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Primary Voting Underway in Five States; Clinton Looks Past Sanders, Attacks GOP Rivals. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired April 26, 2016 - 09:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[09:00:02] DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Lyin' Ted announced that he can't win by himself.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you don't want to see Donald Trump as the nominee, if you don't want to see Hillary Clinton as the next president, then I ask you to join us.

TRUMP: So he said, let me form a partnership.

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, I don't tell voters what to do. It's up to them. I'd like to see an open conversion. Ted Cruz would like to see an open convention.

TRUMP: It's called collusion, folks.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We will have the future that we deserve if we work together. I will stand up and fight for you.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you come out to vote, drag your friends and your aunts and your uncles, your coworkers, we're going to win here in Pennsylvania.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Five candidates, five states, the road to the White House narrows and makes its way through the northeast today. Hundreds of delegates are clustered in these states where primaries are now underway. Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump hoping to sweep these states. Even though the delegates will be doled out proportionately.

For Clinton and Bernie Sanders nearly 400 are up grabs. Republicans will be fighting for 172. And there may be new cracks forming in that shocking stop Trump alliance between Ted Cruz and John Kasich. They will play to their strength. Kasich will focus on Oregon and New Mexico, and step aside for Cruz in Indiana. And yet Kasich will be in Indiana today hosting a fundraiser and holding meetings.

He tells our Anderson Cooper he won't urge his supporters to vote for Cruz. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KASICH: You know, I don't tell voters what to do. It's up to them. But look, you also husband your resources in the campaign. And you know they want to husband their resources in certain places and we want to husband ours.

CRUZ: Governor Kasich made the decision to pull out of the state of Indiana and to focus his time and energy in other states. And we've made the decision to go all in in Indiana.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Our correspondents and guests are covering all the angles on this high stakes states. Let's begin, though, with senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta. He's live in Philadelphia.

Good morning.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. The polls show Donald Trump is about to take a big lead toward the GOP nomination today, as he is heavily favored to win all of the states that are up for grabs on this Tuesday, and he is ridiculing the alliance formed by Ted Cruz and John Kasich, saying this morning that it's already falling apart.

Here is what Trump had to say earlier this morning on one of the morning shows.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: When I first heard about it, I said, you've got to be kidding. They're not going to do that. It's going to make them look very weak, it looks like collusion. And it proves my word that it's a rigged system. You see it's a rigged system. These are two insiders, they get together, they want to rig the system.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Now despite this Cruz-Kasich deal, the Ohio governor still scheduled, as you said, Carol, to attend a fundraiser in Indiana later on today even though he's supposedly agreed to stop campaigning in the state to give Cruz a shot at winning there. A Cruz official tells me this morning, Carol, that that is no big deal and that they still see this arrangement between the two candidates as giving them the best chance at winning.

Now as for the Trump campaign, a source there tells me that this pact could have some effect in Indiana, but not on the overall race for the nomination. And as for Pennsylvania, where we are this morning, the Trump campaign tells us they are mindful of the fact that the state has some pretty complicated delegate rules, so they have stationed volunteers at polling places across the state to hand out information on the delegates.

Carol, as you know, Trump could win in a blowout here in Pennsylvania and still lose some delegates to Cruz. So that is a scenario that they are desperately trying to avoid at this point.

COSTELLO: All right, Jim Acosta, reporting live in Philadelphia.

In Maryland, polls have been opened for about two hours now. That's where Brian Todd is there. He joins us now from Baltimore. Good morning.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. A lot of voter enthusiasm here in Maryland. But the story in Maryland so far has been the early voting procedure. They had early voting for seven days from April 14th to the 21st. And it was a record turnout for early voting. They expect a good turnout here at this polling station.

This is the Mount Washington Lower School in Northern Baltimore. People coming in here, registering here, you've got 14 polling stations. They're trying paper ballots here for the first time in a long time because the state legislature wanted that. They passed that a couple of years ago.

We're going to go downstairs here because the rule says that we have to interview people outside the polling place. It's privacy issues. It's also they don't want us to get in voters' way, so in order to interview someone, we have to come out the door here. Our photojournalist Floyd Yarmuth and I are heading out the door.

We've got an interesting story here. This is 19-year-old Morgan Hopson I'm going to talk to. Morgan is a first time voter, 19 years old.

And you were actually kind of split, you told me, between Sanders and Clinton. Why were you split?

MORGAN HOPSON, MARYLAND VOTER: I was split because I feel like Sanders shares a lot of my ideals in terms of like economic policy, but I think Hillary is more experienced in putting a lot of good policy into action.

[09:05:05] TODD: How exciting is it to be out here? First time you came out here with your younger sister and your parents. How exciting is that?

HOPSON: It is exciting, especially in this election, which is a little bit of a strange one, but I think it's exciting, yes.

TODD: Good luck, Morgan. Thanks a lot for talking to us.

It is a strange one, Carol. We've heard that all season long. But a lot of voter enthusiasm here in Maryland. This a Hillary Clinton stronghold around Baltimore, also in PG County, Prince George's County in Maryland near Washington. Hillary expected to win this state pretty handily over Bernie Sanders.

Donald Trump also should score well here. So it could be a big day for both those candidates -- Carol.

(LAUGHTER) COSTELLO: I like that, Morgan made it a family affair. That's awesome.

Brian Todd, thanks so much.

Let's go to Connecticut now, shall we? CNN's Brynn Gingras is there. She's at Hartford.

Good morning.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol, good morning. Yes, I talk to the moderator of this particular polling station in Hartford. He's been here for more than a decade doing this job on election day. He says he isn't seeing exactly the biggest voter turnout compared to other years, but he does expect it to pick up. It certainly did pick up right before 9:00 when people are headed to work.

One thing to really note that's interesting here in Connecticut, if they're a registered Republican, when you get in, you get the ballot, Ben Carson's name is actually on the ballot. And I reached out to the secretary of state to ask about that, and I was told that the candidate has to be asked or has to ask, rather, to be removed from the ballot by March 21st, and the secretary of state said they reached out to the Carson camp several times, haven't heard back, so his name is on the ballot. He could get votes, so we'll see if that happens in the state of Connecticut -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Brynn Gingras. Thanks so much.

You know, it was a nice try but not many people think the Cruz-Kasich alliance will actually fly. Donald Trump is leading the pack on that one, he tweeted out this morning, quote, "The Cruz-Kasich pact is under great strain. This joke of a deal is falling apart. Not being honored and almost dead. Very dumb."

Kasich says Trump is just scared.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KASICH: I know it's like a bombshell to everybody. And I heard what you said in this race, everything is always on changing, but look, I would like to is he an open convention. Ted Cruz would like to see an open convention. And I think Trump would not because he's afraid if he goes to an open convention, he's got no chance of winning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Trump appears unfazed, slamming Kasich's table manners.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Lyin' Ted announced that he can't win by himself. He cannot do it. You know, he's a joker. He cannot do it. Now you look at Kasich, I don't think he knows what -- did you see him, he has the news conference all the time when he is eating. I have never seen a human being eat in such a disgusting fashion. This guy takes a pancake and he is shoving it in his mouth. It's disgusting. Do you want that for your president? I don't think so.

Do I look like a president? How handsome am I, right? How handsome.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK, with me now, Scottie Nell Hughes, she's a Trump surrogate and national political commentator for USA Radio Network. Bob Vander Plaats is with me, a Ted Cruz supporter and executive president of the Family Leader. And I also want to bring in a John Kasich supporter and former Republican congressman, Peter Hoekstra.

Welcome to all of you.

PETER HOEKSTRA, KASICH SUPPORTER: Thank you.

COSTELLO: OK. So, Peter, Mr. Trump says this alliance between John Kasich and Ted Cruz is not working. So explain to me how you think it might work today.

HOEKSTRA: Well, it's very straightforward, as John said in the lead up to this. Both he and Senator Cruz want an open convention. Governor Kasich has said that he is not going to campaign in Indiana. He is going to leave the road wide open for Senator Cruz in Indiana. Senator Cruz said, hey, I'm going to leave the pathway wide open for Governor Kasich in Oregon and New Mexico, meaning that -- the expectation is that they're going to get more delegates pledged to each of these candidates than if they -- each campaigned in all three states. They get more delegates.

It means it's going to be harder for Donald Trump to get the 1237. It's very straightforward. You don't need to read too much into it.

COSTELLO: OK, well, I know. I know. It sounded complicated to me, though. But I get what you're saying. But, Bob, here is the thing. John Kasich isn't telling his supporters to vote for Ted Cruz. So doesn't that kind of spoiled what, you know, Peter just said?

BOB VANDER PLAATS, TED CRUZ SUPPORTER: Well, I don't think it does at all. I think what it does is by Kasich allowing Ted Cruz to campaign solo head-to-head against Donald Trump in Indiana will be a very good thing. I think the reason why you see Kasich and Cruz wanting an open convention and Trump not wanting an open convention is Trump really isn't a Republican. He is not a conservative. And people know that. And the delegates who are very insightful and very savvy to this process, they're never going to give that nomination to Donald Trump in Cleveland.

[09:10:02] And so now it becomes a delegate game. And the delegate game is if we can stop Trump from getting the 1237 before Cleveland, we think we have a great opportunity to win this in Cleveland.

COSTELLO: Well, and he might have a good point, Scottie, because in Pennsylvania, you know, where Trump is expected to win big, right, I think about 54 of the delegates are unbound, so they could go to the convention and they could throw their support behind whatever candidate they choose. SCOTTIE NELL HUGHES, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Well, it's funny listening to

these guys. Of course these two want to go to a convention. That's the only chance they have at this point because the people have not chosen them to be the primary nominee of the GOP. So it depends on who do you want to represent the people, or the politician, and Donald Trump has the majority of the delegates, the majority of the popular vote. He has the majority. He is winning in every single category. So these two guys are looking for every last hope they can.

And here is what's interesting, Carol, about this whole friendship between the two of them. I don't understand why Kasich agreed to it. Hence why I think the bromance is falling apart. Indiana is completely different from an Oregon and a New Mexico. Indiana is a winner-take-all by congressional district. Oregon and New Mexico are winner-take-all by the entire state, therefore there are more delegates at stake in Indiana, which is a state borderline to Ohio, which John Kasich should be very popular in.

All that Ted Cruz did with this bromance is take out actually his biggest contender, the biggest rival that he has which was John Kasich, and John Kasich fell for it. So it really talks about why the strategy within the Kasich campaign to agree to this, considering Ted Cruz came to them, and said, hey, why don't you get out of the state that we think you have the best chance of winning. Go look at these other two states, where it's not the same type of proportion, and you don't have the ground game.

Plus it finds out in Oregon, the mailer that was put out by the state of elections there, just accidentally, well, actually the Kasich did not turn in the registration and the information about John Kasich, so the only information that went out was about Donald Trump and Ted Cruz to every Oregon Republican registered voter in that state.

COSTELLO: OK.

HUGHES: So that right there shows that there was a little bit of a mishap.

COSTELLO: All right. Right.

HUGHES: That goes into Ted Cruz and Donald Trump's benefit.

COSTELLO: OK, so another question for you, Peter. Let's say John Kasich is successful and he goes to the convention and somehow he becomes the nominee. Won't the Republican Party be so fractured at that point that it will be impossible for Governor Kasich to win?

HOEKSTRA: No, I don't think so at all. I think that Republicans after this convention are going to be united. They have -- you know, they have more in common than what separates them.

COSTELLO: Even if more Republicans vote for Donald Trump in the primary?

HOEKSTRA: Well, Donald Trump right now is get being 38 --

COSTELLO: Leaps and bounds over John Kasich.

HOEKSTRA: He is getting about 38 percent of the popular vote at this point. He's got 48 percent of the delegates, and you know, in that way I agree with him. It's a rigged system. But no, Republicans are going to be united. We have more in common than what separates us. We believe that a conservative in the White House will drive economic growth, will drive national security and will be a much -- much better president than either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders.

COSTELLO: So --

HOEKSTRA: Republicans will come together because there is so much at risk in 2016.

COSTELLO: So, Bob, I'll ask you the same thing. Will Republicans really come together if it's a contested convention and it's really ugly? Won't voters be disenfranchised by the whole process?

VANDER PLAATS: I don't think so. I think Republicans will be united. I agree with Congressman Hoekstra on this. And one of our greatest uniters is going to be Hillary Clinton as the nominee. And two is I think it all depends on these candidates, and in particular, Donald Trump. Everybody needs to act like the adult in the room. This is about winning for the future of this country.

And so I think you're going to see the delegates. I don't think there's going to be a great heated contested convention. I think people are going to do it in a very adult and professional like manner, in choosing the candidate. And if Ted Cruz comes out of this as the nominee, I do believe people will unite and will unite quickly in order to beat Hillary Clinton.

COSTELLO: OK, so Scottie, it won't be Donald Trump or Ted Cruz or John Kasich that unites the Republican Party but it will Hillary Clinton. So everything is up for grabs. Is that right?

HUGHES: No, I agree with him. We welcome them obviously into. I love the fact that they are going to endorse whoever the top nominee, whoever the nominee is, which at this point is highly likely Mr. Trump. And with acts that happened yesterday, this bromance, that happened between the alliance, it just strengthened Mr. Trump and actually I think it's going to be a turning point to show why Mr. Trump will get over -- that magic number by the time we get to the convention and all of this will be a moot point. And we can start unifying our party to defeat Hillary Clinton.

COSTELLO: All right, Bob Vander Plaats, Scottie Nell Hughes, Peter Hoekstra, thanks to all of you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, read it and sweep. Hillary Clinton expected to win big today. But Bernie Sanders says he is not backing down.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:19:01] COSTELLO: Today, Hillary Clinton tries to sweep five Northeastern primaries and shut out Sanders for the Democratic nomination. While Clinton is favored to win big today, Sanders is vowing to stay in the fight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We've got a path to victory and we're going to fight it to the last vote is cast. It is a narrow path but we do have a path. We're in this until the end.

I think that when you look at national polling, we're in virtually national poll and every statewide poll, Bernie Sanders runs a lot better against Donald Trump and other Republican candidates than does Hillary Clinton. I think you've got super delegates there who say, you know what, we need a strong candidate. We need a candidate who can beat Trump, maybe Bernie Sanders is that candidate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The stakes are high, nearly 400 delegates up for grabs today.

So, let's get to CNN's Chris Frates. He's 20 miles outside of Philadelphia in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania this morning.

Good morning.

CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Carol.

[09:20:00] And welcome to Super Tuesday, the quattro, the four Super Tuesday in this election season. People already starting to trickle into the polls here outside Pennsylvania, and with 189 delegates at stake today, it's the biggest prize of all five states that are going to the polls.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANDERS: You have an enormously important Democratic primary.

FRATES (voice-over): Today's high stake primaries have Bernie Sanders calling for his supporters to turn out.

SANDERS: If you come out to vote, drag your friends your aunts and your uncles and your coworkers, we're going to win here in Pennsylvania.

FRATES: With nearly 400 delegates up for grabs, Hillary Clinton could widen her delegate lead and help effectively close the doors on Sanders.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you will vote for me tomorrow, I will stand up and fight for you.

FRATES: On the stump, Clinton is already looking past her Democratic rival, and focusing on potential general election opponents. CLINTON: When I hear the kind of reckless rhetoric coming from Donald

Trump and Ted Cruz, it's deeply troubling because it's not only offensive, it is dangerous.

FRATES: Leading in the polls, the former secretary of state is expected to win big. Her likely clean sweep is forcing Sanders to saturate his speeches with the contrast between them.

SANDERS: The differences between Secretary Clinton and myself, Secretary Clinton -- Secretary Clinton.

FRATES: But Clinton is ready for Sanders to concede, much like she did in 2008.

CLINTON: I didn't say, you know what, if Senator Obama does X, Y, Z, maybe I'll support him. I said, I am supporting Senator Obama.

FRATES: Sanders argues he'll do whatever he can to keep a Republican out of the White House, it is up to Clinton to sway his voters to her side.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRATES: Now, if you want a sense of how Clinton and Sanders think they will do today, take a look where they'll be tonight. Hillary Clinton, she'll be just down the road in Philadelphia, an election rally here in Pennsylvania. And she is leading Bernie Sanders in the Keystone State.

Sander, he'd also have already moved on. That's no surprise, because he is not doing nearly as well, but as we heard, Sanders note counting himself out, saying he's going to take it to the end and it looks like he'll have the money and support to do just that, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Chris Frates, reporting live from Blue Bell, Pennsylvania.

It does not sound like Sanders also concede, even if he loses all five states, even if it's mathematically impossible for him to win the nomination. Party unity? Maybe not so much for the Democrats.

With me now, Robert Wolf. He's an outside economic adviser to President Obama, and host of impact players for "Reuters" on YouTube.

I'm also joined by Democratic strategist and Bernie Sanders supporter Nomiki Konst.

Welcome to both of you.

NOMIKI KONST, BERNIE SANDERS SUPPORTER: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning.

OK. So, Nomiki, Mrs. Clinton leads by 2.7 million votes, all five primaries today are closed. Mr. Sanders --

KONST: Four primaries.

COSTELLO: Four primaries, sorry. Rhode Island, yes, OK. Sanders has not won a single state with a closed primary, right? And Sanders would have to win six out of ten pledged delegates and three out of four super delegates to deny Clinton the nomination.

KONST: Right.

COSTELLO: So, what does Bernie Sanders want?

KONST: So, some of the things that we're not paying attention to here is not that just Bernie Sanders won't have enough pledged delegate, most likely to win the nomination, but Hillary Clinton won't. Even if she wins the next five states, she will not reach based on the California primary, which is 475 delegates, they are tied in California right now and he keeps moving up. She will not reach --

COSTELLO: So, Bernie shooting for an open convention?

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: It is a narrow path, even he sees that.

KONST: It's a narrow path for both of them to clinch the nomination and it will probably come down to super delegates.

COSTELLO: No, it's a narrow path for Bernie Sanders to clinch the nomination.

KONST: If she doesn't win the nomination, the rules are the rules. Simple as that. I mean, that's what it is. The rules are the rules.

And when half of the party is divided, right now, and half of the party -- don't forget, we have the majority of new -- new voter registrations, registrants are independents, the progressive-leaning independents. Forty-three percent of them are independents, and those are people who probably would have been Democrats 20 years ago.

COSTELLO: OK. So, is Bernie Sanders shooting for an open convention? Is that what he wants?

KONST: I think that we are going to try to push for a little bit of reform at the DNC, have super delegates that are not just super delegates that are elected, which I think is important, because they have a responsibility to voters. But super delegates who are lobbyists should not be super delegates. Super delegates who are DNC members or party officials, there for --

COSTELLO: It's not going to change, so he wants to change that going forward down the line?

KONST: I don't know. I think we have to see how the numbers play out. I mean, if she wins the next five states by a wide margin, we might be having a different conversation. But again, California has the right to vote in this primary. They have 475 delegates, and they're tied in California right now. That's very important to keep in mind.

COSTELLO: OK. So, Mrs. Clinton said Bernie Sanders, you should concede, like she did when she was running against President Obama in 2008 or then-Senator Obama.

But really, it was a whole different story, because Secretary Clinton knew she was going to run for president again, right? Bernie Sanders is probably not going to run for president again. He is 74 years old. So, he's got to like get what he can out of this.

[09:25:00] So, is it fair for Mrs. Clinton to continue saying, oh, he should do what I did back in 2008?

ROBERT WOLF, OUTSIDE ECONOMIC ADVISER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: A couple of things. First, let's talk about today. Acela primary, it's a great day for me, because I went to school in Philly, I worked in Connecticut. So, she's going to do incredibly well today. The pledged delegates today will once again add to her lead.

Let's first talk facts. Hillary is winning. She's 250 pledged delegates ahead. Not only super delegates, where she's 700 up, pledged delegates, and 2.5 million popular vote, and will extend exponentially today.

So, and by the way, she is not saying he should concede. What she's saying is, at the time that she decides to opt out --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: No, she wants him to throw his support for her.

WOLF: And, by the way, as a Democratic Party, that's the most important thing that we do unify. As you know, I was an Obama --

COSTELLO: Why should Bernie Sanders, because today's scenario is quite different than it was back in 2008? Why shouldn't he stay in all the way to the convention?

WOLF: By the way, he can decide what he wants. I don't think the secretary said to him, you should concede. That's not accurate.

What she has said is that she was closer to Obama on both delegates and votes, maybe even ahead of Obama than Bernie is to her. And so, at the right time, when there a unity ticket, they have more in common than they don't, and it's time that we unify. In my opinion, listen, if you win Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, as a Democratic nominee, OK, you -- you are the party nominee.

KONST: Margins, too, we have to keep in mind, it's not winner take all.

WOLF: Most important states, though, for the general -- Florida, Ohio, the swing states. She won by double digits.

COSTELLO: But again, isn't this Bernie Sanders' last chance to get his agenda pushed forward, right? WOLF: Listen, I think that during --

COSTELLO: Why shouldn't he do whatever he can do that?

WOLF: Listen, there's no question that it's great what Bernie has done to date, his rhetoric is working. He has gotten out the vote. I think it's incredibly exciting.

But to win the election, we need them to come together and I'm hoping that Bernie helps get out the vote. But listen, let's be clear -- the secretary is going to have President Obama, Michelle Obama, President Clinton, the entire Democratic Party, hopefully all working together, to make sure we don't have a chance of getting Donald Trump as our next president.

COSTELLO: And I know Bernie Sanders doesn't want that, either.

On the other hand, it appears that Secretary Clinton is at least trying to adopt some of Bernie Sanders' ideas, like raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

KONST: She hasn't agreed to that. She said $12 an hour.

COSTELLO: Still, she is talking about it, right?

WOLF: That's not accurate. She is part of the five for 15. But going from $7.25.

COSTELLO: Isn't that a concession to Bernie Sanders, though?

KONST: I think what we need to talk about here is not just wins, because let's be frank, Democrats aren't winning. We're not winning down ballot, we're not winning Congress, we're not winning the Senate, we're not winning legislative caucuses. We're losing across the board.

And if it weren't for President Obama, who's a sensational candidate, we would be losing everywhere.

So, what should be talking about today is how do we reform the Democratic Party. Aside from yourself, there are plenty of surrogates out there who are pooh-poohing Bernie Sanders --

COSTELLO: We're going to into a general election and you want to talk about that?

KONST: Well, yes, absolutely because we have Senate candidates that we have -- it's not just about the presidency. Presidency is very important. But if we want to win across the board, we have to understand that the future of the party, the current members of the party, are Bernie Sanders supporters. Those under the age of 50, independents, progressives, myself, I am a Democrat, I work for the Democratic Party, but guess what? I think the Democratic Party needs to be reformed.

And there are a lot of people who believe that we're spending too much time fundraising, finding candidates that fundraise, rather than finding candidates that have ideas, who know how to negotiate, who have movements in the community.

COSTELLO: Is this the time to reform the Democratic Party?

WOLF: Listen, with all due respect to Nomi, I think what she is doing for the party and for Senator Sanders is great. But we -- she is talking about what was. Let's talk about what will be. OK, there is a high likelihood --

COSTELLO: She is talking about what could be --

(CROSSTALK)

KONST: I'm talking about my future and my friends' futures.

WOLF: There's a high likelihood that the Democrats will take the Senate. There's a high likelihood that we will have the presidency.

KONST: I don't know about that one. (INAUDIBLE) behind right now.

WOLF: And there's 24 up for grab, which disproportionate are Republicans. I think actually, we feel pretty good there a good chance we take the Senate. It will Senate Schumer the next majority leader.

COSTELLO: Oh gosh, you heard it here first. Really?

WOLF: Yes.

COSTELLO: OK.

WOLF: You don't think so? I mean, you know I'm betting guy. I bet you a nice coffee.

COSTELLO: Robert Wolf and Nomiki Konst, thank you both of you.

WOLF: Thanks, Carol.

KONST: Go vote!

COSTELLO: That's the important thing. Go vote.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM: Hillary Clinton targeting Donald Trump, but not about his policies, but his plane.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)