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Poll: DeSantis, Ramaswamy Favorites After Debate; DeSantis Campaign Reports Donation Boost After Debate; Biden Launches Abortion Ad Targeting GOP Candidates; PGA Tour Championship Players Endure Hot Southern Temps; Study: Wegovy Helped With Common Form Of Heart Failure. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired August 25, 2023 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[14:32:56]
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: The Iowa caucuses less than five months away and candidates vying for the Republican nomination are hoping to gain momentum following this week's first presidential debate.
A post-debate poll showing potential Republican primary voters were most impressed by Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley.
The DeSantis campaign says it raised more than $1 million in the first 24 hours after the debate. Today, he's out campaigning in Iowa hoping to ride that wave, even as former President Trump continues to dominate the national polls.
CNN's Steve Contorno is live for us in Iowa.
Steve, what is the DeSantis campaign saying?
STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: The DeSantis campaign, Brianna, is pretty upbeat about his performance on Wednesday night.
They believe, despite some concerns with the focus of the questions from debate moderators and some of the dust ups between the candidates, that he demonstrated he was above the fray, above the bickering that other candidates went through.
And he did a lot to quell the concerns of donors and supporters who went into the past week with a lot of questions about the DeSantis campaign, given all the struggles they had of the summer.
You talked about the fundraising they've seen since the debate, that's emboldened them. And now it's about changing hearts and minds in Iowa on the road.
That's why he's here today. He's been touring the state, trying to hit all 99 counties. He hit 39 today. He's going to spend some time getting to know these voters and touching as many palms as possible.
He's also avoiding talking about the elephant who wasn't in the room, Donald Trump. I tried to get him to talk about the mugshot the former president took
yesterday. However, he had some pointed remarks about 2024 that seemed very clearly pointed at the former president.
Take a listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL) & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If this election is about a candidate like me, that's a proven leader, got a proven record, has served this country in uniform.
And I'm out there every day holding Joe Biden accountable for his failures and showing the American people that there's a better way, that we can reverse the decline of the country, we'll win across the board.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[14:35:08}
CONTORNO: The DeSantis campaign also believes that people are just tuning in to this race. And the debate was the starting point for the fall where we're going to start seeing these candidates kick things into gear.
Certainly, the people I spoke with today at the DeSantis events, they said that this is just now -- they're just now starting to pay attention. That the debate is when they first started watching and seeing how the candidates compared to each other.
And now that DeSantis is here, they're excited to get the chance to see him up close and hear from him and other folks as much as they can over the next five months.
KEILAR: His family is kind of stealing the show, Steve, I have to tell you. One of his daughters is running rings around mom, rings around mom and dad.
Then his eldest daughter kind of pulls Ron DeSantis's wife, Casey, off the stage by grabbing her T-shirt. It's funny. You have to give it to little kids. They just don't care.
CONTORNO: Yes, it's a split screen that they like.
That's a dynamic that the campaign wants to play up. Showing his young family, doing all-American type activities, versus Trump who has been mostly campaigning without his wife, without his children and spending time getting booked at a county jail.
KEILAR: That is quite the contrast, indeed, that we're seeing here.
Steve Contorno, in Iowa, not in Florida for us, thank you so much for that report. We appreciate it.
Jim? JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: President Biden has not been talking about Trump's charges but he's seizing on significant moments from the Republican candidates' debate, launching a $25 million ad campaign just this morning focused notably on the issue of abortion.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR & DEBATE MODERATOR: Governor DeSantis, you signed a six-week abortion ban in Florida.
DESANTIS: I believe in a culture of life.
ANNOUNCER: President Biden and Vice President Harris are determined to restore Roe v. Wade. And they will never allow a national abortion ban to become law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: Joining us now is CNN senior political analyst and senior editor for "The Atlantic," Ron Brownstein. And Washington bureau chief for "USA Today," Susan Page.
Good to have you both on.
And, Susan, as you and Ron both know very well, the abortion issue has been one that has markedly driven voters not just in blue states but in red states, in a number of elections and referendums that we've seen recently.
Is this smart issue for Biden to focus on as we get into the 2024 campaign?
SUSAN PAGE, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "USA TODAY": No smarter issue than the issue of access to abortion. As we're seeing in Ohio. Ohio is almost certainly to pass a ballot measure in November to protect abortion rights.
We saw in the midterms last year, that was an issue that denied Republicans the red wave they expected.
This issue is so powerful, especially with independent voters and especially with independent women. No other issue is as good for Democrats as that issue, Jim.
SCIUTTO: Ron, let me ask you, in the Republican debate, most of the candidates were falling over each other to stake out a harsher position on abortion with the exception of Nikki Haley, who injected, well, some emotion, some understanding into it.
Mentioning, for instance, she doesn't believe a woman should go to jail, should be prosecuted for having an abortion.
Given where the party stands on this issue and where primary voters stand on the issue, is there -- is that a winning issue for her in the primaries?
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.
SCIUTTO: Or can you get out of a GOP primary and have a middle of the road position if that's the right expression on abortion?
BROWNSTEIN: Right. That is a critical question, particularly about the issue of whether or not to support a national ban on abortion, which several of the Republican candidates have explicitly endorsed and others, like Trump, and DeSantis have not explicitly endorsed but strongly suggested that they would sign as president.
I think, if you got to a general election, they would be forced to clarify that.
If you look at the midterm, what we saw was a very bifurcated response that has big implications for '24.
In the red-leaning states that actually did ban abortion, places like Florida, Texas, Iowa, Georgia, there was not a significant backlash against the Republican governors. It was not enough to move Republican -- people who normally vote Republican to vote Democratic.
But in the purple states, Jim, it was a different story. Whether we're talking about Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona, in all of those, over 60 percent of voters said abortion should remain legal and in all or most circumstances.
And three-quarters of them or more in each of those states voted for Democrats for governor, even though they were overwhelmingly dissatisfied with the economy and Joe Biden's performance.
[14:40:01]
I think that's a measure of how much of a headwind Republicans will face in the critical states likely to decide which party gets to 270 in 2024.
SCIUTTO: And not just for the president but also for the down-ballot races.
Susan --
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
SCIUTTO: -- the DeSantis campaign is claiming that it raised more than $1 million the first 24 hours after the debate. Though the perception was that he was not the center of attention. You might argue that Vivek Ramaswamy was.
As you watched the debate, based on what you've seen so far, has anyone distinguished themselves as a more credible contender to Trump?
PAGE: You know, DeSantis didn't make any big mistakes. But he also didn't make a big impression. Vivek Ramaswamy made a big impression.
The surprise was Nikki Haley, who came out on the issue of abortion with a more moderate, nuanced stance, a very politically, more realistic stance.
In response to that first question about the national debt, she criticized Trump for adding $8 trillion. Later, she said he wasn't electable. She said he was the most hated politician in America.
She took a much tougher stance towards Trump. She came across as a candidate to pay attention to as we go along with this primary campaign, Jim.
SCIUTTO: She, in fact, fact-checked the other candidates s on stage and even the moderators to some degree, saying, hey, wait a second, you're portraying this the wrong way based on the facts.
Ron Brownstein, Susan Page, thanks so much.
Brianna?
KEILAR: Still to come on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, extreme heat will be bearing down on the PGA players this weekend at the tour championship. The heat index is expected to reach triple digits. How they plan on playing through it, next.
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[14:46:06]
KEILAR: Just a blistering heatwave is spreading across the Midwest and the Deep South from the gulf coast up to the Carolinas. Houston tying its hottest day on record yesterday with, get this, 109 degrees. The Atlanta area could see a heat index today of up to 109.
Derek Van Dam is sweating it out, yes, he is, at the Atlanta PGA tour championship.
This is tough. Look, this is tough. I know you're just walking in golf, but they walk quickly, and they're out there for hours. This is a really tough situation.
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS CERTIFIED METEOROLOGIST: Yes, you said it best, Brianna. There is no escaping this heat. Whether or not you're an athlete or a spectator, it doesn't matter. It's brutal. The air is thick. It's muggy.
Currently, it feels like 105 degrees. We might get up to 106 to 107 at East Lake specifically where the PGA tour championship is taking place.
Get this, there's a heat advisory that lasts through the entire weekend all the way to the end of Sunday. That takes us through the end of this championship tour.
Talking to the PGA tour executive director, he says he doesn't want the players to focus on, well, getting overheated or dehydrated. He wants them to focus squarely on the $18 million purse that is on the cards here for the players, the 30 players gracing these links. Whether or not they have the appropriate mitigation efforts, we walked
around and we've seen a lot of precautionary measures in place, from additional misting stations to cooling centers to additional hydration stations, even sunscreen stations.
But this was the most astounding piece of technology. I've never seen this before. It's worth noting, this is literally called a Cool Mix. It's for the athletes. It's positioned at every three holes. Every third hole has this device.
What it does, it has a cooling technology on the backside of your palm and it can cool your internal core temperature by a few degrees in a matter of minutes, bringing you down to a safer level if you're getting overheated. This piece of device is available to the athletes.
They're doing their best to mitigate the impacts of the heat.
I spoke -- the press spoke to a Georgia native. His name is Brian Harman. He also happens to be the 2023 British Open champion. We wondered maybe if he had a local advantage growing up in this type of heat and humidity.
Find out what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN HARMAN, PGA TOUR PLAYER: You would think it would be a little bit of an advantage, but maybe, in the heat, being in it for so long has worn you down. It never seems to get easy to play in heat like this.
The tour has done a nice job with amendments to the tee boxes, with some cold towels and stuff, more hydration stuff.
We watch more fans go down than players and caddies. So fans that come out need to be really careful because you can get into a lot of trouble out there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAN DAM: All right, Brianna, this event used to take place in November, but the athletes and spectators wishing it still did. It has not done that since the early 2000s.
If you're extra nice, Christmas is coming up. Maybe I'll send you one of these in the mail.
(LAUGHTER)
KEILAR: I love that --
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KEILAR: I mean, for the fans, I think their version is like a bag of ice that they shove their hand in or something.
Talk to us a little bit, Derek, about hurricane season and what you are tracking. I know that there's some potential threats to the U.S.
VAN DAM: Yes. You're following along as closely as I am. We see this potential development in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. We're concerned about it.
All the interest there from the Florida panhandle right through the Florida peninsula need to be on alert to a potential tropical system impacting from Tuesday to Wednesday of next week.
[14:50:01]
There's currently an 80 percent chance of development on that seven- day outlook from the National Hurricane Center. So definitely want to keep your guard up and, perhaps, look at those hurricane preparedness kits you have at home.
KEILAR: Yes, we'll certainly look at that.
Derek, thank you very much. I'm so jealous of you. Maybe a little less. Although if you have that cooling mitt, you are fine. You get to watch a little bit of golf. Sounds like a wonderful outing.
(LAUGHTER)
KEILAR: It's a weird thing, but that's pretty cool.
All right, thanks, Derek.
Jim?
(LAUGHTER)
SCIUTTO: What you don't realize is Brianna actually has one of those cooling stations.
(LAUGHTER)
SCIUTTO: -- later.
There is some promising news coming out of a trial involving the weight loss drug, Wegovy. It could have a big impact on people with the most common form of heart failure. We're going to have the details coming up.
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[14:55:16]
SCIUTTO: The weight loss drugs, Wegovy and Ozempic, have been so wildly successful that their maker has gained a whopping $7 billion profit in just the first six months of this year.
Now research indicates that Wegovy could offer major advantages beyond weight loss, showing, quote, "the largest benefit ever seen with a medication for a common form of heart failure."
CNN's Meg Tirrell is here with the details.
I mean, this has enormous potential consequences, right, given heart disease/heart failure is such a common killer in this country.
MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. And this is just the second trial actually to show benefits in a heart-related condition in just this month were Wegovy, this medicine.
What they did here was they tested this drug in a kind of heart failure known as heart failure with preserved injection fraction in patients with obesity. This is one of the more common forms of heart failure.
The majority of patients who have this type have obesity or are considered overweight.
What they found was that Wegovy not only helped people lose weight in the trial, 13 percent, compared to more than 2 percent on those with placebo, but it also really helped with symptoms of heart failure, like shortness of breath, fatigue, and improved their quality of life.
Doctors I spoke with, who ran the trial, said this was the largest benefit ever seen with a medication on that symptom score in these patients. They're very excited for this treatment option.
As you noted, this is just one of several potential new applications for this medicine. It recently showed a benefit for preventing heart attack, strokes and heart-related deaths in another test.
It's also being tested for liver disease and Alzheimer's. This chemical, called Semalutide, which is active in Wegovy and Ozempic.
So there are drawbacks. There are side effects. They can be expensive if you don't have insurance coverage. But doctors are excited this can really help folks.
SCIUTTO: Some good news. And I'm sure folks at home are glad to hear it.
Meg Tirrell, thanks so much.
Brianna?
KEILAR: One of Trump's co-defendants and accused fake electors says she was just following the former president's orders. Two other defendants also saying that. We are live from Fulton County with the details.
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