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Joe Biden, Michael Bloomberg and Senator Bernie Sanders All in Hunt For Delegates Tonight; Joe Biden Dominates South With African- Americans and Older Voters; Joe Biden Wins Alabama, North Carolina and Virginia Senator Bernie Sanders Wins Vermont; Senator Bernie Sanders Wins Colorado His Second Win of the Night; Six States Too Close to Call Joe Biden Leads in 5 and Sanders Leads in 1. Aired 9-10p ET

Aired March 03, 2020 - 21:00   ET

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


[21:00:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: We certainly do. We're coming up on 9:00pm eastern. Polls will close Texas, Colorado and Minnesota. 370 delegates up for grabs that is more than a half of that in Texas alone the lone state is the second biggest prize of the night.

All right we have a key race alert. In Minnesota right now, according to our exit poll, the early leaders are Biden and Sanders. We cannot make a projection in Minnesota yet but the early leaders, Biden and Sanders.

Let's go to Colorado right now also too early to call in Colorado right now. No projection available, yet the polls are closed in Texas right now. Take a look at the vote where it stands at 20 percent of the vote in all of Texas now closed.

Bernie Sanders is ahead with 29.1 percent, Joe Biden second place 22.5 percent, Bloomberg is third place at 17.6 percent, and the rest trail 228 delegates at stake in Texas. Let's go over to John King for a closer look. These are major, major states. Texas, where is the vote coming in, first of all?

KING: The second biggest prize of the night, giant prize at stake here one of the things that Biden Campaign hoped for coming out of South Carolina? Could they get into Texas and compete? Could they keep it close possibly win at least get a big share of the delegates? We're at 20 percent reporting Senator Sanders has stretched that a little bit nearly a 30,000 lead right now.

29 percent for him, 22 percent rounded up that's 23 for the Former Vice President Mike Bloomberg at 17.6 or 18 if you round it up. Elizabeth Warren right on the cusp of viability 15 percent if we round it up she has to be there at the end for it to count.

So look as you can see here, a lot of Texas votes that are still out, but one of the population centers as you look forwards is Dallas County, obviously. Joe Biden with the lead right there Dallas and the suburbs is critical to any competition whether it is primary or General Election in Texas. Pretty close here though 5 percent reporting Joe Biden with a lead in Dallas County at the moment, Bloomberg at 20 Senator Sanders this fight that we'll watch throughout the night. And this population center here you come down here Houston one of the fastest growing areas in the United States.

Both Sanders and Biden here off late Harris County now the biggest County of huge growing competition for the Latino vote, competition for the suburbs, competition for urban voting Houston proper.

This is one of the most fascinating fast changing places in the United States of America, and look at the fight. 26-26. If you round up, Biden with a slight edge there Mayor Bloomberg in play. Warren is not.

Come back out and look some more as we go through this, we just talked about this a minute ago now up to 72 percent in Travis County. This is Austin. It is a liberal stronghold it is Bernie Sanders blue if you look at it there. And you come back down one of the things we're waiting for is here along the border, Senator Sanders very much hopes among Latino voters that that is his spring board.

And you see a lot of them right here and another way to show you that we come back out here in and just show you the demographics. Latino population by County the deeper the shade the higher the population in those Counties, Latino population is giant all across the state of Texas of course Senator Sanders hoping to run it up down here.

Both to get a statewide victory and Wolf later on in the night when we have more votes, we can look at this from a Congressional district perspective. But at the moment 20 percent in the state of Texas again prize number two if you're thinking about the prizes tonight just to pop this up for you.

415 at stake in California 228 this is 48 percent of the delegates at stake tonight in these two states. At 20 percent in Texas advantage Sanders but a long way to go.

BLITZER: Arkansas, close half an hour ago. What do we know about Arkansas?

KING: Well, if you move over to Arkansas Joe Biden took a very early lead. Senator Sanders now has a lead it is still very early to we were only 8 percent in Arkansas, a 197-vote lead. That tells you how tight we all are 24.5 to 23.7.

Again Bloomberg at the moment above the viability in play for some delegates here in third place Elizabeth Warren is not. When you look at the map here number one Fayetteville, college town Northwest corner of the state here Senator Sanders getting 30 percent if you round up there at the moment up in the Fayetteville area.

If you come down here, this is your major population center. Pulaski County is where the little rock is we still have nothing here. This is key for the African-American vote also the political establishment if you will because of the state capital. So we'll watch as this one plays out as well. If you come out to the broader map and look at it this way, you can certainly see Joe Biden won Virginia, won North Carolina he is leading in Tennessee. Just want to check back on this one 23 percent here. A little bit of a seesaw but he started to stretch it out a little bit.

This was closer earlier, we'll see if that holds up. We're up to 23 percent there. We pop down to Alabama; it's very early in Alabama, Joe Biden with a big healthy giant lead there though. And you come back up let's just check in on this one again. Sometimes they jump up quick it has not still at 8 percent.

We're waiting obviously Hot Springs, Little Rock, and Jonesville up that way for some population centers to come in. But fight is here. I just want to check back up over here still 3 percent. I keep hoping. You get hopeful every now and then. You give a state every ten, fifteen minutes and more votes will pop in.

Maine is a slow count tonight and let's just check in it is my home State and so love watching the see saw battle here 8 percent Joe Biden is stretched out a little bit Sander and Warren. But we'll keep watching them.

Again Massachusetts, Maine very close, Tennessee has been back and forth. One more time, at Arkansas still at 8 percent and again prize number 2 on the night before we get out to California still stuck at 20 percent.

[21:05:00]

KING: Again Sanders, it's only 20 percent, but that has grown a little bit. So if you're in the Sanders campaign you feel a little better about this. Oops we bounced over there because I bunked into it.

Well, we've got a long way to go here. Where else do you look for here obviously you saw the Beto O'Rourke endorsement of Joe Biden very late in the campaign does it help? That's where Beto O'Rourke congressional district was. Over this way we'll see if it helps in their part as we go through it and come out.

I'm just going to pop around these states and see how we're doing in terms of vote count. 9 percent in Oklahoma Wolf, still a 22 percent now in Texas Senator Sanders ahead as we count them.

BLITZER: Let's bring in David Chalian. David, what's the big story right now as you see it, as far as tonight is concerned?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well in some of these states that we're tracking the voting right now Wolf, the big story is that magic number of 15 percent and who is eligible to get delegates.

Take a look in Texas right now. 22 percent of the votes are in. You see here Bernie Sanders has 29.1 percent of the vote eligible for delegates. Joe Biden, 22.4 percent. Take a look here Michael Bloomberg, 17.7 percent above that 15 percent threshold.

And look at Elizabeth Warren here in fourth place she is hovering right near that 15 percent threshold statewide. Remember, delegates are allocated based on the statewide vote, but also in Texas, state senate districts. So she may be eligible for delegates a well 4 candidates eligible for delegates.

Look at Massachusetts 91 delegates at stake tonight in Massachusetts. Joe Biden 30.6 percent Bernie Sanders 27.9 Elizabeth Warren 24.9 three candidates all eligible for delegates tonight which mean that it's going to prevent somebody just sort of sweeping their way through.

Take a look at the next two states that we want to show you. In Oklahoma or Tennessee 64 delegates at stake and take a look here similar story Joe Biden 30.9 percent 24 percent of the vote in, right?

Look at Bernie Sanders at 24 percent Michael Bloomberg at 20.4 percent three candidates all getting delegates. If this is where it ends up this is just 24 percent of the voting, but if this is where it ends up you have three candidates splitting delegates that changes potentially the contours of the race.

Take look over here in Oklahoma you have Joe Biden at 29.7 percent remember there are 37 delegates at stake in Oklahoma. Bernie Sanders is 21.2 percent. Michael Bloomberg right now with only 9 percent of the vote in is at 18.4 percent.

So Wolf, just watch throughout the night to see if some candidates who are currently above 15 percent like Michael Bloomberg here in Oklahoma if they fall below and become--

BLITZER: What about Arkansas and Maine same sorry?

CHALIAN: Take a look at - it is a very similar story. Take a look at Arkansas. 31 delegates at stake Bernie Sanders 24.5 percent of the vote only 8 percent reporting so far. Joe Biden 23.8, Michael Bloomberg right now, in this early vote count above that 15 percent threshold.

And over in Maine you see a very similar story Joe Biden look at that 38.7 percent Bernie Sanders 30.2 percent and here we are again that magic number 15 percent Michael Bloomberg right now only 4 percent in I mean, this we got to see if this where the vote ends up but he is at 15.8 percent.

So across all these states if more than two candidates are splitting the delegates and that changes the delegate math. We just have got to keep watching as the vote come in. It's very early Wolf.

BLITZER: We will get back to you. You know, Jake and Dana based on what we've just heard from David, what's your take on that?

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Well, first of all while there are a lot of people that are trying to make this a two person race just between Biden and Sanders even though obviously there are five candidates.

The results that we have so far with what David just went through shows that Mike Bloomberg is earning delegates and that is going at least in his mind I'm sure encourage him to stay in the race. There are two more Super Tuesdays just this month the next one and the one after that so that's one.

Two and one of the other things we're seeing is a lot of these late deciders go for Joe Biden overwhelmingly. And I think that this really has to do with the fact that, as Anderson noted earlier tonight, and we've seen other people note this before, so many of the voters out there are so determined to focus entirely on who can beat Donald Trump and nothing else.

Not who do I like the best, not which candidate shares my values the most, but which one of these people can beat Donald Trump, and that really has seemed to help Joe Biden in these contests with all these people making their decision today or in the last few days.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: And one of the questions going into tonight looking at the map is how well will each candidate do with all of the demographics that are representative of the Democratic Party.

And when it comes to Joe Biden, he obviously won very big with African-Americans, but it wasn't just African-Americans in some of these key states. In Virginia and North Carolina, he also did well with white voters, with Hispanic voters and so forth.

[21:10:00]

BASH: So that is really key for the Biden Campaign to grab onto looking ahead to the rest to the states as they, you know, try to climb their way to the magic 1991 delegates.

TAPPER: And the other thing that is interesting, Dana, and this are really been the story of the Democratic Race so far, is younger voters overwhelmingly are with Bernie Sanders.

BASH: Yep.

TAPPER: And older voters are overwhelmingly with Joe Biden. There is such a generational divide more so than any other divide, although tonight we're certainly seeing African-American voters go for Joe Biden, really saving his campaign to a large degree and Latino voters, to a large degree, going with Bernie Sanders.

But that schism, the idea that younger people love Sanders and older people love Biden is one that actually potentially bodes ill for the Democratic Nominee. Because one of those guys probably is going to win. Where do those other voters go for?

BASH: Well, that where do they go? I mean that was the question that got answered in a negative way for Hillary Clinton four years ago. Because you had the same generational divide in 2016, and a lot of those voters were so disaffected that they stayed home.

TAPPER: 5 million people who voted for Obama twice did not vote, according to one study I saw. Let's go to Wolf Blitzer now he has a key race alert.

BLITZER: We're getting a key race alert first number is coming in from Minnesota right now. A very, very early Joe Biden is ahead, 43.4 percent, Bernie Sanders in second place with 23.6 percent, Elizabeth Warren with 16 percent. Bloomberg and Amy Klobuchar her home state she dropped out as you know they trail. Anderson, over to you there.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Wolf thanks very much. Van, you - Jake was just talking about a generational divide and you see that in the African-American community certainly with Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden?

VAN JONES, FORMER OBAMA ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yes, you know it's very, very interesting because there's passion on both sides. Older African-American voter's especially older African-American women they resonate with Joe Biden. They've gone to a lot of funerals. They've buried children, they've buried spouses. They understand that he understands.

And that is meaningful to them and they have not moved. Bakari Sellers said from the beginning they weren't going anywhere, they have not gone anywhere. But there is a younger generation foods right side. But there is a younger generation. And for them, there is a sense that Bernie represents a lot, and there is an urgency that he has, and there's a real, real pain and frustration.

This system is rigged against us, and nobody wants to fight for us. They in see Bernie as a fighter and so this - and so again we're also, the black vote is going, the black vote is going because that is true because older earlier black voters vote more than younger black voters. But don't lose track of those young black voters, those young black voters see something in Bernie that they are excited about and they don't see it Biden.

COOPER: So let me - I'm sorry go ahead.

JESS MCINTOSH, FORMER DIRECTOR IF COMMUNICATIONS OUTREACH, HILLARY CLINTON CAMPAIGN: Oh, no just both of that impulse has come from the same place. Like they both come from the place where they understand that our country is off track and they we want somebody who is able to consolidate and then get it back to a place where people feel like they can take care of each other.

Where I think - where I have the most concern is that whatever comes out of this contest, we won't be reaching out to the other side. There is no reason for those older black voters that you're talking about to not feel comfortable with Bernie if he does that outreach.

There is no reason for the young folks to not feel comfortable with Biden if he is willing to listen to them a little bit about the urgency that they're feeling and what they need from him. Biden concerned that the camps are as polarized as they are and nobody willing--

COOPER: It's not just about feeling comfortable it's about being enthusiastic and actually coming out and voting. And the question is will each other's supporters actually come out and vote?

DR. ABDUL EL-SAYED, SANDERS SUPPORTER: I think Democrats do best when we believe and hope when we believe in a future and we come together to embrace that future. And I worry that on both sides of what is ultimately an electability argument. There is just a lot of fear that guy can't win, that's guy can't win.

And I just think that no matter what happens at the end of this primary we have to find the hope that we have for an after Trump and go and build back. And I think everybody agrees that that is the future.

(CROSSRTALK)

TERRY MCAULIFFE (D) FORMER VIRGINIA GOVERNOR: When Pete got out yesterday you know, Sanders called him loyal corporate establishment. That is not the way to build and unify this party. We've got to bring young people in but he did, he said it yesterday.

EL-SAYED: So I'll just say. Yes, chastising a younger President who is talking about bringing the party together is not what's going to do it. And I do worry a lot - let me finish my point. I do worry a there is this attitude of, if you all knew better. If we know what we knew then we would be okay, right? You just need to follow us because we know it's going on.

And I think our generation who graduated into the worst recession in the past century right or the past 50 years, who could not find the jobs we are promised. We took on $1.5 trillion in debt who couldn't find health care on the back end of it we just don't want to be lectured too.

[21:15:00]

EL-SAYED: And so there is space right now for us to have a conversation that says, what is the future we want? The future we want to raise our kids and it is not going to be plaguing fingers at younger people.

MCAULIFFE; Do you think Joe is lecturing to you?

EL-SAYED: I think that in a lot ways Joe supporters are. Joe's surrogates are and that's what is frustrating.

COOPER: We're going to continue--

MCAULIFFE: --at the tap I mean the other day is a person running for President who is out there with the message. Joe shows I believe empathy every day, generosity. I mean, obviously look at the states today.

JONES: The jump we will not be voting that way.

COOPER: All right, this is an important discussion. We'll continue it. We are awaiting remarks by Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. We're going to bring those to you. Bernie Sanders expected to speak soon. Some of the biggest prizes of the nights still up for grabs Texas, California a huge number of delegates. It's all ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Of the eight states we're watching right now, Bernie Sanders is ahead in two of them, Biden is ahead in six of them. Let's get a key race alert right now starting with the second biggest prize of the night, 228 delegates at stake in Texas. Right now, 24 percent of the vote is in Bernie Sanders is ahead. 28.8 percent Joe Biden is in second place 22.3 percent Bloomberg in third place, 18.5 percent.

[21:20:00]

BLITZER: Elizabeth Warren she is getting close to that 15 percent threshold that is required for delegates. 14.2 percent, Tulsi Gabbard. I'm not showing much at all in Colorado. 67 delegates are at stake right now. 8 percent of the vote is in Bernie Sanders is well ahead, 39.1 percent, Bloomberg 22 percent, Biden, 21.9 percent, Warren is close to 15 percent, 13.9 percent, right there Tulsi Gabbard, only 1.2 percent

Let's go to Massachusetts right now, 11 percent of the vote is in, 91 delegates at stake. Biden seems to be ahead rather comfortably, 31.9 percent. 26.9 percent for Sanders, 23.7 percent for Elizabeth Warren. Remember, this is her home state. Right now she's in third place the rest trail right there.

In Minnesota right now 14 percent of the vote is in, Biden is ahead slightly ahead of Bernie Sanders 35.1 percent, 32 percent for Bernie Sanders, 19.7 percent for Elizabeth Warren, the rest not competitive right now.

In Tennessee right now, almost a third of the vote is in 64 delegates are at stake. Biden is ahead comfortably 35 percent, Bernie Sanders 24.9 percent Bloomberg, 18.4 percent, the rest not competitive right now.

Oklahoma, 10 percent of the vote is in, 37 delegates at stake Biden is ahead 30.7 percent Bernie Sanders 21 percent, Bloomberg 18.2 percent Warren is close to the 15 percent threshold 13 percent Tulsi Gabbard not doing well.

Arkansas right now 31 delegates are at stake 11 percent of the vote is in Biden ahead here as well 26.1 percent, 23.3 percent for Bernie Sanders, Bloomberg 19.2 percent, Elizabeth Warren below 15 percent 12.4 percent.

In Maine right now 9 percent of the vote is in and Bernie Sanders is slightly excuse me Joe Biden is slightly ahead of Bernie Sanders 35 percent, Sanders at 33.5 percent in only a 230 vote difference 9 percent of the vote is in Elizabeth Warren approaching 15 percent 14 percent Bloomberg 12.6 percent.

Let's go over to John King at the magic wall. John, you're looking at the outstanding vote right now in Texas. That's the second biggest prize of the night.

KING: It's the second biggest prize, and Senator Sanders has opened up a lead. We're at 24 percent, but as you can see, a lot of openings still waiting on a lot of votes in Texas which why we haven't called this race.

You look at the major population centers, you start with the largest population center that's Harris County, that's Houston, and the fast growing sprawling suburbs around it. Joe Biden giving Bernie Sanders a run for his money ahead right now in Harris County very close, though, essentially a tie.

This is the fastest growing areas, one of the fastest growing areas that is a changing areas in the country big competition here Mayor Bloomberg getting above 20 percent in Harris County, Elizabeth Warren not and if you pop this out and just bring it back in.

After Harris County you come to Dallas County, interesting that in both of the major urban centers with the big suburbs around them Houston and Dallas it is Joe Biden at the moment in the lead. Again very competitive, very close but Joe Biden with a late push in Texas leading in both the big major urban areas again Mayor Bloomberg viable here in the county.

You pull it out now so how is Bernie Sanders in play? Bernie Sanders has the lead, even though Joe Biden is leading in the two biggest population centers. You're starting to see these smaller rural counties still early.

One, there are light blue for Bernie Sanders so far number two in the fifth largest population center of Travis County which is Austin, Texas, Sanders running it up and the places where he is leading he tends to have a bigger gap which is one of the reasons offsetting the Biden leads elsewhere.

Webb County was one of the first ones to come in, Senator Sanders with a healthy lead down here as well. So we're going to watch close to 25 percent again what are we looking for Beto O'Rourke endorsed Joe Biden late in the race just last night.

His former congressional district was right down in here. Does this help? This is an area where the Latino vote is heavy, Bernie is counting on it. We'll as the votes come in there. But this is interesting to watch, this is competitive, but I would say Sanders is stretching a lot of it.

We have a long way to go but starting to stretch when you start to see the lead build up, you get to around 25 percent you start to see a trend but with so much still to come in, we have to wait and see.

Let's just move up to Oklahoma and look at this state Biden on top again, only 10 percent. Biden, Sanders, Bloomberg, sensitive to my moving the arm by it Bloomberg next there Warren not viable in the state right now, in the state in which she was born this Oklahoma is where she was born right now Joe Biden with the lead at 10 percent.

Interesting to watch some of this Bloomberg fill in, Bernie Sanders won this state by a big margin four years ago now Mayor Bloomberg competitive in this state again early on it appears only 10 percent though. He may get some delegates out of the state of Oklahoma. Let's just keep coming east, states we have not called yet Arkansas, Joe Biden 11 percent. 26 to 23 still pretty close what's happening here we have nothing, absolutely nothing from Pulaski County. It's little rock, one of the largest population center in the state one of the reasons it is the close race you wouldn't call a state until you get more votes.

[21:25:00]

KING: But in the first you move over here to Hot Springs Joe Biden putting up a lead here. This is the eighth largest county in Arkansas pulling up a lead. But we have got ways to go here only at 11 percent in Arkansas. Fayetteville, college town, it's a free bunch of a pattern Jake was talking about this earlier.

Bernie Sanders tends to do well where you find the younger voters. You certainly see it happening there. Let's move over to Tennessee, this one had been seesawing all night long Bloomberg was ahead at one point, Sanders was ahead at another point, Biden has been ahead consistently now for a bit.

We're up to 31 percent he is beginning to pull away a little bit 35 percent 10 point lead pulling away significantly right now. This is one of the states where we see Mayor Bloomberg is viable at the moment. If it ends up that way, he'll get some delegates here. It's a disappointing third, but he would get some delegates here. Even more disappointing is, Elizabeth Warren below viability right there.

We've already called Alabama just take you a look down here Joe Biden with a big lead here in this state. We've already called it and Wolf, as you come back over through--

BLITZER: We're hearing it's very close in Maine right now.

KING: Very close in Maine it just went from Biden to Bernie Sanders in terms of the color. So let's look, we just jumped from 4 percent to 10 percent as well. Bernie Sanders is ahead by 94 votes. I think we can call that close.

BLITZER: That's close.

KING: That's close 34 point changes now it's 73 votes. Just hang with us a while. This one might jump around while we're here. That's what makes it fine on election night especially when a state is close and competitive you watch the votes come in.

So this is Maine. It's not a huge prize, only 24 delegates at stake. But with the big prizes still to come we haven't called Texas and California polls are still open. With a big prize still to come on a night that is all about delegates and you want everyone you can get.

So the contest in Maine matters. Bernie Sanders on top by 73 votes at the moment, Joe Biden right behind him, Elizabeth Warren at 14 percent, Michael Bloomberg at 12 percent. So it looks like a Sanders- Biden race in Maine at the moment, Wolf, but we've got a ways to go. BLITZER: We certainly do. We'll get back to you of course John. David Chalian, it's clearly a good night for Biden, but with Sanders and Bloomberg, as far as delegates are concerned they'll pick up some delegates as well.

CHALIAN: And in some places, Elizabeth Warren, too. Let's take through some of these states you were just looking at here. I'm going to look at Texas in a moment and just remember the magic number is 15 percent. You need to win 15 percent of the vote statewide to get some statewide delegates, and you have to remember that 60 percent of the delegates roughly are allocated based on districts.

Congressional districts or in Texas case State Senate districts, you need 15 percent there to get viability and collect delegates. So 228 delegates at stake in Texas, and take a look. Bernie Sanders, well above that 15 percent. He's at 28.8 percent. Joe Biden right now only 24 percent of the vote in Wolf. We still have a lot of vote to come in. He's at $22.3 clearly above 15 percent.

Michael Bloomberg at 18.5 percent also going to collect delegates and by the way, Texas has a lot of delegates to distribute. Look how close Warren is. She's at 14.2 percent right now. She could eventually be at the 15 percent mark, and remember, if she's 14.2 percent statewide, she probably is above 15 percent in a lot of State Senate districts, therefore opportunity to collect districts.

Look at Colorado, 67 delegates at stake in Colorado tonight. Bernie Sanders, 36.4 percent 68 percent of the vote is in. So if this is where it ends up in Colorado tonight look at that Bernie Sanders, Michael Bloomberg at 24 percent Joe Biden at 20.4 percent Elizabeth Warren at 16.8. That is four candidates above 15 percent collecting delegates.

BLITZER: What about Massachusetts and Minnesota?

CHALIAN: Let's take a look there. So up in Massachusetts, 91 delegates are at stake, Wolf. Joe Biden, 32.5 percent of the vote right now. Remember, only 12 percent is in. We have a lot of counting to do in Massachusetts. Bernie Sanders 26.4 Elizabeth Warren in her home state, she's at third at 23.1 three candidates splitting delegates there.

In Minnesota, 75 delegates at stake. And you're seeing a similar story here you've got Joe Biden, 35.6 percent. 30 percent of the vote is in so lots more to go here. But if this were to be where it landed, Bernie Sanders close behind, 32.5 percent Elizabeth Warren yet again, above the 15 percent threshold. She's at 18 percent statewide three candidates splitting delegates there.

BLITZER: What about Tennessee and Oklahoma?

CHALIAN: Good question. 64 delegates at stake in Tennessee here you go. Sorry. You got Joe Biden 36.1 percent, Bernie Sanders at 24.7. This time it's Michael Bloomberg again above 15 percent at 19 percent three candidates, 42 percent of the vote in if this is where it ended, multiple people, three people not just Biden and Sanders Bloomberg also collecting delegates. In Oklahoma, you have 37 delegates at stake. You have got Joe Biden with 30.8 percent of the vote, Bernie Sanders 21.1, Michael Bloomberg at 18.1, and look here again Elizabeth Warren in her native state, 13 percent if she can get up to 15 percent there that will be four candidates splitting delegates.

[21:30:00]

BLITZER: You've been keeping track of the delegates tonight so far. What do we see?

CHALIAN: Well, as you know, 1,344 delegates are at stake tonight. About a third of the delegates and look at where we are so far of what we've been able to allocate 85 for Biden, 30 for Sanders, 4 for Bloomberg, 1 for Tulsi Gabbard from American Samoa where she was born, and one for Elizabeth Warren. That one is one of those congressional district-based delegates.

It's Virginia's eight congressional districts by Alexandria Virginia. She was getting roughly 20 percent of the vote, so Elizabeth Warren got a delegate even though she wasn't getting statewide delegates. So you see how the picture is emerging. You see so far in what we've been able to allocate that Joe Biden is having a pretty good night.

BLITZER: What about delegates to date all of the contests so far?

CHALIAN: 1,991 delegates are what you need to win the Democratic Nomination. This is the scoreboard that matters this is what how are you winning. Biden right now with 138 delegates, Sanders with 90 Pete Buttigieg had 26 delegates, he dropped out. Elizabeth Warren with 9 now Amy Klobuchar who also dropped out of the race she has got 7, Michael Bloomberg with 4 and Tulsi Gabbard with 1 delegate.

BLITZER: Even though Biden is ahead right now as we can right now with the delegates being split up as they're does this mean this is going to go on it could be protracted going into the convention?

CHALIAN: Well, certainly if at the end of this night we're seeing multiple candidates winning delegates, it increases the chance that no single candidate, Wolf, can actually achieve that 1,191 number to secure a majority of delegates before getting to the convention in Milwaukee in July.

BLITZER: Yes, that's an important point, Jake and Dana. If they are dividing up their delegates because it's not winner take all, it's proportioned. This could go on.

TAPPER: It could go on through the convention. It could go on into Milwaukee. I mean, what we're looking at right now is a very potentially protracted nomination fight. I remember it was February and March 2008 when Barack Obama really began to go ahead of Hillary Clinton, and it became clear that he was going to have the delegates as long as the race kept going the way it is.

The way it is right now, I can't anticipate. I have no idea what's going to happen. If the odds increase every time these results come in that there will be a protracted nomination fight, and it's obviously entirely possible that neither Sanders nor Biden nor anyone else will get 1,991 delegates before the convention.

BASH: That's right. And the question that the Biden people keep asking is what would the conversation be like if Michael Bloomberg didn't get into the race? Would those Bloomberg - what appears to be the delegates that he's picking up, the few delegates he's picking up in a lot of these states that he's just meeting the threshold so far of 15 percent, would they have gone to Joe Biden, and at this point every delegate does matter.

We are still early. There is so much more to be looking at tonight. Texas and then California in particular, because as far as Super Tuesday goes, almost half of the delegates that will be awarded tonight will be from those two big states, and of course they are proportional and we'll see what the delegate count is for each candidate there.

But the fact of the matter is, as good as it looked for Joe Biden getting wins on the board early in the night, we were saying, whoa, whoa, whoa, you have to wait to see where the delegate count is, and this is exactly why.

TAPPER: You know the thing is, with Biden's resurrection, one of the things it does, obviously, is it gives him a new lease on life. It has some one moderate person and all the people who are part of all the Democrats who were part of the stop Sanders movement were looking for some coalescing and there is coalescing going on right now.

You have that with Klobuchar and Buttigieg dropping out and endorsing him even before Super Tuesday. But another thing it does, it makes it less clear that is going to be the nominee and whether or not it's going to be early? Because a week or two ago, it looked like Sanders was going to possibly walk away with this, that you know possibly even Sanders was going to do really very well in South Carolina, if not win South Carolina.

Jim Clyburn came in and endorsed and a bunch of things changed. Then you have the moderates coalescing around Biden. It was possible that this was going to be a night where Sanders was going to kind of like make it very clear that he was going to be the nominee. We have no such clear evidence as to what's going to happen now. This becomes murkier.

BASH: That is such an important point because people looking at the numbers and the non-Sanders campaign were telling me that it was possible that at the end of tonight Bernie Sanders would be unstoppable--

TAPPER: Prohibited favor and in--

BASH: And possible not necessarily because he would have the delegates to win the nomination, but that there would be no one behind him who could catch up.

[21:35:00] TAPPER: Right.

BASH: And we don't know that that's the case now.

TAPPER: We don't know that that's the case, and also just one last point is that, it still remains difficult to see how Biden gets to 1,991 delegates before the convention, and that doesn't change tonight. It just makes it more likely that this is going to be a floor fight.

BLITZER: And if no one has the majority on the first round, then they're going to the second round and have the so-called Super Delegates come into action. We're standing by to hear from Joe Biden and from Bernie Sanders on their wins so far as the battle for delegates is still unfolding. We'll be back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We have another major projection right now. Take a look at this CNN projects that Joe Biden will win the Democratic Presidential Primary in the state of Tennessee where there are 64 delegates at stake. Biden wins Tennessee that is the CNN projection.

So far Biden has won Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, doing incredibly well in the south following South Carolina on Saturday. Biden wins once again in Tennessee. Let's go over to John King. Take a closer look.

[21:40:00]

BLITZER: A big picture right now Biden is doing well, but we're still waiting for Texas, the second biggest prize, and California, the biggest prize.

KING: The biggest prize and we're going to have to wait a bit on California. A, for the polls close tonight then B for the count tonight, and then let me give you C especially at the congressional districts level. It could take days to get the final results in California.

We'll have the big headlines stay with us we'll have the headlines a big headlines in a couple hours. You mentioned big prize number 2, the state of Texas. We're up to 30 percent. Notice much more of the map filling in since the last time we visited the state of Texas.

Senator Sanders again stretching it out a little bit. 30 percent reporting, 29 percent if you round up, 23 percent if you round up just shy of 40,000 vote lead there. Sander, Biden and Bloomberg in play for viability state wide above 15 percent don't count Senator Warren out that just yet by 14 percent if you round up again we're only at 30 percent of the vote in Texas, number two prize of the night.

220 plus delegates right there. You see the mix, you see Bloomberg let's just check in on a couple of counties. These are very small counties, Mitchell County a tiny slice of the population but you just look you've got some Bloomberg on the map you got lot of Sanders in the map a lot of Biden on the map too as we go through it.

I just want to check in the midst one of the things that were interesting here is that in the big urban centers, large population centers Joe Biden is ahead. Dallas County, Dallas and the suburbs around it he is ahead, but note how close it is in the major population centers. Lead for Biden still a 5 percent there so we've got to ways to go.

You come down to the number one population area in Texas which is Houston, Harris County and the suburbs going out again Biden ahead but very, very close. So then you move to some other places. You go to Austin, which are both a liberal stronghold and a college town. This is a strength for Senator Sanders here a much bigger lead here.

So while Biden is leading in the urban areas and the suburbs right around them. It's very competitive you can move to more liberal areas and college towns to see that play out there. I want to just take you over to Tennessee we just called it a few moments ago.

I just want to show you something in Tennessee that's interesting. Biden has the lead here. We've now called this race. Sanders second, Bloomberg third. We haven't seen a lot of this tonight, Wolf. I just want to show you something as we go through this right here.

If you look where Bloomberg is winning in the state, you see those counties look where he's coming in second. See all that Biden blue? Add in a third more Biden blue here. There is a possibility at the end of the night Joe Biden might say, you know Mayor Bloomberg in the state of Tennessee, you cost me some delegates. Wolf?

BLITZER: He might say that. And all right, we have another major projection right now. Take a look at this CNN now projects that Bernie Sanders will win the Democratic Presidential Primary in Colorado where 67 delegates are at stake. Bernie Sanders the winner in Colorado.

So far tonight we projected he wins Colorado and his home state of Vermont. So far we projected that Joe Biden wins Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. That's where it stands right now. Let's walk back to John King one more time, taking a look at the bigger picture as we see it.

KING: Right, as we start to move, now we have Colorado, we're just waiting on Utah and California where they're still voting. But as you mentioned we've called Colorado. Let's just take a look at what we have so far. Votes coming in very quickly here Denver and the suburbs, if you win big in Denver and the suburbs, you're pulling away.

Look at all the Sanders blue when we come in here let's pop this out a little bit Denver County a very healthy lead for Bernie Sanders 41 to 24 for Mayor Bloomberg Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden down here. This is one of the places where you do see Joe Biden had to focus on South Carolina, didn't have a lot of money spend on Super Tuesday. Did not spend time campaigning in Colorado and he got a bounce in those southern states and the states over there.

This is a place where you see if you don't campaign, you pay a price for it. Sanders, who did very well here four years ago winning, Bloomberg Warren again that will help for her state what's been hard to find places she is viable to look for delegates.

You just stretch it out I just want to wander around a little bit and see. Big lead there, big lead there, Arapahoe County there another lead for Senator Sanders. Denver and the suburbs is where the action is in Colorado in terms of population centers. Jefferson County here very critical to the swing vote statewide Senator Sanders running it up.

You just pull it out and you look it's pretty obvious right there some Bloomberg counties right here along the Kansas border. One Biden County up here along the Wyoming border tiny population center so you see it, it's very impressive for Senator Sanders.

Just to go back and show you 2016, he won the state quite handily. You come back to 2020. The question is, is it a trend? In the sense that Joe Biden, Sanders wins in Vermont, Biden currently leading in Maine not but 94 votes so stay tight. We're going to keep going through Maine.

Biden leading in Massachusetts, 14,000 votes and change there, but we're only at 16 percent you see all the opening. We just got last time we were here we had no vote from Boston just a tiny slice from Boston. Look at the competitive Biden ahead there, but early on, competitive here in Massachusetts.

The point I was trying to make early, though, is we do see Biden performing well in the east in through these southern states and across to Arkansas and even to Oklahoma. The question for Bernie Sanders is Joe Biden starts off with a strong night here. Sanders is counting on Texas, Colorado, Utah and California to more than even the night out?

[21:45:00]

KING: Especially when you get out to California and the biggest prize. Anytime you hear Wolf I'm just going to keep checking here 31 percent again Senator Sanders 38,000 vote lead. You're optimistic in the Sanders Head Quarters one thing you're think about that remember tonight is all about delegates, right?

Democrats have proportional rules we are talking about congressional districts in Texas it is state Senate districts. How they do it after the statewide vote? But if you look right here that's good you're leading with 28, 29 percent but the competitive nature of this means the delegates are going to be split and so the second biggest prize and you are going to have to split some here. Sanders was hoping for a bigger Texas win. He may yet get it. We're only at 28 percent. But one of the things to watch because of the Democratic Party--

BLITZER: Show us once again, John, who is winning in the biggest population, Senators in Texas?

KING: In Texas, you can look at this way. Number one you can just look at the population. Where do the people live? You see right here, you see the bigger circles down here? You see the different shades too, right you see the shades. But the biggest circles here that's the biggest population's area that's Houston, Harris County and the fast growing suburbs around it.

Dallas and the suburbs around it are number two. That's one way to look at it. Where the people live the larger the circle the bigger population center and then you see the candidates' colors Bloomberg is purple, light blue is Sanders, the darker blue is Biden. That's one way to look at it or you just zoom in say hello and take a look at it.

Harris County again Houston, if you haven't been to Houston in the last ten years, go visit. It's a lot different than three weeks ago let alone ten years ago. It just continues to grow. It's one of the fastest growing most dynamic fastest changing places in America. It is fascinating place to visit.

Look at this just look at this fight. For one of the most dynamic pieces of America, you have a dynamic fight right here 25 percent to 25 percent round them up, 26 percent to 26 percent right now. So a Biden lead here, Bloomberg competitive, Senator Warren not as much.

But you have Houston here. This county is sprawling if you know Harris County. You get miles away from Houston, you're still in Harris County and you're watching it play out. It's great to watch there. And again if you come down here, we haven't seen these votes in earlier. You come down here smaller counties here but Biden ahead Corpus Christi is here.

Biden with a more healthy lead here, down here, and you come down around and look for some more of it. Right along the border, a little more Bloomberg here. Thing I'm waiting for is up here again, Senator Sanders was very much hoping for a sweep right up through here in the border areas of South Texas, a Latino community organization.

Again Beto O'Rourke did come on for team Biden at the last minute. Let's see if it makes a difference here. Julian Castro was for Elizabeth Warren. We'll see if in his area as well, San Antonio and up this we'll see if that makes a difference as well, but at the moment, 31 percent, Senator Sanders with that lead but again a place where we're going to share the delegates because of the closeness of it.

We'll just pop through some others while we're here. And one of the places I wanted to go look at before is to this is Amy Klobuchar just dropped out of the race. Her state Minnesota is on the ballot tonight. See this green? That's Amy Klobuchar. Now there was early voting in some of these states that's likely were good source of this voting is as well.

But you look at this right here, and this is up on the iron range. These are small or less populated areas. These are the six largest up here in St. Louis County up here. You see Amy Klobuchar running ahead and it's a hundred of votes 228 to 256 so I'm not making too much of this but just looking at the idea that you get out late right before your state votes. It had early voting. She was just back there the other night. If you come more into the population centers though, Joe Biden winning in the Minneapolis area, but again, it's close. Look at the tight race there. Senator Sanders just had a late rally in Minnesota as well. Nothing across in St. Paul we don't have that yet.

You keep moving around here, you just see in a state 75 delegates. It's not as big as Texas, it is nowhere near as big as California it's not even as big as North Carolina or Virginia, but 75 delegates matter on a night that all about delegates.

So how would they be split up here? Joe Biden would be happy to come out of Minnesota with a win tonight that would be a bit of a surprise Senator Sanders there at 35 percent, Senator Warren viable here in Minnesota. We'll see.

BLITZER: Let's go to Maine.

KING: Let's go to Maine. Minnesota across to Maine we're touring America tonight because this one is a big one it is coast to coast. Up to 24 percent this has been a slow count Joe Biden holding this lead, but 156 votes.

Again, we have a number of states that are giving us a bit of a seesaw tonight. A very close race has just changed again to 158 votes. Hang around Wolf, things changing here in the neighborhood. It's 158 votes again, you get back into the proportionality here Elizabeth Warren right at the cusp, Mayor Bloomberg below it.

BLITZER: Are you surprised Biden, at least right now, only 158 votes with a quarter of the vote in there Biden is leading right now in Maine and Massachusetts?

KING: The conversation a week ago or even 72 hours ago, would have been that Maine would go for Bernie Sanders, or maybe, maybe Elizabeth Warren if she were viable in the neighborhood. But we do start - we do see evidence, you can call it the South Carolina effect, I call it more like the moment of choosing.

That after the South Carolina Primary with the drop outs of Senator Klobuchar, Tom Steyer, Mayor Buttigieg, the Democrats seem to be framing it in their own minds as a two candidate race. That doesn't mean you know Senator Warren is competitive here Mayor Bloomberg is competitive in some places but South Carolina win and then the remarkable 72 hours, 48 hours after it when people dropped out and consolidated around Biden has definitely changed the dynamic.

BLITZER: All right, so let's look at the big picture right now where Biden has either won the state or is leading in state as opposed to Bernie Sanders who has won the state or leading in the state right now.

KING: Right, so you come off this. These are the states we have called.

[21:50:00] KING: These are states that we've called. You come in here and you see the leadings as well. If you want to use it out here you see now South Carolina was not tonight. Of the states that were tonight, I'm going to draw neatly around that if can as neat as I can. I could have continued all the way out here.

This red is Biden leading up here, leading up here and leading up here. We have not called all the states but one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, right? Nine,--

BLITZER: Out of 14.

KING: Right, as you got nine, nine out of 14 but we're not done yet nine leading right now so if you want to check this, take a screen shot of it if you want come back in an hour we'll see if it holds up? So 9 out of the 14 if you do that so if you want to switch coasts here Bernie Sanders is winning his home state of Vermont. Bernie Sanders is leading in Texas. We have called Colorado for Bernie Sanders. So he has three. That gets you to 12 there is 13 and there is 14.

And Mayor Bloomberg gets American Samoa. So Bloomberg gets one if you want to pick another color here. There we go Bloomberg gets one.

BLITZER: Right, but I just want to point out not all states are created equal. The biggest prize is Texas and California.

KING: The biggest prize is right here. We don't know that at all yet. The second biggest prize is right here and again just for the math at home, 1344 delegates at play tonight 48 percent of them in two states California and Texas.

Again North Carolina don't under count it. You want all you can get. The fact that Joe Biden started off tonight with the swath here is great for Joe Biden. The question is as we go through can he sustain that and the longer you stay the more I'm going to check so there we go just checking again still at 31 percent there and let's just check up here 18 percent here.

Biden opening this up you see that again it's not a ton, really at 18 percent. But it has been moving up there. And you move back over as well. Remember we spent a lot of time in Arkansas back in the--

BLITZER: You and I did.

KING: That was a long time ago. Little Rock was not in last time we checked there Joe Biden with the lead there Mayor Bloomberg relatively competitive here. Arkansas one of the states that Bloomberg had hoped if went back a week or two to win tonight. Again this is evidence of the South Carolina bounce to consolidation around Joe Biden helping him in the state of Arkansas tonight as we look at the results where we are now but still some counting to do.

BLITZER: We're doing a lot of counting right now. Anderson, over to you.

COOPER: Yes, let's go from micro on each of the states kind of big picture macro. David, where are things?

DAVID AXELROD, FORMER OBAMA SENIOR ADVISER: Well, I mean there's more evidence of how dramatically this race moved in 48 hours. Now this Colorado result is really interesting because they have a big mail in program. So half a million Democratic votes arrived before Pete Buttigieg who was doing getting some votes out there quit. And another 100,000 before Amy Klobuchar quit the race.

And so Bernie Sanders and Bloomberg probably did better in Colorado than they would have if more of the votes came in on Election Day. The other thing is you look at states we're looking at the struggle going on in Maine and Massachusetts and Oklahoma.

Bernie Sanders has got 64 percent of the vote in Maine in 2016. He got 62 percent of the vote in Minnesota. He got 52 percent of the vote in Oklahoma. And the question has always been how much of that vote came to him as a result of antipathy towards Hillary Clinton and how much of it came to him on the strength of his own message? And we're getting something of a test of this here.

COOPER: You've pointed out before that he has been underperforming his 2016. Obviously it's different by near contest.

AXELROD: I mean I don't want to understate it because he is going to get a lot of delegates tonight. When California comes in he figures to be a big winner there. We don't know - one thing is clear. This is going to be a much closer race than anticipated a week ago when people were expecting a big Bernie Sanders win.

And so there are two things that we want to watch come in. Will Biden be close to Sanders? And the second was where would Bloomberg finish? And both those are answering in a way that should give the Biden camp encouragement tonight.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: We saw I think Biden start to do well in South Carolina among some of these white working class voters of those previous contests and Iowa and New Hampshire he wasn't really doing well among white voters. So now you see some of that happening versus in South Carolina and then in some of these other states.

The whole purpose for Bloomberg to be in this race was eating into Biden's strength with white voters also with African-American voters. A lot of those ads were targeted to African-American voters and you see that faltering tonight in some of these states throughout the south and some other states as well.

MCINTOSH: Democrats can be happy with three dynamics that we're seeing tonight. One is that it seems like it was not possible to come in with just a billion dollars, skip the first four contests. Disrespect the voters in the process. And get the presidency.

[21:55:00]

MCINTOSH: So it seems like we put that to bed which is lovely. The second one is all of the people who are deciding who to vote for in the last couple days. This very nervous electorate. Everybody wants to beat Trump. Everybody knows that's an existential threat to the country. We have to do it. Nobody is sure how to do it?

What that means is that for the large part these are not entrenched voters for one particular candidate. If you just decided in the last three days who you were going to support--

COOPER: Or three hours.

MCINTOSH: --or three hours. Your support invaluable, it could go to somebody who you didn't cast your vote for. That's frankly in a field this divided what we're going to need in November.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL AANALYST: And that's a question for Joe Biden. If he comes out of tonight doing very well and I think we can see that that is already occurring. I think the question is whether there's some sugar high here and puts a lot of pressure on him to perform at the next debate which happens to be a CNN debate but to perform at that next debate. Not a plug but sure.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You wouldn't do that.

BORGER: --but to perform at the next debate because one of the reasons people decide late is because they're trying to figure out who can beat Donald Trump. It's not because they love this person so much. They want this person to beat Donald Trump.

And the debate is going to matter to them when they see him so they don't have buyers' remorse after wards. One other point I want to make is what is going on inside the Bloomberg camp tonight? And Jeff Zeleny and you can talk about how it feels to before you get out. Sorry.

ANDREW YANG (D) FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Cold.

COOPER: Andrew, do you think Bloomberg - you talked about before he's a data guy he is going to look at the numbers. I mean the numbers not good.

YANG: I think Mike is going to have a tough position tomorrow. And I think the numbers are going to drive him in a particular direction. But I do want to say that Mike Bloomberg is going to be a big reason why the Democrats win in the fall if they do win because he has over 2,400 staffers and 200 offices.

COOPER: And you said his data operation is very impressive.

YANG: People think of Mike Bloomberg as a Wall Street guy. He's actually more of tech and data guy. His New York HQ is like a spaceship come to life. His election dash board is like a miniature version of that. It's incredible what he has already assembled. He is going to put that to work for the nominee in the fall.

If the Democrats win he is going to be a big reason why because his operation is much more robust and sophisticated than anything the DNC has. MCAULIFFE: His operation can move quickly. He can do an IE the next day. If he wanted to support a candidate he could transfer all over the ID every single one of those people who works for him could go work for some other.

(CROSSTALK)

MCAULIFFE: The Biden campaign who is need--

COOPER: What's an ID is?

(CROSSTALK)

MCAULIFFE: We've needed to build up the infrastructure. Whatever he is going to do but I mean, for Biden who I think is needed help on the ground game and building the organizers this would be an overnight--

COOPER: But explain what an Independent Expenditure is.

MCAULIFFE: You know you wouldn't be directly affiliated with the campaign. He would be an Independent Expenditure Mike Bloomberg can spend as much money as he wants, he would fully fund all the staff all the offices. But they would be there obviously working on behalf of Biden.

HENDERSON: Or Sanders if Sanders is the nominee. Would he do the same thing?

MCAULIFFE: He could do whatever he--

COOPER: He said he would.

MCAULIFFE: Michael Bloomberg wants to beat Trump as much as anyone if not more than other people. And he has good ads--

EL-SAYED: I want to the state of the race. I mean, we got to almost the end of February and had eight Democrats in the race. The fact that this is a fluid race shouldn't surprise us. This has been one of the most loaded longest campaigns where we would have seen the field little down far earlier.

The interesting question I think is we raise Bloomberg. Another interesting question is where did voters who left Amy and Pete go? Which I think is really interesting question. And then also where is the piece of the vote that Warren is earning. Where is that coming from? Who would that go to otherwise?

And I think that there are a lot of questions if we sort of boil this down to a race in two lanes the progressive lane and the more centrist lane. Who is taking votes from where and what are the implications on a night we're delivering 34 percent the delegates?

AXELROD: Ads you were speaking we're looking at numbers on the screen, Joe Biden a week ago was nowhere in the state of Minnesota. Amy Klobuchar got out and he's now leading in the state of Minnesota. He was nowhere in the State of Massachusetts. He's now leading in the State of Massachusetts. So--

BORGER: And nowhere in Texas.

AXELROD: And so it is I think a fair surmise at least in those places Klobuchar getting out and Buttigieg getting out was helpful to him.

YANG: I just want to say there two big scenarios. Let's say Bloomberg does get out. There is a scenario where he endorses Biden relatively promptly and then this massive operation goes to Biden and then there is a world where he says I'll wait for the nominee. And support that nominee.

COOPER: Let's go to Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, thanks very much. Its 10:00 so we have a key race alert right now. Utah--