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The Disconnect Between GOP Candidates And Young Republicans; Tonight: Iowans Caucus To Pick GOP Presidential Candidate; One Hundred Million People Under Dangerous Wind Chill Alerts. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired January 15, 2024 - 11:30   ET

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

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[11:33:44]

SARA SIDNER, CNN HOST: Iowa may have gotten first in the presidential nominating season for over half a century. But for Iowa's youngest voters, this historic political tradition is pretty new. And with a bitter cold, possibly keeping some of the older Republicans at home, it may give younger crowds a better chance at being heard by the candidates who are here.

Joining me now is the chair of the Iowa Young Republicans, Mary Weston. Thank you so much for joining us. I am glad you're inside there in Cedar Rapids where I will be going in just about an hour.

I want to ask you first. Do you think that the GOP is doing enough to prioritize its appeal to court young Republicans in Iowa?

MARY WESTON, CHAIR, IOWA YOUNG REPUBLICANS: Oh my gosh, yes. Not only all over the nation, the Young Republicans National Federation is an auxiliary of the Republican National Committee. But also here in Iowa, the young Republicans and the College Republicans are very close with the Iowa GOP.

And Chairman Kaufmann has been fantastic at reaching out to us making sure we're involved with the caucuses, making sure we're getting out to events, getting involved with the campaigns, getting on the ground in Iowa, and I don't think they could have done any better with the young population here in Iowa.

SIDNER: I just want to note that we're here in the Mars Cafe in Des Moines, Iowa. And things are getting pretty wild and raucous around here. Everyone's getting their coffee and talking about what's going on today. So, that's kind of fun. That's what you're hearing in the background.

[11:35:10]

I do want to ask you, though. You know, what are young Republicans here in Iowa talking about? What are they asking for? What are the policies they care about? And are the candidates listening to them?

WESTON: You know, I've gotten a lot of questions from reporters about this. And my answer has been, you know, as much as policies are important, we talk a lot in our meetings and at our get-togethers about the term electability. You know, who is the nominee that's going to go and beat Joe Biden, who's the nominee that's going to reach out to the independents and the moderates, and make sure that, you know, they defeat Joe Biden in November?

And I mean, you know, obviously, the southern border is something that's very important to young people. And the economy with a lot of us being fresh out of college and starting to build our savings accounts. But really that electability piece is something we talk a lot about in The Young Republicans group.

SIDNER: This is an unusual time. Number one, you've got historic low temperatures, which we keep talking about, but it is part of the story here. There are no people walking around casually on the streets. It is not easy to get to places.

But you also have the parties, not the state government, they're running the caucuses this year. Is that going to change anything in your estimation here?

WESTON: You know, I think just naturally less people are going to go out. It is dangerously cold. For those of you from the South that might be laughing at us, it is actually dangerously cold. 10-minute exposure to the skin can cause frostbite.

But you know what? I heard you guys talking earlier about, you know, Ron DeSantis, maybe his folks are going to show up because they know how critical this caucuses whereas Trump folks might think this is an easy win for them and might not show up. I do expect to see some of that tonight. But I do encourage all Iowans listening, please get out in the caucus, fundal up, we have prepared way too long for this to not show up tonight and support our favorite candidate.

SIDNER: I am curious because every single presidential election, we hear people courting the young vote. We hear people talking about trying to get young people out to vote. They don't always show up in big numbers. Are there enough young Republican voters to make a difference in your estimation, in this particular presidential election?

WESTON: Oh, of course. And you know, in this election, in particular, and actually, this is my first caucus at age 23. The 2020 caucus was, you know, Trump or Trump.

But you know, I think with the amount of exposure we've had to political conflict in this country, I mean, at least my experience in Iowa being pushed around a lot in high school and in college for my beliefs, that just pushes me more to want to go to the polls and support my candidate and eventually the Republican nominee. And I think that's true for a lot of young people. I think we're going to show up in historic numbers and get out there and support our favorite candidate.

And also -- I mean, this year, you've got younger candidates. I mean, Vivek Ramaswamy is a historically young candidate. And I think a lot of people are ready to support those younger candidates. SIDNER: That's really interesting because Donald Trump is the front- runner. He's the oldest of the candidates running. When it comes to young people, is it Vivek or who that they feel the closest to and that they feel like is prioritizing young Republican voters the most?

WESTON: Yes. You know, I think Vivek has done a good job directing a lot of his rhetoric at young people. However, I do know from talking to members of our group that they don't think Vivek has properly represented the young population in a professional manner, just with comments made about Chairwoman McDaniel at the debates. You know, low attacks, that maybe -- it's not someone we want representing our age group, necessarily.

But I see a lot of you know people who want to point to Donald Trump or Ambassador Haley, or Governor DeSantis in this caucus. You know, I think we're not going to have any surprises tonight. But I do think that a lot of young people are split between those three candidates primarily.

SIDNER: Mary Weston, thank you so much. I will see you just shortly in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I know the temperatures are dangerously cold.

That is true. Just 10 minutes, and you can get hyperthermia out there. So, please be careful. And thank you so much for being on with us today. I appreciate you.

WESTON: Thank you, Sara.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Sara, a very interesting conversation indeed. Coming up. All eyes, certainly on Iowa right now, including President Biden's.

His reelection campaign just raked in nearly $100 million. What his team is closely watching for tonight? We'll be right there.

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[11:44:12]

BLITZER: All right, looking at this -- these are live pictures out of Des Moines, Iowa right now. The temperature there is negative five degrees. The wind chill there, negative 20 degrees. Caucusgoers are set to kick off the 2024 race for the White House just a few hours from now.

The Biden campaign understandably is closely watching the Iowa caucuses today. The campaign's communications director telling CNN they're gearing up to make the election to fight about the future of American democracy. And it comes as we're learning President Biden raised $97 million for his reelection campaign and the Democratic Party in the fourth fundraising quarter of last year. But tonight, it's all about the GOP of the Iowa caucuses.

John Berman is with us. John, over to you.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: Yes, let's get right. I'll bring in CNN's political director David Chalian. David, thank you so much for being with us. I think you're actually luckily in Washington, DC not in Iowa.

[11:45:06]

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: I am. I got out of Iowa on Saturday, just before the cold snap really got there.

BERMAN: I love Iowa.

CHALIAN: Me too.

BERMAN: I love the Iowa caucuses. These are the first caucuses that I haven't been to I think since 1996. But the question, David, is what -- why do we love Iowa so much? Is it because it's so predictive of the Republican caucuses?

CHALIAN: It's certainly not that, John. First of all, there's just something magical about, I don't know, 150,000 people showing up to kick off a process that ultimately ends up with somebody sitting in the Oval Office representing 330 million of us. And that's why we love Iowa is because of the on-the-ground nature of the campaigning.

But in terms of predictability, no. Especially in Republican caucuses, John, take a look here in recent caucuses. Ted Cruz won them in 2016. He wasn't the nominee nor the president.

Same story for Rick Santorum in 2012. He won Iowa went nowhere. 2008, Mike Huckabee, he also won the Iowa caucuses, not the nominee.

You have to go back to 2000. And remember, you covered this campaign to George W. Bush, who had a big victory in Iowa. Obviously, went on to be the nominee and become President of the United States.

And that 41 percent, John, that he got in terms of his level of support on Iowa caucus night is a record in the Iowa Republican caucuses. One we will see if Donald Trump can break tonight.

BERMAN: Yes, let's talk about that. The expectations for Donald Trump, the Des Moines Register poll had him at 48 percent. That's a high number. It's pretty close to 50.

CHALIAN: It is. And I think a lot of people will watch to see if he can get over that 50 percent or under that 50 percent. Obviously, we'll also be watching the margin of victory over who comes in second and third. But I do want to note, John, if we go into the map here in Iowa, so how will Donald Trump who didn't get nearly even close to 50 of the last time around eight years ago, how will he do it?

Well, I think if you just take a look, I'm just going to say he's looking to boost strength up here with evangelical voters, hardcore conservative Republicans, but he's also looking to perform better than he did in the suburban areas than he did last time. Take a look.

If I go back now into 2016's map. What you see here is there's a lot of Ted Cruz yellow in here that Donald Trump is looking to replace with his own supporters this time around, and there's a lot of Marco Rubio orange in the suburbs. This is where Nikki Haley is playing for votes, but also where Donald Trump is hoping to get some support that he didn't do.

So, can he boost the big conservative vote out here? And can he make some inroads with the suburbanites in the Republican caucus that he didn't have necessarily eight years ago?

BERMAN: It really is extraordinary. It's a very different Donald Trump in 2016. We were looking at Lyon County and Sioux County in the northwest corner, Donald Trump didn't even finish in the top three there in 2016. Obviously, it'd be unlikely that that's the same case tonight. Talk about the battle for second place, David.

CHALIAN: It's a very important battle for two reasons. One, Ron DeSantis, as you know, has made -- he's trying to recreate that Ted Cruz map too. He was trying to dig into the evangelical vote. Visited all 99 counties.

e's put everything on Iowa. If he comes up in a third place, especially a distant third place, it's going to be very hard for him to have the money and the fuel needed to continue this campaign.

Nikki Haley. She is trying to recreate that Rubio map from 2016. Again, those orange areas here in suburban areas. And she's trying to make an electability argument.

Remember the suburbs sort of won against Trump in a general election context in 18 and 20 and even 22. She's trying to say I can win those kinds of votes. If she ends up in a strong second place, given how she's performing in New Hampshire, she's going to have a bunch of momentum to make the case why she should continue on in this race.

BERMAN: And it will make for a very interesting week heading up into New Hampshire one week from now. David Chalian, you are magic. Thank you so much for being with us today.

CHALIAN: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: Wolf?

BLITZER: Now, you know why he's our political director. He knows politics.

BERMAN: He is magic.

BLITZER: He is the best. All right guys, thank you. The Buffalo Bills -- let me repeat that. My Buffalo Bills are still in need of snow shovelers just ahead of tonight's rescheduled playoff game. This, as brutal arctic blast is pounding much of the U.S. We'll have the latest forecast when we come back.

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[11:53:43] BLITZER: Right now, more than a hundred million people are under wind chill alerts as subzero temperatures extend across a significant portion of the United States. In New York, the Buffalo Bills are still in need of snow shovelers just ahead of tonight's playoff game. This is a video of fans having a little fun while braving the cold to help out.

One shoveler tweeting this photo, if you're going to game that tonight, brace yourself. You'll have to shovel all of this off your seat. And as we say, John, go Bills.

BERMAN: I was going to say you're completely objective.

BLITZER: Yes.

BERMAN: Completely objective when it comes to the Buffalo Bills.

BLITZER: Let's go Buffalo.

BERMAN: In Iowa, temperature's forecast to say at or below zero, well below zero, which is obviously one of the biggest issue facing caucus- goers there tonight. Let's get right to meteorologist Allison Chinchar in the weather center. What are you seeing, Allison?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right. And I think the key thing here is that it's not just Iowa. If you take a look at these alerts, they stretch all the way from the Canadian border back down to the Texas-Mexico border. And pretty much everywhere in between. Some of these wind chills you're talking, the feel is like a temperature of 45 degrees below zero. At some of these areas, frostbite is considered on any exposed skin in as little as five to 10 minutes.

Looking at some of those currents right now. Bismarck, the current temperature is 13 below, but the feels like it's 37 below. De Moines, specifically, the temperature, minus six, but it feels like minus 20.

[11:55:05]

And when we fast forward into the evening hours, as many folks are heading out to the caucuses, look at some of these temperatures. Again, that windchill minus 32 in Des Moines, minus 29 in Davenport, same thing in Cedar Rapids. Pretty much across the entire state, those wind chills are expected to be about 20 to 30 degrees below zero.

Now, that cold air is in place elsewhere. And that means the moisture moving through is going to be in the form of snow and ice. And that stretches from Texas all the way up to Connecticut.

This is the system that's going to be making its way into the mid- Atlantic tonight and eventually into the Northeast tomorrow. This means Wolf, the snow drought for cities like New York, DC, and Philadelphia could end up being broken in the next 24 hours.

BLITZER: All right, Allison, thank you very much. Allison Chinchar reporting. And to our viewers, thanks very much for joining us. Important note, I'll be back 4:00 p.m. Eastern for CNN's special live coverage of the Iowa caucuses. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "INSIDE POLITICS" is coming up next.

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