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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Super Tuesday: Trump & Clinton Win Big; CNN Projection: Ted Cruz Wins Alaska. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired March 02, 2016 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:00] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. The breaking news this morning. The Super Tuesday results are in. Now, finally, at last, every single one of them, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, the big winners, but not the only winners.
And, yes, we do have some breaking news. Just moments ago we called the state of Alaska. So much to talk about this morning.
Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christine Romans. It is Wednesday, March 2nd, it's 4:00 in the East. Super Tuesday is over. Now, it's "count the wins" Wednesday.
Breaking right now, the final race finally called Ted Cruz has won Alaska. With 95 percent of the vote in, CNN is now calling the race for Cruz with 36.2 percent narrowly, narrowly edging out Donald Trump with 33.6 percent.
Overall, Super Tuesday, a night of big wins for the front-runners. That is your the headlines this morning, folks. Trump won seven states, some narrowly, many by 20 or more points. He's rivals picking up four states between them.
On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton also adding seven states to her win column overnight while Bernie Sanders picked up four.
Both candidates giving fiery victory speeches last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's clear tonight that the stakes in this election have never been higher, and the rhetoric we're hearing on the other side has never been lower.
(BOOS)
Trying to divide America between us and them is wrong, and we're not going to let it work.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm a unifier. I know people are going to find that a little hard to believe, but believe me, I am a unifier. Once we get all this finished, I'm going to go after one person, that's Hillary Clinton, on the assumption she's allowed to run, which is a big assumption. I don't know that she's going to be allowed to run. And I think that's frankly going to be an easy race.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: As you heard now, from the frontrunners, of the nomination contest, folks, is far from over. Bernie Sanders, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio all winning states, all collecting delegates, and all vowing to stay in this race.
Joining us live from Washington to help break it all down, CNN politics reporter Eric Bradley.
Eric, good morning.
What a night. You know, the front-runners get exactly what they wanted. Maybe they wanted a little bit more though, I don't know. Everyone this morning says they're going to stay in.
ERIC BRADNER, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Yes, absolutely. So, it was the night of the front-runners, no doubt about that. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump each picking up seven states, but neither landing any knockout blows.
Trump proved a lot last night. He demonstrated that he could win with working class white moderates in the North, picking up Massachusetts in a blowout, and he showed he could win among evangelicals in the Bible Belt, winning states like Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee. He also picked up Arkansas and Vermont and Virginia.
So, it was a good night for Donald Trump. He even struck a conciliatory tone, saying that he wants to be a unifier and sort of dialing back the rhetoric a little bit.
But Ted Cruz won three states. That sort of bolstered his argument that he's the Republican best able to go against Trump, and Marco Rubio finally won his first state in Minnesota, giving him just enough to keep going himself.
So, neither of those candidates is going to drop out of the race. They're both looking at March 15th, which is another big date, starting the sort of winner-take-all process as opportunities to rack up some more delegates.
So, on the Democratic side, it went basically as we thought it would. The big tossup was Massachusetts and Hillary Clinton won that state. That was important for her. She also won, as you see, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, a swath of southern states that all had big minority populations, sort of mirroring South Carolina. So, we expected that.
But Bernie Sanders proved that he could win most of the targets his campaign had been talking about, Colorado, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Vermont, his home state. And so, combine that with his big online fundraising machine that brought in $42 million in February alone and while the path gets narrower for him, there's no reason to expect him to drop out any time soon.
BERMAN: Eric Bradner, thank you so much.
As we mentioned before, we have some breaking news in this race. Just moments ago, we called the race in Alaska. The Republican caucuses there. Now with nearly all the votes counted, CNN has projected that Ted Cruz, he is the winner of the Republican caucuses in Alaska. You can see right there, 97 percent of the precincts reporting, Ted Cruz with a 577-vote lead, a 577-vote lead.
But look, there aren't tons of votes in Alaska.
[04:05:01] You know, fewer than 20,000 there; 577, enough to call the race.
ROMANS: They all matter.
BERMAN: Believe me, at this point, they all matter a lot.
CNN's Paul Vercammen, he's live in Anchorage.
Paul, you've been counting the votes yourself all night.
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I have, John and Kate. If you look behind me, they're still doing a calculating. this is a proportional distribution of delegates and at last calculation, the winner Cruz will get 12, Trump will get 11, and Rubio will get 5.
By the way, 28 delegates, you may say that's not a lot, but actually Alaska gets rewarded for being staunchly red. Don't forget that all three members, that's right, three members to Congress are Republicans. Alaska has two senators, of course, and only one congressman.
Again, 28 delegates and the way they're dividing it up, it looks like Cruz is going to get 12, Trump, 11, and Rubio, 5, that could change.
By the way, it's quite a night and it went to the wire, and they did literally burn the midnight oil in the land of the midnight sun -- John, Kate.
BERMAN: Well done with that, Paul Vercammen. Yes, just called the race a few minutes ago. You had to be up all night to get your final election results here on CNN. Thanks so much, Paul.
Joining us now, CNN political analysts, Bloomberg View" columnist, Josh Rogin, CNN senior reporter from media and politics, Dylan Byers, CNN national political reporter, Maeve Reston, and CNN political analyst and senior editor for "The Atlantic", Ron Brownstein.
We're lucky to have you all with us at this early hour.
Just moments ago, we did call Alaska for Ted Cruz. That makes three states for Ted Cruz. Not a bad haul, Ron Brownstein, for Cruz. But on the Republican side, the big winner is Donald Trump. RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, John, your
enthusiasm from the Alaska result is truly unparallel. It's been a highlight of the evening.
Look, I think on both sides, what we've seen tonight are the patterns that began to set in South Carolina and Nevada on each side, hardening and raising real challenges for the candidates chasing the front- runners.
On the Republican side, we saw Donald Trump do something that Mitt Romney and John McCain could not do.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.
BROWNSTEIN: He won on both sides of the geographic divide. He won Arkansas and Alabama, and on the other hand, Vermont and Massachusetts. In a normal year, you would be hearing cries for the parties to unite behind the frontrunner.
This is not a normal year. Donald Trump still scares an enormous amount of Republicans both in the direction he would steer the party but also what he might mean for the general election. That CNN national poll out tonight, a reality check. Sixty percent unfavorable, over 70 percent unfavorable among millennials, over 70 percent unfavorable among minorities.
On the Democratic side, you saw, again, the pattern that we saw in Nevada and South Carolina hardening where Hillary Clinton has commanded and seemingly unbreakable advantage among African-American voters, winning usually 80 percent or more of them, and Bernie Sanders simply has not been able to win white voters consistently by enough to overcome that. In fact, in the 13 states with exit polls, she's now won white voters in eight of them.
And what that means going forward, virtually, every -- in fact, every major large state that is coming on the calendar for the Democrats is a heavily diverse state and unless Sanders can significantly and quickly change those numbers among African-Americans and there's no reason he can't yet, this is Hillary Clinton's race.
ROMANS: Hillary Clinton needs do some work with young voters. Bernie Sanders, if he wants to keep going, needs to do some work with minority voters. Hillary Clinton says she wants to bring people together. Let's listen to what she said last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: Whether you like it or not, we're all in this together, my friends.
(CHEERS)
And we all have to do our part. But, unfortunately, too many of those with the most wealth and the most power in this country today seem to have forgotten that basic truth about America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Sounds, Josh Rogin, like she is looking ahead, really looking ahead, with a little bit of a leftward attack because of what she's been seeing from -- the enthusiasm for Bernie Sanders on the campaign trail.
JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. We see Hillary Clinton pivoting to the general election, one, because it projects confidence. She's no longer talking on Bernie Sanders' terms, and, two, she's actually pivoting.
She's getting this thing wrapped up. It seems like a good thing do. You saw she was in Florida today. That's a general election hot spot. That's exactly where Donald Trump was.
You know, there's another thing going on. Hillary Clinton needs the Bernie Sanders voters, right? We've got -- a lot of millions of new Republican voters, and one of the demographics, according to the exit polls that Hillary Clinton did very poorly with, was first-time voters. The other one is young voters.
So, she -- it's not enough for her to beat Bernie Sanders. She has to bring him into the fold. She has to get them on his side. That's why you see her barely mentioning him, toning down the rhetoric against him, right?
She needs him. She needs his voters. She needs his support, especially if there's Donald Trump, who's a completely unpredictable candidate, who cuts across moderates and independents, et cetera.
[04:10:03] Even Rubio does OK with independents and moderates, according to the exit polls.
So Hillary has got to shore up her left plank, that's what you see.
BERMAN: You know, Maeve, on the subject of Marco Rubio, he won in one state. I supposed a glass half full category, he won a state finally, which he hasn't done in a while and didn't like he was going to do tonight. On the bad side --
MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: Not a big Republican state.
BERMAN: No, but he's way behind in the delegate race. You know, Ted Cruz won three states tonight or overnight. So, you know, what his path forward, what are you hearing for the not just from Rubio but really the establishment, you know, all those anti-Trump vehemence we're hearing right now. You know, it's supposedly not backing one candidate, but it's really behind Marco Rubio.
ROMANS: Yes.
RESTON: Absolutely. What I heard in talking to strategists over the last couple of days and those operatives who are involved in this effort to take down Trump, you know, over the next two weeks is what they're going to try to do to help Marco Rubio is make this sustain the attack on Donald Trump's electability, also go over aspects of his record, failed business ventures, for example, Trump University -- a lot of these things that the other candidates have been bringing up this whole time, but they're saying if they can get real resources behind it, they think it can actually make a difference for Marco Rubio.
But I think it's a tough night for him tonight. You know, Ted Cruz obviously was expected too much better in a lot of these Southern states but at least he pulled off some wins even though it was an uneven night for him. For Marco Rubio who's already sending out e- mails to his donors saying that he's the underdog and he's way behind in the polls in Florida behind Donald Trump, there's just a -- it's a really tough argument for him going forward and he's really got to bring up his numbers in Florida, some of these other states, and really hope that that money finally makes a difference for him in the next couple of weeks.
ROMANS: That anti-Trump coalition, we want to go over all the backgrounds of the business dealings of Donald Trump to show he's not necessarily just an uber successful billionaire. Trump University has three lawsuits against it right now in New York state court, just yesterday allowed one of those to go forward.
There was a Trump airlines, a Trump mortgage company, a Trump this, a Trump that, Trump wine and spirits company I think, you know, defunct Trump endeavors to try and go forward showing he's not the big businessman he's made himself out to be.
BERMAN: All right, guys. Stick around. A lot more to talk about.
As we just said, the results just in from Alaska. Ted Cruz won there. Despite that, Donald Trump, still the front-runner of the Republican side, Hillary Clinton the front-runner on the Democratic side.
We're going to talk next about what was behind those victories and what opportunities might there be for their competitors.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:16:21] BERMAN: It is the morning after Super Tuesday which makes it wicked Wednesday or "count your wins" Wednesday.
ROMANS: Count the wins Wednesday or your win if you're Marco Rubio.
BERMAN: There is a new win for Ted Cruz. He just picked up Alaska. We just called the race for Ted Cruz in Alaska. That means three states for Cruz last night.
Donald Trump picked up seven. Hillary Clinton also won seven states to Bernie Sanders' four.
The question is, who did turn out to vote? What were the keys to these victories? Our exit polls show that among Republicans, it was angry voters dissatisfied with the government. The Democratic side said they would be happy with either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders as their candidate. Let's bring back our experts to talk about this.
We always talk about anger, Dylan Byers, but really see it in these exit polls right now. I think we have some boards from Alabama right now. We asked them about their feelings of the government, 41 percent say they were angry, 42 percent say they're dissatisfied. So, that's 83 percent how have a gripe right there in Alabama, and it was largely the same across many of the states we polled last night.
DYLAN BYERS, CNN SENIOR REPORTER FOR MEDIA AND POLITICS: Yes, this is a theme that we've seen throughout the Republican primary. We saw it in New Hampshire. We saw it in South Carolina and we certainly saw it in Nevada. And now, we're seeing it in all of these Super Tuesday states.
You know, we talked about Alaska, waiting for those results to come in. For me, what's important about Alaska is not so much how they voted but how many turned out to vote.
You saw the state party chair there referring to a turnout that was 50 percent higher than any turnout they had had in their history.
So, Donald Trump, like it or not, has really galvanized Republican voters. I think Ted Cruz has done the same. And you're seeing record turnouts for the Republican parties and I think that's something that the Democrats are looking at and they're certainly getting nervous about. Can Hillary Clinton, a candidate who has struggled to generate as much enthusiasm than say Barack Obama did eight years ago, can she bring out as many people to vote come the general election if she's running against a candidate like Trump?
I think their hope would be that she can, maybe not because of her but because of fears about Donald Trump and what his presidency would mean for Democrats.
ROMANS: You know, Ron Brownstein, it's interesting. You talked about angry Republican voters in these states, and by and large, they chose Donald Trump when they talk about how they dissatisfied and angry they are with the federal government, except in Texas where Ted Cruz did well. But then you talk about top candidate quality for electability, and suddenly the tables turn a little bit. When you look at Georgia in particularly, it was Marco Rubio who won that category in Georgia.
So, they're angry at the government, they're angry at their party. They want Donald Trump, except when they talk about who can win, the story changes.
BROWNSTEIN: Now, look, we are seeing, Christine, a historic shift of power inside the Republican Party. Donald Trump, the core of Donald Trump support from the beginning has been the growing number of white working class Republicans, as we've lived through this realignment over the last really 40 years in politics. The white working class who used to be the foundation of the Democratic Party are voting Republican and this year for the first time, I think, they are driving the nominee. In the past, you think of John McCain, you think of Mitt Romney. They
were primarily candidates of white collar, sort of mainstream conservative voters. George Bush, Ronald Reagan, acceptable to both wings. Donald Trump is winning 50 percent or more in many of these states among non-college Republicans. His numbers among college Republicans almost -- in fact, I think every state, has lagged behind his showing among the non-college Republicans.
[04:20:04] But those voters are fragmented and the voters driving the train are those blue collar Republicans who feel both economically marginalized and culturally eclipsed and are most receptive to the Trump messages that poke at those racial anxieties and anxieties about the changing nature of the country that we saw expressed so, you know, in such a fiery manner earlier tonight by Van Jones and Jeffrey Lord.
So, this is -- make no mistake. If Donald Trump is the nominee, we are seeing a tilt and a balance in the Republican Party that is going to have lasting implications beyond this one election.
BERMAN: Maeve, when you look at the Democratic side for Hillary Clinton, many of her victories so far in this election have been a story about minority voters. If you look at the state of Texas right now and you break down her vote there, you know, the black vote she won with more than 80 percent. The Latino vote she won with more than 70 percent of the vote.
In Texas, at least according to the numbers I have right now, she also did win the white vote which is interesting as well. But this minority coalition is one that Hillary Clinton has banked on to this date and probably can continue to bank on as she moves forward in this race.
RESTON: Absolutely. This really bolsters her argument that she is the candidate who can, you know, bring together the traditional Democratic coalition. We've seen limitations in Sanders' support in a lot of these states around the country.
You know, there was kind of a question after the Nevada results there because the exit polls were showing that Bernie Sanders had led among Latino voters -- obviously the sample size was very small, so Hillary Clinton's people were pushing really hard on that. Tonight, she posted a big win as you mentioned among Latinos in Texas. That's really an important part of her electability argument going forward and I think that's the biggest gain for her tonight, that she with really point to these strengths all across the board and say I am the more electable candidate to go up against a Donald Trump or whoever the Republican nominee is.
ROMANS: All right. Maeve, thanks.
Everyone stick with us. We're following the breaking news in the race for president all morning long. Yes, night has turned into morning and we just called Alaska for Ted Cruz.
But, first, the Supreme Court taking on a high-profile abortion case as President Obama meets with Congress over how to fill the court's vacancy. We've got that, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:26:16] BERMAN: The Supreme Court takes on a high stakes abortion case today. The justice will hear oral arguments about a new Texas court law that could shut down three-quarters of the abortion clinics in the state. Opponents claimed the measure violates Roe versus Wade. Twenty-four other states with similar laws will be watching the outcome very closely.
While that was going, the White House and top Senate Republicans, they remain in a standoff over filling the vacancy in the nation's highest court. The president met with four top senators yesterday. No progress reported.
ROMANS: South Dakota's Republican governor vetoing a bill that would have restricted bathroom access with transgender students. The measure was backed by conservative lawmakers. Governor Dennis Daugaard deciding the law would have invited federal lawsuits if he approved it. He says local schools, they're best equipped to address this issue when it arises.
BERMAN: Six New Jersey newspapers calling on Governor Chris Christie to resign, that in the wake of his endorsing Donald Trump. Each newspaper published a joint editorial saying they are fed up with what they called Christie's arrogance, opportunism and hypocrisy. The editorial points out the governor spent all or part of 201 days out of the state last year and calls for a recall if he does not step down.
ROMANS: All right. Time for an early start on your money this morning. Wall Street also had a Super Tuesday. Gains for the three major averages, the Dow soaring 348 points. That's more than 2 percent. That's the second best gain of the year. NASDAQ jumping nearly 3 percent. The S&P 500 also higher.
A big jump in oil prices one reason. But investors were also encouraged by solid auto sales and a positive reading on manufacturing. Dow futures right now point slightly higher. Oil is falling, so we'll see if stocks can open higher with this recent high to oil prices. Stock markets in Europe a rising and a big rally in Asian stocks overnight.
BERMAN: Right. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, big wins on Super Tuesday. CNN breaks town what you need to know in the latest news next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:31:56] ROMANS: Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton solidifying their lead on Super Tuesday, picking up big delegates. But the race for president, oh, it's far from over.
BERMAN: Ooh.
ROMANS: Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
BERMAN: I'm John Berman, 32 minutes past the hour right now.
We do have breaking news this morning, the final race finally called. The winner in Alaska, Ted Cruz. You can see it right there with about 97 percent of the vote in, Ted Cruz at 36.4 percent, Donald Trump at 33.5 percent. They're separated by 627 votes. Record turnout in Alaska.
Overall, Super Tuesday, a big night for the frontrunners. Donald Trump, he won seven states. His rivals picked up four states between them, Ted Cruz picked up three, Marco Rubio one.
On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton added seven states to the win column, Bernie Sanders with a winner of four. Both candidates, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, they gave fiery victory speeches overnight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: America prospers when we all prosper. America is strong when we're all strong. And we know we've got work to do, but that work, that work is not to make America great again. America never stopped being a great.
We have to make America whole. We have to fill in. Fill in what's been hollowed out.
TRUMP: Our country is going to hell and people don't understand that. And Hillary Clinton doesn't have a clue. She can't do that.
She's talking about -- I mean one of the things that has really bothered me, one of the reasons I have such a great support is that people -- you take a look. People in the middle income groups are making less money today, less money than they made 12 years ago. In her speech, she just said, they're making less money. Well, she's been with Obama for a long period of time. Why hasn't she done anything about it?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: All right. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, as we said, the big winners -- but not only the winners. Bernie Sanders won four straights, Ted Cruz picked up three and Marco Rubio with his first state victory of the entire election and everyone in this entire election and everyone on this campaign on both sides vowing to stay in.
Joining us live to discuss from Washington to discuss, CNN politics reporter, Eric Bradner.
Good morning, Eric.
BRADNER: Good morning, John.
So, it was absolutely a night for the front-runners. Each Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton both won seven states. Donald Trump talked about being a unifier and he begun to show what his coalition looks like. He won in the north, winning Massachusetts, a state with working-class
Reagan Democrats. He won in the south, the Bible Belt where social conservatives dominate, picking up Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee. He won Arkansas and Vermont and he shattered turnout records in Virginia.
But two other Republicans won states, too. Ted Cruz didn't see his Southern strategy go according to plan. He'd been hoping to win a bunch of states. But he did pick up his home state of Texas with a bunch of delegates.
[04:35:04] Plus, Oklahoma, and as we've just learned, Alaska.
And Marco Rubio who's still sort of waiting on the cavalry to come, won his first state of race in Minnesota. So, don't expect either of those two to drop out any time soon.
On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton really dominated the night by winning the six states across the south that have big minority populations and sort of continued her firewall of sorts. She picked up as you see, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, and Texas.
But the one that stands out is Massachusetts. That was a battleground state. It was kind of a tossup. It could have gone either way. The Sanders campaign had targeted it. And by winning there, Clinton shows she can expand her appeal to a broader chunk of the Democratic electorate.
But Bernie Sanders won a few states too. He picked up Colorado, and Minnesota, and Oklahoma, three states he had really targeted, and he also won his home state of Vermont, of course, in a blowout.
Now, when you combine those wins with the $42 million that Bernie Sanders hauled in in February alone, you can see why he's not planning to drop out any time soon either, especially with more Democratic debates coming up, more opportunities to chip into Hillary Clinton's lead or change the story or pick momentum, nationally, John and Christine.
ROMANS: Oh, yes, there's a lot, a lot ahead here for all of these candidates.
Eric Bradner, you have a fantastic piece on CNN.com this morning, the six takeaways from Super Tuesday. Anybody who wants a little more go for that. Thanks, Eric.
So, it was a big night for the front-runners. Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, not big enough to knock their chief rivals off the board.
Here to help us break down all the winners and losers, I want to bring back our panel of political experts: CNN political analyst, "Bloomberg View" columnist Josh Rogin, CNN senior reporter for media and politics, Dylan Byers, CNN national political reporter, Maeve Reston, and CNN political analyst and senior editor for "The Atlantic", Ron Brownstein. Maeve, I want to start with you. It was a good night for Donald
Trump. His supporters don't like when you find the little things around the edges that point to any weakness for Donald Trump. They say, look, this guy has a following and he's going to move forward and get the nomination, but when you talk about electability -- first talk about how solid his lead was and then talk to me about the electability issue that we saw in some of these exit polls.
RESTON: Well, it was really interesting to follow those trends tonight. I mean, this really is a dominant win across the board for Donald Trump.
But you did see some of the late deciders in this race going toward Marco Rubio in some states and then going toward Ted Cruz in other states and that's maybe a sign of weakness for Donald Trump going forward that perhaps he is not wearing as well on some of these undecided voters over time.
We know that the people who have been with him since the beginning are really loyal supporters. One Republican strategist was saying to me yesterday that you can't peel him off with a crowbar.
But there are these other Republicans who are not sure about him and what it showed tonight is he also has some high unfavorables even in states that he won that really points to his ceiling, his ability to grow the party. He got out there tonight at this press conference, and talked about being able to unite the Republican Party. There's not a ton of evidence of that yet, even though he had dominant wins, there are still those out there saying they will not support Donald Trump under any circumstances within the Republican Party. So, that's his biggest challenge.
BERMAN: So, Trump supporters will say, we'll take a plurality or early deciders over late deciders any day of the week, whenever it gets you over the finish line, that's the big thing.
You know, Ron Brownstein, speaking of the finish line, Hillary Clinton crossed it seven times. Bernie Sanders did pick up four states, but Hillary Clinton I think, the Clinton campaign feels where they won, they won big, in some cases bigger than they expected, and they even won Massachusetts which in some ways is a little bit of a bellwether.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes, yes. You know, in the old days, as we've talked about before, you used to be forced out of the race by a lack of money. Now money is almost infinite with the ability to raise money over the Internet and the number of people who will donate.
What really, though -- the challenge you face is once the mold gets cut, it's hard to break it. And Bernie Sanders is facing a situation where a dynamic is hardened that Hillary Clinton has established an overwhelming advantage among African-American voters and what that means is when you get out of places like Minnesota and Vermont and New Hampshire that are essentially all white, it's hard to make those numbers up.
And particularly as we have said, when you get to the big states, whether it's New York and California, and North Carolina, or Ohio, and Michigan, that are all coming up, much less Georgia as we saw tonight, and Florida, you can't make it add up as a Democrat unless you are able to perform reasonably well with the minority voters who are going to be somewhere between 35 percent to 45 percent of the total vote in those states.
[04:40:08] And right now, we have not seen that from Bernie Sanders. They say African-American voters may be more open in the Midwest than they were in the South. We'll know soon enough whether there's anything to that claim.
ROMANS: Josh, speaking about money, there is a lot of money that's going to be and has been over the past couple of weeks that's going to be after this anybody but Trump, this anti-Trump coalition and it looks like it's going to be solidifying around Marco Rubio, maybe not the name Marco Rubio but attacking Donald Trump.
What is that going to look like and is that going to work?
ROGIN: Right. What you're going to see is a huge campaign, primarily by two groups, Our Principles PAC and the American Future Fund, who are going to throw millions of dollars into the anti-Trump effort. They've hired on Jeb Bush's former spokesperson to help with communications. They've got Rubio people backing them, including the Ricketts family.
What they promise is an oppo dump like we have never seen on Donald Trump. Imagine all the things you've mentioned -- Trump University, the illegal immigrants working on Trump Towers, Trump estates, Trump ties made in China, everything. All states, you name it. The gloves are coming off.
Now, the Trump people say, oh, that hasn't worked yet. No, we haven't seen that affect Trump's numbers. Well, the Rubio people are telling you they think it has worked. They point to the difference between the poll numbers in Virginia and Oklahoma and Alaska with the results, although that might be upended now due to the momentum Trump gets from winning states.
And also they say, that bottom line, that this is an unknowable election. Trump is so destabilizing, so un-normal, that all of the normal guesses about what money will do and won't do makes no sense. You just have to try it. They've got two weeks. That's the exactly the time for they're looking for.
BERMAN: Dylan, I want your opinion on something. Marco Rubio has been going big and going mean on Donald Trump for several days right now and won one state in Minnesota. Ted Cruz won three. Is there evidence that, maybe, yes, Marco Rubio was able to bruise Donald Trump, but the beneficiary of it wasn't Marco Rubio, it was Ted Cruz?
BYERS: Yes, there's absolutely an argument to be made. If you look at the states, the delegates, look at the amount of support that turned out tonight for Ted Cruz over Marco Rubio, that's certainly the case you can make. But, you know, as Ron Brownstein has been saying throughout our
conversation, this isn't a normal election year. Ted Cruz like Donald Trump is an anti-establishment candidate, he just happens to be not as good of an anti-establishment candidate as Donald Trump.
The establishment is really only left with one candidate barring some sort of late, you know, surge by John Kasich, which I don't see happening. And that candidate is Marco Rubio. So, they have to throw everything behind him.
Now, you know, you talk about this concerted attack on Donald Trump over the next two weeks. It's very hard for me to see exactly what those attacks could do that could hurt Trump because Trump has proven to be invincible for the last nine months, but the next few weeks are key. The fact is we have two Republican debates between now and March 15th. Those two debates are going to be the chance for Rubio to really shine, and shining means he has to perform very well because just winning Minnesota isn't enough to cut it if he really wants to win Ohio and Florida.
ROMANS: Maeve, when you look at Cruz, what is the path forward? You look ahead to March 15th. Where's the opportunity for him. Is there no opportunity for him?
RESTON: Well, I think it was a really mixed night for Ted Cruz in the sense that this was supposed to be his Southern fire wall, he was suppose do well in a lot of these states that Donald Trump won outright.
So, at the same time, he did pull off this win in Alaska, you know, and then in Oklahoma tonight. So you're seeing like signs of the sort of spottiness of Ted Cruz's organization. He's very organized in certain states but he just can't pull it off with the kind of breadth to take on Donald Trump.
He's hoping to go into some of these other states. He's headed to Kansas next and also other states like Mississippi and Louisiana coming up, hoping that conservatives will finally rally around him. That's the argument we heard him make tonight. But it's really unclear whether that's going to happen. In some ways looking ahead on the map, it looks like a dead end.
ROMANS: All right. Maeve, Ron, Dylan, Josh -- thanks, everybody. We're going to get back to you in a minute.
It was a big night -- it's a morning after actually. A big night for Trump and Clinton this morning. Their competitors are proving you know, they can be beaten, though. They all see a path forward.
We're taking a look at the front-runners' weaknesses, next.
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[04:48:18] ROMANS: It is the morning after Super Tuesday, it's "count your wins" Wednesday.
And even with Alaska now called for Ted Cruz, it's a happy day for Donald Trump, a really happy day. He took seven of 11 states.
A happy day for Hillary Clinton. She won seven states to Bernie Sanders' four.
So, who turned out to vote on Super Tuesday? Exit polling says that among Republicans, it was angry voters who are dissatisfied with the government. On the Democratic side, they said they would be happy with either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders as their candidate.
I want to bring our panel of political experts, Josh Rogin, Dylan Byers, Maeve Reston and Ron Brownstein.
And, Dylan, those exit polls where we asked people why did you come today and what were you thinking? Who did you vote for and why? Really telling. These Republican voters are really mad at their Republican establishment and their government.
BYERS: That's absolutely right. They're mad. They're angry. You know, I think more than anything, they're distrustful. I mean, they're just really fundamentally don't believe that Washington is working or that Washington is working in their best interests.
You know, this is sort of a talking point that we've long had. There's a large swath of the population that doesn't trust the government. We talk about how Congress's approval rating is hitting all-time lows, how the media approval ratings is hitting all-time lows.
When you go out to some of these rallies, Trump rallies, Cruz rallies, even Rubio rallies, and you look at the voters there in Iowa, in New Hampshire, in Nevada, in some of these different states, there's really a deep-seated anger.
And it's not dissimilar from some of the anger that you've seen on the Democratic side in terms of those people who were turning out to support Bernie Sanders.
I think, you know, when this crazy election process is done and when we finally get to November and we look back on everything that's transpired, that is going to be the key story of this race, is this broad deep-seated frustration with Washington and it extends to all sorts of different groups and demographics in this country.
[04:50:17] BERMAN: You know, Ron, I'm looking at some of the demographics here in Oklahoma. When you're dealing with the issue of age, and it's interesting to see. It's completely inverted when you look at Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton and the ages of people who voted for them, 18 to 29. Bernie Sanders won 82 percent, Hillary Clinton, 17 percent.
But as you keep going up, his numbers keep on getting worse and her numbers keep on getting better. It's completely inverted so that Hillary Clinton's best group is 65 and up.
You know, is this acceptable for her? Has she just settled into this and that's the way it's going to be for her in the campaign or does she try to fight for those younger voters, and, likewise, can Bernie Sanders make any inroads for the seniors?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, she has tried to fight for it. Look, I think -- as I said, I think the mold has been cut to a large extent. There's a move for the patterns around the edges. But we're seeing them pretty consistently.
And for Hillary Clinton, it's a trade she can live with in the primary, because in 2008, John, 60 percent of the total Democratic primary vote came from voters older than 45. So, if you had to pick one side of that equation to live with, you'd pick the older side. The issue would be more the general election if she gets there.
And then as Maeve said, I think several hours ago, several time zones ago, you know, really the best hope she has is Donald Trump and the CNN poll out today, his unfavorable among members of the millennial generation is approaching 75 percent.
ROMANS: Wow.
BROWNSTEIN: It's approaching 75 percent with minorities. It's two- thirds among women. It's two-thirds among college graduates.
There are real issues with Donald Trump's competiveness in the general election. Yes, he can bring out a lot of working white voters. He may scramble the map and force Democrats to defend places like Michigan, and Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, more than they have in the past.
But one of the reasons you're seeing anxiety among Republicans is that he is most toxic precisely with the group that are growing the fastest in the electorate and it become the heart of the modern coalition.
ROMANS: And, Maeve, those are minority voters who Hillary Clinton did very, very well with, not just the south but across the country, and there's really no surprise there. I mean, the Clinton goodwill, the years of Clinton goodwill to minorities clearly, clearly shining through in these numbers.
When you look at the general election, though, for the Republicans, if that nominee is Donald Trump, Republicans have got to be worried.
RESTON: Absolutely. You know, that's what a lot of these folks who are supporting other candidates like Marco Rubio are saying. Look at the demographics of where this race is going. You know, Donald Trump has really high unfavorables among Hispanic voters nationwide, among Latinos. You know, he's got a lot of issues with women voters, not necessarily within the Republican parties but more broadly.
And so I think that he has a lot of work to do in showing that he's the strongest general election nominee here. We've seen some matchups recently where Rubio and Cruz were looking a lot stronger than Donald Trump, and that may give some of these late deciding Republican voters pause as they try to figure out who's the most electable candidate up against Hillary Clinton. That's the best hope that Rubio and Cruz have.
BERMAN: All right, guys. Stand by. A lot more to talk about.
Chris Christie, you may have seen him last night while Donald Trump was speaking, right there. He's been by Donald Trump's side for much of the campaign since Friday. A little bit of an uncomfortable situation for him in New Jersey. A lot of newspapers say he should quit.
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[04:57:05] ROMANS: Welcome back.
The Supreme Court takes on a -stakes abortion case today. The justice will hear oral arguments about a new Texas court law that could shut down three-quarters of the abortion clinics in the state. Opponents claimed the measure violates Roe versus Wade. Twenty-four other states with similar laws will be watching the outcome very closely.
Meanwhile, the White House and top Senate Republicans, they remain in a standoff over filling the vacancy in the nation's highest court. The president met with four top senators yesterday. No progress reported.
BERMAN: South Dakota's Republican governor vetoed a bill that would have restricted bathroom access with transgender students. The measure was backed by some conservative lawmakers. Dennis Daugaard decided the law would have invited federal lawsuits if he approved it. He says local schools are best equipped to address this issue when it arises.
ROMANS: Six New Jersey newspapers calling on Governor Chris Christie to resign, in the wake of his endorsing Donald Trump. Each newspaper published a joint editorial saying they are fed up with what they called Christie's arrogance, opportunism and hypocrisy. The editorial points out the governor spent all or part of 261 days out of the state last year and calls for a recall effort if he does not step down.
BERMAN: A former cab driver accused of killing two Virginia college students is expected to enter a plea deal this afternoon. Jesse Matthew Jr. is charged with abduction and murder of 18-year-old University of Virginia student Hannah Graham and 20-year-old Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington. Prosecutors confirm Matthew has taken a plea agreement resolving both cases but they're not revealing the details.
Some new gripping details in the case of sportscaster Erin Andrews. Andrews detailed how stalkers video while she was naked in her hotel room caused irreparable damage. The defense grilled her on Tuesday. They suggest that the video has actually helped her career. They will continue presenting their case later this morning.
ROMANS: All right. The presidential candidates poured money into the Super Tuesday primary races. More than 27 million was spent on broadcast, cable and satellite TV ads, in the states that voted yesterday. That's according to the tracking firm Kantor Media. Candidates spent most of the money in Texas, more than $4 million, around $3 million spent in Massachusetts, Colorado, Oklahoma. Bernie Sanders spent the most of any candidate, more than $7 million
on ads in Super Tuesday states. Hillary Clinton spent $5.6 million.
On the Republican side, Ted Cruz spent $3.4 million, his super PAC drops another $2.9 million as well. Donald Trump spent $1.6 million. Marco Rubio bought $439,000 worth of TV spots, but the super PAC aligned with him spent another $4.7 million, supporting him.
BERMAN: More than $5 million for Marco Rubio. Those people are going to spend a lot more. It will be interesting to see if Donald Trump opens up his wallet more than he has.
EARLY START continues right now.
