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Bloomberg's First Test; Warren Not Yielding to Sanders; Washington State Reports Coronavirus Deaths; Dow Roars Back on Rate Cut Suggestion; The Forecast for Super Tuesday. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired March 03, 2020 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00]

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Talks about stop and frisk and the impact that that had on people, or what happened to Muslims in New York City after 9.11.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: He's a different kind of candidate. You're not going with him for passion and empathy.

FINNEY: Yes. Correct.

CAMEROTA: You're -- yes.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Although pocket full of delegates is my favorite Spin Doctors --

WAJAHAT ALI, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: There you go.

BERMAN: Look --

ALI: I'm here for the '90s references.

BERMAN: It may very well be that what Biden did yesterday with all of the endorsements was as much about Michael Bloomberg as it was about Bernie Sanders. It was to say to all the Bloomberg people, hey, don't waste your time there, come back to me.

I do want to talk about Elizabeth Warren though --

ALI: Yes.

BERMAN: Who is still in this race. She's on the board with delegates. She has won delegates. She has some money that she raised in February. And as of this morning, she's still in the race. And listen to what she had to say about that and Bernie Sanders last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think that they see the world in many ways the same way that the vice president does, so I understand that. I think it makes some sense. But what really has changed is the field has now narrowed sharply and

I think that what we've seen so far is that the Democratic Party is a progressive party. Progressive ideas are popular. And we need someone who's going to get those progressive ideas done. And that's the reason I'm in this race.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: What's Elizabeth Warren's goal right now? I know she wants to be president and she wants to win the Democratic nomination. I mean, who knows. But, besides that, what's she trying to do?

ALI: So I think she's the smartest candidate. David knows I'm a fan of Elizabeth Warren. It's a very narrow lane. And I think she can be king maker when it comes to the convention. I think she could pick up at least 150 to 180 delegates today. She got $9 million from her strong debate performance in Nevada. She picked up some more support.

And she's going to say, hey, I think it's a little too late for her, if you don't think Bernie is the progressive for you, if he's too radical and Joe Biden is not exciting you, look at me, I'm the one who actually called the 2008 recession, I'm the one who actually got things done with the CFPB, right? I'm the person that you should vote for. I think she'll be competitive in California, she'll be competitive in Massachusetts. I don't know if she'll win her own home state.

And, also, no one knows anything. Everyone thought that Pete Buttigieg, right, everyone thought, oh, his number two for his supporters will obviously be Biden. Seems that it's going to be Warren. So she's going to stay in it. She's going to go to the convention and she will flex (INAUDIBLE) Bloomberg and she could be king maker for either Biden or Sanders.

FINNEY: With her pocket full of delegates. I'm telling you, that's -- when it comes down to it --

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: You were waiting for that.

FINNEY: I was.

You know, when it comes down to the wheeling and dealing, right, it's like, all right, I've got this many delegates, this is what I want on the platform, Joe Biden. This is where I want my speaking role.

ALI: Right.

FINNEY: I mean this was part of what we went through with Senator Sanders in 2016, right, he had a lot of leverage. We're going to --

BERMAN: It has an impact now.

FINNEY: Yes, it does.

BERMAN: You know -- want to know when it counts. It counts four years from now. FINNEY: Yes.

GREGORY: But that says that it's going to be something of a muddle, right? Let's just -- if we -- if we're right in assuming that Bernie has a big night, if the rest is something of a muddle, then I just think it does. It's all about the benjamins, all about the -- all about the other --

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think all of this really --

CAMEROTA: Wow.

GREGORY: Look, I've been waiting to say that, but it's --

BERMAN: That's a hot take.

GREGORY: But -- no, but if it's -- if it is more of a muddle, then I do think it becomes more of this delegate play and then you ask, well, then why not stay in to exert influence.

FINNEY: Exactly right.

GREGORY: That's I'm still not sure is what most -- I think most voters want a clearer look at two candidates.

PHILLIP: Yes. I don't think voters care about this whole delegate leverage play. I don't think voters care about the -- the candidates do, voters do not.

FINNEY: That's --

PHILLIP: But I do think there's one thing we should be looking at today, which is what -- what really are people's second choices? We keep talking about moderates, centrists, progressives. I --I would not be surprised to see a kind of, you know, just spraying of the support across the field in a way that is a little bit more unexpected than we can imagine.

What I found talking to voters is that I'm consistently surprised by who people's second choices are. And even though we saw that show of force yesterday, the Buttigieg, Klobuchar endorsements, even the Beto endorsements, I have some real questions about where those people actually go and if we can truly expect the so-called centrist supporters to actually line up behind the centrists or do they go somewhere else? I think it's possible that they might.

BERMAN: I think you're really right. I think there's going to be some weird stuff that happens in some of these states

CAMEROTA: There has been.

FINNEY: That's a hot take.

CAMEROTA: We can bet on that. BERMAN: But between Massachusetts and -- there are going to be states where the number one and number two especially isn't who you think it would be.

GREGORY: But I actually really -- I think the best hot take is that I think a lot of voters don't like all this talk about the delegate math because I think they think that is just bad for the party, which it very well may be.

CAMEROTA: All right, we will no doubt see some surprises tonight as we have seen all along. Thank you, guys, so much for all of your hot takes.

BERMAN: It's terrific having you here.

CAMEROTA: Well played.

BERMAN: OK, coronavirus cases are growing in the United States. There are important developments on this front. Six people are now dead in Washington state. There are more than 100 cases in the United States. We have a live report from the center of concern in the United States, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:38:43]

BERMAN: This morning, the coronavirus outbreak is growing in the United States. Six people have died in Washington state, four of them were residents of a nursing home in Seattle. There are now more than 100 cases of coronavirus in the United States.

CNN's Stephanie Elam is live in Washington state, not far from where all this is happening.

Stephanie, what can you tell us?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

Well, what we know is that there are 18 cases of coronavirus in the state. And you mentioned those four, well, we now know that there are four other cases also linked to that Life Care Center of Kirkland, that nursing home which we are standing in front of here. So this really being the focal point in the state of what is happening. One first responder telling CNN that at this point any call coming out of this center, they are treating it as coronavirus, even though that is not the case for everyone here.

Overall, we do know that there are ten patients that are being treated at a nearby hospital for coronavirus as well. Some of the first responders are in quarantine right now because they have responded to calls here at this center. So about a dozen or a couple dozen firefighters and a couple of police officers who were in that situation. And to that end, there have been schools that thought that they might

have exposure because of these 18 cases and so they are closed today, making sure that they are cleaning everything, cleaning all the surfaces and just not taking any chances.

[06:40:03]

So almost 50 schools closed in the state.

As far as the governor is concerned, Governor Jay Inslee, looking at the situation and deciding whether or not it's time to say, let's not have group gatherings.

Take a listen so what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JAY INSLEE (D), WASHINGTON: But we have numerous groups, non- profits and others, that are starting to think about whether it makes sense to carry on with some of the larger get-together.

Now, I do have -- I've issued an emergency authority. I have authority to issue an order if that became necessary regarding large get- togethers or school closures that -- if that became necessary. We have not made that decision. That's a day to day issue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: And it is worth noting here, Alisyn, that when you're here, people don't shake hands now. People are not standing very close to each other. Things are different right now. People are operating differently and that's exactly what they want people to do.

Look, I know you want to reach out and shake somebody's hand, but just don't do it right now.

Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: I understand, Stephanie. It's hard to know what to do if we're supposed to be shaking hands, hugging our old friends when we see them right now. I mean I see everybody sort of standing kind of paralyzed with what are the new rules and it's hard to know what they are today.

Stephanie, thank you very much.

Joining us now with some answers we have Dr. Vanessa Kerry. She's a critical care physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and the CEO of Seed Global Health.

Doctor, it's great to have you here. I know there are two cases in Massachusetts. But, first, I want to get your take on what's happening in Washington state because all eyes are there. There have been six deaths.

What do you think is going on there? What do you think is going to happen in the next week or so there? People are so afraid that this is just the tip of the iceberg.

DR. VANESSA KERRY, CRITICAL CARE PHYSICIAN, MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL: I -- you know, I -- I think this is -- it's certainly been an amazing evolution over the last few days. And I think what is concerning is that there's a study that came out of Washington state a couple days ago that showed through genetic mapping of the -- of the covid virus that this has likely been circulating in the community for some time, which means that people have been exposed.

I think that, you know, while I understand that this is a novel virus and people are scared, and that's completely understandable with anything new, that the reality is that over 80 percent of people who are infected are going to have mild to moderate illness.

The folks that have been most affected in Washington state at this point are those who are over 80 or older or have had other medical problems. And so -- and we know that about the virus, that the data out of China shows that if you have cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or another medical problem, or if you're at a higher age, you're more likely to have severe disease or die.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

KERRY: And that's what we've seen in the deaths. But I think this is a time --

CAMEROTA: Just to be clear, I mean I have a few details about the deaths. I mean this is all new, but I have a few details this morning. Two were women this their 80s, two were men in their 70s, one was a man in his 50s who had underlying health conditions, and one a man in his 40s that we don't know much about, whether he had underlying respiratory pre-existing conditions of some kind.

KERRY: Yes, so I think that's right.

The truth is, we are learning a lot as we go every day. It's been a very fluid situation that's evolving. I think the most important thing to remember is that there are two narratives here, right? There is this coronavirus outbreak, which is something we do have to take very seriously.

And I think it's reasonable to not shake hands, try to decrease your exposure because this is passed through droplets. But that also means that common practices like washing your hands for 20 seconds, using hand sanitizer with over 60 percent alcohol, if you think you're sick and you are not suffering severe medical issues, you know, call your doctor to get advice about testing.

But what really needs to happen here is we need to be expanding testing and we need to be really expanding our suspicion for who has it if we're going to aggressively contain it and reduce the people who are at risk. But this is, you know --

CAMEROTA: Yes, and to -- and to that point, I mean I do want to ask you about the testing kits, because those have been slow to arrive at hospitals. Now we're told that they are in the process of being sent out to hospitals.

And Dr. Fauci told us, who's on the president's task force, that once that happens, we are going to see the numbers spike because hospitals have been wanting to test people or patients have been wanting to get tested but we don't really know the true numbers. In fact, they might be artificially suppressed because the testing kits haven't been readily available.

What do you think is going to happen at your hospital and beyond?

KERRY: Well, I think without question the number of tests -- I mean the number of cases are going to go up, because if we're detecting it, odds are there are -- there are people who are infected that we haven't been testing or haven't been detecting and so you're going to see a rise in cases from that.

You're probably also going to see a rise in cases because more people have just been exposed as their, you know, as time has passed. I think that what has been frustrating as a physician is to see that we -- you know, health security is national security and individual security.

[06:45:04]

And we have not taken this seriously from the start. To have said that coronavirus was just going to go away was not the kind of calm, pragmatic leadership and providing information that we needed. We need to be ramping up testing rapidly. We need access to those tests. South Korea is doing 10,000 tests a day currently. And I think that that kind of proactive engagement is critically important.

It's also worth noting that the people who are vulnerable here are not just over 80, but those that are required to go to work, are in a lower income bracket, don't have insurance and we need to be very careful about how we're protecting the American public.

CAMEROTA: Yes, excellent point. Dr. Vanessa Kerry, we really appreciate your expertise on this. Thank you very much.

BERMAN: All right, a huge rally on Wall Street yesterday. What do the futures tell us about what is in store for today? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Time for CNN business.

President Trump pushing the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates. This after the Dow roared back after this terrible week. It had a big day yesterday at least.

[06:50:00]

Chief business correspondent Christine Romans joins us now with much more.

Romans. CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and that big day yesterday, you guys, was because there's this hope this week that the central banks will ride to the rescue and cut interest rates and add stimulus to protect the economy from the shock of the coronavirus.

That hope drove the Dow up nearly 1,300 points, its biggest point gain in history on a percentage basis, guys. The 5 percent gain yesterday was the best day since March 2009. Remember what was happening in March 2009? That takes U.S. stocks out of official correction mode for now, but they're still down sharply from recent highs.

Where are we right now? Overnight, U.S. futures right now, by the way, are still moving a little bit higher, so the tone could be OK at the opening bell. Overnight, Asian markets closed mixed, but European shares following the U.S. higher.

But, you know, coronavirus is still the driver and uncertainty abounds. The OECD warned that the outbreak could slow down global growth. And it said the global economy is already reeling from trade and political tensions.

Earlier this morning, the president, President Trump, called for a big rate cut by the Fed, quote, to make up for China's coronavirus situation and slowdown. He threw in an insult to the Fed chief, Jerome Powell, along the way.

Now, guys, some officials hope for an emergency rate cut before the next official meeting March 18th. I'm going to tell you, that's risky. The last time the situation was so dire, it was the financial crisis in 2008. Before that, 9/11 crippled air travel. Advocating for an emergency rate cut could spook markets, but at least now they're banking on something here this spring.

Alisyn.

BERMAN: So market are pretty low. I mean there's only so much you can cut rates at this point (INAUDIBLE).

ROMANS: And would it work? That's the other big unknown.

CAMEROTA: Christine, thank you very much.

So, how many delegates do the candidates need to pick up today to be a shoe-in for the Democratic nomination? Well, Harry Enten is going to break down for math for us, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:55:56]

BERMAN: So, by the time the dust settles from Super Tuesday, 38 percent of the total Democratic delegates will be awarded. One question is, how long, then, do we have to wait before we know who the presumptive nominee of the party will be?

Let's get "The Forecast" with CNN's senior politics writer and analyst Harry Enten.

And, Harry, first of all, another dramatic dropout endorsement yesterday. Just give us the lay of the land.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICS WRITER AND ANALYST: Yes, I mean, my goodness gracious, you go to bed at night, you wake up, there's one less candidate in the race fewer.

CAMEROTA: Or two.

ENTEN: Yes, a grammar correction. I have a math correction.

CAMEROTA: A math -- a math correction.

ENTEN: There's way too many correction at this point.

I just want to sort of point out here -- unbelievable -- just sort of how lucky Joe Biden has been in the last 48 hours in terms of the fact that the moderate lane has really just sort of cleared out.

So, you know, we showed the slide yesterday when Buttigieg dropped out, but Klobuchar also dropping out. Look at that. She was another candidate who did significantly better, 16 percent among moderates and 6 percent among very liberals. So the moderate lane has cleared out and basically now you have two folks, Warren and Sanders, who are fighting over that very liberal vote, but the moderate vote is now Joe Biden's for the taking.

CAMEROTA: What do we need to know about endorsements?

ENTEN: Yes, you know, another great thing about Joe Biden in the last 72 hours, look at this, so endorsements from U.S. senators, U.S. reps, governor and major city mayors, the party is coalescing around Joe Biden. Look at this, Joe Biden, since Saturday, has 15 endorsements from this group. Bernie Sanders, for the entire campaign, just 12. So you can really just see how the party is deciding the representatives, the senators, the governors, around Joe Biden.

BERMAN: We'll talk about this more later, but that might be exactly what Bernie Sanders wants --

ENTEN: Perhaps.

BERMAN: To say, hey, look, the establishment is all against me. That's what I've been saying all along. That's a matter for another time.

Let's talk about the delegates at stake.

ENTEN: Yes, so, you know, just sort of laying out the baseline here. Thirty-four percent of all delegates are awarded on Super Tuesday. The top delegate prizes, so if you're keeping an eye on your returns tonight, hopefully you're watching CNN, take a look here, California, Texas, North Carolina, Virginia, Massachusetts, 1,991 are needed for a majority.

About 10 percent of all the delegates allotted in the entire campaign season will be in California. A little more than 5 percent are going to be in Texas. All these states are important ones tonight.

CAMEROTA: What does history teach us about this moment?

ENTEN: Yes, so, you know, talking about how long are we going to have to wait after Super Tuesday until it's mathematically clear who the nominee would be, so look back through history since the first Super Tuesday -- real Super Tuesday in 1998.

On the Democratic side, some years, like 2000, 2004, it was pretty clear, right, at Super Tuesday who the nominee was going to be. But sometimes we really do have to wait a long while. Eighty-seven days -- it was 87 days after Super Tuesday in 2008 on the Democratic side until it was clear who a nominee would be.

On the Republican side, last time around was actually the longest, 63 days. So, folks, it could be a while, even though a lot of delegates are being allocated tonight, it could be a long while until we actually really know who the nominee's going to be.

BERMAN: So Joe Biden had that big performance in South Carolina, driven largely by African-American votes. That was Saturday. What do we know about today?

ENTEN: Right. So, you know, look at this huge win that he had in South Carolina among black voters and they are going to be paramount tonight in those southeastern states, Super Tuesday states, where at least 25 percent of 2016 Democratic primary voters were African-American in 2016. Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Virginia, North Carolina. We'll see if Biden is able to hold up on these margins. If he is, he's going to do very well in this region tonight.

CAMEROTA: What about white women?

ENTEN: If I am watching one group tonight, white women with a college degree, because look at the average in the first four contests, basically split between all these folks, but Biden won 40 percent of that group in South Carolina. If Biden is going to do well tonight or if Sanders is going to do well tonight, they're probably going to have to win this bloc. This is the bloc going forward.

BERMAN: And you keep saying tonight, tonight, tonight, but I think you want people to keep something in mind, this may not be over tonight.

ENTEN: Yes, folks, California, be patient, be patient. Look at this, 2:00 a.m. on election night back in the 2016 primary, Clinton was up by over 21 percentage points in California. The ultimate margin ended up being just seven. So be really, really patient. California takes a long time to count its votes.

BERMAN: Which means tomorrow morning on the special edition of NEW DAY we will be giving you live results.

ENTEN: Tune in.

CAMEROTA: At 5:00 a.m. Eastern Time.

BERMAN: Tune in.

[07:00:00]

All right, this is the biggest day in the 2020 election so far, it is Super Tuesday. Our coverage continues right now.

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