Return to Transcripts main page
Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Candidates Makes Last Push In N.H.; CNN/WMUR Poll: Sanders 26 Points Ahead In N.H.; One-On-One With Trump; Clinton Campaign Shake- up?; Bloomberg: I'm Considering 2016 Bid; 3 Town Cast First N.H. Votes At Midnight; Source: ISIS Plotted Attacks In 5 Cities; Quake Toppled High-Rise Built With Tin Cans; Wild Day On Wall Street; Cruise Ship Slammed By Storm. Aired 9-10p ET
Aired February 08, 2016 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:00:41] ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome back. 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time. In just three hours, and three tiny New Hampshire communities, all of the talking stops in the voting in the first primary of election 2016 begins. In short, this is it. Candidates have been campaigning all day.
And well into the night, Hillary Clinton still speaking and Bernie Sanders event just finishing up as the final CNN pre-election polling numbers come in and the snow is coming down. But of course, it is New Hampshire and it is winter.
Secretary Clinton still trails Sanders by about two to one margin. While in the GOP race, Donald Trump who also campaigns late in the night remains comfortably ahead of the rest of Republican pack. Fourteen points add to Marco Rubio and up 24 points on Jeb Bush.
Even though Governor Bush, who just wrapped up his event, is way back in fifth place, he also seems to be holding on to his spot as Donald Trump's favorite punching bag. Trump took a new shot at him just moments ago as well as when against Ted Cruz that well used a word we haven't heard him say.
First the latest jabs and tweets in the bad blood leading up to it all. Jim Acosta has all of that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Jeb is a lightweight, let me tell you that.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The New Hampshire primary is boiling down to this, a nasty personal fight to the finish between Donald Trump and Jeb Bush.
TRUMP: He's in every show, Donald Trump said this, Donald Trump said that. And then he said, see, I'm the only one taking on Donald Trump. I'm not afraid of Donald Trump. I'm the -- he's like a child. He's like a spoiled child. ACOSTA: Only this time Bush, who has ignored these attacks before, is battling back.
JEB BUSH, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald Trump, you're the loser.
ACOSTA: Bush is counter punching hard in what may be a last-ditch effort to save his own campaign.
BUSH: Donald Trump organizes his campaign around disparaging people as a sign of strength. It's not strong to insult women. It's not strong to castigate Hispanics. It's not strong to ridicule the disabled.
ACOSTA: The two men are at war on Twitter. Trump tweeting "Everybody is laughing at Jeb Bush, spent $100 million and is at the bottom of the pack, a pathetic figure" and Bush tweeting back tweeting, "You aren't just a loser, you are a liar and a whiner." Trump told Wolf Blitzer, Bush is losing his nerve.
TRUMP: This guy is a -- is a nervous rat, I never thing like that.
ACOSTA: Even though the Bush family has led the GOP through two presidencies.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at that awesome selfie. Vote for Trump! Vote for Trump!
ACOSTA: Trump supporters don't seem to mind.
Does that bother you to hear Donald trump going after Bush or the Bush family?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No not really. He's into win, you know, Jeb hasn't been too kind to him either, so.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not at all. Because obviously he knows something that some of us may not and obviously another Bush in the White House isn't the right thing for us.
ACOSTA: As the new CNN/WNUR poll shows, Trump is still way out in front. The other big fight appears to be for second place. Rubio is playing defense after his shaky debate performance from over the weekend.
MARCO RUBIO, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This notion that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing is just not true.
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There it is. There it is, the memorized 25-second speech. There it is, everybody.
ACOSTA: Rubio, who seemed glued to anti-Obama talking points down to keep repeating then.
RUBIO: I'm going to keep saying that a million times because I believe it's true.
ACOSTA: Also unclear as how well John Kasich and Ted Cruz will do. They're also fighting for second place. And Cruz appears to be lowering expectations after his victory in Iowa.
TED CRUZ, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We never viewed any of these states so they must win. Winning is better than losing.
We are here in New Hampshire competing for the votes and at this point it's a turnout game.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: And Jim Acosta joins us tonight. Jim, I've been seeing some tweet just in the last couple of minutes but a word that was spoken at the event tonight?
ACOSTA: Oh that's right, Anderson. Donald Trump is feeling so confident about his chances tomorrow here in the New Hampshire Primary. All that he quoted a woman in the audience who described Ted Cruz as a part of the woman's anatomy that I cannot say on national television. I won't elaborate any further at one point.
And another point is breaching out when after Marco Rubio's debate performance and said he was sweating like a dog. But as you heard in our piece, Anderson, Trump supporters have not minded these comments before and they didn't mind them here tonight.
As a matter of fact, that comment about Ted Cruz really got the crowd going here. You know, the Trump campaign, they're pretty confident about tomorrow night. They see New Hampshire as being different than Iowa. They thought Iowa was about explaining the confusing caucus process to their supporters.
[21:05:04] This is pure, get out to vote and they think they're going to get it down, Anderson.
COOPER: And just so we're clear, this is a word that was used by a person in the crowd and then he repeated and then sort of jokingly reprimanded her. Is that correct?
ACOSTA: That's right. Just to be perfectly clear, a woman said it first in the crowd and then Donald Trump had the chance to repeat it or not repeat it and he went out and repeated it to this audience here about 5 or 6000 people and they seemed to really enjoy it, I have to tell you, Anderson, it's a word I have never heard out on a campaign trail before. We have gone where no campaign has gone before in that regard, Anderson.
COOPER: All right Jim Acosta, Jim thanks.
I want to bring in some who spoken length today with Donald Trump our old friend and former colleague New Hampshire One, Political Director, Paul Steinhauser who's in his element right now and exactly the right place, the right time. So according in latest poll, Trump has a big lead in New Hampshire but it still seems to be feeling this thing as second place from Iowa. What did he say to you about it?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, POLITICAL DIRECTOR, NEW HAMPSHIRE ONE: I talked to him this afternoon, Anderson. And with me he didn't use any profanities. He was a little more reserved and I asked him just now, what do you need, what are your expectations here in New Hampshire. Take and listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEINHAUSER: Can you continue on if you don't finish first here and you didn't finish first in Iowa?
TRUMP: Yes, I can. But I would love to finish first here and I think I probably finished first in Iowa if you add the votes back that we're taken away from, you know, wrongly taken away from Ben Carson. I would have been first there and I finish very strong second, so I think I did really great in Iowa.
It's a caucus state, not the kind of the place that I'm used to in certainly. I like this much better when you go in and vote. But I think we'll going to do really well in New Hampshire.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: You know, he's been up in the polls here by double-digits for so long Anderson. But if Donald Trump doesn't win by at least 10 percent here, I think others will look at it as a loss for Donald Trump. Anderson?
COOPER: You also pushed him a bit on his conservative credentials compared to Senator Cruz.
ACOSTA: Yeah, because he is been battling with Cruz for quite some time on this. Here's how it went.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEINHAUSER: Ted Cruz talks about being a very conservative candidate. He says he's real conservative in the race and you are not. But he also says he's trying to reunite the Reagan coalition which included Reagan dem (ph), so is Ted Cruz trying to have it both ways?
TRUMP: Go and say it again if you want, go ahead.
ACOSTA: I'm good, I'm good. Is Ted Cruz trying to have it both ways?
TRUMP: I think so. Look, Ted's been nice to me and I've been nice to him, but the last couple of weeks we've been going out it for a bit. I think, here he talks about he's the conservative, he is the big conservative and he is to a certain extent but I'm the toughest by far on immigration on illegal immigration. There's nobody close. I'm the one that's building the wall. These people don't even talk about the wall, although he did mention it one time quickly last week. But I mean, he's another person that's a competitor. He's one of a number of people.
We started off with 17 and now we're down to 8 or 9 or 10 and they are rapidly leaving. I think we're going to have an amazing election tomorrow. It's going to be very interesting to see what happens.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Trump also panning Rubio's debate performance with me like he did Anderson as well tonight at the rally. And you saw right there, he's so meet his savvy, I stumble for a few second during that question he ask me, so you want to do it again, that's classic Donald Trump, Anderson.
COOPER: I know, I thought there was funny and somebody who stumbles about 45 times an hour, I felt your pain. So that wasn't even a stumble compared to what I do. Paul, thanks very much for being with us.
Back to our panel, I mean, tomorrow, there are still a lot of Republicans, as you were showing the CNN/WMUR tracking poll who have not made up there mind.
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR, INSIDE POLITICS: So there's every indication, they're going to splinter among a handful of candidates. So if Donald Trump does not win tomorrow night, it would be stunning because of the size of that lead. Yeah, the Iowa was close. Trump underperformed and the conversation among Republicans is they're bet the other campaigns is, that he underperform his poll numbers again and somebody gets close to him. If somebody beats him, that would be a stunning collapse, given the poll numbers and I think that would create a conversation about, you know ...
COOPER: Is this his ground game better that they did learn lessons from Iowa? What do we know?
KING: As Jeffrey noted earlier, they have New Hampshire veterans on the team up there. A caucus and a primary is very different than a caucus. You know, a good free TV message, is in television message plus help you turn up deeply can vote all day. As long like the caucus with show but at certain time.
So we'll see tomorrow. This is still fascinating for me to watch him in the conversation with Paul there because, remember, he's never fun before. Who has been in one election and he came in second and he thought he was going to win. And so whether you like him or hate him, whatever the psychology of Donald Trump is fascinating to watch at this moment, because you know that despite his public bravado, some people tense tomorrow waiting for the results to come in.
DAVID AXELROD, FORMER OBAMA SENIOR ADVISOR: We should point out, this is different terrain than Iowa. This is sort of a home game for Donald Trump, 63 percent of the vote in Iowa were evangelicals, not hospitable to him generally there. Values voters who didn't respond to him.
New Hampshire is much more secular, probably a third of the number -- a third of a percentage will be evangelicals and they are more moderate and he's done actually better with moderate voters and you've got this big slug of independent voters who can go to either -- and he does very well ...
COOPER: I think can win the Democratic.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Right.
[21:10:03] AXELROD: ... among independent voters. He's led in 76 straight public polls in New Hampshire. So it would be stunning if he lost tomorrow.
BORGER: Right. And this is where he's so smart though, he know who is enemies are at any given time. And so he's picking on -- he's picking on Jeb and he's picking on, you know, he's picking on moderates, the governors, because he knows that he's got to get their independent voters to keep his -- to keep his margin up.
So he knows who his opponents are at any given time and that's always -- that's always been how smart he is about this.
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Yeah. And I think the question is, if he wins tomorrow, I mean you talked about his sort of psychology, how is that change him as a candidate, right. I mean ...
BORGER: Not at all.
HENDERSON: I mean -- and so much I think you're seeing him at times downs, dials down his kind of Trump. Trumptastic way of dealing with other people in that debate last -- on Saturday. I thought he was sort of less Trumptastic. But then you have sort of snatches of the old Trump coming forward. It will be interesting
AXELROD: But, you know, humbly reflect on victory.
HENDERSON: Yeah, yeah.
COOPER: Let's go over to our Political Commentators here. I mean Jeffrey, you're a Trump supporter. He's going after Bush even though Bush is so far down on the polls. Does that make sense to you?
JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Sure. Because the Bush and Bushes is nice people and they are I like them. I work in "Bush 41" administration. They are the and ultimate symbol of the establishment. And so, you know, it makes perfect sense.
COOPER: Right.
LORD: Because what is really is the signal ...
(CROSSTALK) LORD: Right, right that this--is exactly what you don't want. This is why, you know why, folks, and you heard an earlier somebody being interviewed and he said, we don't want any more Bushes.
COOPER: And we saw a slight tick-up for Cruz in the latest CNN/WMUR tracking poll although again, you know, hard to tell a lot of who was before the debate, not after the debate. It's still kind of a lot could happen tomorrow.
AMANDA CARPENTER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, a lot could happen. I do think he has a good amount supporter and in the ground of New Hampshire but he says looking to have a good showing in either third or fourth, because probably two things that could help Cruz going out of New Hampshire into South Carolina that don't mean a win for him.
One Donald Trump doesn't have a big huge winning margin not going to down another like after Cruz beat him in Iowa, but also lack of consensus among the establishment lane. Because reveal appears to be may be stumbling a little bit. That link could be a lot tighter in the longer that Kasich, Bush, Rubio and Christie stay in the better light is for Ted Cruz.
COOPER: Paul as a Clinton support, you work for a Super PAC for those who aren't watching our last hour. We talk about this a little bit but Politico and others reporting about drama in the campaign or concern about whether or not they should kind of retool somehow. You say just stay the course?
PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. And John Podesta, more importantly, says that. He's campaign chairman. He put out a tweet after all this and he said, do not believe what you read. I know that's a shock but you can always believe.
COOPER: Hillary Clinton is giving an interview saying, look, this is ridiculous. I don't know where the sources are coming from. Of course, we're going to look at where we are as we move forward, but this is the team that we have.
BEGALA: Right. And the challenge that Hillary has is not staff. It's appealing to young people. And the challenge that Bernie will have is feeling to more diverse coalition than he's had in Vermont.
You know, that his they talk about New Hampshire being a home game for Donald Trump and it is. Its really a home game for Senator Sanders who represents the state next door who does extraordinarily well with White liberals, New Hampshire is even whiter than Iowa. Now that it's snowing, it's even whiter still. It's like perfect is whiteout. But once you get to more diverse communities, Hillary has a much better track record having in New York.
COOPER: Bill, a Sanders support as a supporter, I mean do you buy that argument? Because that's some of the Clinton campaign is been saying for quite awhile, you know, wait until Nevada, wait until South Carolina. BILL PRESS, SANDERS SUPPORTER: Look, it's clearly a challenge for Bernie, because he is because of who he is, a Senator from Vermont. He's never had to, that's not his constituency he hasn't those on has been necessarily his issues.
But I think, again, they are underestimating the appeal of Bernie Sanders which they have done from the beginning and I think its showing. If they are not retooling, they ought to be retooling the poll. Bernie -- stand that issues that do resonates beyond just white voters.
He is appealing to young people and he's got a background himself that he can talk about with core with segregate at housing on the university campus with Martin Luther King. I mean he's not unknown in those circle, Ben Jealous help as lot. So I think he is going to have more ...
(CROSSTALK)
PRESS: ... the NAACP, so I would say watch out for South Carolina and Nevada, Paul.
COOPER: He's got were the only human being, beside a politician, I've ever seen do this. The thumb, yeah. I've never seen an actual human being doing that other than a politician ...
AXELROD: He's from the Kennedy.
(CROSSTALK)
BEGALA: In my family that means something. Let say that's a hidden signal.
COOPER: You know, the thumb on that I get the thump on top, that's in only a political thing.
AXELROD: We use other gestures.
COOPER: Exactly. Exactly.
BEGALA: I'm glad I bring some distinction.
(CROSSTALK)
[21:15:02] COOPER: But I'm amazed that a human being has actually done that other than a politician. We're going to take a quick break.
Just ahead, I'll talk to Hillary Clinton's campaign manager about or maybe on that game over here now. About that shake-up that we just mentioned or the report from shake-up.
Plus, what to watch out for tomorrow night on both races want to turns start coming in tracking the primary by the numbers. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COOPER: Well, just hours away from the first primary of 2016, both the Clinton and Sanders campaigns holding late-night events this evening. Joining us now, is Sanders Campaign Manager Jeff Weaver.
Jeff always good to have you in the program, how do you respond to former President Clinton's arguments that just because someone disagrees for Senator Sanders doesn't mean that person is part of the establishment?
JEFF WEAVER, BERNIE SANDERS CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Well, I think that's a strawman. I don't think we've ever said is that because you don't agree with Senator Sanders you're a party establishment. So I mean, I don't think -- that that's real. I think it's a strawman that the president has created.
COOPER: Were you surprised to hear the former president saying some of the things that he did?
WEAVER: Well, I'll be clearly, we were disappointed. You know, we have tried to keep this a campaign on the issues and, you know, I certainly understand that the dynamics of the race have changed and that, you know, there is some disappointment and frustration on the part of the other side and, you know, we hope that this race, you know, once we're passing New Hampshire, could return to more positive and issues focused to discussion.
COOPER: The Clinton campaign is also saying, look, Senator Sanders took money in the past from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee which got some of its money from Wall Street.
[21:20:06] Obviously Secretary Clinton has gotten a lot more over the years but their argument is that Bernie Sanders is not some political purist, that he is been Congress for quarter of century and has benefited from big money. I want you to be able to respond to that.
WEAVER: Well, look. So, this is the deal, when he ran for the Senate, he received less than $100,000 from the DNC. They also gave $100,000 to the Vermont Democratic Party.
And somehow, this is hardly compares to having a Super PAC that just raised $25 million, 15 million of which was from a Wall Street interest campaign that is funded by a big money and special interests.
Look, Bernie Sanders campaign is funded by over a million individual contributors. Average contribution is $27. It's a people-powered, people-oriented campaign and the senator is very, very proud that he is in fact revolutionizing how one does fund raising at a presidential campaign.
COOPER: You know, I asked Senator Sanders last week at the CNN Town Hall if he's still an underdog and he said he thinks he is.
Is there any risk that comes with Sanders having such a huge lead in the polls? Obviously, we all know polls can be wrong, but should he win tomorrow night but not by as big of margin as some expect, could the Clinton campaign then claim some sort of momentum? WEAVER: Well, they told they can claim whatever they want. But look, let's be clear about this. There's only one candidate in this Democratic primary who's actually won in New Hampshire and that is Secretary Clinton who beat then Senator Obama back in 2008.
He came in with a double digit lead and she end up winning by a point.
So, look, the Clinton campaign is they are running a very effective and competing campaign. They've put a lot of effort here into New Hampshire. We don't take anything for granted. And, you know, I think, you know, the poll that I saw just recently I think is a little bit exaggerated, frankly.
COOPER: I also just want to give you the opportunity to respond to Former Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright who's backing Clinton saying that there is a, "Special place in hell for women who don't support each other," because it's actually Senator Sanders is doing obviously very well with younger women.
WEAVER: Right. Well, I think all of the young women who spoke about this on social media have said it much better than I can.
COOPER: All right. Jeff Weaver, Jeff, always good to talk to you. Thank you very much. We'll see what happens tomorrow. It's going to be an exciting day over the weekend.
Former President Clinton who's campaigning with his wife, tonight took issue with Senator Sanders comments about the money she's taken from Wall Street. They also blasted Sanders supporter over some online attacks on her. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: If she really were so close to Wall Street, you couldn't trust her, which is what her opponent has implies, they would be advertising against him, wouldn't they? But they're not. They're advertising against her.
People who have gone online to defend Hillary and explain, just explain why they supported her have been subject to vicious trolling.
And attacks that are literally too profane, often, not to mention sexist to repeat.
The hotter this election gets, the more I wish I were just a former president and just for a few months not the spouse of the next one because, you know, I would be careful for what I say.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That's over the last couple of days, Former President, Bill Clinton out the campaign trail. Same Mrs. Clinton was asked about these reports about shake-up in her campaign and she said, she would be taking stock of the campaign structure but said she's committed to her current team. Her Campaign Manager, Robby Muck, joins me now. Robby -- actually, I'm sorry. I'm told we're going to take a short break, then we'll talk to Robby when we come back. We'll take a short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:27:33] COOPER: Welcome back we had some technical difficulties getting to Clinton campaign, Manager Robby Mook. We have just ironed and now I understand he joins us now. Robby good to have you on the program.
I want you to be able to respond. There are these reports from CNN and elsewhere that there could be some sort of shake-up in works inside the Clinton campaign, particularly because former President Clinton, according to this reports believes the campaign are shown according to one CNN source, a quote, "lack of imagination, hasn't been forward looking enough." How do you respond?
ROBBY MOOK, HILLARY CLINTON CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Well, Anderson, Secretary Clinton herself addressed this today. Those reports aren't true. You know a lot of people like to gossip. But honestly, we don't have time for that on the campaign. We are -- we are out there fighting to make sure that every woman gets paid the same as a man, make sure every child has a good future.
There's way too much at stake in this campaign and we're just focusing on the issues and going out and earning everybody's vote.
COOPER: Are you going to be looking, I mean obviously as you move forward, it's a different electorate, it's a different, you know, to Nevada, to South Carolina, are you going to be looking at what worked, what didn't?
MOOK: Well, absolutely. We do that after, you know, after every state, after every campaign. We love doing after-action reviews. The fact of the matter is, we won Iowa. There was a historic victory. Hillary was the first woman to ever win the Iowa caucuses.
Obviously she came in third last time. And winning felt a heck of a lot better than losing. We're in an uphill battle here in New Hampshire its going to be really tough but then we're going to go on to Nevada, South Carolina, Super Tuesday and we have a plan to go deep into the primary and as long as it takes to get that winning number of delegates.
COOPER: I -- probably I don't know if you would or could say this but I going to ask it anyway, Former President Clinton is obviously taking a much more pointed attack against Senator Sanders in the past couple of days. Is that something planned out by the campaign? Is that something he just decides to do on his own? How does that work?
MOOK: Well, he was making points that Secretary Clinton has made herself in debates and the campaign that has been making for some time.
Senator Sanders has been attacking Secretary Clinton for taking money from Wall Street. But we just discovered this week that he was hobnobbing at big DSCC retreats using money from the DSCC that was funded by Wall Street to run his 2006 campaign.
So, the campaign has simply been pointing out, it's one thing to talk the talk but Senator Sanders also needs to walk the walk.
[21:30:01] COOPER: So, but can you say that's something you also I mean I, I'm just curious on how the former president is utilizing the campaign. Is that something there's a call in the morning, says, you know, lets emphasis this today or is this something he just decides to go with.
MOOK: He's a very experienced campaigner. You know, obviously we're briefing him constantly on the campaign. Obviously, we're briefing him constantly on the campaign. But he's just reinforcing points that Secretary Clinton and the campaign itself have been making for some time.
COOPER: Also, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, as you know, suggested that women who don't support other women will have a "Special place in hell." Secretary Clinton kind of got a big laugh out about that out on the stage, seemed to be -- that didn't seem to be something she knew about in advance.
Are you worried that something like that might not strike the right chord, particularly among younger women voters?
MOOK: Well, we're working very hard to earn everyone's vote, particularly young women. And obviously in our field offices all the time, we have outstanding volunteers of all ages young and old.
Secretary Clinton is not asking anyone to vote for her because she's a woman. They're asking them to vote for her because she has been fighting to breakdown barriers for families for decades. She has a long record of accomplishments. She's worked across the aisle. She took on the insurance companies to get health care for every American when she didn't succeed. She got the children's health insurance program for eight million children.
So, she's asking people to vote for her because she can produce real results that are going to make a difference in people's lives, not because of her gender.
COOPER: All right. Robby Mook, Robby, thanks very much for being with us.
MOOK: Thanks.
COOPER: Fascinating to watch tomorrow, just got two and a half hours until voters in Dixville Notch and two other small New Hampshire towns begin to vote. They drop their ballots into boxes. They'll be the first ones to vote. First to report, hardly the last places to watch and trying to get an early read on the outcome, back to answer the question to where to look for some early signs.
John King, breaking it down for us by the numbers. So John, let's talk about tomorrow, what happens when the returns start coming in? Where will you be looking for clues on the Democratic side?
KING: Let's go back. Here's the map of New Hampshire. Obviously it will fill in tomorrow night. We'll get Dixville Notch is way up here. We'll start to get those pretty after midnight.
But Clinton, Sanders, let's go back to Clinton, Obama. Remember, John Edwards was in the race, it's an important point. You had a three candidate race.
Now for Bernie Sanders, Anderson, first we're going to look over here. See this lighter blue? That's Barack Obama. We're going to look over there and we're going to look down here. Now, let me tell you why I'm looking at these two areas. Number one, let's come over here. Hanover, Dartmouth College, right along the Vermont border.
Lot of liberals in these areas and you can see Senator Obama run it up big, he got nearly 60 percent of the vote in Hanover. It's small. Just 1 percent of the state's population but you have a lot of smaller areas, municipalities like this in the western part of New Hampshire.
Again, this is Vermont, right along the border. Senator Sanders needs to run it up big there in the college towns, the towns of border of Vermont.
And then over here, on the Seacoast, again, a place Portsmouth, there less than 2 percent of the population. See, Senator Obama won over here, not by as much. Some of the smaller towns around the Seacoast, he won a bit bigger.
This is where you have to see Senator Sanders tomorrow night running up the numbers.
And then lastly, quickly, David Axelrod can remember this, let me clear this. The reason Hillary Clinton came back to win, is because of Manchester. It's the largest city in the state, above 8 percent closer to 9 percent of the population now, 45 percent to 30 percent.
The late count in 2008, we were waiting. A lot of people thought Senator Obama was going to win the race in 2008 and methodically turned out the vote here in Manchester that made the difference, Grady blue collar traditional Democrats, key for Secretary Clinton if she's going to close one in the polls is a pretty big Sanders' leads.
COOPER: What about when it comes to the Republican candidates?
KING: Let's flip it over and go back. I'm going to -- here's quickly the 2016 map on the Republican side. Names listed in alphabetical order because we have no results yet.
So let's go back and look at 2012. I'm going to start with the Iowa winner. We don't expect Ted Cruz to win New Hampshire tomorrow night, but I want to show you these orange, they look orange, pink, or orange in your screen, those are places Rand Paul won back in 2012. If Ted Cruz is to win -- not win but have a strong showing in New Hampshire and conceivably win -- if there's a surprise, he has to get these libertarians. This is the Rand Paul vote. It has to go to Ted Cruz. He's been courting them.
For everyone else, I'm going to spend my time down here. You see, this is Mitt Romney all these red up here. Not a lot of people live up here though. This is where you have seen the Republican candidates, Anderson, from here down in the bottom part of the state closer to Massachusetts.
This is where you see Bedford, is Bedford is right here outside of Manchester. Let's see if I can pick it right. There we go. Bedford -- I was at a Chris Christie rally and a Jeb Bush rally a mile apart here, into a suburb. You have the mainstream establishment Republicans. They've been courting them down there.
Governor Christie, we saw tonight he's down here in Hudson, right along the Massachusetts border. A lot of people from Massachusetts who have moved up, this is where you find your traditional Republicans who are being hit heavily levied by Governor Kasich, by Governor Bush, by Governor Christie, by Marco Rubio.
So as we watch Southern New Hampshire fill in tomorrow night, that will tell us if the Republican race has decided to break late for the establishment candidate or if we get kind of muddled.
COOPER: All right. A lot to watch for. John, thanks very much.
[21:35:00] Let's go to our political commentators.
Amanda, how many people can move out of New Hampshire onto South Carolina on the Republican side?
CARPENTER: Well, a lot of it depends on money but also momentum. I think that there'll be a number of people that get a ticket to South Carolina. Certainly Trump, regardless of showing ...
COOPER: Sure.
CARPENTER: ... Cruz. And then it's a competition between, you know, of Rubio, Kasich, Christie and Bush for how much energy they have. And really what concerns me is that Jeb Bush had so much money.
COOPER: Still?
CARPENTER: It doesn't matter how poorly he performs. He's going to have the money to continue and no one can tell the Bushes no. I think that's a big part of the problem in our party and maybe in the Democrats, you know, they can tell the Clintons, no
But not being able to force Jeb out when he's such a poor candidate and he takes all that support from someone who is more viable like a Rubio, is a problem for the party as a whole.
LORD: One thing that I'm just seeing this second on my part is Emerson College poll and they apparently got Iowa correct. They had Jeb Bush surging into second place, 31 to 16. Do you know?
BORGER: Yeah, well, the Bush people and the Kasich people both believe their internal polls are showing them out performing what everybody else's polls are. I think it's going to be for Jeb it is, can he beat Marco Rubio?
COOPER: And both have spent an enormous amount of time in that state ...
BORGER: Right.
COOPER: ... in small meetings and town halls.
BORGER: Kasich -- I was with him on the day, he did his 100th town hall. Jeb has parked himself in New Hampshire lately. So is Chris Christie by the way, we should say.
But those campaigns are fighting not only to try and be second place, but they've just got to finish ahead of Marco Rubio. And particularly Jeb Bush, because he's been spending an awful lot of money attack, "I'm going to do this" Anderson.
He's been spending an awful lot of money just attacking Marco Rubio and he's been pounded for it by the so-called Republican establishment. "Why are you doing this to the guy, we think can go all the way." If he doesn't beat Marco Rubio in New Hampshire, it's a real problem.
LORD: This explains, though, if he is surging, this explains why Donald Trump is going after them because they would be aware this as well.
AXELROD: You know, one thing I wonder is, if people believe that Bernie Sanders is as far ahead as the CNN polls suggest, do -- some of these independent voters migrate to where the action is and go over to the Republican side? And if they do, that can boost Kasich, it can boost some of the more moderate Republican candidates. So I think that's something to watch.
COOPER: Let's take a quick break. We're going to have more with our panelists. A lot more to talk about ahead including how the campaign might it's been a loss tomorrow night.
Also, let's talk about Michael Bloomberg, possible that he could enter the race depending on what happens.
We're also going to travel at Dixville Notch where there's nine votes. Voters are less than two and a half hours away from their turn in the spotlight. Nine voters.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:41:45] COOPER: About 2 1/4 hours from the first in the nation primary of 2016 somebody is looks like the eve of the Iowa Caucuses one week ago. Winter weather once again bringing it throw little bit of a ranch to worst. And Donald Trump talking a good game it's also feeling a lot like 2008 with the Clinton campaign up against the ropes.
Back with the panel joining us right now, let's talk to our political analysts here and our reporters. I mean there are a lot of providers.
KING: If you introduce us, you'd be one voter short of Dixville Notch. But we're more willing to share our opinion.
AXELROD: You know, it is -- there are -- it is reminiscent of 2008 and it's not. And the reason that it's not is because once you get past New Hampshire, those states turn very favorable for Hillary Clinton.
COOPER: Yeah.
AXELROD: You know, and that's why, as I said earlier, I'm sort of shocked that -- it seems to me that they are overreacting to Bernie Sanders and overreacting to this particular primary and I think it's making them look, frankly, a little more frantic than they should be.
COOPER: Let me ask you, back in 2008, when you were the Obama Campaign, did you know how quick, how much Hillary Clinton was moving up in New Hampshire? Because she entered well 18 points behind, right?
AXELROD: We saw the poll, you know, we quit polling on Sunday because we wanted to save a little money and so we probably -- if we had polled one more day, it could have been more prepared for the bad news. But we felt it shifting. You know, we had a bad debate. We came in -- I mean, I really ...
COOPER: Right. That was the debate where ...
AXELROD: Your likable -- but I also I mean I felt it after that, subsequent to that but the voters of New Hampshire knew that if they had voted for Barack Obama in that primary, essentially the race would have been over and they wanted to see him tested. They wanted to see the race go on.
BORGER: You talk about debates having an impact and again we don't know the impact of Rubio from Saturday night. But you just mentioned the impact of your likable enough Hillary with candidate Obama during that race and how that affected -- how that affected him.
AXELROD: What happen that year was that for year, she looked like a, you know, a kind of cautious front-runner sitting on top, you know, a podium and she came down to earth here in New Hampshire and became a much more sympathetic figure.
BORGER: Emotional?
AXELROD: All of a sudden she was David and we were Goliath and that gave her much more sympathetic look and you could see that happening as each day ticked on to the primary. We felt it slipping away. COOPER: Wow.
HENDERSON: I think Hillary Clinton, I traveled and saw the campaign in Flint, Michigan, she was there on Sunday. And I think that's a preview of what's to come, at least this campaign hopes in South Carolina.
She spoke to a black church, about 800 people there, mostly black women, came into a standing ovation from this crowd, shouts of Hillary, Hillary, President Clinton, it's your time, and walks off from the pulpit.
AXELROD: Did she leave with a standing ovation?
HENDERSON: She left with standing ovation.
AXELROD: That's good.
HENDERSON: The preacher almost cried after hearing her very impassion to address to these folks who are dealing about the water crisis as we know that she's going to South Carolina on Friday. So I think you're right. I mean there's a panic mode after these first two contests which look nothing like of the rest in electorate (ph).
[21:45:01] AXELROD: And let may say about Bill Clinton, Bill Clinton is maybe the greatest political talent of our time and he was for Barack Obama in 2012, the absolute most valuable player.
COOPER: On the campaign trail.
AXELROD: Brilliant, brilliant all the way around. I don't think in 2008 and from what I'm seeing in the last few days in 2016 that he is necessarily the best point of the sphere for Hillary Clinton.
COOPER: Why?
AXELROD: Because he's just too emotionally involved. And I think he goes farther, you know, in attacking opponents on her behalf. He's very depth and funny and artful and he was in 2012 in going after the Republicans. You can see that. He just feels emotionally invested ...
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Let's talk about Michael Bloomberg. The idea that he could enter this race, what sort of an impact, I mean, where do you see this?
KING: Well, Trump, Sanders or Clinton who now says home is New York, so Sanders and Clinton both from New York and Bloomberg. Three New Yorkers, just what the country is looking for, right? Look ...
AXELROD: You got a problem with that?
KING: If you look at the data now, it's hard to see at Michael Bloomberg presidency running as, you know, whose he going to take votes from?
And, you know, so, he's going to take your guns and your big gulp.
But I just say this, he's serious about this. I know that not talking to a very tested Republican trained valid access and lawyer to get access in the states. They're building their data and they're looking at it.
And in this year, where Trump, a guy who has said I'm for single payer, I'm very pro-choice when it comes to abortion, the economy does better under Democrats in a year where he is the leading candidate of a conservative party in America at the moment. And where Bernie Sanders is giving Hillary Clinton a run for her money, why should we say Michael Bloomberg can't get into this race and make an impact.
BORGER: When you have billions of dollars, you have to take it seriously. Because it's not like he has to raise the money and if he wants to, get that valid access. He can pay for it.
COOPER: Well does he, I mean, does he appeal to those who feel if it's Sanders that he's too far to the left and if it's Trump, he's too unknowable or Cruz ...
PRESS: I just want to say, if Bill Clinton, I agree, is the best political person on the stage that we've seen in our lifetime, Michael Bloomberg is the biggest political tease. And I think we should have recognized that. And that's taking too seriously. He did this in 2007, he pulled our chain. He did it in 2011, he's doing ...
(CROSSTALK)
PRESS: ... he will not spend his own money.
BEGALA: I don't think it's a teaser ...
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: It's a good judgment.
BEGALA: It is a good judgment. You know, Mayor Bloomberg is not stupid. He didn't get to be the mayor of our largest city and the head of a great media firm by being dumb.
If you do the math and I have and I'm sure his people have, his candidacy, say, he gets ballot access, will elect a Republican president. He's not Ross Perot who briefly from both parties. He would draw him exclusively from Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton and thereby elect Donald Trump or Ted Cruz president.
If he wants that, that's fine I doubt he does. But at some point, this is why he keeps not running, because he's not an ego maniac like Ralph Nader who would just too soon see George W. Bush win ...
COOPER: So, he doesn't draw from the GOP years?
BEGALA: No, he doesn't. Not. Because his appeal, it's perfect for New York, but it's not very good for National Republican, it is as John says.
It's antigun, anti-coca-cola, pro-Wall Street which should be a problem on the Democratic side. But it's not ...
AXELROD: That is generally been truth. I wonder if the constellation is one of the candidates who had seen particularly a Cruz, whether that would still be the case or even of a Trump, would he get some of these serves suburban Republicans.
But either way you're right in the bottom line which is he can't win. But one thing that ...
PRESS: Well, we know by and large ...
(CROSSTALK)
AXELROD: Originally, they started talking about this as something he might do if it was a Sanders and a Cruz or Trump.
BORGER: Yeah, now he forgot.
AXELROD: His polls were about shown wrote a piece in "The Wall Street Journal" last week saying, "No, you know what, if it's Clinton, Trump or Cruz that he might get into the race. I don't believe he's going to get into the race for the reasons that you said.
BEGALA: Here's like what we say in Texas about cockroaches, it's not like they carry off that makes match (ph) when they fall into a mess up. Say, he could fall into the Democratic states and mess a lot of -- if he could take a regional candidates.
COOPER: I'm still thinking of any of that ...
(CROSSTALK)
BEGALA: ... away but what they fall into the boss.
COOPER: All right.
BEGALA: Not possible. He could win a few Northeastern states, though. But the only independent candidate, my life time at one of the state, was not Perot, it was not John Hagelin, it was George Corley Wallace. He ran a very original campaign.
Mayor Bloomberg was much higher character and a very fine man.
(CROSSTALK)
AXELROD: He's going to run from it like a scalded dog.
COOPER: We got to take a break. I want to thank everybody. We've been talking about it, so now we're going to take you live to one of the first polling locations in New Hampshire where the voting takes place a bit more than two hours from now.
We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:52:19] COOPER: We're just a little more than two hours until the first votes are cast in the New Hampshire primaries.
We mentioned three tiny towns have the honor of voting at midnight giving people their bragging rights to be in the first to take part in the first the nation primary.
One town, Dixville Notch is just 20 miles from the Canadian border. This year, they have just nine voters. Still it was a very big deal for small town.
Our Mark Preston is there. He joins us. How did this whole tradition start, Mark?
MARK PRESTON, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, CNN POLITICS: Well, Anderson, back in 1960, the owner of the resort here decided that would been a good idea using this New Hampshire laws with residents less than 100 where you could open the polls and close the polls as quickly as you wanted to.
At the time it was a gimmick. They did it in the general election. They voted if you got this all for Richard Nixon, not John F. Kennedy.
So, we talk a lot about that home state advantage being next door. John F. Kennedy did not get that in the general election, Anderson, back in 1960.
Now, back in 2012 when they held the primary up here for Mitt Romney and John Huntsman, they actually tied. And if we go back to 2008, Barack Obama had one, the Dixville Notch vote.
COOPER: Are you hearing which way Dixville Notch may go tonight or in the morning?
PRESTON: Well, interestingly enough, John Kasich, who we've been talking about has coming on strong and has been able to really connect with New Hampshire voters, or it seems to be he was the only candidate who has come up here and has done a town hall and just talking to voters up here.
They tell me that they kind of like his politics. And I was talking to the Kasich campaign today, and they told me as well that John Kasich himself was calling these nine voters individually to try to get their support.
So, John Kasich, it will be interesting if he were to come out of this.
But as you said, there will be two other towns that would be voting at midnight tonight.
Millsfield will be voting, there's 43 residents in Millsfield, rather, 27 residents and in Hart's location, 43 people.
So, you're talking three towns that are less than 80 people that will be making history tonight, Anderson.
COOPER: Do we know how many people came out to the Kasich town hall in Dixville Notch?
PRESTON: Yeah, so they're talking about 60. Because, you know, up here, these towns are all incorporated and small. Kasich had about 60 people come here for his town hall that he held back in January.
Not a bad town hall, certainly as far up North and, yeah, 20 miles South of Canada. So, I think he did OK.
COOPER: All right, Mark Preston, we'll be watching. Mark, thanks very much. A lot more happening tonight, Amara Walker has the 360 Bulletin. Amara?
AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Anderson, a senior European counter terrorism source says before the November attack in Paris, Western Security Agencies received intelligence set up to 60 ISIS terrorists had been sent to carry out attacks in five cities.
[21:55:00] Those targeted cities included Paris, London, Berlin and a major population center in Belgium.
At least 40 people have been killed after Taiwan's earthquake hit Saturday. Most of them at this collapsed High-Rise apartment in Tainan.
The government has ordered an investigation after tin cans were found in the walls at the top of the complex.
It appears, they may have been used as filler, although it may have been a legal practice.
A wild day on Wall Street. At one point, the Dow shed about 400 points. The Blue Chicks rebound it a bit, closing down 178 points.
The NASDAQ and S&P also posted losses. Analysts say sinking oil prices and concerns over European banking fuel the sell off.
And off the coast of North Carolina, one of the worlds biggest and newest cruise ships got slammed by massive waves and high winds during a weekend storm.
Passengers were ordered to stay in their rooms, and now their vacation is over. Royal Caribbean's anthem of the seas is heading back to New Jersey early. Tables, chairs, plates, cups and many other items were tossed around and broken. Anderson.
COOPER: A big waves there. All right. Amara, thanks. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, it's coming out of the snowy final hours, the first state primary of the 2016 election. Nine voters in Dixville Notch will vote at midnight in a picture post cart town the side of the Canadian borders. Well as two other locations. The boy scouts right now are doing a mock vote in the town.
[22:00:04] The actual voting there doesn't begin until midnight. We'll be there to bring it to you live along with the results.
Our coverage at the New Hampshire primary continuous right now with "CNN TONIGHT" with Don Lemon.
