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Erin Burnett Outfront
Donald Trump's First Rally Since Landslide Victory; Rivals Step Up Attacks After Trump Landslide; Donald Trump Speaking in South Carolina; Kasich Looks to Ride New Hampshire Momentum into South Carolina; George W. Bush Stars in New Radio Ad for Jeb; Exit Poll: Clinton Losses Women to Sanders. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired February 10, 2016 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:00] ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Next breaking news. Donald Trump live in this hour at his first rally since his big New Hampshire win last night as two more candidates drop out of the race late today. And John Kasich already telling CNN he doesn't expect to win South Carolina. What is his strategy? And the fight for black voters. Bernie Sanders met today with the Reverend Al Sharpton. Should Hillary Clinton be very worried? Let's go OUTFRONT.
Good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news. Donald Trump fresh off of a landslide victory in New Hampshire about to rally supporters. This will be the first time he's taking the stage since his double digit win. That should happen any moment here. These are live pictures out of Pendleton, South Carolina. That is right, South Carolina. That is what now the whole nation must watch. The state's Republican primary is now the next major test for Trump and the other GOP candidates and there are just nine days to go. Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio all locked in a battle to be the Trump alternative. Now, Kasich did put in that strong second place showing in New Hampshire. He's now trying to lower expectations in South Carolina.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KASICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, yes. We're going to compete here. We don't expect to win here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Well, that comes as the Republican field narrowed dramatically today. Chris Christie, the bombastic governor from New Jersey, suspending his campaign and heading home to Jersey today after finishing a disappointing sixth in New Hampshire and a bitter defeat for the man who had focused the majority of his time and effort in the Granite State. Carly Fiorina also suspending her campaign today finishing with only four percent of the votes last night. Now, that's two out. And between them, that would have been 11 percent of the total in New Hampshire. So that can matter for this other competitors.
We begin with Jim Acosta tonight who is at the Trump rally in South Carolina. And Jim, Trump may be riding a wave of momentum. It was a big victory for him last night. He outperformed his polls, but now everybody is gunning for him.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And from what we can tell, he is not changing his strategy at all. We're inside a livestock arena in South Carolina. Just about every seat is filled. That's another one -- those big arena events for Donald Trump. And he is firmly back in place as the GOP frontrunner, but the field is narrowing and that means the battle for the Republican nomination is about to get even more intense in a state where politics is a full contact sport.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: God bless the great state of South Carolina.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
ACOSTA (voice-over): In South Carolina, a state well known for its cut throughout politics, the knives are out for Donald Trump.
CRUZ: The only way to beat Donald Trump is to highlight the simple truth of his record. It is not conservative.
ACOSTA: And it's not just Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush with Trump in their sights.
JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We need someone that creates a strategy, not bouncing back and forth saying I'm the strong man, I'll take care of it. He has no clue.
ACOSTA: Every candidate in the party's establishment lane is in hot pursuit of the GOP frontrunner, including a newly aggressive Marco Rubio.
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The pressure will be on him to say, OK here's what I'm going to do with ISIS. This is what we're going to do about bringing jobs back. Here's how we'd handle the trade and balance. I don't think you can keep saying trust me. I've got a plan for it.
ACOSTA: That sense of urgency is due in part to the winnowing field of candidates as Chris Christie and Carly Fiorina dropped out of the race. And there's a new threat to Trump in John Kasich who declared he won't be dragged into a dogfight with his rivals.
KASICH: I'm not going to be a pincushion or a marshmallow, but I'm also not going to spend my time trying to trash other people. I'll tell you why. Because if this message works, it's fantastic.
ACOSTA: Trump is gearing up for a South Carolina brawl, unleashing a new attack ad on Cruz.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who runs a campaign accused of dirty tricks that tried to sabotage Ben Carson.
ACOSTA: Cruz is firing back with an ad that mocks Trump as an action figure toy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to take your house.
ACOSTA: Trump is also facing tougher questions on releasing his tax record.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I fight like hell not to pay tax. I hate the way the government spends my money.
ACOSTA: And the New York tabloids that aren't letting up.
TRUMP: The owner of the daily news which is a totally failing paper, in fact I think it is out of business.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: Now Donald Trump already has a lot of disability in this state. He was making campaign stops here in South Carolina. While the other candidates were fighting in Iowa and New Hampshire, Donald Trump already has the support of the state's lieutenant governor here and one GOP strategist I talked to earlier today said the current thinking is that the state's Governor Nikki Haley will be sitting on the sidelines not making an endorsement --
BURNETT: Interesting.
ACOSTA: -- before this primary, Erin. That could be a boost to Donald Trump because that means she won't be throwing her support behind an establishment candidate that might pose a threat to Donald Trump -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much. Maybe keeping herself in the running for a VP if he were the ticket. I know it seems slim but he left the door open even when they had that thief recently.
Chief National Correspondent John King is OUTFRONT. And John, you know, you've got Trump and Cruz each with a win in their column, so how do they stack up in South Carolina?
[19:05:20] JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Pow! We've got a heavyweight fight in South Carolina, Erin. You know, Ted Cruz goes there. It's a state with a lot of evangelicals. That's a strength for him. It's a state with a vibrant Tea Party movement. That's a strength for him. But it's an open primary so Democrats can come in and vote for Donald Trump if the want. You have a lot of blue collar people who will listen to Donald Trump when he talks about immigration, when he talks about bashing China, when he delivers the touch message on trade.
Coming into this, the last polls we've seen and I'd be a little suspicious of this, but Donald Trump had about a 15-point lead over Ted Cruz. That's before Iowa where Cruz got a good win. And before last night where Trump got a huge win. Now, South Carolina does sometimes have a history of sticking it to New Hampshire. Remember, John McCain had a big win there in 2000. And George W. Bush rolled in South Carolina and got his bid back on track. So, let's watch this play out. But this is -- there's good terrain for both of them. You see the nasty ads already because they understand, Erin, whoever wins South Carolina gets a bounce into all those southern states that come just down the road in a little bit.
BURNETT: That's right. Of course that first huge super Tuesday. Now, after Trump's big win last night, John, I know you've been talking to sources about, you know, the path to the nomination. When you look at Trump a few days ago before New Hampshire, some people were getting a little dim on that. And now you're hearing, no, it's not hard to lay out a patch for him to get the actual nomination.
KING: It is much easier to lay out a path for Donald Trump that anybody else in this race. Here's a little bit of history. Since 1968, every Republican nominee has won either Iowa or New Hampshire. Now, we're breaking rules this year but that history since Cruz and Trump have a pretty good head start in getting the nomination. Why does Trump have a better road? Doesn't mean Cruz can't get there. Doesn't mean he can't win in the south to get a lot of delegates. The reason a lot of Republicans think Trump has a better path right now, Erin, is because what we've seen happen, even in that second place finish in Iowa.
He took some of Ted Cruz's evangelical support. He won a lot of places where Mitt Romney would win. Sort of suburban moderate Republicans. What happen last night in New Hampshire, he won in places that Ron Paul won four years ago picking up Libertarians, picking up places that John McCain or Mitt Romney ran strong. And even running strong in the few places in New Hampshire where John Huntsman ran strong four years ago. So, Trump has the broader coalition. There's still the thought that if we get to three candidates, if we ever get to three candidates, that he's vulnerable but it's much easier to go state by state, coalition by coalition, and get Donald Trump to the Republican nomination. Doesn't mean Cruz doesn't have a path, but it is easier to draw it for Trump.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, John King. So, OUTFRONT now, the national spokesman for Ted Cruz's campaign, Rick Tyler and Trump's supporter Jeffrey Lord who served as political director for President Ronald Reagan.
Rick, let me start with you because you just heard John King saying, Donald Trump has a better path to the nomination than Ted Cruz. How are you going to stop him?
RICK TYLER, NATIONAL SPOKESMAN, TED CRUZ CAMPAIGN: Well, Donald Trump has a low ceiling. Donald Trump's own worst enemy is himself. And it's usually his own words that have done him in. That's what happened in Iowa. When people find out that Donald Trump is not really a conservative, he pretends to be a populist on TV, but he's really the establishment. I mean, he's been the pay master for the establishment. He's held positions throughout his life that has just not been consistently conservative or conservative at all. In fact, when he was asked what a conservative was in the last debate, he really couldn't tell people. He didn't know what it was.
BURNETT: Yes. When you talk about a ceiling though, you know, it's pretty important, isn't it, Rick, that he was able to outperform his polls in New Hampshire? You know, the ceiling there, somewhere between 28 and 31 percent he came out solidly above that. I mean, he broke through that ceiling there with the competition of six or seven other people.
TYLER: He was expected to win in New Hampshire and he did indeed do that. What happens with Ted Cruz though is he came in third in a blue state and did very well, which shows you that Ted Cruz has a much broader base of support than people would like to give him credit for, but now we are heading to the south. And we're in South Carolina where you have upward of a 60 percent evangelical vote. That's really going to truth with it through the south. But it's not just the evangelicals. It's the Tea Party candidates. It's the Libertarians. And they've come all behind Ted Cruz. And Ted Cruz can beat whoever the establishment candidate ends up being.
BURNETT: OK.
TYLER: And Donald Trump has a very low ceiling.
BURNETT: All right.
TYLER: He is not -- he is not attractive to most of the majority of this party.
BURNETT: All right. We're going to break in right now and just listen to Donald Trump who has just taken the stage in Pendleton, South Carolina.
TRUMP: And I said I think that's a good thing. I hope that's like for us. And we won by a lot, really, a lot. And the reason is that people losing in this country. We're losing all the time. People are tired of stupidity, incompetence. We're not going to have it anymore. We're not going to have it. And, you know, we had a case where somebody was talking about the anger that they think I have. I'm not an angry person. You're not angry, but we're angry about the way our country is run.
[19:10:11] And we're not going to let it happen anymore. We're not going to let it happen. So -- so this has been going on and we went up to New Hampshire. I know it was an amazing experience actually because I've known it long, for a long time. Many friends live in New Hampshire. Many friends live here by the way, I have to tell you, but many friends up in New Hampshire. And it came out -- and the original polls came out and were so high. By the way, the original polls, which just came out here, we're through the roof.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
We are high. We are high. The problem you have, and I saw it up there -- and yet people are smart. These politicians they say anything. They say, like I'm very, very big on the Second Amendment. I think most people know that. Very, very good.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE) And they'll say Donald Trump does not respect the Second Amendment. I say what the hell is this guy talking about. The lying is unbelievable. And I guess it's part of a process, but the good thing we have a big beautiful microphone. Yes. Sit down, relax. Sit down. We'll be here as long as you want. And we may take some questions. Should we take some questions? I think so.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
I think so. Let's just have a good time. You know, I got so far in the last like couple of days. One hour sleep. Because, you know, when you have victory, you don't need sleep, right?
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
You're going on adrenaline. And then what happens is the following day, you say, maybe I do need sleep after all. So, somebody said, oh, that's not a problem, Mr. Trump. We can cancel this or postpone it. Are you crazy? I would never. This is my -- look, this is our group. We have something so special going on. We have something so special going on. The cover of "Time Magazine" last week, they're talking about it's a movement. It's a movement to take our country back and it is. It's a movement to take our country back.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
And that's what we're doing, and it's going to be so beautiful. And it started. It actually started with Iowa. We did great in Iowa. We did great in Iowa. Had Dr. Carson been allowed to keep his votes, we would have done even better, but we did great. We started off with 17 people on the Republican side. You know, a couple just dropped out today. Do you know that? Do you know who? Carly and Christie. And so we're down to, you know, we're getting down to pretty good numbers here. We're getting down to low numbers. When I did it -- and I said it was June 16th -- and it takes guts. I say to everybody it takes guts to run for president. Not easy. Not easy.
And specially, you know, when you're a successful person -- I've always heard it. If you're a very successful person, the last thing you do is run for office. I never really sort of understood there. That's a certain legitimacy to what you do. And then you get into politics, it's a whole other world. I've been in politics all my life, but I've been on the other. You know, I've been a supporter, but I think nobody knows it better than me. One of the things we're doing and one of the things I'm doing is I'm self-funding my campaign, so I can't be bought. I can't be bought by all these people. And I think it's appreciated. But, you know, I turned down -- I'll tell you. You have a guy like Bush, who has his big fund --
(AUDIENCE BOOING)
It's terrible. I'll be honest. The last thing we need is another Bush. That I can tell you. That I can tell you. This guy, he says anything that's on his mind. But, you know, he's gotten so much money. Here's a statistic that just came out. In New Hampshire, he spent $39 million and what is he, fourth or fifth? Right? Think of it. Thirty nine million dollars. Look at all these people standing. This place is unbelievable. The place is massive. Look at all these people. He spent -- I love you too. Look at this. I love it. These people.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
This country is so great the people in this country are so amazing. And you know, all the time no matter where I go it's the same. I go to Mobile, Alabama. Thirty five thousand people. We go to Dallas. Twenty, 21,000 people. We go to Oklahoma, 20,000 people. In New Hampshire, I'll tell you what. In New Hampshire, we were packed all the time. We had in a blizzard -- a blizzard 5,000 people in arena, the Verizon arena. So beautiful. It was incredible. Three of my people were in car accidents coming over. One of them walked over about a mile through a blizzard to be there and it turned out he had close to a broken leg.
[19:15:42] And then I said, you're fired for ruing my car. Why not? But the people, like, they have such spirit. Such beautiful spirits, all of you. So, I felt it was very important to self-fund because I think nobody knows the system better than me. And guys are getting all of this money. And I would have had more than anybody. I mean, I was turning down friends, people that I know, five million, 10 million. People would give me anything. And they put them in these PACs which are crooked as hell, they're horrible. They're horrible. No, they're horrible.
And the PACs aren't supposed to be running the campaigns, but they're running the campaigns. They're running the campaigns. You know, they're totally, be honest, it's out of control, but it's hard for me, you know, because my whole life I take money. Right? I make money. Like some of us have business. We make money. We grab money. Money, money, I love money. Right? No, it's true. And we get greedy and more and more. And then all of a sudden, it's like I say, no, I don't want it. I want to do something else. I want to be greedy, but I want to be greedy for the United States. We want to bring money into the United States. I really do. I really do. To hell with the business stuff. My kids will take the business. My executives, they will run it. We built a great business. I've built an incredible business.
Some of the greatest assets in the world. Very little debt. Tremendous cash flow. Just a great business. And frankly, you know, Dural in Miami, and Turnberry in Scotland and so many different things. Buildings in Manhattan, the Bank of America building in San Francisco, 1290 Avenue, so many great things. And nobody knew that. You know, because I'm a private person. So, the pundits, the geniuses, they go and they say, well, I don't think he's going to run. And I ran. They said they don't believe it. Then they said he'll never file formay. Formay is a single piece of paper. You sign it, you're signing your life away. Well, there's so many beautiful people in this audience. I'm looking at this. These are good -- these are good -- such a great looking group of people.
But I say, formay, they say he'll never sign it. I signed it. Then they say, well, you know, he'll never put in his financials because he's probably not as successful as people think. So, all of the politicians they'll do financials on one paper. My financials were almost 100 pages long done by the biggest accounting firms and lawyers in Washington. And I put them in. They said, well, he'll ask for extensions. Because you can have an extension forever. And I said I don't want any extensions. Thirty days, boom. Certified, done. Put it. And they went and these characters, look at all those cameras. Look at that. Look at it. Now, take a look. Take a look back there. Is that incredible? Wow! Wow! Wow! Do we have any protesters? Because if we had some protesters, they'll turn some cameras to the protesters? We may have to stage a phony protest -- that's the only way they'll show the size of these crowds. These crowds is amazing. I didn't know what the hell I was doing. I came here, I said, how many people? They said, I don't know. Maybe about 10,000. This is an incredible thing. So --
BURNETT: All right. There's Donald Trump speaking in Pendleton. I'm still with Jeffrey Lord, Trump's supporter, former Reagan staffer. And of course Rick Tyler, communications chief for Ted Cruz.
Jeff Lord, this is back to the Donald, the bombastic Donald Trump, that we knew before his disappointing performance in Iowa. This is the Donald Trump. He's back. This is polls again are at the top of his speech.
JEFFREY LORD, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: Well, you know, it's on to the next state and on to the next campaign. I mean, this is what you do. He ran a great campaign in New Hampshire. He ran frankly a pretty good campaign in Iowa. He was only a couple points behind Senator Cruz. So, you know, he's in there and he's going to slug. I mean, this is what presidential candidates do. I expect him to do more of it. Rick Tyler was just out there dishing. I expect to hear this kind of thing. You know, there's not much more to say than we're going to see a lot of this until February 20th. And then we're going to move on beyond that and this is going to get a little more intense.
[19:20:02] BURNETT: Rick, what do you say to this? You've got Donald Trump here of course. Now he's got people behind him in his shot. He's got his thousands of people. He's back at his big rallies.
TYLER: Yes. You know, I was wondering who was going to replace Garrison Keillor. It sounds like (INAUDIBLE). You know, this is like the "Seinfeld" candidacy. I don't know what this camp -- it is about nothing. The whole campaign is about nothing. I didn't hear one substantive piece of anything -- of policy there. Nothing about immigration. Nothing about job creation, nothing about what's going on in North Korea right now. Nothing about defeating ISIS. I mean, this is amazing. This is a "Seinfeld" candidacy. It's about nothing.
BURNETT: Jeff, what do you say to that? I mean, he spent the first several minutes of the speech talking about, you know, his campaigns, the polls and performance. Not policy.
LORD: Well, he has it right. I mean, it's the beginning of a speech here. I mean, let's face it. This campaign is going on for months and months and months. Rick, rick, the campaign has been going on for months. TYLER: It's like a show.
LORD: He has position papers.
TYLER: I'd paid money to go see that.
LORD: He spent -- well, Rick, Rick, I'm beginning to think of Senator Cruz's words that when one loses, one doesn't like it and you lost.
TYLER: We're not losing, Jeffrey. We were winning.
LORD: Well, when you come in third, that's not a victory, Rick.
TYLER: Well, we came in first in Iowa. So, you're one. We're one. I mean, that is just amazing.
LORD: Well, I mean, you know, your contempt for the voters of South Carolina is amazing. I mean, they seem to be liking what he's having to say.
TYLER: Oh, I like it too.
LORD: And I like Senator Cruz.
BURNETT: Rick, what do you say?
(CROSSTALK)
-- Contempt for the voters of South Carolina, Rick, from Ted Cruz?
TYLER: No, of course not. But listen, he has contempt for the voters of South Carolina because he doesn't tell them anything. It's a campaign about nothing. It's like listening to the weather report.
LORD: Well, Rick --
TYLER: I mean, there's --
LORD: Rick, who is the judge of this, the people of South Carolina or you?
TYLER: Well, the people of South Carolina will be the judge of this and they will show up to his events. But, you know, whether they vote for him, like they did in Iowa, remains to be seen. Look, we're going to run a campaign about conservative issues. And this candidate, your candidate is he is not just a conservative. And the reason he doesn't talk about being conservative or talking about issues is because he doesn't have a many history or any record on them. All his record is liberal progressive views. And so, you can't talk about that.
LORD: Rick, I find that very interesting because those exit polls from New Hampshire show that those who self-describe themselves as very conservative put Donald Trump 12 points ahead of Ted Cruz on being very conservative. So, apparently those people who were very conservative and identify themselves in New Hampshire disagree with you. BURNETT: All right. Well, this duel will continue. Thank you both
so very much.
And OUTFRONT next, Marco Rubio, how did he figure out that Saturday's debate wasn't his best performance and what he said about it.
Plus, Bernie Sanders meeting with the Reverend Al Sharpton today. Yes, this is that meeting. Should Hillary Clinton be afraid?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:26:44] BURNETT: Tonight, preparing for battle, John Kasich and Jeb Bush coming off strong finishes in New Hampshire trading blows as the fight moves to South Carolina. Moments ago though, Marco Rubio told CNN he is still better than either of them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUBIO: The fact of the matter is Jeb has no foreign policy experience. None. He just has, no, none foreign policy experience. And he was governor a long time ago. The world has changed a lot in the last ten years and foreign policy has changed a lot in the last five years. And no one on that stage has more experience or has shown better judgment or a better understanding of the national security threats before this country than I have.
BURNETT: All right. This is going to be a fight to the death. Who will be the last man standing? Dana Bash is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): John Kasich arrived in South Carolina basking in the glow of his strong New Hampshire finish.
KASICH: But what I celebrated last night was the army of volunteers who had really delivered the victory.
BASH: To be sure, Kasich was a distant second behind Donald Trump, but he finished first among Republicans vying for the mainstream mantle, leaving the GOP field even more scrambled and Kasich preparing for political incoming.
KASICH: I'm not going to be a pincushion or a marshmallow, but I'm also not going to spend my time trying to trash other people.
BASH: It's a fine line for Kasich, who is calling card in New Hampshire was his upbeat campaign.
KASICH: When you spend all your time trying to drag somebody else down, maybe people have had enough of it.
BASH: And yet, Kasich's sources tells CNN, a key goal in South Carolina is to damaged Jeb Bush who needs a strong palmetto state showing to survive.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Quite a few of us here in this room attended the Kasich town hall.
BASH: Today, as South Carolina voter teed Bush up for a preemptive strike against Kasich --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How would you differentiate yourself from Kasich?
BUSH: I like John Kasich. He's been an effective governor.
BASH: Bush took the opportunity to hit Kasich on a weak spot with conservative voters that the Ohio governor accepted federal dollars to expand Medicaid under ObamaCare.
BUSH: The governor was for expanding Medicaid, which is part of ObamaCare.
BASH: Even before Bush left New Hampshire, he went after Kasich on defense spending. A big issue in military rich South Carolina.
BUSH: John Kasich also has this belief that you can, you know, save money so much that you can't, you know, that on a net basis you don't have to increase defense spending. It's not -- I don't think that's an honest evaluation of the needs of the military right now.
BASH: Team Bush already cut this anti-Kasich web video.
KASICH: I spent a whole career trying to reign in defense spending.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to rebuild the military.
BASH: Sixteen years ago, George W. Bush used South Carolina to turn his primary campaign around and is still popular with Republicans. Jeb is hoping to capitalize on that.
GEORGE W BUSH 43RD PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's no doubt in my mind that Jeb Bush will be a great commander-in-chief for our military.
BASH: Meanwhile, Marco Rubio's campaign is hoping the Bush/Kasich battle gives him time to recover from a devastating fifth place finish in New Hampshire.
RUBIO: Our disappointment tonight is not on you. It's on me.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: And Rubio sources tell me they hope Kasich's battle in South Carolina with Jeb Bush helps Rubio because Rubio for him the name of the game is just to try to climb back up to where he was perceived to be only a few days ago, Erin. And he was the establishment favorite. That was before he plummeted in New Hampshire, thanks in large part to bombing in Saturday night's debate. And, you know, Rubio says, he actually had no idea how bad it was on stage. It wasn't until he got off stage and got on social media and talked to his friends that he really started to get it.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPODENT: -- Bush helps Rubio because Rubio -- for him, the name of the game is just to try to climb back up where he was perceived to be.
[19:30:08] Only a few days ago, Erin, he was the establishment favorite. That was before he plummeted in New Hampshire, thanks in large part to bombing in Saturday night's debate. You know, Rubio says he had no idea how bad it was on stage. It wasn't until he got off stage and saw on social media, talked to his friends that he really started to get it.
BURNETT: Hmm. All right. Dana, thank you.
OUTFRONT now, Republican Congressman Mike Turner of Ohio, a John Kasich supporter, and the former speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, Will Weatherford, a Jeb Bush supporter.
Congressman Turner, let me start with you. John Kasich had a great night last night. He put every single thing he had in New Hampshire and it helped him. But now, of course, it might hurt because you've got Jeb Bush who devoted resources ahead of time to South Carolina for months.
Can John Kasich make that up difference in ten days?
REP. MIKE TURNER (R), OHIO: Well, the news coming out of New Hampshire obviously is John Kasich's rising campaign and that's because as the voters look at the important issues, we have a struggling economy, staggering deficits, and, you know, obviously, concerns on national security, John Kasich not only has a record and a plan, but he's delivered.
He's the only candidate on stage who both balanced the federal budget. Not a plan to just balance it, balance the federal budget, and a state budget that was out of balance. He's created state jobs in Ohio.
And he has experienced serving on the Armed Services Committee, so he certainly understands Social Security issues. He's called for increases in defense spending. He's certainly not only has a plan --
BURNETT: How do you tell that to voters in a state that don't know him? He's admitted this himself, right? He didn't have name familiarity. He's got this big victory, but he's now going into must place, must win states, without a whole lot of investment ahead of time.
TURNER: Well, I think he does. You know, he's been on the national stage for a very long time. When he balanced the federal budget as the budget chairman for the House, he was very well-known. That budget battle was very well known. John Kasich led it and did. So, the voters do know. They know he's strong on defense, strong on
balancing the budget and they know the history of Ohio's turnaround and the jobs he's created.
BURNETT: All right. So, Will, Jeb Bush riding high after last night and he survived. Chris Christie did not. Carly Fiorina did not.
But here's what John Kasich had to say today about Jeb Bush.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KASICH: They got blown out in Iowa and did poorly in New Hampshire. So, they are spending all their money going negative.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Kasich says Bush did poorly. Bush finished in fourth place, which was -- everyone saying so great, but on the math of it -- you have to look at the math. It's only 1,000 votes ahead of Marco Rubio, who didn't even try to spin last night as a positive.
Does Governor Kasich have a point, Will?
WILL WEATHERFORD, JEB BUSH SUPPORTER: No, he doesn't have a point. I like Governor Kasich, but I've got to be honest with you.
I feel sorry for him. This is a guy who thought he was running for president of New Hampshire and not president of the United States of America. Somebody forgot to tell him there's other states you have to run in.
And so, while he had a good night last night and I congratulate him on that good night, Governor Bush is in South Carolina today with 40 paid staffers, TV that's been going on for weeks, and thousands -- certainly hundreds if not thousands of volunteers ready to go.
Governor Kasich is a nice guy. He's not ready to be commander and chief. And he didn't think ahead about having an infrastructure or the resources to run a national campaign.
Jeb Bush conversely has. He's got plenty of resources, plenty of infrastructure, and he's ready to take this campaign into the long haul.
BURNETT: Congressman Turner, the point that's interesting here is you also have -- when you talk about the 40 staffers Will just mentioned in South Carolina, George W. Bush now getting involved, going to be campaigning for his brother in South Carolina. And he just released an ad today in the state. Here's a brief clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT: Jeb has dealt with crises as a governor of Florida and he did so with resolve, steadiness, and a calmness necessary in a good leader.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Congressman, W. is more popular in a lot of polls than Barack Obama. Obviously, perhaps among different people, but the point still stands. Doesn't that popularity, his gravitas, his success historically in the state of South Carolina really hurt John Kasich?
TURNER: No. I think Jeb Bush can continue to spend. It's not translated yet into votes. John Kasich has a record. He has a national record. He doesn't have to just talk about how he's done in Ohio, he can talk about how he balanced the federal budget and it's not just a one-off. He went to the state of Ohio and balanced their budget. He went to the state of Ohio and took the economy and turned it around.
And on the national stage, he worked with the House Armed Services Committee. He understands the issues of defense. He understands the issue of Washington and national security. He's called for increased defense spending. All of his issues are --
WEATHERFORD: But, Congressman --
(CROSSTALK)
TURNER: -- to cite his experience, not just some platitudes of, you know, well, I happen to have a plan for you. I have experience and I have delivered.
BURNETT: Go ahead, Will.
WEATHERFORD: I mean, yes, maybe he balanced the budget, but he's increased spending in the state of Ohio by 40 percent. There was a bill that passed in Congress in 2009. I know you weren't there, but it was called Obamacare. President Obama jammed that bill with Nancy Pelosi down the throats of Congress.
And just a few years later, Governor John Kasich jammed down his Obamacare expansion on the Republican-led legislature of Ohio.
[19:35:01] That's not conservative. The citizens of South Carolina are not going to be happy about that. And unfortunately for him, he's not well-known there, and what they know about him are his liberal policies which helped him in New Hampshire.
(CROSSTALK)
WEATHERFORD: Those liberal policies aren't going to help him in South Carolina.
BURNETT: I'm going to hit pause here. I let the congressman start and Will finish. So, we're even there.
As they, of course, fight with each other. You have Trump and Cruz glad these two are fighting. This is the way it is in the GOP. Still, a very crowded field. And next, Bernie Sanders meeting with Al Sharpton in New York today
courting the black vote. Here, it's not well lit because this was just a breakfast. As you can see, that they were talking.
So, how big of an issue is this for Hillary Clinton? Hillary Clinton completely absent from the cameras today. So, why? Will we see a new Hillary Clinton at tomorrow night's debate?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Bernie Sanders working overtime to broaden his support after a commanding victory in New Hampshire, a state that is 94 percent white. The Vermont senator is looking to South Carolina and beyond, states that have a much larger percentage of African-Americans to say the least. This is a crucial voting bloc in 2005.
[19:40:01] Sixty-six percent of blacks voted in the general election, which explains why Sanders travel to New York this morning to meet with the Reverend Al Sharpton, a clear sign that the fight is now on for the black vote and he is fighting tooth and nail to win the nomination.
Joe Johns is OUTFRONT.
And, Joe, this is a very significant meeting for Bernie Sanders.
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: It's interesting that he didn't go straight to South Carolina, but he came to Harlem first to meet with Reverend al Sharpton. This is critical. It's because there are a lot of African-American voters in South Carolina and a lot of them so far have been aligned with Hillary Clinton. And the question is, how does Bernie Sanders make inroads into that grouping?
Didn't get much from al Sharpton quite frankly. He didn't get an endorsement. Sharpton said he's going to wait until he got an opportunity to talk to Hillary Clinton.
And talking to people behind the scenes, there's a real suggestion that Reverend Sharpton has concerns about both of these candidates. He's concerned that Bernie Sanders might not be able to follow-through in the promises he's made on the campaign trail. He's concerned also about Hillary Clinton and how Bill Clinton, back when he was president, did things like sign into the law the Welfare Reform Act or sign into law the crime bill that sent so many African-Americans to jail.
You know, Bill Clinton has said he regrets that, but the question for African-Americans is, oops, I made a mistake enough to get on the bandwagon with Hillary Clinton.
So, a lot of complex dynamics right there in South Carolina that could play out with some of the other African-American populations in some of the other cities.
BURNETT: Right. Crucial that Al Sharpton took that meeting and, as you say, that it was important for Bernie Sanders to come to New York to meet with Al Sharpton before heading to South Carolina.
All right. Joe Johns, thank you very much.
And OUTFRONT now, our political commentator Van Jones, and our political contributor Michael Nutter, former mayor of Philadelphia and a Hillary Clinton supporter.
So, Van, you know, Joe is speaking to this. The conventional wisdom is Hillary Clinton will do very well with black voters in the upcoming contest, but, you know, this doesn't necessarily bear out. Bernie Sanders has a history of supporting causes that are important to the African-American community as well.
Can he get enough of the black vote to win?
VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, we will see. Obviously, Hillary Clinton has a formidable lead because she has put in the work. She has long standing relationships in the black community and particularly in South Carolina.
At the same time, there's a foot race on over race right now. It's not like Hillary Clinton has only strengths and no weaknesses and Sanders only has weaknesses and no strengths.
Bernie Sanders was a civil rights fighter. He was a member of CORE. He marched. He was a very, very strong supporter of Reverend Jesse Jackson in the 1980s.
BURNETT: Yes.
VONES: And his voice is now appealing to a lot of young African- Americans. He has a shot here. I think the mythology that the black community is a monolith and is going to march behind the Clintons. I think that's a mythology that's going to come apart pretty quickly.
BURNETT: And Mayor Nutter, I mean, this -- as Van points out, Bernie Sanders has a long record in the 60s, arrested for protesting against segregation in public schools in Chicago, traveling to Washington to hear Martin Luther King, Jr. speak.
Are you concerned that the more the black community learns about him the more they say may, wait a minute, this whole portrayal of him only winning in a white state that's next door to his state is not actually a picture of the real man?
MICHAEL NUTTER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I want to go back to something that van said. First of all, it is in fact a complete myth that the African-American is a monolith. They are any number of folks who have a wide variety of opinions.
Senator Sanders is doing the right thing by trying to attract African- Americans, Latinos, minorities, all people to his campaign. That's what any candidate should do and at the same time, Secretary Hillary Clinton is not going to take anything for granted. There are no automatics in any of this, and so, there will be an appropriate campaign and a fight, if you will, for African-American support by these candidates.
But again, Van points out, Secretary Clinton does have a very long history from her time as first lady in Arkansas up through her time as secretary of state, maintaining and developing and growing relationships with a wide variety of folks in the African-American community. We've had two contests, and quite honestly, they've both have had an historic aspect to them. Secretary Clinton, first woman to win caucuses in Iowa, Senator Sanders, first Jewish American to win a primary.
And so, there is a contest here.
[19:45:02] It will be a contest of ideas. And I want to encourage the viewers, the listeners, people paying attention to what's going on -- listen to the ideas. Details matter. And try to understand what is the track record of the person, the ability to get stuff done, and implement the many things that are being proposed. That's what a campaign is about.
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: All fair point. But, Van, a lot of people are saying, look, look at the South. Look at the states coming up on Super Tuesday. They're southern, they have a large part of the electorate that's going to vote that is black, and that electorate, and you're talking about relationships with the African-American community. They're going to mostly vote for Hillary Clinton.
If that conventional wisdom is wrong, Bernie Sanders could have a real shot at the nomination a lot of people aren't giving him credit for.
JONES: Let me tell you where he has an opening, and I think people don't understand. The young generation that's coming up, the black lives matter generation, their number one issue -- just like for some Latinos, they have 1,000 blessings and 1,000 problems, but their number one issue is immigration. For this younger generation of African-Americans, 1,000 problems, 1,000 blessings, their number one issue is mass incarceration, criminal justice.
And they look at the Clinton's record on that and they are infuriated. You saw Michelle Alexander, who is the author of "The New Jim Crow", that's the bible, frankly, of the Black Lives Matter Movement. She came out today, a blistering statement saying, the Clintons don't deserve our vote because of what they did to black people in the '90s. It shocked a lot of people when she came out with that. You saw Ben Jealous come out against her.
So, this is going to be a very interesting contest. I think -- I'm sorry, Ben Jealous from the NAACP. He came out. And then you had Ta- Nehisi Coates, a new author, he came out.
So, you're starting to see a bunch of young African-Americans saying you don't get a free pass based on what you did in the '90s.
So, just like Bernie Sanders has had to walk the plank for his NRA vote, she's now having to deal with the 1990s record. If she wants to talk about the economic --
(CROSSTALK)
NUTTER: Sorry, Van.
I read Michelle Alexander's piece as well, highly respect her. She was not exactly glowing about Senator Sanders in that particular piece as well.
Each candidate has issues that they have to deal with, but, you know, coming out of that '90s time, being an elected official and seeing the devastation of crime and violence mostly, at least in Philadelphia, in the African-American community, not commenting on the actual legislation, but having more police officers on the street, dealing with excessive levels of violence in the communities, and seeing the crime rate going down virtually across the United States of America, these are issues that will be debated.
But, I mean, the president has said what he has said. Secretary Clinton has already stated that she wants to see changes from the '94 crime bill and has put forward any number of proposals to reverse some of those issues.
(CROSSTALK)
NUTTER: We're into the here and now. Everybody has to campaign on who they are, what their record is, and move things forward, whether it's with the African-American or any other community across the United States of America. Delegate count does matter in this race as well to get to the nomination.
BURNETT: All right. Thanks to both of you.
If past is any prologue, 7 percent of the voters in New Hampshire identified as minority. And, of course, that could mean any type of minority. But 49 percent went to Clinton, 50 for Sanders. Dead heat.
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are going to be facing off tomorrow in the PBS NewsHour Democratic presidential debate. That, of course, will be here on CNN and your local PBS station at 9:00 Eastern.
OUTFRONT next, Hillary Clinton losing to Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire by a staggering 22 points. So, what does she need to say tomorrow night to get her voters back?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:52:44] BURNETT: Hillary Clinton absent on the campaign trail tonight. The former secretary of state hunkering down with her team. They're getting ready for tomorrow night's crucial PBS Democratic debate which you'll see live here on CNN.
But after last night's loss, exit polls reveal a number of warning signs, something Clinton has acknowledged.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I know I have some work to do, particularly with young people. But I will repeat again what I've said this week.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Even -- even if they are not supporting me now, I support them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: OUTFRONT now, our senior political analyst David Gergen, former presidential adviser for four presidents.
OK, let's talk about this issue of young voters. This is crucial. Look at the polls, 83 percent of young voters in New Hampshire went for Sanders -- 83 percent. I mean, I don't know when we've seen a number so overwhelming. The age group she carried was only 65 and over.
What does that say?
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, she's got a problem. And she has to fix it before the general election if she wins the nomination.
Look, a couple of things going on in her favor. In her favor, it should be pointed out that frequently, people -- young people rebel against their parents. They have to get out of the nest, but they embrace their grandparents because they love the values of their grandparents. And there's a quality here with Bernie Sanders in his mid-70s fits that model.
But I also think that it's important, when Gloria Steinem and Madeleine Albright went out on this ill-fated trip to appeal to younger voters and basically scolded them, I think what --
BURNETT: They vote for her because she's a woman. And, by the way, Sanders won women overall, 55 percent to 44 percent.
GERGEN: Absolutely, and young women.
You know, I teach and what I've discovered, I've made a lot of mistakes trying to communicate to the younger generation. You can't tell them your values only.
You have to go to them and hear about their values, because they have a different perspective on the world. This has been the older generation telling the younger generation. Here's what you must believe as oppose to, respecting the younger generation for why they are different and why they have a different perspective and appealing to that.
BURNETT: Which is an interesting way of putting it.
All right. Now, here's the other issue she had. We've seen this from the beginning. When they said, word clouds -- what words do you think of when you think of a candidate? She has always had words come up of dishonest and untrustworthy.
[19:55:00] And last night, that showed up in the exit polls -- 45 percent of those who voted Democrat said she was honest and trustworthy, 45 percent. Not even half. Bernie Sanders, 89 percent.
GERGEN: Absolutely. This is a Democratic primary. These are Democratic voters and independent. It doesn't include a Republican where the dishonesty --
BURNETT: Right. So you don't have Republicans who are going to say that just because they dislike her.
GERGEN: You know, they poll that poll that way.
BURNETT: Right.
GERGEN: I think this is one of the reasons why she needs to regroup and taking a little time off the road. Listen, I have worked with her. I've never had an honesty problem with her and I've been surprised by all this level of distrust. There's something going on here I don't quite get.
But let me give you an example among young people on this very issue. I am a big education reform person, I believe in charters. I teach America naturally.
She was seen as a friend of charter schools in the past, and this campaign -- which is very important to a lot of young people. This campaign, she's come out against charter schools because she wants to please the teacher's union. Young people are like, what?
BURNETT: It doesn't add up.
GERGEN: What the hell (ph) is going on? Yes.
BURNETT: All right. Well, thank you very much, David Gergen.
She is taking this day to regroup and get ready for tomorrow night.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Thank you so much for joining us. Be sure to set your DVR to record OUTFRONT, so you can watch us anytime. See you back here tomorrow night as we count down to the crucial Democratic debate live here on CNN.
"AC360" starts right now.
