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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Democratic National Convention Kicks Off Tomorrow in Chicago; New Road to 270; Why Iowa Republican Who Once Opposed Trump Now Ready to Vote for Him; Security Preparations Underway Ahead of Democratic Convention. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired August 18, 2024 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[20:00:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were here long before the DNC ever thought about coming here and they will be here long after it's gone.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT (on-camera): Erin, one of the biggest marches is set to kick off at noon. And there's a big question about where that march is going to happen. The city has outlined a route that's about a mile long, but the protest group wants to go a route that's about twice that. So we'll see where those protesters end up, Erin, especially when you consider that that organization says tens of thousands of people are going to descend on the city.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, absolutely. And of course not much room to maneuver to adjudicate all of that in these next hours.
Whitney, thank you.
And thanks to all of you. Our special coverage continues now with Anderson.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And good evening from the United Center in Chicago, site of a far different and far more historic 2024 for Democratic National Convention that was even remotely imaginable just four weeks ago. Tomorrow night, the former candidate, President Biden, will give a keynote speech finalizing the transition to the new candidate and presumed nominee, Vice President Harris.
She is heading here from Pittsburgh tonight after spending the afternoon on a bus tour with running mate Tim Walz through some of the surrounding towns west of the city. The two visited with firefighters and a fire dog in one locality, reporters traveling with them, so they brought baked goods. They also went to a campaign office not far from there talking to staffers and working the phones, and later to convenience store.
She goes into the convention with a batch of new polling to point to. In one, from "The Washington Post" and ABC News, she's now just outside the margin of error leading the former president in a multi- candidate race. CBS's new polling shows no clear leader with Robert Kennedy Jr. in the mix but has her also ahead and beyond the margin of error in a two-way matchup.
Our CNN Poll of Polls still shows no clear leader, but a two-point gain for the vice president over the last two weeks. She was asked about her apparent polling momentum before leaving Pittsburgh tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have a lot of work to do to earn the vote of the American people. That's why we're on this bus tour today and we're going to be traveling this country as we've been. And talking with folks, listening to folks and hopefully earning their votes. So in the next 79 days.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, the Trump campaign meantime continues trying to define Vice President Harris. In the former president's case posting an AI created image on his social network of her addressing an imagined communist convention, complete with hammer and sickle Soviet flag. He's also now taken to calling her "Comrade Kamala Harris," and he's doing it on another day Republicans taking to the airwaves in what has become almost a ritual, asking him to stop with the name calling.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): His policies are good for America. And if you have a policy debate for president, he wins. Donald Trump, the provocateur or the showman, may not win this election.
GOV. CHRIS SUNUNU (R), NEW HAMPSHIRE: The message is very clear. If you stick to the issues, if you stick to what matters, this should be an easy race for Donald Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, in fairness to the former president, he does talk about issues in his appearances on the stump, sometimes even saying out loud that he's doing it, but that focus never seems to stick for very long. Here he is campaigning in Eastern Pennsylvania yesterday, talking about a commentator he heard argued that Vice President Harris has an advantage over him because, in this commentator's words, she is a, quote, "very beautiful woman."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She said, you know, I had never heard that one. They said no, her biggest advantage is that she is a beautiful woman. I've gone, huh, I never thought of that. I'm better looking than she is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Lots to talk about tonight with our team of political professionals here and John King at the magic wall. First, CNN's Jeff Zeleny joins us.
So what are final plans look like for this event? And what's the enthusiasm level you're hearing among delegates?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, the enthusiasm is strong and the unity is quite high, and that's significantly different than just a month ago. Think of the shape of the Democratic Party then coming out of the Republican convention, which ended exactly a month ago today in Milwaukee. I've been talking to Democratic delegates, party officials, they are just overcome with joy at this condition of their party.
However, in the words of Vice President Harris there, she was taking questions from reporters, campaigning in Pennsylvania, she calls herself the underdog. She said that this will not be easy. I'm told that is an intentional message that she is sending to really remind Democrats that this is a tough race.
Democrats have sort of fallen into a sense of exuberance because they've been a bit down on their luck for some time, and the joy and the excitement, you know, certainly is valid in their mind, but she is trying to say no, no, there is a tough race yet to come. I am told that will be a theme of the convention. She's going to be talking about the work that lies ahead, talking about, you know, the values that Democrats must instill and try and get voters to galvanize behind her. But for now, at least in Chicago, it is a celebration. It is a party.
[20:05:01]
And tomorrow evening, right here on the floor of the convention, there is going to be a literal passing of the torch as President Biden arrives here to the convention, no doubt will be welcomed as something of a hero in his party. But then he will take his leave. It's the last time we will see him at the convention. And then this is her party, but I'm told that she wanted to be in this convention hall.
She'll be watching President Biden's speech. And that will be the last we see of him. And then we see so much from her with a lot of validators trying to fill in the blanks about just exactly who she is and what type of forward message she'll be bringing.
COOPER: So President Biden speaking tomorrow, on other nights, who is speaking?
ZELENY: Look, it's going to be a bookend of former presidents. On Tuesday night, the second night of the convention, former president Barack Obama right here in his hometown of Chicago I'm told is going to be delivering a strong affirmation for the Harris-Walz ticket. He is going to be talking about the way forward for Democrats, offering something of a roadmap, if you will. That's going to be followed by the next night, on Wednesday, former president Bill Clinton.
I think we all remember in 2012 during a very difficult reelection for Barack Obama, it was Bill Clinton who came in and gave this validating message for why voters should galvanize around him. So that bookended message from those two former presidents certainly will be interesting. But also Doug Emhoff. He's going to be speaking on the second night of the convention. also filling in some of those blanks about who Kamala Harris is.
Yes, she's the vice president. She's well-known somewhat among Democrats, but not to the country as a whole. So I'm told that that is what they're going to try and use this week to do. It's really their last scripted week of the campaign to try and remind people what the Democratic Party stands for, remind people who she is.
But, Anderson, there is no doubt Democrats are celebrating. But she's sending the message. There's a lot of work ahead.
COOPER: Yes. Jeff Zeleny, thanks very much.
Joining us now our political commentators from across the partisan spectrum, David Urban, Ashley Allison, David Axelrod and Alyssa Farah Griffin.
David Axelrod, how encouraged should Democrats be? Is there a danger of them actually being kind of too euphoric?
DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I've been talking about this for some time. Look, she has made extraordinary progress. We were all in Milwaukee a month ago and, you know, there was euphoria there and a sense that this race was over, that they were going to win by a landslide, perhaps sweeping big majorities in the House and Senate. And things have changed dramatically.
But this is still a very competitive race. If the election were today, I'm not sure who would win and I think it may well be President Trump because it's an electoral college fight.
COOPER: Right.
AXELROD: And in those battleground states --
COOPER: Yes, we were looking at national numbers.
AXELROD: Right.
COOPER: At the top of this program. That's -- I mean, it's misleading.
AXELROD: And I've said several times here that, you know, for Democrat to win those battleground states, they have to have a significant lead in the electoral college. Remember, Joe Biden won by seven million votes nationally last time, and a margin of 45,000 votes or 44,000 votes in the three closest battleground states combined. So she's right to be telling people it's good to be enthusiastic, that enthusiasm is really, really important for the Democratic Party.
But you have to turn that into energetic action in order to win the election. I think that's going to be part of what you hear here.
COOPER: Alyssa, how important do you think that this week is for the campaign? ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS
DIRECTOR: Well, it's huge because heading into Labor Day, you know, kids are back at school, people are really tuning into the election in earnest. And I think this is the time that if you don't know a ton about her, you knew her for as VP, you're learning what the message is. But here I think you make a great point that the RNC was almost over-confident.
Donald Trump was at a high point and they leaned into that in the messaging. There weren't a lot of, you know, entrees to independents and to moderates who are watching. Democrats I don't expect are going to make that same mistake. She says she's the underdog. She has everyone who's been on a Democratic ticket before. She's got Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama saying there is room for anyone here.
If you're more of a Bill Clinton Democrat, don't worry, I'm not too far out of the mainstream. You can be with me. So I think they're really running a smart race and this should be a very big week for her campaign, but Donald Trump is back out on the campaign trail after basically playing golf for a couple of weeks because I think he's feeling that she's got serious momentum.
COOPER: And Ashley, I mean, this is a chance for Vice President Harris to define herself to a lot of people who maybe don't know much about her.
ASHLEY ALLISON, FORMER NATIONAL COALITIONS DIRECTOR, BIDEN-HARRIS 2020 CAMPAIGN: Yes, you know, just to the excitement point, if you're an organizer, it's a lot easier to make a phone call with excitement to convert that to a volunteer shift that then actually closes that gap and speaks to voters, which is what they're going to have to do to win this race because it is extremely tight.
So it's a lot easier to do that. And then from a depressed basis questioning whether that should even be the candidate. But on this point, you know, I was looking at the main speakers, you have to remember, there are a significant amount of voters that are going to vote this election that weren't even old enough to vote for any of those people that are speaking tonight, and so they are really talking to the boomers of the population, the seniors and our party to say like remember our Democratic Party, this is still who we are.
[20:10:05]
And then they're going to have a Maxwell Frost, the Gen Z congressperson, come and speak to the young people. So they really are casting a whole conversation that they're going to have to do to talk to the big coalition to ensure that she can get it across the finish line.
COOPER: David, do think Democrats are too optimistic?
DAVID URBAN, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN ADVISER: No, listen, Kamala Harris and this campaign have had the best month in modern political history. She's -- they've done an incredible job of kind of wrestling the nomination away from President Biden and knocked everyone out of the picture. She's had, you know, up until this past week where they stumbled a little bit with this rollout of her economic plan, which I think was probably not a smart idea to do in advance of this convention.
I think it kind of caused some bumps in the road, but she's had a great run. And the axis point, they're still neck and neck, right? She'd had -- they've been flawless up to this point and Trump in that CBS poll, and the three top issues that Americans care about, the economy, inflation, and immigration, Trump is up on economy 56 percent. People favor him. 71 percent on the border, 61 percent on inflation. So on those three messages that people care about the most in America, they're telling us, the polls, Trump still leads. So if he can focus his message back on those things.
AXELROD: Yes.
URBAN: If we can, right.
AXELROD: Sure.
URBAN: And if we could define, we being the Republican Party, can define Kamala Harris as the 2020 version of Kamala Harris, right, the progressive left of Bernie Sanders, the gun-taking away, anti- fracking, get-rid-of-your-health care Kamala Harris, Republicans will do very well. If we can't, if she's able to define herself in a different manner at this convention, it's going to be a really tough race and a tough election.
AXELROD: The problem you have is not the message, although, you know, we can quarrel about that, it's the messenger. You know, Alyssa says, well, you know, the president is going to be -- former president can be out there this week. I'm not sure that Democrats here won't be happy to hear that because every time he goes out there, he doesn't deliver a distilled focused message. He goes off on some crazy jag that's all about himself and his own grievances, that's name calling. And he's reminding people why they didn't like him in the first place.
He in this "Washington Post" poll was 22 points, 21, 22 points underwater when people asked to rate him as a person and their favorability.
URBAN: Likability.
AXELROD: She was in positive territory. That could end up being the story of this race.
URBAN: Right. Your point was, you know, as long as she's a credible alternative to Trump.
AXELROD: Yes.
URBAN: That's enough to get her across. I will say this. I think the campaign, what you're going to see more of is factory visits, OTRs. Donald Trump is the king of the OTR. You saw Kamala Harris do it today, go into the fire station, going to convenience store. AXELROD: Can't imagine him petting a dog, though.
(LAUGHTER)
URBAN: Yes, well, he's going to pet a dog. Mark my words. And so J.D. brings it on the campaign, have you seen? So those things really resonate with voters. Kamala is smart to do that. Trump is going to do more of that I think. You'll see that focuses the message a lot more. That doesn't give him an opportunity to kind of go off on these longer things.
GRIFFIN: She has been doing something smart, by the way, by not taking the bait when Donald Trump launches ridiculous attacks.
AXELROD: Yes.
GRIFFIN: Talking about her looks, her appearance, whatever it may be. She's kind of elevated it and I know Donald Trump, I know him well enough to know he wants her to fight back. He wants to get in this back-and-forth and by kind of elevating the conversation, it really plays to her favor, and especially with swing voters.
ALLISON: Especially because of the historical nature of her candidacy. It's, you know, likability is something that women candidates is a word that is often thrown as she's not likable. You know, we don't like the way she looks. And it's not a fair barometer. But in this instance it's actually working against Donald Trump because he cannot remain disciplined and just really shows his true colors over and over.
COOPER: We've got to take a short break. Coming up next, John King at the magic wall of what polling now suggests are more ways for the vice president to get the 270 electoral votes she needs to win and how tight these races are in swing states.
Later, John's conversation with Republican voters in Iowa who once opposed Donald Trump. What they make of the Democratic alternative?
This as our special convention eve edition of 360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:18:30]
COOPER: The Harris-Walz campaign arrives in Chicago with some polling momentum behind them. We mentioned that at the top. The most notable result being from ABC News and the "Washington Post" showing her leading nationally the former president by three points, which is outside the margin of error. Robert Kennedy Jr. with 5 percent. But again, that's the national poll. Right now want to expand the discussion to how state-by-state polling suggests more potential ways the election may go, particularly for the Harris-Walz ticket, how more ways for them possibly to win in November, certainly more than President Biden had just a few weeks ago,
CNN's John King joins the panel and me from the magic wall. So take a look -- shows the different past to 270 now that the
landscape has changed.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Just a remarkably different race, Anderson, you were just talking in the last -- with the panel while we were in Milwaukee, right. Here's where we have the map right now. Dark red is solid Republican, light red leans Republican. Same for the blues, likely -- you know, solid Democratic leans Democratic. Harris at the moment, 225 to Trump's 219.
In Milwaukee, Joe Biden had one, one narrow path left and that was win the blue wall states. Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin. And even if he did that, he would have to pick up Nebraska's second congressional district. And I can tell you that was the Democrats' only path in Milwaukee and that was an unlikely path because we knew he was in trouble and Trump was in control.
Harris right now can do that. You can see that in the state polling. You could see that in the return of African-Americans, younger voters, suburban voters, who were just leaving Biden back to Harris. You can see that path right there, but that's not the only path she has. African-American support has jumped as well, including African- American women.
[20:20:03]
So the Democrats believe tough, tough, but they believe North Carolina would be in play. Georgia, Biden was probably toast in Georgia. They believe that's in play. Now I'm not saying she's going to win all these. I'm just saying that you have Arizona and Nevada back in play, so you can have a scenario where she gets well above 300. At the same time, these states are all very competitive, as David Urban was just -- so let's just say, for example, you know, you don't get all the Arab-American voters back, the young voters, and Trump wins Michigan.
Well, look. Harris still has opportunities, right? If North Carolina stays Republican, Harris still has opportunities to win it. So the bottom line is that Joe Biden had one very narrow path when we were in Milwaukee. Kamala Harris has five, six, seven different ways you can get her to 270. That means Donald Trump had those, too. But when you have those possibilities, Anderson, it just changes the composition of the campaign.
She can now target those states. Donald Trump has to spend money in places a couple of weeks ago he didn't think he's going to have to spend money. We are in a brand new world.
COOPER: John, I know a lot of our panelists have questions for you as well. David Axelrod?
AXELROD: Yes. Well, John, there are states and then there are states. In most of the models that you see Pennsylvania is the tipping state. And it's 19 electoral votes. So there's no other piece is there that you can simply swap out for Pennsylvania. If a candidate were to lose Pennsylvania they would need more than one piece. Certainly if Kamala Harris didn't win Pennsylvania, she'd need to win a couple of other states in order to secure the 270.
KING: Without a doubt. The only one that comes close in this scenario here, so let's say Trump wins Pennsylvania, you give him that right there. That moves him up right there, right, so that would still have her at 22. If you can somehow -- we tend to live in a national political environment. So if Donald Trump wins in Pennsylvania, the blue wall states, for example, have voted together since 2004. They tend to go together. Doesn't mean they will this time. We're breaking rules all the time.
But North Carolina would be your best option there. She's getting close to that same number back right there. So then you're fighting through there. But that's why, David, if you just look at this, I'll just bring up the campaign ad spending. Battleground ad spending. This is -- forgive me for turning my back. Just since Biden stepped aside and Harris got in, look at how much more money is going into Pennsylvania than any other state.
The campaigns agree with you, David. Pennsylvania is the most important one because it's a bigger basket, 19. So you can see that. This is the campaign saying you're right, winning Pennsylvania makes it a whole lot easier.
COOPER: David Urban, you know Pennsylvania better than most. You were there with the former president yesterday.
URBAN: So, John, even more granular, right, you're talking about the states, let's get down in Pennsylvania to the counties because as you know, John, this is kind of won or lost in several swing counties. You have Erie County in my book, North Hampton, Lehigh, Luzerne. Excuse me, Scranton area, Luzerne, Lackawanna. So those four, right? North Hampton, Eerie, Lackawanna, Luzerne. What do you think? Where do you think we should be watching? What do you think is most important there?
KING: Let me give you how I look at it and I'll give you another option. I tend to look at Erie, I want to show you up here, northwest Pennsylvania. Look how close it was in 2020, Donald Trump won it in 2016. So I look at Erie, then you come over to North Hampton County here. Why do I look there? Donald Trump won it in 2016. Joe Biden took it back in 2020.
There are only 25 counties in America, two of them, right there in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, that Barack Obama carried twice, then Trump won in 2016, then Biden flipped back in 2020. There are only 25 of them all across the country. Two of them in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. So I look at those, but to your point about the others, let's just look at one of them right here.
This is Joe Biden's home county, Lackawanna County, Scranton. You see the margins? Pennsylvania won by 80,000 votes, right? You see the margin there in 2020, he wins it by eight. In 2016, Hillary Clinton won it, but only by three and a half. So the margins matter, right? If this one is -- if Harris is close here, not winning it by a decent margin, that means Trump is stronger in Pennsylvania, if you will. So I'd watch the swing counties first, but no question, Lackawanna and Luzerne, also worth a peak.
COOPER: Ashley?
ALLISON: You know, John, I'm all about building the coalition and I know that a lot of folks are interested in independent, perhaps never Trumpers that Harris can get over, but I'm wondering if there are particular constituencies like African-Americans or the Latino population, or even young voters that you think she can run the score up in a Philadelphia or a Pittsburgh or in a college town that could give her the advantage, even if she isn't able to pull as many independents over in this election?
KING: I am fascinated by, number one, how does she managed -- she mentioned Maxwell Frost, a giant challenge in this election is to talk to young people, many of whom are motivated by the Israel-Gaza issue and are mad at President Biden, and by extension now mad at Harris here. So one of the questions here is, see, I was on college campuses a lot last time. I am looking forward to getting back out here.
Washtenaw County, a university in Michigan, right. You move here more to the east, Wayne County is where you find Wayne State University. Does this convention, does she start to make a down payment on winning back those disaffected young people, many of whom are also people of color, either Arab-Americans or African-Americans we've met on those campuses?
[20:25:00]
The convention is a giant opportunity to begin that effort. That's the giant question. She's in better shape. She's not in good enough shape yet to say Michigan or some of these other places are a lock.
COOPER: That's David Urban's ban there.
(LAUGHTER)
COOPER: They're making sound check right now.
URBAN: I tried to drown out the Democratic question.
COOPER: Alyssa?
GRIFFIN: John, I want to ask you. I mean common wisdom tells us the top of the ticket either boost or drags down ballot candidates but there's this thought that now Arizona and North Carolina are potentially in play for Kamala Harris and Republicans have two very polarizing candidates, Kari Lake in Arizona and then Mark Robinson running for governor in North Carolina.
Is there a scenario where having these candidates that have some major vulnerabilities could actually hurt Donald Trump's chances in those critical battlegrounds?
KING: I think it's a critical test, so let me just go to North Carolina and use that as an example. This is the presidential map in 2020, but you mentioned Mark Robinson, he's the Republican candidate for governor. He's out there, shall we say? Right? So why does that matter? Look how close this was, look how close this was. 49.9 to 48.6. So what the Democrats believe is if you take Trump and then you take Robinson and then you'd go here and here and you try to improve your standing in the suburbs, right?
You try to improve your standing in the suburbs by saying they are so extreme. Now, Biden did pretty well in the suburbs last time. But if you just come into the Raleigh-Durham area here and you bring it out, come on for me. There you go. You know, 62 percent. That's pretty good. Move over to Durham, 80 percent there. So the question is, can you boost those numbers where the Democrats are just a little bit more because the state is so close.
Again, sometimes the tiniest margins make a difference, and sometimes a candidate out of the mainstream can help.
COOPER: All right, everyone, stay there. John, thanks very much.
Coming up, why Republican voters in Iowa who once opposed Trump are ready to vote for him and what they think about the Harris campaign's momentum. Part of John King's all over the map series. That's next. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:31:08]
COOPER: While the Harris and Trump campaigns crisscrossed the battleground states, our John King went back to the deeply red state of Iowa, part of his all over the map series that tracks the 2024 campaign through the experiences of key blocs of voters. His purpose is to see why the Republican voters he met there last year who were once critical of Donald Trump are now so comfortable supporting him and what they make of the reinvigorated Democratic ticket.
Here's John's report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KING (voice-over): Shanen Ebersole cherishes her maverick streak, not afraid to wander a bit from the herd.
There were headbutt going on.
SHANEN EBERSOLE, IOWA VOTER: Like little boys wrestling. That's their version of it.
KING: But now it's time to line up. And bring things home.
EBERSOLE: I think it's an easy Trump choice because we have to put the American people first. I think that the policies that have been put in place in the Harris-Biden administration, they hurt this, they hurt our land, and they hurt the people in middle America the most.
KING: Ebersole supported Nikki Haley in the Iowa caucuses, a rare voice of Republican dissent in conservative Ringgold County. She then gave some thought to voting third party because she cringes sometimes at Trump's combative tone. But her family and her farm come first and Ebersole sees backing Trump as the best path to reverse Democratic trade and climate policies she says punish family farmers, fill supermarkets with foreign beef.
EBERSOLE: I can tell you that that cow right there is better at carbon sequestration than anything else on the face of the earth and when she does it, she turns it into the most nutritious meat than we could ever offer. When cattle are raised the right way they help the earth. They don't hurt the earth.
KING: And Washington doesn't understand that.
EBERSOLE: They don't at all. They don't live here, you know.
KING: They don't.
EBERSOLE: They don't.
KING (voice-over): If you want to see a 2024 race up close in Iowa, the State Fair is your best shot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four bacon cheeseburgers.
KING: There were debates over food here and games, but the presidential campaigns are nowhere to be found. Their time and money is for the swing states. That's because Trump is strong here and not just in rural farm country.
This is Cedar Falls in eastern Iowa. Midwest Solar is busy in part because of Biden administration clean energy tax credits. But owner Chris Mudd is as loyal a Trump voter as they come.
CHRIS MUDD, IOWA VOTER: I think if all I was selling was government incentives I don't think business would be very good, but that's not what we're selling. We're selling the power to help people save money.
KING: Mudd sees Trump is off his game a bit since the switch to Harris atop the Democratic ticket.
MUDD: I think he spends too much time bashing and complaining. You know, I don't know. I think he'll catch his stride and I think that he will get back on his horse. And I think he will say what needs to be said.
KING: Mudd thinks the media is too easy on Harris. And like Trump, he sees no way Harris wins an honest election.
MUDD: I just don't believe it's possible, John, I really don't. Yes, I would think that, I would think many like me would think that same thing if Kamala Harris gets 81 million votes something really went haywire.
KING: Betsy Sarcone sees such talk as a waste of time.
BETSY SARCONE, IOWA VOTER: I don't buy the stolen election. If she wins, she wins. I'm not getting on that bandwagon.
KING: But that Sarcone plans to vote for Trump is a big change. She backed Haley in the caucuses and when we first met a year ago Sarcone said she would vote for Biden if 2024 ended up as a 2020 rematch. But grocery prices are still high. she says, and her real estate business is slow.
SARCONE: I would describe myself as being resigned, I supposed, to voting for Donald Trump. Again, I just -- I can't put status quo. And I was absolutely better off during Donald Trump's presidency than I am today.
[20:35:06]
KING: Right. I say Kamala Harris, you say?
SARCONE: I'd say far left. I'd say woke. I'd say sidestepping. I'd say not truthful.
KING (voice-over): Sioux City is to the west where Iowa meets Nebraska and South Dakota. Attorney Priscilla Forsyth is happy to vote for Trump a third time, even though she too began the campaign hoping for someone new.
PRISCILLA FORSYTH, IOWA VOTER: I started with Ramaswamy.
KING: Right. Right. Started with Ramaswamy.
FORSYTH: Then I went to Nikki Haley.
KING (voice-over): Now back to Trump.
FORSYTH: I see Kamala and I see Walz as being so far left that it concerns me. I'm comfortable with Trump. We had four years of Trump. We know what Trump is. I'm not voting for him to be my Valentine. I'm not voting for him to be my best friend.
KING: Forsyth isn't worried about Iowa, but the past few weeks do have her worried Harris might win the White House. In lawyer lingo, she says Trump at the moment is presenting the wrong case, focusing on his grievances instead of her record.
FORSYTH: I think he can win on the issues. She doesn't seem to want to own anything. You know, she doesn't own the border. She doesn't own anything. I think right now he's off balance. Now will he get back on track.
KING: A loyal Explorer's fan and a loyal Republican in a solid red county and state. But at the moment, she thinks her candidate is struggling just like her team.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: And John King joins us now. It's so interesting. I mean, you know, that you track those people for so long and see that in the end they have come back to the former president. They see him as having a hard time adjusting to Harris. Do most of them -- do they feel that he will kind of, in her words, get back on track?
KING: There's a mix of feel that he will and hope that he will. Now, three of those women, the three women in that piece, Chris Mudd, who lives here in the Cedar Falls area, he's been a longtime Trump supporter. The three women they all voted for Nikki Haley, right. But look at this, Anderson, this is why it's different than other states. Look at all that red. Iowa is a more conservative state. Republicans tend to come home. That's what they're doing.
But as they watched this race, they see Donald Trump rattled. All three of the women think that he's been part rattled because he's running against a strong woman rival. They want him to get back to the issues and away from the personal stuff. Chris Mudd, who I said lives up right up near here, near Cedar Falls, he's been with Trump since the very beginning, and he sometimes likes it when Trump mixes it up.
But what he sees here is somewhat he thinks the media as being too soft on Harris. He thinks she should be sitting down for more interviews. He channels the same criticisms that Trump and FOX News do about her. But at the same time, he also says the president better focus on the issues and now he thinks he will get there because he's seen him adjust before, but I can tell you if you're a little nervous in Iowa, then that tells you a lot.
Democrats in Iowa are excited, by the way. Look at the margin. That doesn't mean Kamala Harris is going to win Iowa. But Democrats finally say they have something to fight for, too, and it is making a lot of their Republican friends at least a little nervous.
COOPER: All right. John King, thanks very much.
Up next the latest on the security preparations for the thousands of people expected to be inside the arena starting tomorrow night. Many already protesting outside. Plus concerns in the wake of the assassination attempt of course on the former president. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:42:44]
COOPER: So this was just moments ago outside the convention area here in Chicago. Protests the kind that security professionals and Democratic officials are expecting to see this week. An intelligence report recently obtained by CNN said that among the concerns of U.S. security officials ahead of the convention were obviously protests, many of which are expected to be over U.S. support for Israel in the war in Gaza. But officials are also of course alert -- on special alert in the wake of the assassination attempt on the former president.
Shimon Prokupecz joins us now with more.
So what do the security preparations look like out there?
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: That's a lot of fencing, Anderson. I'm sure you saw it as you got into the United Center. You can see we're just outside the perimeter. The perimeter stretches over a mile, at least mile, and there's just fencing everywhere you go here around the United Center.
I just want to show you, Anderson, this is where you are, where your set is. Look how far that is, that is where the United Center is. And this is how far back they have placed this perimeter. And it just stretches all around here for several blocks. What's also really interesting and I think kind of remarkable here that we didn't sort of see at the RNC that there's actually people who live in the middle of this.
Most of the RNC was surrounded by businesses that were open and people were able to go inside. Here a lot of the businesses that are inside, some have closed and people are actually living here surrounded now by all this fencing as the convention here gets underway tomorrow. This is what they're going to find. There's going to be Homeland security officers, FBI agents are here, then the Secret Service is in charge of the entire perimeter here, with the Chicago Police Department on the outside -- Anderson.
COOPER: And, I mean, what is the plan for dealing with the protesters?
PROKUPECZ: So they're not going to get anywhere near here. I mean, the protesters right now are fighting with the courts to try and get closer. They are going to be able to march for about a mile. They say that's not enough.
That mile, Anderson, actually, I'm going to take you back here, is all the way, all the way down onto the other side. It's for blocks and blocks. They're going to be able to get somewhat close to the convention center. We may be able to see and hear them but it's going to be very difficult for them to get anywhere, anywhere near the perimeter of the convention.
[20:45:04]
Right now the protesters are saying they want to march, have more space to get closer to the convention center. The city right now is saying that's not going to happen. They're limiting how far they can get, but we'll see what happens tomorrow. At a press conference today, Anderson, one of the organizers said what's going to dictate where we go and how we do things is by the numbers and the people that come out, and they expect thousands, tens of thousands to come out. They say they're coming from all over the country to come here and to voice their concerns over the war in Gaza.
COOPER: All right. Shimon Prokupecz, thanks very much.
Joining us now a national co-chair for the Harris-Walz campaign, former Democratic mayor of New Orleans, Mitch Landrieu.
It's good to see you here. First of all, just the protests, I mean, are you concerned about it? MITCH LANDRIEU, NATIONAL CO-CHAIR, HARRIS-WALZ CAMPAIGN: No, not
really. This is par for the course for every convention. And of course this is a really emotional issue for a lot of people. And so the First Amendment is critically important. Everybody has a right to protest. They should, they should protest as loudly as they want. Just the protests need to stay peaceful.
COOPER: The last time you and I talked, I mean, this was a completely different race, a completely different campaign.
LANDRIEU: It was.
COOPER: It was going to be President Biden's convention here. He's speaking tomorrow night. What do you expect him to say? And -- yes.
LANDRIEU: I think you'll find that the folks in this building are going to show Joe Biden how much they love him. I mean, they believe and I believe that he will go down in history as being one of the most consequential presidents who's done more in three and a half years than most presidents have done in eight years. And the fact that he made this selfless determination to turn this over to a new generation of leaders will go down as one of really the most respected decisions that a politician has made. And I think that you'll see that tomorrow night.
COOPER: There are a lot of people out there who don't know much about the vice president, don't know much about her backstory. How important you think that this week will serve to kind of inform people, how much policy is there going to be? I mean, by the end of this what's the objective?
LANDRIEU: Well, you've heard that thing, it said it took me 40 years to get famous, you know, actors will tell you that someday. This is a young woman who, as you know, that grew up in Oakland to an Indian mother and a black father who is from Jamaica, who went to Howard University, really was an excellent student. She was a district attorney. She was the attorney general, which means she ran the largest law firm in the United States, in California. As the United States Senate distinguished herself and for the last four years has been a partner with Joe Biden in creating one of the strongest economies that we've seen in a long, long time.
So this is somebody who's got a tremendous amount of experience. But these conventions are an opportunity, as you say, to introduce yourself to the people who may not have been paying attention to the things that have done.
COOPER: The -- you've said she's been a partner to President Biden. That's obviously the case. It is difficult, though, I mean, the position she's in now is trying to -- I assume to some degree, trying to figure out how closely does she connect herself to the last four years and how much does she tried to define herself separate from --
LANDRIEU: I don't think that that's hard at all. I was a lieutenant governor to two governors, and so I know what this is like. You know, when you're a lieutenant governor, it's the person at the top that actually sets the agenda, and she was very much a part of the four major bills that he passed. We now have 60,000 projects rebuilding roads and bridges and airports and ports, and waterways.
The Inflation Reduction Act was something that she had a big role to play and in terms of reducing prescription drugs. But she will be her own person. She will speak with her own voice and she will find issues and she's not going to be afraid if she feels the need to chart her own course. I fully expect and I think the country would expect for her to do that as well.
COOPER: It does seem -- music is obviously pretty loud.
LANDRIEU: I like it.
COOPER: It's a good band.
LANDRIEU: Dance.
COOPER: Yes. She has done something that I don't think anybody else has figured out how to do with the former president, which is not necessarily engage with on personal attacks like Marco Rubio attempted to do back in 2016. She's approached it with kind of a laugh and -- we're told the vice president, by the way, is coming off the plane in Chicago.
LANDRIEU: There it is. How about that? Isn't that great?
COOPER: With her husband.
LANDRIEU: That's a beautiful thing.
COOPER: But does it surprise you that she has sort of figured out something that no one else seems to have been able to do?
LANDRIEU: You know what? It doesn't surprise me at all because as a black woman who's been used to having a guy like Donald Trump just drag her down her entire life it's just like this.
COOPER: Right.
LANDRIEU: It's like nothing new.
COOPER: Right.
LANDRIEU: That's why people are tired of Donald Trump. This is so old and tired. It's been going on in this country forever. And I think people are really getting kind of tired. So when he can't figure out how to pronounce her name, although he can pronounce Zelenskyy's name, or whether and what he's talking to her about being a DEI hire, when in fact she's got more experience than he and J.D. Vance together, she's just like, man, you know what, this has been with us for a long time, which is why she's sure that the people in America are ready to go to the future, to put the past behind us. And let's see if there's something else better for us going forward.
[20:50:08] COOPER: Mitch Landrieu, it's always good to talk to you.
LANDRIEU: Good, nice to see you.
COOPER: Appreciate you. Thank you.
LANDRIEU: Thank you. Appreciate it.
COOPER: Our panel with some final thoughts on what they'll be looking for when the convention gets underway tomorrow. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Tomorrow night we'll see history made. A sitting president and winner of the Democratic primary will make the case for electing someone other than himself.
Back now with the panel. It is, I mean, when you just step back for a moment and think of what has occurred over the last month, I mean, it's --
AXELROD: Mind-boggling.
COOPER: It's mind-boggling. And that President Biden is going to be speaking tomorrow night. It would have been unthinkable a month ago.
AXELROD: No, and he very much was planning to be speaking on Thursday night. And it's going to be interesting, Anderson, because on the one hand, you know, you want to burnish those accomplishments that people do appreciate and you want to have her share in that credit, but you don't -- for her sake, he should not want to be making this a handoff and suggesting that this is going to be just a continuation of what you've seen because people are not in that kind of mood.
COOPER: So just let me ask an indelicate question. In a campaign, I mean, who has final say over a president's speech?
AXELROD: It's a very good question. Well, I was just telling the story to some folks earlier today, I was in charge of working with President Clinton to make sure that we saw his speech.
[20:55:10]
And we did see his speech about an hour or two before he gave it but it turned out that he had memorized the other half, which was all great, by the way. It was one of the great speeches. He did everything we had hoped. But, you know, I don't know who is going to say, Mr. President, we really need to see your draft. There may be -- it may be an article of faith here, and it'll be interesting to see because this has been -- in some ways it's been a very smooth transition to her as a candidate.
In other words, there are clearly some hurt feelings and different. You know, the other night, there was a scrum when they were together and a reporter asked, well, what if she differs with your economic agenda, and he turned around and barked at the report, said, she won't.
COOPER: Yes.
AXELROD: That wasn't necessarily a great message. And if you are the Republicans you'd turn that into an ad.
URBAN: I didn't even notice that, Axe. That was right -- that was when he was taking your questions going to the helicopter with Martin Sheen. Not that I have memorized. Yes, that's exactly what you're concerned about here, right? Because Kamala Harris needs to run as her own candidate, not as an appendage of the Biden-Harris campaign, which she is. She's trying to distance herself from the failures of this administration.
And it's going to be very difficult to do when the guide on bears here saying, great job, Madam Vice President, here it is, take the guy on Ford and stand next to her. So it's very delicate because, you know, he is the president, he has served his country for, you know, very well for a long time. So you have to give him his due. And at the same time you can't, you know, knock her down and her campaign before it begins.
(CROSSTALK)
AXELROD: That all said, I'm sorry. I just want to say I'm sure you'll agree. He's going to get a hero's welcome here tomorrow night. And the fact that he was willing to step aside and the fact that he facilitated the --
URBAN: He stepped aside.
(LAUGHTER)
AXELROD: No, I understand. But --
COOPER: And not only separate, but named -- I mean, named her.
ALLISON: Yes. And that was the point I was going to make is that --
URBAN: That was quick, yes.
ALLISON: I think for whether you like Joe Biden or not, I think Joe Biden knows the historical moment that he is walking into tonight, not that he's just not running, but who is running. And I don't think he will take it for granted and use it for selfish reasons. I hope not. In moments that I have worked with the president he has been selfless. He has been -- he may have hurt feelings, but he has an opportunity.
The reason why he ran for president because he saw something possible for this country. He talks about saving the soul of this country. And I think the president can get up tomorrow night, re-introduce Kamala Harris to the world and say, there is so much more possible for this country. I took it one step. Let's take it further. And let her show the direction --
GRIFFIN: But when you watch these conventions, you remember there's the people listening in the convention hall who want to hear one thing and they are going to be -- they're going to give him a hero's welcome. They love Joe Biden, but there's a lot of people who are tuning in about this new young, energetic candidate. Some Gen Z voters who weren't even thinking of engaging and they need to see something for themselves.
It's obviously by design, he's coming Monday and he's taking off to get back to the White House that there's going to then be, you know, a stacking of other people who are the more forward-looking version of the Democratic Party.
URBAN: Gen Z are going to watch linear television as we know. So the issue is, I think, though, he was -- he didn't want to go. He was going kicking and screaming because he was a fearful that Kamala Harris couldn't win. That he was the only person that could win. Remember that. I think that --
GRIFFIN: There was a massive underestimating --
(CROSSTALK)
AXELROD: That question, though, it seems like it's been asked --
ALLISON: That's right. But --
(CROSSTALK)
ALLISON: You know, one interesting thing is, yes, I think that maybe how he felt a month ago and now what has happened in the month I think he probably -- I think everyone feels a lot more settled. There's a stage back there behind that even when Joe Biden is on stage, they're going to have TikTokers and Instagrammers and people who are on X and Stich and all the platforms that some of us aren't even on, who will be translating what Joe Biden is saying to their audience and so it's -- you're right.
They might not be watching linear, but they will be getting it in their feet. And if they do it right, I think it can land.
COOPER: Our thanks to everybody.
This all starts tomorrow. Don't miss CNN's special live coverage of the night one of the Democratic National Convention starting at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. Again, that's tomorrow night right here on CNN. I hope you join us. Our countdown to the convention continues. "THE SOURCE WITH KAITLAN COLLINS" is next after this 60-second break.
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