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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Outsiders Win in New Hampshire; Zika Virus Linked to Eye Damage in Infants; Flint Water Crisis Could Lead to Criminal Charges. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired February 10, 2016 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm John Berman. Great to see you this morning. What a morning. Wednesday, February 10th. It is 5:00 a.m. in the East.
And, man, just huge victories in New Hampshire for the outsider candidates, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. Raise your hand if you thought this was going to happen in June. None of you have your hands raised right now.
With about 92 percent of the votes tallied in the state's first in the nation primary, Donald Trump is 19 points ahead of John Kasich there.
[05:00:07] Nearly -- more than two to one over Kasich. A lot of guys clumped at 12, 11, 10 percent. Marco Rubio not even on the board there, looks like he's finished fifth.
On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders he won big, 22 points ahead of Hillary Clinton. Wow. Look at that. That is a painfully wide margin for Hillary Clinton on the heels of that very close race in Iowa, she eked out such a close win there, a close win in Iowa, an epic defeat in New Hampshire. Wow.
Joining us now to sort through the results CNN politics reporter Eric Bradner who is still live, still cold in New Hampshire.
Good morning, Eric.
ERIC BRADNER, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Hi, John.
So, it was revenge of the outsiders here in New Hampshire. After coming in second in Iowa, both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders picked up wins and it wasn't even close. They both blew out the competition. Donald Trump is already looking ahead to South Carolina. Listen to what he said in his victory speech tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are going to start winning again and we're going to win so much you are going to be so happy. We are going to make America so great again. Maybe greater than ever before. 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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRADNER: OK. So, Trump might be doing the winning, but the question is what comes after him? Marco Rubio finished a strong second in Iowa, but fell way back to fifth after Chris Christie just pummeled him in a debate here. And so, that creates an opening for another establishment candidate.
In New Hampshire, it was John Kasich seizing the moment and jumping up to second place. In South Carolina, it looks like it's going to be a bitter battle between Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio.
On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders won by 20 points and he won among just about everyone. He won women, he won young voters 18 to 29 by a five to one margin, and just about everyone said he was more trustworthy than Hillary Clinton.
He was already talking about uniting the party tonight. Listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I also hope that we all remember, and this is a message not just to our opponents but to those who support me as well, that we will need to come together in a few months and unite this party and this nation because the right wing Republicans we oppose must not be allowed to gain the presidency.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRADNER: Now, Sanders has a disadvantage among registered Democrats, people who are party loyalists, and Clinton does well among minority voters, too, Latinos, African-Americans who are going to play important roles as the race shifts to Nevada and South Carolina.
So, what Sanders has to do is turn this momentum into a national campaign. His team told me that they are already working on doing that by launching advertisements in four key states, Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and building out an infrastructure, as well as sort of a fundraising base to compete everywhere going into Super Tuesday -- John.
BERMAN: All right. Eric Bradner for us in Manchester, Mancsvegas, still cold up there. Great to have you with us. Eric, stick around.
ROMANS: And people in New Hampshire, they get their state back today.
BERMAN: Yes.
ROMANS: Congratulations to all of you.
Helping us break down the winners and losers this morning, let's bring in our panel of political experts, "Daily Beast" columnist Patricia Murphy, CNN political analyst and "Bloomberg View" columnist Josh Rogin, and Eric Bradner. Thanks, guys.
All right. So, Patricia, let me start with you and I want to start with Donald Trump. You've been to some of these events and the events of his competitors. For the past, I don't know, months and months and months people have been saying Donald Trump was on the verge of imploding. He did not implode. He exploded last night in a very good way.
PATRICIA MURPHY, THE DAILY BEAST: He absolutely exploded. He won resoundingly, nobody was even close.
One name we haven't mentioned that I think we absolutely should is Ted Cruz. He came in third which I think surprised a lot of people. He had no buzz in New Hampshire when I was up there.
Coming in third I think was very important for him because when you get down to South Carolina, he has a rock solid turn out operation down there. He's got 10,000 volunteers, they've been making calls, they've been knocking on doors, he has one pastor in every county in South Carolina turning out evangelicals for him. That is a different state than New Hampshire, strong evangelical base and very conservative evangelical base.
Instead of jobs and the economy, you're going to hear about religious freedom. You're going to hear about pro-life movements. Ted Cruz is set up to do extremely well in South Carolina. I think we're going to see a dynamic a lot more like Iowa than in New Hampshire.
Trump has had enormous crowds, he's got a pretty good infrastructure, he's got a 100 percent name ID, but Ted Cruz will be a challenge for him down there.
BERMAN: I think you bring up a great point, Patricia. If we can put up that board again to show where people ranked in New Hampshire. I think it's interesting to know that of those people, first through four over there, there are four candidates who leave New Hampshire happy, who got exactly what we wanted.
Donald Trump got a win, John Kasich finished second beating the odds, Ted Cruz beat Marco Rubio and also finished, you know, pretty strong for an evangelical, and then Jeb Bush back in the game for the first time. The one guy who really didn't get what he wants, right there, Marco Rubio at 11 percent.
And this creates a dynamic, Josh, heading into South Carolina where it's all up for grabs. I mean, you know, you look to Iowa and New Hampshire to winnow the field. No. I mean, we have a big field going into South Carolina.
JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right, right. If you look at the two big losers of the night, Hillary Clinton and Marco Rubio, Marco Rubio is in a much tougher spot. At least Hillary Clinton is in a one on one competition.
She -- at least Hillary Clinton will never run out of money. At least she's got the establishment wing of the party behind her.
Marco Rubio still fighting a war on two fronts and he's fighting them simultaneously and losing both of them. Everyone is always asking when are the establishment candidates going to attack Trump? The answer is when they're done attacking each other and not until then.
ROMANS: Yes.
ROGIN: So, they first have to attack each other until there's one left standing and the longer that consolidation takes the more Trump benefits and the more Cruz benefits and the more all of the Republican establishment candidates suffer.
ROMANS: I was looking at that negative ad spending in New Hampshire, it was almost like a circular firing squad, all of them taking fire on each other.
Let's listen -- we have brand new sound from John Kasich on his plane. Let's listen to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, I was very calm about it. I sort of felt we were going to be in second place, I heard earlier that, you know, there was some word that we were going to be there. And then when I traveled around to the polling places, it was pretty clear, you know, I was running into everybody and they were like, yes, we really like you and all that stuff.
So, you know, I'm gratified by it for sure. I think it's fantastic. But I wouldn't say I was shocked by it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: So, Eric Bradner, does everybody go on to South Carolina now? Sounds to me like everybody but Chris Christie has a plane ticket and they are on their way.
BRADNER: Yes, it looks like it. Chris Christie says he's going to go home and reevaluate, but the effect of Marco Rubio dropping back like this is that it creates an opening for everyone to really stay in.
Now, John Kasich did well, he's going to make the argument that he is now the establishment front runner, but he's fairly limited geographically. He is going to struggle in the South and in the West. I mean, we're talking about a governor who expanded Medicaid, he's going to face the same sort of attacks that Rubio faced when he was the establishment preference.
Right now, the big fight to watch, though, is going to be between Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio in South Carolina. Jeb Bush is bringing in his brother, the former president. This is going to let Jeb Bush and Jeb Bush's donors sort of feel comfortable continuing to keep up the attacks on Rubio. Had Rubio blown everyone else out of the water in New Hampshire, he would have faced a lot of pressure to really put a stop to. So, yes, the effect of the results is that no one faces any pressure
to really get out and sort of clear the way for anyone else because everyone is bunched so tightly together. Ted Cruz is the one that loves this the most. He's wanting this attack on Rubio from everyone but him to sort of keep going as long as possible because he knows he benefits from that a lot.
BERMAN: All right. Patricia, last word on Hillary Clinton/Bernie Sanders right now, Bernie Sanders with a big win. Hillary Clinton needs to turn things around. She's got a gap now in time.
I mean, Democrats don't vote again until the Nevada caucuses on the 20th and South Carolina on the 27th. I imagine these will be busy yet stressful days in Brooklyn.
MURPHY: Busy, stressful. Let me add another thing that should stress them out is Bernie Sanders funding operation. We saw him turn it on and said I'm going to fund raise right here rise now and he crashed his website, as we all know.
And he is raising small dollar donations, $2, $5, $200. He can go back to those donors again and again and again, and Hillary Clinton, she has to raise this money the hard way. She goes to fundraisers. She's shaking hands. She's asking me to big one too more time to max out.
It is a tough slog for her to get in there and fund raise. She was planning more fundraisers between these two and she also likes fundraising for Wall Street, which she likes to do, not going to be able to do that real quick because it really steps on her message that she's trying to rein in Wall Street as well.
[05:10:06] So, she's got a little bit of a fundraising problem. She won't run out of money but it's going to be a little bit harder for her than I think they had anticipated.
BERMAN: All right, guys. Stick around, a lot more to discuss.
What about the independent voters? What about the undeclared voters? What about those voters right in the middle? Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, they won their victories largely on the backs of those voters, but where will they be when this race moves forward? That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: There is nothing more exciting than exit polls and the exit polls in New Hampshire are shedding some light on how Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders --
BERMAN: She means it. She means it.
ROMANS: I do, the numbers, the data, it's beautiful.
Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump had excellent nights last night and those exit polls paint a picture of a Democratic party divided by gender and age, a Republican Party deeply dissatisfied -- I would say angry, very angry with the federal government.
[05:15:03] Sanders had the overwhelming support of every Democratic age group under 65 and a majority of female voters.
On the Republican side, Trump won with voters of nearly every stripe, conservatives and moderates, first time voters and those who have previously voted.
BERMAN: Let's talk about these numbers right now, dig through the data. We're going to bring back our experts, Eric Bradner, Patricia Murphy, Josh Rogin.
Patricia, you know, I know we talked about it before. But again, I'm fixated on the vote of women in New Hampshire that Hillary Clinton lost by 11 percent, 55-44. Bernie Sanders picked up the win there among women voters.
This is Hillary Clinton's bread and butter. She talks about issues and talks directly to them. We heard from Madeleine Albright directly saying women who don't stand by other women there is a special place in hell for them. I mean, this has got to sting.
MURPHY: Well, I want to first of all say I think that was a huge misstep by Madeleine Albright. That occupied a lot of media conversation, not just Madeleine Albright, but also Gloria Steinem, but also raises the generational issue that you've been talking about.
Women over 30 I think are processing elections differently than women under 30, and whether women should vote for another woman to be the first woman president of the United States. That is a message I think that the Hillary Clinton campaign believed would resonate very strongly among millennial women and they are finding out the hard way in New Hampshire that it absolutely not only does not resonate among millennial testimony, millennial women believe that feminism is all about making choices for themselves and they're going to vote for Bernie Sanders if they feel like it, and that's going to be their own definition of feminism.
So they are going to have to refine the way that they are reaching out to women voters. I think we heard a little bit in her message last night. She has a new line about human rights and saying human rights are gay rights, human rights are women's rights, human rights are workers rights. She's going for a little more inspirational message, talking about what is possible, talking about sort of creating this new Democratic majority that she knows is essential.
She's tweaking her message a little bit. We will see if it's effective going forward. As we've said there is no way to win the Democratic primary without winning the women's vote.
ROMANS: Josh, let me ask you about the Bernie Sanders momentum. He had a really good night last night and he really gave Hillary Clinton a run for her money in Iowa. But as we're going forward we're looking to states that look very different than Iowa and New Hampshire, very different voters on those states.
Does Bernie carry this momentum ahead to Nevada and to South Carolina?
ROGIN: It's going to be a lot tougher for him. We always knew that Iowa and New Hampshire would be the toughest states for Hillary Clinton for lots of reasons that we can discuss.
So, Bernie now, he's got the money, he's got the opportunity but this is what the Clinton campaign was planning for. They have an in emergency break glass plan and this is it.
BERMAN: That glass is shattered all over the floor.
ROGIN: It is, but that's why you have this plan, and that plan relies on large institutional support. The system that they built for 20 years, and the super delegates that they've been amassing ever since she lost in 2008, that's a good plan.
Does Bernie have that plan or are they scrambling to come up with it now? You get the sense from talking to people on the Bernie Sanders campaign that this went even better than they had hoped, right? So, that's a great thing but it also means that they're now playing catch up and they're now well behind.
And, OK, so the primary is going to go on for weeks and months, that's great, that's good for Bernie and bad for Hillary. But who is really set up for that and the Clinton people think they are better situated. I think they have a good argument for that.
BERMAN: Money can't help, though.
All right. Josh, Eric, Patricia thanks so much. Stick around.
We have much more on the New Hampshire primary ahead, but first, new information, a new warning about the Zika virus causing more damage to newborn babies than previously thought. We have new information from researchers. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:23:05] ROMANS: The Zika virus may be causing eye abnormalities in infants. Researchers studied 29 infants at a Brazilian hospital, all of them infected with the Zika virus and suffering from brain damage. Ten of those infants also had damage to their retina or their optic nerve and it's not clear yet how badly their vision is impaired. Doctors say they have ruled out all other possible causes of these lesions and the tissue damage that they are finding in the babies' eyes.
A Democratic house hearing on the flint water crisis will go on today without Michigan Governor Rick Snyder. Snyder says he cannot testify because he has to deliver a budget presentation to his state legislature. Meanwhile, a special investigator for Michigan's attorney general is not ruling out criminal charges in connection with the lead contamination crisis. He is even suggesting involuntary manslaughter charges could be on the table.
A setback to President Obama's climate change agenda. The Supreme Court temporarily blocking White House efforts to regulate emissions in coal-fired power plants. The case will most likely return to the Supreme Court after an appeals court rules on challenges to the regulations from 29 states and dozens of corporations. Now, many observers believe the Supreme Court's decision to issue a stay signal skepticism among the justices about the White House plan.
Time now for five things to know for your EARLY START.
Number one, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders scoring very big wins in the New Hampshire primary. Trump more than doubling the vote total of runner up John Kasich and Sanders trouncing Hillary Clinton by more than 20 points.
City leaders in Ferguson, Missouri, attempt to go revise a negotiated agreement with the Justice Department to reform its police practices. DOJ officials threatening to take legal action to implement so-called constitutional policing.
North Korea is the world's top nuclear threat moving ahead of Iran. That's according to National Intelligence Director James Clapper.
Syrian forces close to recapturing Aleppo with the help of relentless Russian air strikes.
[05:25:02] The attacks coming in defiance of a U.N. resolution. No comment from the White House.
Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen scheduled to appear before Congress today. Since the Fed raised interest rates in December, the markets have been in a tailspin and energy prices have plummeted.
Those are five things to know for your EARLY START.
The morning after the New Hampshire debate CNN talks -- primary, rare, CNN talks with winner Donald Trump, second place finisher John Kasich and with Jeb bush. That's all live on "NEW DAY" coming up right now.
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