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O'Rourke Launches Campaign; Bottle Water Buying Guide; CNN Original Series "Tricky Dick.". Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired March 14, 2019 - 08:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:31:54] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this morning, former Texas Congressman Beto O'Rourke joining the 2020 race for president. Here is some of the campaign video that he shared just a short time ago with his social media followers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BETO O'ROURKE (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is going to be a positive campaign that seeks to bring out the very best from every single one of us, that seeks to unite a very divided country. We are truly now, more than ever, the last great hope of earth. At this moment of maximum peril and maximum potential, let's show ourselves and those who will succeed us in this great country just who we are and what we can do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Joining us now is Robby Mook. He is the former campaign manager for Hillary for America, Jeff Zeleny, CNN's senior Washington correspondent, and Nia-Malika Henderson, senior CNN political reporter.

Jeff Zeleny, we've been pressing you for a date certain on all of these different candidates for a long time. I guess we could say this morning it is. And so -- with Beto. And so I'm wondering if he moved up his announcement to this morning because of all of the talk about Joe Biden and how you think this affects the field.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: I don't think he moved up his announcement, Alisyn. I think this is what they were planning. You'll remember a couple weeks ago he said he hadn't made his decision. Of course he said he would make it by the end of February. So this is pretty much in step with that.

But, boy, it is certainly going to change the conversation in the field, at least initially. I'm here in Iowa. He is starting his race in Iowa. He's going to be meeting with voters.

But one thing we are not going to hear from him today is a speech. He's not giving a campaign speech to lay out exactly what he would do as president. He's not giving a speech to lay out his vision for the presidency. Instead, he has decided to try and go from small town to small town and meet voters one on one. And I'm told by a variety of advisers who he was speaking with as he was deciding how he was going to do this, that he wanted to sort of introduce himself on his own terms in the same way he ran for the Texas senate. So we'll see how that plays here.

There's a lot of intrigue, a lot of curiosity, but there are also questions about what does he actually stand for? What would he actually do as president? So I think the pressure will be on him pretty quickly to start filling in some of those gaps once his introduction and the emotional appeal is over.

BERMAN: You know, we talked to Joe Hagan, who wrote the "Vanity Fair" piece, and he talked about how undefined Beto O'Rourke is in some cases. Deliberately undefined on positions. And also perhaps deliberately unorganized. I don't want to say disorganized, Robby, in a traditional campaign sense.

In the "Vanity Fair" piece it says, Beto says, Beto O'Rourke says, I don't have a team counting delegates, O'Rourke says again invoking the politics not readily accessible by reason. Almost no one thought there was a path in Texas, and I just knew it. I just felt it. I knew there was. And knew that with enough work and enough creativity and enough amazing people, if I'm able to meet them and bring them in that we could do it. That's how I feels about this now, he says.

Can you run a presidential campaign just on feel? I mean the delegates were pretty important to you in 2016.

Well, they are. And, unfortunately, you know, the delegates, the way they're allotted, it can be quite complicated. And it doesn't always follow logic. And so sometimes, you know, you're winning contests but you're not racking up the delegates the way that you'd like.

[08:35:11] So, I think for now this is fine. You know, Hillary actually started by going to Iowa and having these types of one on one meetings. I think to get out there, really sharpen the message. Sounds like he's having a rally to officially announce the campaign in El Paso later on.

I don't think he needs to worry about all that right now. But there is a point for any candidate, the Sanders campaign certainly went through this in 2016, where there's a lot of money coming in, the primary after the early four states moves very quickly, and you have to start making pretty calculated business decisions, basically, about where and when to spend money. But -- but there's some time. They can -- they can grow into that.

CAMEROTA: Nia, you know, it's the -- one of the big debates is whether 2020 is the year of the white man or if there's a different desire in the country, and Beto speaks to that in the "Vanity Fair" piece. He said that he would make sure that his campaign and his administration, were he to win, would look like the country, would have lots of people of color. But, he says, I totally understand people who will make a decision based on the fact that almost every single one of our presidents has been a white man and they want something different for the country. And I think that's a very legitimate basis upon which to make a decision.

Your thoughts?

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, you know, I think the big debate is about electability, right? And if you look at all the folks who are talking about electability, the folks who are thought of as being most electable are white men, right? If you look at the early polls so far, the folks who are in the lead, particularly in Iowa so far are Biden and Bernie Sanders. And people say that's partly on name recognition, which is certainly true.

But it also, I think, reflects the idea that a lot of Democrats think that Joe Biden, because he was vice president, and also because he's a white man, could do better in areas like Michigan, in areas like Ohio, in areas like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. And he would have a unique appeal to some of those voters who fled the Democratic Party and voted for Donald Trump.

So this idea that somehow whiteness and being male is a liability, I think, is ridiculous. I don't know in what sphere of American politics or the idea that being a son of privilege, as Beto O'Rourke is, and also married to a daughter of privilege, that seems to me to be what it is, which is a privilege. And, in some ways, I think what we're down to his benefit in this race. We'll see. I mean it can't be true that on the one hand being white is a liability, but also somebody like Joe Biden is seemingly a frontrunner at this point and Bernie Sanders is burning up the airwaves in terms of being able to get attention and also fundraising and here Beto O'Rourke here, another white male, seeming to be able to scramble the race, I think this idea that somehow an African-American candidate is somehow privileged in this race is absurd.

Cory Booker isn't leading any poles. Neither is Kamala Harris. Elizabeth Warren isn't leading any polls. All the polls I've seen so far have been led by white men.

BERMAN: And I should note that O'Rourke does take this head on. He says, look, I understand if there is an appetite out there and if people want to vote based on that, he gets that. He understands that is his response to that.

Robby Mook, I do want to get you on one key point here because you've looked at Beto O'Rourke's Senate campaign and him as a candidate and you do think one thing that he did well in Texas and one thing that you think could help him, and this is based on your own personal experience in 2016, is run his race. You know, worry about O'Rourke. Don't necessarily worry about Donald Trump. Why is that important?

MOOK: Well, one of the core challenges we had in 2016, and I think Democrats and Republicans certainly struggled with this in the 2016 primary, is when Donald Trump is in the picture, you can't drive your own message. I mean people forget out of a field of 16 candidates, Trump just ran them all over, you know, and never looked back.

So for someone to be able to get out there, attract media attention around the things that they want to say is vital. And so far I think we've seen some capacity from Beto to do that. I mean just looking at this -- at this rollout, the way we're talking about it, the "Vanity Fair" piece, that was all about Beto O'Rourke. It wasn't about Donald Trump. It wasn't, you know, about other candidates in the field.

So I'm interested to see what happens here. But I -- you know, whoever we pick coming out of this primary I think will have that ability to drive message because, again, as we saw with Trump and the Republicans, it was that ability that got them through the primary itself and then I think will make them successful in the general.

CAMEROTA: Robby, Nia, Jeff, thank you all very much.

MOOK: Thanks.

BERMAN: All right, it is President Richard Nixon as you have never seen him before. The candid moments featured in a new CNN original series, next.

[08:40:04] CAMEROTA: But, first, what you should know before you buy bottled water. Here is today's "Food as Fuel."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH WRITER: Although it may all look alike, not all bottled water is the same. Terms like "spring," "purified" and "artesian" refer to water's condition before it's bottled.

Spring water comes from an underground source and must be collected at the spring before it's treated and packaged.

Purified water can come from any source, but must be highly treated, like distilled or deionized before it's called purified.

Mineral water, it's different from other types because of the constant level of minerals and elements it contains. Nothing additional can be added to it.

As for artesian, that refers to water from a well that taps a specific layer of rock or sand through which the water flows and is stored.

The research is still out as to which type is best for your health. But the most important takeaway is to make sure you're drinking enough water, whichever type you choose. For women, experts recommend to drink around 11 cups a day, and a little more than 15 cups for men.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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[08:45:34] BERMAN: No politician in U.S. history experienced the same kind of rise, fall, comeback and then fall again as President Richard Nixon. CNN's new four-part original series "Tricky Dick" explores the 37th president and the parallels between the Nixon and the Trump presidencies.

Here's a preview. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD NIXON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: I don't give a God damn what the story is.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Richard M. Nixon has lied repeatedly.

NIXON: No reporter from "The Washington Post" is to ever be in the White House again. Do you understand?

The tougher it gets, the cooler I get. I have what it takes.

CROWD: Impeach Nixon now! Impeach Nixon now!

NIXON: And I want to say this to the television audience, because people have got to know whether or not their president's a crook. Well, I'm not a crook.

This crap about Watergate --

Let others wallow in Watergate. We're going to do our job.

I'm going to kick their ass.

Nobody's going to package me. Nobody's going to make me put on an act for television. I'm not going to engage in any gimmicks or any stunts or wear any silly hats.

If people looking at me say that's a new Nixon, then all that I can say is, well, maybe you didn't know the old Nixon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, joining us now is Tim Naftali, CNN presidential historian and former director of the Nixon Presidential Library. He was a consultant in the series.

And, Tim, you know, you hear so much of Richard Nixon's own voice in this. Part of that is thanks to the White House recordings, which I think he probably regretted for sure after that. But you see and hear an inner thinking of a president almost more than you ever do. It's like a psychological study. What do you learn about Richard Nixon there?

TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, first of all, I think there are very few people in our country who have spent time a lot of time with the Nixon tapes. Generally you hear this -- this piece and that piece. They don't get a sense of this audio diary, this tortured audio diary that Richard Nixon left us.

So, this -- this show -- well, first of all, it's -- it's all Nixon. There are no talking heads. It's just him and the people at the time. And what you see is this chasm between the Nixon on TV and the real Nixon. And it leads you to ask questions, is that true of all presidents? Is there always this kind of huge gap between the manicured professional face of the presidency and the real person? BERMAN: That is a fascinating question. I'm going to skip ahead

because it gets to an issue with Richard Nixon that you often hear, which is, well, sure, Watergate. Sure, he was forced to resign. But he was just doing things that all presidents and politicians do.

NAFTALI: I hope that the takeaway from studying the Nixon era is not a cynical takeaway, because, if that's true, then that means every single one of our presidents is a crook. And the difference is that some get caught and others don't.

What I think that -- I hope the viewers will see -- and, first of all, that they can make up their own mind.

BERMAN: Right.

NAFTALI: Because this is Nixon talking to them, OK.

BERMAN: Yes.

NAFTALI: There's no screen here. There's no filter. It's unfiltered, unplugged Richard Nixon. That they will actually come to understand the panoply of deeds that led Republicans, as well as Democrats, to decide, this man has to leave the office of the president.

BERMAN: Yes, hear for yourself.

Along those lines, you also learn from Richard Nixon pre-Watergate. What do we learn about Nixon from Nixon about prior to 1972?

NAFTALI: Well, what -- one of the things that you watching -- and particularly people who don't remember the era, too young to remember it, is that he managed to capture the American imagination. The Richard Nixon -- for decades there was a different Richard Nixon. A very successful politician.

BERMAN: Yes.

NAFTALI: A man, by the way, who was very good at television in the beginning. He changed the way in which politicians dealt with television. He rescued his career by going on TV and talking to the nation in 1952. So this man -- their -- to different parts of the country, this man was a hero. And so he's somehow touched our popular imagination.

What happens is, there's a decay. And you can see it on screen as the confident Nixon disappears and the sad, tortured, angry, dark Nixon of the tapes assumes the public persona. It's dramatic. It's interesting.

[08:50:00] BERMAN: You bring up such a great point. He was in the arena for decades. This is not a 1971-1972 issue. From the '50s until the '70s, he was a central player in the American story.

OK, President Donald Trump, there are some connections that are made between the two men, partly because Donald Trump himself, I think, likes to make those connections, either through certainly people or not. What do you think the most important connection, if there is one, is?

NAFTALI: Well, one of the reasons that Richard Nixon lost so much support among his base was that he began to seem inauthentic. When Nixon released transcripts of the tapes, people actually didn't hear them at the time. People looked and said, oh, my God, you're much more cynical, you're much more amoral than we thought you were. Because Richard Nixon had a sense of the presidency that's quite different from President Trump's. He believed in the norms. He believed in behaving a certain way. So when people saw the distance -- the difference between the real Nixon and the Nixon who was projected on screen, they began to feel he was betraying them.

The question we have before us now is, with a president who has social media, which allows people to see his very it (ph), his very ego every single day, does that mean that we know the real Trump better than people knew the real Nixon or not? I don't know. But for Nixon, he began losing people when they thought he was lying to them.

BERMAN: That is a fascinating question. I haven't thought of it just like that.

All right, Tim Naftali, thank you so much for being with us.

You can watch the "Tricky Dick" premiere this Sunday at 9:00 p.m. only on CNN.

Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: All right, John, "The Good Stuff" is next.

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[08:55:19] CAMEROTA: OK, time now for "The Good Stuff."

A five-year-old Tennessee boy was trying to start a movement. Foster Routzahn wants to be a police officer some day. But until he's old enough to join the force, he's showing his admiration for his heroes with hugs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sometimes it seems like the negative opinions or the negative voices are so much louder than the positive ones.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Well, Foster and his parents calling the movement #hugacop, and they want you to join in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSICA ROUTZAHN, FOSTER'S MOTHER: I hope that people will start teaching their kids to go up to cops and officers and anybody that serves, give them a hug, give them a handshake, thank them for their service every single time. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: All right, that is a beautiful impulse.

BERMAN: Yes.

CAMEROTA: I do think that police officers need our thanks often. But you should probably warn them, I feel, before you move in for the hug.

BERMAN: Yes, I'm just saying, I think it's a wonderful sentiment. Thank you to our police officers. I think if I go to hug every police officer I see there might be an issue.

CAMEROTA: Yes, they might have some questions for you.

BERMAN: I'm just saying, there will be questions.

CAMEROTA: There might be handcuffs.

All right.

BERMAN: All right, we are now nearly three hours into it. Beto O'Rourke announced he is running for president. We're waiting to hear from him on the trail in Iowa.

CNN's coverage continues, next.

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END