you see on the Republican side. We're not talking about the party imploding. So, I think it would be -- that was an interesting strategy.
HARLOW: Angela Rye, thank you. Buck Sexton, thank you both. Good to have you on.
RYE: Thank you.
HARLOW: Coming up next, switching gears, Mr. Wonderful. You know him, right? The guy from "Shark Tank"? The hard-edged guy? Listen to what he's saying on the earning power of women.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEVIN O'LEARY, ENTREPRENUER, "SHARK TANK" HOST: Let's get hip, America, get women running companies because it's the right thing to do to be competitive and get returns.
(END VIDEO CLP)
HARLOW: He sat down with me to tell me who's actually making money in the companies that he's invested in. Hear his answer and also a surprising turn in the interview, what brought Mr. Wonderful to tears. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O'LEARY: Excuse me. It's just I think of those days.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:25:31] HARLOW: All right. In our American opportunity this week, on ABC's hit show, "Shark Tank," he's known as Mr. Wonderful. Kevin O'Leary is as blunt as can be and focused on one thing only -- returns. And where does he find most of those returns coming from these days? Women.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: They call you Mr. Wonderful.
O'LEARY: That's because it's true.
HARLOW: Why are you so wonderful?
O'LEARY: You know, I just tell the truth all the time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O'LEARY: I am funding your growth for you and getting a pretty decent return for doing it but no equity. If you hit it out of the park, it's all yours.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's right. I've never, ever in my entire life said Mr. Wonderful offered a good deal.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're doing a phony royalty deal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, he's not.
O'LEARY: You don't have any creativity, Barbara.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: You've come out and said that of all the businesses you've invested in, the only ones that have been making any money are the ones run by women.
O'LEARY: I have 32 private companies in my portfolio. Many of them came from the "Shark Tank" investments I've made.
Back in December of 2014, going through the year-end audit and what we learned, and it was a very interesting data, was that not some of my returns, all of my returns were coming from companies either owned or run by women.
So, that was extremely interesting for me because I'm not into, you know, gender warfare. I don't care. I would give a goat money if I could make me money with the goat. (LAUGHTER)
HARLOW: What is it? Why are we so good?
O'LEARY: Because women set goals that are achievable in business. They don't take inordinate risk and set goals that nobody can achieve. When you set goals for your employees that you can achieve, that generally builds morale. It gets better results.
HARLOW: You've said, for example, last year, women make better CEOs all things being equal given the choice between a woman and a man, I would pick a woman every time.
O'LEARY: Yes. I would.
HARLOW: When did that light go off in your head?
O'LEARY: Because my own experience has been that when I put capital at risk with women, I get it back. That's what I've learned. And so, my natural propensity, given that fact, agnostic to geography, agnostic to sector, these are businesses all over America. They're all kinds of different areas and different things. And the women-run or owned ones send me checks. I get my money back!
HARLOW: Do you think you've always been fair to women in business? Before this light went off in your head, when you look back, Kevin, at your career, did you maybe not give some women the shot they deserved?
O'LEARY: It's a fair question, and you're right. Years ago when I would take -- put risk capital out, in particular my venture portfolio, I tended to do what the industry has done favor, just because those were the ones that were getting funded. That is not what I do today. My results are basically black and white. They are telling me that in America today, we are not using enough women in management. There is no question about that.
HARLOW: So why are we paid less?
O'LEARY: That is basically a legacy issue. The compensation committee, because I've been on lots of boards and public companies, the comp committee, the audit committee, the first thing we do is go hire a consultant and say, get me all the comparables, which is a mistake. We should be paying on performance.
So, what happens is they run around, they find all the equivalent female executives in that role and say, here's the pay packages, which makes no sense.
HARLOW: Did your mother play any role in influencing you in all of this?
O'LEARY: She -- yes. My mother changed my whole philosophy about investing and she was a very strong woman and she'd take my brother and I to the bank and always say to us -- I didn't know what she was saying with us at the time, but it stuck with me. I was 7 and my brother 5 when it started. She said, boys, never spend the principal, only the interest. And
never buy a stock or bond that doesn't pay a dividend or interest. And she would drive that home.
Now, decades later when she passed away, I discovered a secret account she kept, secret from both of her husbands for 45 years, invested in dividend-paying stocks and bonds of telco companies. She beat every adviser.
HARLOW: Wow.
O'LEARY: So, now, I take that same philosophy in all companies.
HARLOW: Thank you, mom.
O'LEARY: Yes.
HARLOW: You have 32 companies in your private portfolio, 52 percent have female CEOs.
[19:30:00] O'LEARY: Yes.
HARLOW: Do you invest in companies because they are led by women or is this just a result --
O'LEARY: In a private company it's not the CEO that matters, it's the ownership. If you look at who's really running them, in the ownership structure, it's the women that are most concerned about risk mitigation. In other words, let's not spend that money. It's not a good idea. Let's mitigate our risk and not bring products this quarter.
Let's set a goal for this new product that we can achieve. Because she knows if you achieve it the morale of the company moves up.
All right. I'm selling cupcakes. Wicked good cupcakes.
I'm swinging for the fences, trying to do stuff, you know, it's OK, if we make half of our goal, that's good. I want to make 110 percent of our goal. So I've been teaching some of the successes I find in my women-led or owned companies to the men saying, look, you see this company? It's returned 110 percent of the capital invested in two years. You've given me nothing. Why don't you talk to her and find out how she did it. I'm pragmatic.
HARLOW: How do they take that?
O'LEARY: Too bad. I don't care. I want performance. Why shouldn't I? I'm an investor.
HARLOW: Are you saying to the men that run companies that you're invested in, think more like the women?
O'LEARY: What I tell them is, mitigate risk like the women. Look at the way they're setting goals, like the women. Look at the returns I'm getting, like these women. HARLOW: So you are.
O'LEARY: Of course, I am, because I have pragmatic results. I've got actual tangible results. Be like a woman and get me some returns.
HARLOW: Do you believe that there are some things in business that men do better than women?
O'LEARY: I haven't found anything lately. I'm sorry.
HARLOW: Nothing?
O'LEARY: Not in my returns lately. Not in the last eight years.
HARLOW: You're dyslexic.
O'LEARY: Yes.
HARLOW: You learned that at a pretty young age.
O'LEARY: I was dyslexic and very much so. It was very challenging for me. I couldn't read in the early ages and it really affects your reading score and it gets you pushed back. But there was a woman named Marjorie Golic, who is very famous out of University of McGill, with Sam Rabinovich, and I became part of an experimental class. They were testing an idea at the time and it was my mother that got me in that class, she kind of made sure that I got in there somehow and I thanked her so much for it.
Their thesis went like this -- you feel so weird when you're dyslexic because -- and I can still do this. I can read upside down. I can read in a mirror. And what Marjorie, said was, look, this is not a fault. You have a superpower. And when you're that young, you buy into that and it gives you the confidence you need. That's what occurred to me. She gave me that confidence.
HARLOW: And that carried you a long way.
O'LEARY: Yes.
HARLOW: It makes you so emotional. Why is that?
O'LEARY: Yes. Excuse me. It's just I think of those days.
HARLOW: I think people only see your hard shell.
O'LEARY: Yes.
HARLOW: And they probably think that you never ran into challenges like that.
O'LEARY: They were very tough times, they were every tough times, because I was really wondering if I was ever going to make it. It was -- it was -- you know, those were very tough times. I was failing. There was a lot of panic in my own family. My teachers weren't sure. And I knew it was -- I was very lucky. I was very lucky. I meet lots of dyslexic people today and I give them encouragement because it is a super power.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: Wow. Look how successful he has been. Look at the challenges he overcame. My thanks to Kevin O'Leary for sitting down with us. Much more of that on cnnmoney.com/americanopportunity.
Coming up next, they won the World Cup finals with the second most watched soccer match ever in U.S. television history. But were they shortchanged when it comes to their paycheck compared to the men? Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ABBY WAMBACH, U.S. SOCCER PLAYER (RETIRED): When I retired I kind of realized, whoa, I've been getting mistreated on some level. And it took this deep-seated innate thing that we all kind of agree and believe in and accept. I was allowing myself to be treated that way.
HARLOW: You mean being paid less.
WAMBACH: Yes, being paid less, being given less opportunity.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: Players from the U.S. women's soccer team now suing, claiming pay discrimination. Their fight next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:37:45]
HARLOW: This week five of the U.S. Women's National soccer team took a hammer to the glass ceiling on pay inequality by filing a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission about their own organization.
Five of the teams highest profile players filed a wage discrimination action on behalf of them and their team mates against the U.S. Soccer Federation demanding equal pay for equal play.
When you look at the numbers, it's not hard to understand why they're upset. Last year the women's national team earned about $5,000 per exhibition match. The men were paid nearly about four times that amount, about $18,000. When you look at the World Cup, the disparity is even more striking. The U.S. men's team earned $9 million in 2014 for losing in round 16. The U.S. women, who won last year's World Cup, they got just $2 million. On Thursday, women's soccer legend Hope Solo said this is not just about money.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOPE SOLO, GOALKEEPER: We continue to be told we can be grateful just to have the opportunity to play professional soccer and to get paid for doing it. In this day and age, it's about equality, it's about equal rights, equal pay, and we're pushing for that. We believe now the time is right because we believe it's a responsibility for women's sports and specifically for --
UNIDENTIFED MALE: Right.
SOLO: For women's soccer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Let's not forget the Women's World Cup final last summer was watched by more than 25 million people and that makes it the most watched soccer game in U.S. history. Men or women.
Earlier this year I spoke with one of the big stars of the game, Abby Wambach, about exactly this. She retired after their World Cup win. She is not formally part of the lawsuit that was filed this week. I asked her what her mission is now post her soccer career.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WAMBACH: I think that where I'm geared towards now is just real, true equality and the conversation around it.
HARLOW: Equality for who?
WAMBACH: For everyone. You know, it's not just a gender, women versus men. This is also a race issue. This is also a religious belief.
HARLOW: When did you realize first that you weren't getting it as a female athlete star, that you were not getting equality?
[19:40:01]
WAMBACH: I think that I probably always knew that I wasn't getting it and I was always fighting for something and clawing.
But when I retired, I kind of realized, whoa, I've been getting mistreated on some level. And it's deep-seated innate thing that we all kind of agree and believe in and accept. I was allowing myself to be treated that way.
HARLOW: You mean being paid less.
WAMBACH: Yes, being paid less, being given less opportunity.
HARLOW: When you and the women's team won the World Cup, you guys got nice chunk of change, $2 million, but when you compare that to the $35 million the male champions got in the World Cup the year before --
WAMBACH: It's incomparable.
HARLOW: Incomparable. How did you stomach that?
WAMBACH: Well, I didn't. I didn't stomach it. That's why I'm fighting. That's why I'm tking about it. That's why I want there to be at the very least a conversation around it. We were the most watched soccer game in the history of North America. HARLOW: Over 26 million people.
WAMBACH: Well, actually the number is even higher. Fox will tell you it's probably 31 million people, which is pretty amazing. And if you were to compare that to the men and also say it actually still beat any male game that was ever aired, that's a huge deal.
HARLOW: Here's how you put it. Simply put, you said, enough is enough.
WAMBACH: And it is. I mean, at what point as a female are we going to keep letting this happen? And it's really scary when you're on the inside. I get it because I was there. You don't want to rock the boat. You don't want to lose your position. You don't want to lose your job. You don't want to lose your insurance. You have bills to pay. I get the level of fear that it's based around.
But now that I'm outside of it, I can fight for the rights of the women that are still involved, who may still -- might have that -- that fear factor.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: In terms of the lawsuit filed this week, U.S. soccer has responded to the complaint and it has issued a statement saying, "in part our efforts to be advocates for women's soccer are unwavering. We are committed to an engaged -- engaging and negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement that addresses compensation with the women's national team players association to take effect when the current CBA expires at the end of this year."
We will stay on this story and let you know what happens.
From soccer to basketball, March madness, yes, it's almost over. But if you needed a little extra basketball before it's all over, look no further than this week's CNN hero.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
This program is not about creating the next basketball star. It's about helping young people develop skills that are going to prepare them for the next step.
It allows you to navigate and challenge what's in your face because that's what's going to happen when they hit life.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:46:13]
HARLOW: The not so nice tone of this year's presidential campaign is not exactly impressing the nice folks of Wisconsin. So who better to find out more than our very own, Gary Tuchman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wisconsin, nice.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wisconsin, nice.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: Wisconsin, nice. Absolutely.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wisconsin, nice. Words the people of the state try and live by.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He would have been one hell of a lousy president that I can tell you.
TUCHMAN: And partly because of that motto, the presidential campaign has rubbed a lot of folks her the wrong way. It may explain why a certain guy who is New York brash isn't polling so well here.
(on camera): What do you think of all the bickering and insults and name-calling between the candidates during this campaign?
UNIDENTIFED MALE: I try not to pay much attention to it. As a matter of fact, if a commercial comes on and it's from a super pac or something like I generally change the channel.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): So why do Wisconsinites have such a nice reputation?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Maybe it's the cheese, and we drink more brandy than any other state in the union.
TUCHMAN: Well, there might be some other reasons.
Keep in mind, one of the state's nicknames is America's dairy land, a pastural, peaceful sounding name many here try to live up to.
Roger Weiland is dairy farmer.
ROGER WEILAND, WISCONSIN DAIRY FARMER: The affect we have been brought up with -- we grew up with parents that taught us good ethics and we work hard and the farm background here in Wisconsin I think all contributes to that.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
TUCHMAN: (INAUDIBLE) a drive-in in Oshkosh has been around since 1948. There's a sign outside that says "the friendly place." Inside it feels, well, exactly that -- friendly.
Lunch and ice cream sodas served at the counter and food delivered to your car by roller-skating car hops.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sounds good.
TUCHMAN: Being polite, being nice has been good for business, says Ardy Davis, who brought the drive-in just over 60 years ago. And she says the customers are just as nice.
(on camera): Why is that? ARDY DAVIS, OWNER: I don't know. We're just nice.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): But her husband, Steve, who has worked here 39 years, says he knows the answer.
STEVE DAVIS, OWNER, ARDY $& ED'S DRIVE IN: I think it's part of their upbringing. They're basically pretty humble people and hardworking people and they're taught to respect other people and be civil and get along with each other.
TUCHMAN: And that's what diners at the counter say too.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody just seems to like each other, respect each other, look out for each other.
TUCHMAN (on camera): What's been made very clear to us in our travels around the state is that Wisconsinites, when it comes to politics, are very tired of the bull. Sorry, cows.
(voice-over): Wisconsin nice is not just a motto. It's a lifestyle that many here are grateful for, like the roller-skating server I worked to keep up with.
(on camera): Are the customers here nice?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, yeah, of course.
TUCHMAN: How do they tip?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very well.
TUCHMAN: What percentage, usually?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 20 to 25, I think.
TUCHMAN: That is nice.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, yes.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Gary Tuchman, CNN, Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: Told you. Who better to tell that story than Gary Tuchman on roller skates, no less?
Coming up, the latest polling showing that Ted Cruz is pulling ahead of Donald Trump right there in Wisconsin. So what would a Trump loss in the state do to his chances of winning the nomination?
Our John King at the magic well with the magic number that Trump needs going forward, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:52:45] HARLOW: We are just a few days away from crucial primaries in Wisconsin, those take place on Tuesday. Our John King is here to give us a breakdown of what's at stake and how it could impact all of the candidates. John.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wisconsin could be critical in both the Republican and the Democratic races from a delegate perspective and from a momentum perspective.
Let's start with the Republicans Donald Trump enters with a big healthy lead, about 739 in our delegate estimate. The magic number, 1237. Ted Cruz is a distant second. Now if Donald Trump can come back and win Wisconsin, take most if not all of the delegates, that would take a lot of the air out of the Stop Trump Movement because so much time, so much money has been spent against him there.
But there are two polls showing Ted Cruz with a 10-point lead and so let's assume that Ted Cruz holds that lead and not only wins but wins by a big margin and gets all or at least most of the delegates out of Wisconsin. So Cruz inches a little bit closer. Trump still in the lead and then the race shifts and the conversation shifts to Trump's alleged fire wall, his home state of New York.
If Trump can win in New York and right now there's a poll showing above 50 percent. If it he wins with 50 plus 1, then New York becomes winner take all, 95 delegates. If Donald Trump can do that, even if he gets shut out in Wisconsin, a big New York win would ease the pain, right? He'd be back on track and at this point he would need just 53 percent of the remaining delegates to get to the magic number. Is that easy, no?
But it's doable. Here's another scenario. suppose Ted Cruz wins in Wisconsin, shuts Donald Trump out for the delegates and that hurts Trump's standing in New York, Cruz has momentum, maybe Kasich gets some traction in New York.
Donald trump, let's assume he still wins his home state but he wins with only 42, 44 percent of the vote, then he has to share the delegates. It becomes proportional if he's under 50 percent. For the sake of argument, say Kasich comes in second, Cruz comes in third, at that point, Trump is still in the lead but because he doesn't take all of the delegates out of New York, the Math does change significantly.
At this point, if it looks something like this after New York, Donald Trump needs 60 percent of the remaining delegates to get to the magic number of 1237 before the convention. Sixty percent, a lot harder than 53 percent, if this scenario happens, the Stop Trump Movement believes, pack your bags, we're headed for an open convention. So the next two states, Wisconsin and New York, critical to the dynamics of the Republican race
[19:55:00]
And guess what? Critical as well to the dynamics of the democratic side. Hillary Clinton edges with a healthy lead in pledge delegates. You see that. More than 200 delegate lead. Right now, Wisconsin, the polls show it as a toss up. But even inside the Clinton campaign, they think it's going to go this way. Bernie Sanders is most likely to win. Under that scenario, I just gave to Senator Sanders, 55 to 45. If that happens, proportional delegations, he inches a little bit closer but Secretary Clinton is still in the lead.
This is where New York becomes critical. If Secretary Clinton can say OK, you beat me in Wisconsin but I beat you in New York, look at how many delegates you're getting here, 291 total. If she wins 55-45, she gets a big lead there, in fact and she says all right, you're still around but I have my big delegate lead back, if she can win New York by a 55-45 margin.
The Sanders' scenario that would change the conversation in the race would be if he wins in Wisconsin and then can somehow stun Hillary Clinton at home. If Sanders wins 55-45, it changes things. It only changes the math a little but Senator Sanders would be closer but the thing that would change the most, Wisconsin, followed by Bernie Sanders in New York.
That would change the conversation, the momentum of the race dramatically, maybe not so much the math but the momentum of the race would change if Senator Sanders can say I beat Senator Clinton at home but that is a big, big if and would depend on a lot of momentum out of Wisconsin.
HARLOW: Yes, it would, John King, thank you.
Be sure to watch "Inside Politics" with John tomorrow morning, 8:00 Eastern. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARLOW: The number tonight is 15, $15 to be exact. On Thursday, California became the first state to approve $15 an hour minimum wage. It will increase gradually and hit $15 an hour for most California businesses by 2022. The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 an hour since 2009, many states though have a higher minimum wage. In this country, more than 40 percent of all workers are less than $15 an hour but $15 an hour a job killer or smart legislation?
[20:00:00] Tell us what you think on Twitter.
Coming up next on CNN, it is "THE SEVENTIES". Television gets real. That's followed at 9:00 p.m. by CNN's new original documentary series, "THE EIGHTIES".
I'm Poppy Harlow. Have a great night. I'll see you back here tomorrow.
