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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Special Post-Primary Coverage. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired February 10, 2016 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:01] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to a special post primary edition of EARLY START. It is 3:00 a.m. in the east. I'm John Berman.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Poppy Harlow.

I hope you are up late or very, very early with us. What a night.

BERMAN: Yeah, I hope you didn't sleep at all.

Donald Trump, Democrat Bernie Sanders, they won big in New Hampshire.

Look at that. Young voters, Independent voters, even women voters helping drive Sanders to a 22 point win over Hillary Clinton. And Donald Trump, he scored with just about every group of voters, a two to one margin over the rest of the field.

HARLOW: As the results came in, and the candidates looked ahead, it looked straight at South Carolina. Both winners and losers, that's what they were focusing on, look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are going to make America great again.

JOHN, KASICH, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hillary, you just needed this much and head to South Carolina because it ain't working here.

TED CRUZ, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The real winner is the conservative grassroots.

MARCO RUBIO, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I did not do well on Saturday night, so listen to this, that will never happen again.

KASICH: There's so much going to happen, if you don't have a seatbelt go get one.

TRUMP: I love you all. Thank you, New Hampshire. Thank you, thank you, New Hampshire, thank you. We are going now to South Carolina. We're going to win in South Carolina. I love you all. Thank you very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: I love you all. Thank you very much. Thank you, New Hampshire. Thank you. That was Donald Trump right there. And CNN Politics Reporter Jeremy Diamond is in New Hampshire. Thank you, Jeremy.

What a night it was for Donald and Bernie Sanders.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Right. Unbelievable. I mean as Donald Trump would say, "Unbelievable." You know, he came out tonight with a really strong win that is really showing that his movement, as he calls it, is absolutely real.

You know, he came up 20 points over his closest rival, as did Bernie Sanders also posting double digits against Hillary Clinton.

But for Donald Trump, this was really an important night. You know, after, you know, kind of he raised expectations before the Iowa caucuses and then underperformed by coming in second place.

This week in New Hampshire, he did something a little different, he kind of underplayed expectations, you know, said, that while he was doing very well, he said "We'll see how we actually do." And then came up with this double digit win.

So Donald Trump learning to play the expectations a little bit. He's really improved as the candidate. And as far as Bernie Sanders is concerned, you know, he tonight showed that his campaign can pull out a win against Hillary Clinton, showing that his campaign is moving forward and is trying to build a national campaign, one that can challenge Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination in a way that, you know, hadn't previously been really thought of.

You know, this race was not supposed to be a close one early on and Bernie Sanders really showing that he too has a movement that he too is really leading the charge and kind of taking the progressive wing of the party and trying to put it in its place at the top of the Democratic ticket.

HARLOW: All right Jeremy, stay with us.

I want to bring in our panel to keep discussing, Eric Bradner is with us from CNN Politics Digitals, Josh Rogan, CNN Political Analyst is with us. Jeremy stay with us as well.

So Josh Rogan, to you when you look at Sanders and you look at Nevada and you look at South Carolina, on my show this week and one of my guest said, stop calling it a firewall, stop calling South Carolina a firewall for Hillary Clinton.

She and her husband have entrenched roots there and connections and that is very important and all the polling does show that she wins among minority voters.

However, you've heard others who are saying more and more African- American voters are on the fence, and if Bernie Sanders has done anything this campaign, he has surprised.

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right, I think what everyone is being surprised by is the real deep seeded discontent with the establishment and that's playing out in both sides and when you apply that to each individual state, it plays out in different ways.

In South Carolina, it's the best predictions are, they won't be enough to bring Bernie Sanders over the structural and political advantages that the Clinton campaign has.

Some states are not like that. So that's why you see the Sanders' campaign projecting out into the March and April timeframe because you never know where that wealth of support, where that wealth of popular anger and real unhappiness with the Clinton machine. And Hillary Clinton as a candidate, she's going to strike. You've got to take a shotgun approach. You shoot a thousand bullets. You'll hit a bunch of things. You don't know exactly what's going to happen.

In the end, if it's really close, let's remember Hillary Clinton also has very strong, super delegate support.

And so it's not enough for Bernie Sanders to just keep even with Hillary Clinton until the very end because if that happens, the super delegates, hundreds of which the Clinton team has been rounding up for eight years, going all around the country, trading favors, placing people in all these places that if it ever came down to what it came down to in 2008 or it came down to the super delegates, that's how she lost to Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton is prepared for that.

[03:05:05] So Sanders doesn't have to just keep even with Hillary Clinton. He really have to beat her. And that's what we're looking at.

BERMAN: Eric, let's talk with Donald Trump because I was in New Hampshire until I don't know like three or four hours ago, I think.

And you I we've been hearing the same people whispering. The whispers going into Election Day today where that, you know, maybe Donald Trump will win, but it will be single digits, it will be low single digits, he doesn't beat the expectations, he's got no ground game, he's winning by 19 points right now. This could be the biggest win in New Hampshire we've seen the contested primary since John McCain. Maybe even better than John McCain 51,000 votes, this is big and it means something, Eric, going forward.

ERIC BRADNER, CNN POLITICS DIGITAL REPORTER: Yeah, that absolutely does.

So Donald Trump sort of defied the rules of conventional politics here. The idea was in Iowa and New Hampshire you had to do the retail politics thing. You got to do what John Kasich did, a hundred town halls.

But Donald Trump demonstrated that these giant rallies, these events here and there, you know, maybe he gets snowed out, he stays in Manhattan for a night, it doesn't really hurt him.

And so the hard part is over in that regard. The retail politicking is over. Now he's moving to a couple of bigger states and then Super Tuesday where these big rallies can be a lot more effective, where his sort of domination of media attention can be an advantage that nobody else can match.

So yeah, Donald Trump really, really sort of turned the story around tonight.

Meanwhile, Marco Rubio, who is starting to emerge just -- somebody that look like a really strong challenger, totally collapsed.

And so now it's a question of where does the establishment support go? Will it stick with Rubio? Will Jeb Bush get more of a lease on life headed into South Carolina where, you know, his Super Pac has been taking a lot of criticism, a lot of flak for going so hard after Marco Rubio. Maybe now establishment donors and what not are going to say "OK, go after him." Maybe Jeb Bush really is the best alternative.

So that sort of splintered field is great news for Donald Trump. It's good news for Ted Cruz, too. But you combine the sort of shift in where the race is headed next with this lack of clear establishment alternative. And tonight was a great night for Donald Trump.

HARLOW: Let's talk about Ted Cruz in the messaging, here Josh Rogan, because the way that his campaign chose to spin it is, we spent the at least amount of money here and came in third.

ROGAN: Right.

HARLOW: Effective spin.

ROGAN: Very smart because he's claiming the expectations game and he's winning it, the expectations game. Lower the expectations and then come in third and he's beaten the estimates.

So yes, I think that everyone that I've talked to, in all the campaigns recognize that Cruz is a threat nationally. He's got a lot of money. He's got a lot of support even in the next few states. And, you know, there's a begrudging respect in the campaigns of Jeb and Rubio for how Ted Cruz played New Hampshire. So he's looking good coming out ...

BERMAN: ... there are four candidates who got exactly what they wanted in the Republican race, Donald Trump, John Kasich, Ted Cruz, and Jeb Bush. They got what they wanted out of New Hampshire. There's one guy -- two guys who did that, I suppose do you think Chris Christie really didn't get any one.

But Marco Rubio did, it just -- it makes the race that much more interesting going forward.

Jeremy, I want to shift a little bit back and forth, get whip blush here. Let's go back to the Democrats here. I want to talk about Bernie Sanders. I was talking to (inaudible), they were talking about the decisions that they are making going forward.

They got have a heap of money. And they got to figure out how to spend it, the decisions are, do we try to win more states? Do we go after states that are delegate rich? Do we go after congressional districts? How and where do we spend it? It sounds like now Jeremy they think they won big enough, they going to wage a national campaign.

DIAMOND: Absolutely. You know, that's what they're saying tonight is that, you know, they are pressing forward. You know, sources telling CNN that they are starting to build that national infrastructure to really make sure that they can go beyond the first few states in the primary process.

So they're building that ground game. The question is, can they build it fast enough? You know, can they not only build up the staffing and the resources and put them many the right places so that they can perform well in these later primary states. But also can they rack up some endorsements. Can they bring minority communities into the fold and really convince them that, you know, Bernie Sanders also stands for them and not just, you know, the folks in the whiter states in the country, like New Hampshire and like in Iowa.

So certainly going forward, Bernie Sanders has to prove that he can in fact wage a campaign in other types of states and his campaign is certainly shifting towards getting that done.

HARLOW: And Eric, quickly to you when you look at Hillary ...

BRADNER: And John ...

HARLOW: Go ahead.

BRADNER: Yeah, well a fascinating thing happened tonight. Bernie Sanders was doing his victory speech and he instructed supporters to go to his website and donate.

HARLOW: right.

[03:10:00] BRADNER: So many people did it that it crashed the site. There were reports of people on Twitter trying to give but unable to do that.

So his campaign is shifting gears, pumping money into four states, Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma. Those are the states that they think they can make strategic investments and pick up a lot of delegates.

This massive online fund-raising operation that they have, where Sanders can take these opportunities on national television and just sort of press the button, are huge, he's been able to keep up or even surpass Hillary Clinton in fund-raising. And as he tries to go national, this is going to be really important, the ability to see, sort of keep going back to that well is what can kind of keep him to the game and help him expand into state where she has a big head start in terms of organizing a grassroots type support.

BERMAN: And the money, that, you know, flaws that they can just turn on is something that scares the Clinton campaign almost more than anything else.

Guys, stick around, a lot more to discuss. This programming note, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders they face off in a debate tomorrow night. It's a PBS debate in Wisconsin. But CNN, we are broadcasting, as well. You can watch it right here live 9:00 eastern time.

HARLOW: This is just the beginning when you talk about Iowa and New Hampshire. So many states still to go. What does what happened in New Hampshire actually mean for South Carolina, Nevada, and beyond? We'll talk about that ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:15:12] HARLOW: All right, we know Donald Trump loves to win and he did exactly that in New Hampshire by a long shot, a long shot. It was a very different story though from Marco Rubio in the granite state. A very disappointing showing for him and he owned up to his poor debate performance on Saturday as the culprit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUBIO: I want you to understand something. Our disappointment tonight is not on you, it's on me. It's on me. I did not do well on Saturday night, so listen to this, that will never happen again. That will never happen again.

And let me tell you why, let me tell you why it will never happen again. It's not about me. It's not about this campaign. It is about this election. It is about this election. It is about what's at stake in this election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, I want to talk this over now, joining us again, Jeremy Diamond, Chris Frates, Eric Bradner, Josh Rogan.

Guys, we just heard Marco Rubio say "Yeah, I screwed up in the debate." He did a minute for three days, now he immediately clearly it hurt him. There is an irony here, though which is the man who took him down in the debate, Chris Christie, he may not be going anywhere after tomorrow.

Let's listen to what Chris Christie told supporters in New Hampshire last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Mary Pat and I spoke tonight and we've decided that we're going to go home to New Jersey tomorrow and we're going to take a deep breath, see what the final results are tonight, because that matters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So Chris Christie going home to reassess. That generally means one thing. We don't know for sure, Chris Frates. But man, oh man, you know, Chris Christie leaves this race making a huge impact, opening the door really for John Kasich and Jeb Bush to stay in this race going forward by bringing Marco Rubio down to earth.

CHRIS FRATES, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, I heard some folks talking about it a little bit like a murder-suicide. And I think that's what we're going to see particularly from Chris Christie.

He's now on death watch. Now that he's back in New Jersey does he have any umph to go? He much like John Kasich kind of bet the farm on New Hampshire. He really have to do that. I remember talking to his officials early on and they said, you know, that they were go hard in New Hampshire, and they thought that they could do well there that they convince donors to come off the sidelines for them that maybe split their beds between him and Marco Rubio. That looks more and more unlikely, that looks like the position John Kasich is trying to put him in.

But there's a big question there among the donors -- are they going to get behind John Kasich? Is he going to be able to start to pull some endorsement neither from rival camps or off the sidelines themselves.

And then of course there's Marco Rubio. He did not do so well. But he's certainly far from dead. And a lot of people want to see him continue to coalesce. But this is going to be a knife fight now between Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, which is going to be very fascinating to watch, the former mentor Jeb Bush taking on his former mentee, Marco Rubio. It was just 10 years or so ago where Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio embraced on the house floor. And Jeb Bush of this -- of the Florida's house of course. And Jeb Bush that I've never been prouder of a young man like Marco Rubio.

Now, they're going at it for the same votes, for that same establishment support. It's going to be fascinating to watch, guys.

HARLOW: And josh, when you look at a John Kasich, right, doing very well, getting his berm, but it is exactly what he wanted in New Hampshire tonight, I heard someone put it this way today, John Kasich is the Republican candidate that liberals want to see win. That they love but the base doesn't love.

ROGAN: Right, how did that work out for Jon Huntsman? Right?

HARLOW: Right.

ROGAN: And, you know, if you look at John Kasich, right, he really also went all in on New Hampshire, spend so much time there all the town halls.

HARLOW: 106 town halls.

ROGAN: Amazing, right. And that paid off. But he hasn't done that in the other states. And he can't build that in a second, right.

In the end, the establishment doesn't really trust him, to be one of their own. And he's not in with the anti-establishment crowd. So the path for him to really succeed is not there.

Now, Marco Rubio, when he says this will never happen again, if he's talking about Chris Christie besting him in a debate that might be true because Christie might be at the next debate. But overall, Marco Rubio still has a pretty good argument for how he gets through South Carolina, Nevada, Super Tuesday, Jeb Bush, yes.

But again Jeb Bush spent $40 million between his campaign in his pac in New Hampshire. Can he do that in every state? Not really.

So as we look at the establishment side, it's really down to Rubio, Bush, and maybe Kasich, if he can really ramp up really fast, which is a big if.

[03:20:05] BERMAN: And Jeremy Diamond, you got your eye on the Republican field. You've been following around Donald Trump. Donald Trump is watching Ted Cruz. Ted Cruz, you know, what he really wanted to do in New Hampshire was beat Marco Rubio. He did that. He probably defied expectations. Now he goes to South, right. He goes to South Carolina. Then you have the SEC primary with all those southern states on March 1st. Ted Cruz has this lined up just how he wants it.

DIAMOND: Yeah, and it's interesting, because Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, no two candidates have spent more time in the southern states and the SEC primary states than those two candidates.

You know, Donald Trump frequently almost splits his time between the three early primary states and the southern states, you know, where he have these big, you know, rallies with thousands sometimes 10,000 people in states like Alabama and Mississippi.

And Ted Cruz, as well, did a big bus tour down in the SEC states a few months ago and that's where he is also, you know, positioning himself for a big win on Super Tuesday.

So it's going to be interesting to see how in South Carolina, those state with a similar kind of a dynamic, how that kind of plays off of it might be a good indicator of how things will in the SEC states.

BERMAN: All right, gentlemen, stand by, so much more to talk about.

Next stop for the Republican candidates in South Carolina, we're going to speak to some undecided voters there, to find out where they might be leading. Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:25:06] BERMAN: Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, the big winners in New Hampshire. The race has already moved on.

The Democrats ...

[03:25:06] BERMAN: Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, the big winners in New Hampshire, the race has already moved on for the Democrats it goes on Nevada, for the Republican South Carolina. South Carolina really the next big stump for everybody, seen as Randi Kaye spend the night with voter there to see what they took at last night primary action.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RANDI KAYE, CNN SENIOR CORREPONDENT: We are here in Charleston watching with a group of undecided voters about 65 undecided voters. We can show you the big group here.

On this side of the room we have the Democratic voters. On the side of the room we have the Republican voters. We'll get to them in just a second. But I want to ask the Democratic voters here Bernie Sanders did so well tonight winning New Hampshire. Did he change any of minds? Has any one decided to vote for Bernie Sanders tonight, raise your hands? That's wasn't going to vote for him before.

All right so we have a small hand about five, we got a handful of our undecided voters there have now decided. So me ask here on the Republican side John Kasich also big surprise in New Hampshire. Raise your hands, did John Kasich win any of you over tonight?

Not one person raising their hand. OK, how about Donald Trump, did Donald Trump coming in first win anyone over tonight? You decided, you decide. Four people decided on Donald Trump. Now we were able to see their reaction tonight in real time because they all had their hot little hands well, one of these at dial tester. So right now it's a neural on 50 but when they like what their saying in their speeches they would turn it up.

So there it is at 83 and then they would turn it down if they didn't like it. So at one point Donald was speaking tonight and these group had a big reaction watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are going to preserve our very sacred second amendment. There's not going to be anymore chipping away at our second amendment. If we had protection in Xalifornia recently and so many other places, you can even look to Paris, if there were bullets going in the other direction, believe me. It would have been a whole different story, folks. But nobody had protection.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: So the dial really spiked there for Donald Trump when he was talking about the second amendment and having people be armed with their own guns. What do you think? I know you said coming in tonight that you sort of felt like you aligned with Donald Trump but he's not your guy?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's not my guy.

KAYE: What's the problem?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Even though he says he's a winner, he's not my winner. And he just doesn't tell us how he's going to do it. He says he will eliminate ISIS, But he's going to do it. He's going to build a wall, but he's just going to do it. And it's simple wall too.

KAYE: All right. So let me ask Sam (ph) next to you who is a big fan of Donald Trump and you've already decided on him? SAM (PH): I like Donald Trump more than all the other candidates.

KAYE: What do you like about anymore

SAM (PH): He says he's a winner and he won.

KAYE: And you think he can get it done, right? You like all the promises and all his plan.

SAM (PH): Yes. I like the fact that he's not a politician, and I think that he can do much better. The country needs to change and he's the man for it.

KAYE: So you think you're getting close to deciding on him 100 percent?

SAM (PH): Yes.

KAYE: All right. OK, let's move back over to the Democrat side, because they had a big reaction of course to Bernie Sanders, who was the big winner in New Hampshire tonight. And they especially reacted to this sound bite during Sanders' speech. Watch this first.

BERNIE SANDERS, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, we will not allow huge tax breaks for billionaires. We will not allow tax huge cuts to social security, veterans needs, Medicare, medicaid, and education.

KAYE: All right. Let many ask Becca (ph) here. You came in tonight as a Bernie Sanders supporter. You have a few doubts but you still really like him. What do you think of his big win in New Hampshire?

BECCA (PH): It was a actually a lot bigger than I expected. And I still really like a lot of his ideas, but actually was swayed by Hillary's speech.

KAYE: Really. So you've changed your mind.

BECCA (PH): Well, I'm still undecided. But -- I love what Bernie had say a little bit they both had to say. Definitely maybe more undecided tonight than I was when I came in.

KAYE: You're going in the wrong direction.

BECCA (PH): Right, I know.

KAYE: But you're a college student.

BECCA (PH): Yes.

KAYE: And you think you really do like what Bernie Sanders has to say, which you could see he was surrounded by young people tonight.

BECCA (PH): Absolutely. Yeah and I think again, you know, obviously as a college student, I love all of the ideas that he has, the focus on higher education and making that easier on people. But as I said, I'm also concerned about how those things can be implemented. So in that respect, I might be a little more interested in what Hillary has to say.

KAYE: All right. Anybody else here decide on Bernie Sanders? Anyone, anyone? Anybody here decide on Bernie sanders? All right. Oh, here let me just this gentleman quickly, what made you decide on Bernie Sanders, sir?

[03:30:01] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Specifically, his commitment to do something about mass incarceration of African-Americans and Latinos. That really impacted me. I didn't feel that he had those kinds of sensitivities before, but he said it with such conviction tonight, he won me over.

KAYE: All right. Well, we like the sound of that we want voters to be decided, not undecided, but it's always so interesting to hear all of these opinions. And I can tell you tonight, Wolf, that our group of about 65 undecided voters, I'm told that 23 have decided after watching the speeches tonight, and all of the debates that they've seen so far.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Randi Kaye, thank you so much. It's always important to hear from our pundits and we'll get to them in a moment but important to hear from the voters, especially in a state that's going to go to the polls.

On next, let's bring in our panel. Jeremy Diamond, Chris Frates, Eric Bradner and Josh Rogin. Undecided always the name of the game in New Hampshire and I want to show you on the Democratic side how they split tonight.

Let's pull it up, was overwhelmingly, 72 percent of those undeclared voters in the primary tonight went for Bernie Sanders. 27 percent to Hillary Clinton.

Josh, when you look at that and you compare it to the road ahead, what is your prediction for South Carolina and how this may change the game for Sanders, not necessarily taking South Carolina, but doing frankly what Clinton wanted to do tonight and that is have a closer final number.

ROGIN: Well, I think it cuts two ways, the CNN exit polls show that unlike on the Republican side, on the Democratic side more voters have made up their minds earlier. So there's less of a pool of people to convince, despite what we saw in Randi Kaye's interview there.

So they're fighting over a shrinking pool of Democrats. Now that's why those undeclared who can vote in the open primaries such as in South Carolina but not in the closed caucuses such as in Nevada become so important. Because as the number of Democrats who're undecided whittles down, but getting those independent voters, can come out for a Democratic primary of caucus. That's where the games moves and that's where Bernie has this distinctive advantage.

BERMAN: Eric, how does Bernie make up ground though among registered, self-identified Democratic voters? He lost that group in Iowa. He only tie them despite an overwhelming victory in New Hampshire. He's only tied with Democrats and you start going to stay where just Democrats who will vote.

BRADNER: That's true. Although, you know, tonight Bernie Sanders did buck a lot of negative -- have registered on election day or where independence can vote in democratic nominated contest. And he's really going to focus his time and energy and advertising dollars on those states.

HARLOW: And as we look at the screen here, the top quality for some of these voters, and when they were polled on this. Can the candidate win in November in a general? Clinton overwhelmingly took those voters 79 percent to 19 percent guys for Sanders.

Stay with us, we have a lot more ahead. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton squaring off face-to-face on PBS the Democratic debate is tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. eastern. We will air it live right here on CNN. Don't miss it.

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders 9:00 p.m. tomorrow night, we'll air right here.

[03:34:21] BERMAN: Also coming up, Jake Tapper had a chance to sit down with Donald trump in the aftermath of his huge win in New Hampshire.That's right, Donald Trump won New Hampshire if you haven't heard. Our Jake Tapper talked to him just after that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Donald Trump won New Hampshire by more than 50,000 votes. He won across the broad range of demographic groups.

CNN's Jake Tapper spoke with Donald Trump in his first interview after his big New Hampshire win.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm joined on the phone right now by the winner of the New Hampshire Republican primary won Mr. Donald J. Trump, Mr. Trump congratulations on your victory. Did you ever think this was going to happen?

TRUMP: Well, it's been a really wonderful evening, Jake. And, you know, I thought it might, but I didn't know by these numbers. And I was so happy. I just looked at your report and it was right across the board with men, with women, young and old, with, you know everything. And to win every single category was perhaps the greatest honor of all.

TAPPER: And it looks like obviously the voting results are still coming in, but it looks like this is the biggest victory in a Republican primary since George W. Bush lost to John McCain in New Hampshire 16 years ago. How does it feel?

TRUMP: Well, I didn't know that number. That's a long time that's a great feeling to know it's been that big of a victory. But that's a lot of years. But I will tell you, it's just an honor to have won. As, you know, I told you if I win by one vote, I'll be happy. But this makes me even happier. I will say that, Jake.

TAPPER: It's by a bit more than one vote. So if you look at the exit polls, you'll see that voters were looking for an outsider, they're mad at the Republican establishment. What do you think in particular about your message resonated with the voters of New Hampshire?

TRUMP: Well, I think it started with praying. And the fact that we are being just ripped off by everybody, whether it's China, Japan, Mexico and I think it really ended up being very much boarders and security and other things having to do with security. And then you have the migration and you have ISIS and all of a sudden it morphed into that.

And I think because of the fact that I had done so well with the border and done so well with the wall, which will be built. I think what happen is people started saying that I would also be the best with respect to ISIS and some of the outer problems that we have.

[03:40:01] So it seems the whole security thing, the military thing, the fact that I'm going to take care of the vets, far better than anybody else will be able to -- it all sort of came down to that. But it seems like pretty much in the victory in every category. And of course, the easiest thing of all for me is going to be trade and jobs, because that's really what I do.

TAPPER: In terms of how you won in New Hampshire, did you pay more attention. Did your campaign pay more attention to the ground game, to getting your voters to the polls, to making sure that they were motivated, as opposed to the approach of big, big rallies?

TRUMP: Well, I think the ground game was very strong. And I'll tell you we really focused on it after Iowa. You know the ground game was not something I was extremely familiar with, but I learned quickly. Otherwise the voters wouldn't like me too much.

And I think you not learned very well and we have a very good ground game. You know, the people of New Hampshire are amazing people and now I'm going to South Carolina. And I think we're going to have tremendous success there. We were just there and we had 12,000 people in a wonderful, wonderful arena. And to be honest with you at the ground game was very important to me. And I think we really learned about ground games very quickly.

TAPPER: As you may know, South Carolina, they like their politics a little more rough and tumble. Are you ready for what may come your way, the negative attacks, and perhaps even dirty tricks that might happen in the Palmetto State?

TRUMP: Well, we've already had dirty tricks in this campaign. So, you know, I'm ready for whatever they want to throw at me and that's fine. I mean, we've had a lot of dirty tricks in this campaign. But, you know, I want to congratulate everybody that's run. They're all very capable people and it was an honor to run against them. Now I'll see them in a little while like I'll be tomorrow, I'll be around 1:00 or 12:00 tomorrow, I'll be in South Carolina getting ready. And that should be interesting. I love South Carolina. Having the people are -- I've been there many, many times and the people are tremendous people and I think I can do very well there.

TAPPER: There's a big competition obviously for second place and third place in New Hampshire right now. Who do you think is your competition going forward, is it Ted Cruz, do you see some rejuvenation for Jeb Bush and John Kasich, who are you focused on?

TRUMP: I see them all, Jake. I really see them all. I think, you know, they're all good competitors and talented people. And, you know, right now it looks like Kasich has a little bit of a lead, but the other one -- I'm just looking at your chart. Yep, it's getting a little closer. It's going to be a close race I think. And you sort of predicted that, and so did CNN and all groups. It looks like it's going to be a close race for second.

TAPPER: Lastly, you've been campaigning more with your family, your wife Melania, and your boys Don and Eric. How are they taking the news? This is a big, big night in Trump family history.

TRUMP: Well, they're very proud. Melania, standing with me right now, and Don, and Eric and Ivanka. Corey is right outside, who has done a terrific job. In fact, he just walked in now, so I will comment on his ground game which was excellent. But it's been an amazing period of time. And we're all thrilled and we want to make America great again. It's very simple. We're going to make America great again.

TAPPER: Well, congratulations on a very, very strong win in New Hampshire. Best of luck to you. We'll see you out there on the campaign trail, Mr. Trump.

TRUMP: Thank you very much, Jake. You take care of yourself. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: You know we heard it on day one in June, make America great again, we saw on the half. We hear it tonight and so many people, almost everyone, all the pundits wrote him off. And look at tonight.

BERMAN: First words out of his mouth when he won New Hampshire tonight from that stage.

HARLOW: Last word in that interview with Jake.

All right, let's get reaction from our panel. Jerry Diamond, Chris Frates, Eric Bradner, Josh Rogin back with us. Chris Frates to you did you -- listening to that interview with Jake, listening to his victory speech tonight, which wasn't all me, me, me, it was, thank you to everyone around me, thank you to the people of New Hampshire, talking about problems specific to that state. Is this a different Donald Trump? Is this the Donald Trump with the temperament that so many people kept asking him if he would change?

FRATES: Well, I think he's been humbled a little bit. We saw that after Iowa and you even heard Donald Trump there saying how -- what a good race his opponents had run and how they are respectable folks. That's after they just, you know, spent the last week kind of beating the crap out of each other a little bit.

He went there and said, I was a magnanimous winner. And so, that was very interesting to watch. And the other thing that was interesting in the dynamics of New Hampshire was that Donald Trump didn't spend a lot of time here, he didn't do the town halls. You know John Kasich on the other hand did over a hundred of those. And voters here really expect to see the candidates. And I wonder if this is a harbinger going forward that campaigns really can and will be more nationalized.

[03:45:02] Because Donald Trump was able to win, he got a lot of flak earlier in the week when he didn't leave New York, his plane got snowed in and a lot of people said "Wait, you couldn't stay in New Hampshire for one night to make sure that you be here to campaign if there was a snow storm in the forecast. But that didn't seem to effect him.

Meanwhile, John Kasich who came in second, pretty much bet the House on here and that kind of retail New Hampshire politics, going up to Dixville Notch all the way in North Country, those were the first voters in the New Hampshire primary after midnight.

And I talked to a voter today who was waffling back and forth whether or not he was going to go for Hillary Clinton or for John Kasich. He went with John Kasich because he felt like he spent the time here and did it. But it was fascinating to watch kind of Donald Trump and how he played New Hampshire. Not a lot different that he played Iowa.

He got much different result and we're seeing that kind of modulated Donald Trump, where he's not as bombastic, he's a little more humble. He's a little more gracious in the wind and he's trying to project that presidential aura, where he has -- people are starting to ask, is this the kind of guy you want to be president? And we saw that with the ads that Ted Cruz took out against him in South Carolina right now kind of highlighting all of the heated rhetoric and what you want your children to grow up under that kind of president. Donald Trump trying to do that a little bit.

HARLOW: You can't even describe that ad. Go online and watch this ad, because I've never seen anything like it in my life.

BERMAN: Jeremy, you've sort been attached to Donald Trump by the hip for the last several months here. What does he have going on in South Carolina? You've been there with the meeting (ph). Really, really impressive event, an elect even there, you know, in the last couple of weeks. He has the support of the Lieutenant Governor Henry McMaster who actually sort of establishment in South Carolina. What is the plan?

DIAMOND: Absolutely, yeah. The Lieutenant Governor Henry McMaster endorsed Trump last week or two weeks ago. I'm kind of losing track of time now. But yeah, an establishment figure in South Carolina and his staff there is always largely establishment. You know, a lot of these folks connected to in some way or another to South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, to Henry McMaster and other establishment figures who've been involve in South Carolina politics for decades now.

So, certainly one of the more professional organizations that he has there. But it's going to be interesting, you know, there were a couple reports suggesting that maybe other candidates or perhaps super PACS were going to start bringing up Donald Trump draft deferments in Vietnam. He had several draft deferments for both medical and college education reasons. So it's going to be interesting, you know, South Carolina is such a military centric state, has really responded to Donald Trump's message of kind of taking a tough stance and a bold tone as far as when he's talking about ISIS and foreign threats.

But it's going to be interesting when the issue of draft deferments and perhaps other issues as far as his tone and preparedness and experience to be commander-in-chief are brought up by his opponents.

HARLOW: Yeah. And we'll see Jeb Bush bring in his brother, as well very popular there. All right, stay with us.

DIAMOND: Exactly, exactly.

HARLOW: Much more ahead. Here also, don't go to sleep if you've been up all night, because these three guys are going to be on "New Day" this morning, Donald Trump, John Kasich, Jeb Bush all live on "New Day" starting at 5:30 a.m. eastern time.

[03:48:29] BERMAN: And coming up, we're going to talk more about South Carolina. We're going to talk more about what the heck happens now in this race. Again, because if you thought we were going to get any clarity out of New Hampshire.

HARLOW: We didn't. Nothing.

BERMAN: Forget it. No, what a mess. Our panel is back, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:52:33] BERMAN: So what happens now? Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, they both won big in New Hampshire. Already the campaign has moved on Nevada, South Carolina, what do we expect next?

HARLOW: Let's talk about it with our panel's final thoughts. Guys come in.

Josh, to you first. Final thought, if you're sitting in Hillary Clinton's camp right now and you realize that, not only did I lose, but I lost by a huge amount and lost 4-1 margin among women under 30years old, I am not getting the young votes at all that I need.

What do yo do right now because, by the way, you can't reorganize your staff, because that already (inaudible) so you can't do it now?

JOSH ROGIN, COLUMNIST, BLOOMBERG VIEW: Right, the trick is to make changes without looking like you are making changes. That it makes subtle changes around the margins to use the data and the tools and all the things that we don't really see.

HARLOW: But are subtle changes going to work right now?

ROGIN: Well, there's a lot of things you can do besides the speeches. The expensive mailing campaign, they've data list, they have voter rolls. They can use that targeting and they've got to bring that machine to work for them, to make up these demographic gaps that they have.

You know, whether or not that will work is a whole other story. But that's what they've got to do. They've got to change everything except what they're saying publicly. Because if they change what they're saying publicly, all of us in the media will say, "oh, you just made a big change", right?

HARLOW: Obviously, whatever you say privately becomes public often.

BERMAN: There is no private in the campaigns. Eric, you know, after Iowa, Marco Rubio won third and declared victory. Now after New Hampshire, Jeb Bush came in fourth and he has new life.

Let's listen to the former Florida Governor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The pundits had it all figured out. Last Monday night when the Iowa caucuses were complete, they said the race was now a three-person race between two freshman senators and a reality T.V star. And while the reality T.V star is still doing well, it looks like you all have reset the race. And for that, I am really grateful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Never before has someone been so happy with 11 percent and fourth place, Eric Brandner. But look, he's going to South Carolina and he's bringing his brother, the former president.

ERIC BRANDNER, CNN POLITICS, DIGITAL REPORTER: That's right. That's right. You know, a fourth place winner, right? So Jeb Bush has been under a lot of pressure to sort of get his SuperPAC to dial it back, to sort of cede the way for Marco Rubio. And this totally stops that pressure. He goes to South Carolina as one of four establishment candidates. But it sounds like Chris Christie might not be along for this race. And John Kasich doesn't really play in the South.

[03:55:10] So, Jeb Bush is going on to territory where he can surpass review and maybe shake up this race, shake up the set of play.

His brother is going to be there in South Carolina. His brother won in 2000 in a key decision obviously. And South Carolina has been sort of a firewall for the Bush family in the past. So, he's definitely hopeful. This is as good a fourth place finish as you can imagine.

HARLOW: All right, Jeremy, I got 20 seconds, your thoughts?

DIAMOND: Yeah, I mean, listen, Donald Trump proves tonight that he has the ability to actually win an election. Now going forward in South Carolina where he also has a similarly double digit lead there, you know, he has to continue and see if he can maintain that momentum.

You know, it's going to fight not just between Donald Trump and another candidate but between Cruz and Rubio and Bush. And Trump, certainly has a challenge ahead of him, but a win there will certainly be something he'll be looking for and can go forward with that in to the rest of these states.

BERMAN: All right, guys, thanks so much. There is so much more to talk about after the New Hampshire primary and a look ahead to South Carolina and Nevada "Early Start" continues right after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The big news this morning, the big wins for Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders.

The New Hampshire victors in landslide style, crushing the competition.

We'll talk about how they pulled off the big wins and what it means going forward. The presidential continues on.

[04:00:17] Good morning every one welcome to "Early Start" I'm John Berman, and I'm Christine Romans.