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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Fiery Democratic Debate in Michigan; Republicans Concentrate on Michigan; North Korea Threatens Preemptive Nuclear Strike; Aired 4:30- 5a ET

Aired March 07, 2016 - 04:30   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[04:30:53] SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you are talking about the Wall Street bailout, where some of your friends destroyed this economy.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know --

SANDERS: Excuse me. I'm talking.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN DEBATE MODERATOR: Let him sprung.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: "Excuse me, I'm talking." That lit Twitter on fire. The Democrats giving the Republicans a run for their money. The latest CNN debate between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. How will it affect the next round of votes tomorrow? Details just moments away.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: You always say that to me. Excuse me, I'm talking.

As for a number of Republicans, a number of races this weekend with some surprises. A new candidate surging. One candidate in probably serious trouble, another maybe with his momentum stalled. We'll give you the very latest. This as the party and the nation pauses to remember Nancy Reagan.

BERMAN: Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. I'm John Berman.

ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It is 31 minutes past the hour this Monday morning with so much to talk about. Breaking overnight. High drama and high stakes at the CNN Democratic debate in Flint, Michigan. This one was different. Just a couple of days before the crucial Michigan primary. The backdrop of the Flint water crisis looming over this event. You could sense the frustration bubbling over at some point. You could sense that both candidates believe there are not many more chances to change the trajectory of this race. Here are some of the highlights.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: I am very glad, Anderson, that Secretary Clinton has discovered religion on this issue. But it's a little bit too late. Secretary Clinton supported virtually every one of these disastrous trade agreements written by corporate America.

CLINTON: When I talk about Senator Sanders being a one-issue candidate, I mean very clearly you have to make hard choices when you are in positions of responsibility. The two senators from Michigan stood on the floor and said we have to get this money released. I went with them and I went with Barack Obama. You did not. If everybody had voted the way he did, I believe the auto industry would have collapsed taking four million jobs with it.

SANDERS: Let us be clear. One of the major issues -- Secretary Clinton says I'm a one-issue person. I guess so. My one issue is trying to rebuild a disappearing middle class. That's my one issue.

CLINTON: To think about what it must feel like to send off your first grader, little backpack maybe on his or her back, and then the next thing you hear is that somebody has come to that school using an automatic weapon, an AR-15, and murdered those children.

Now they are trying to prevent that from happening to any other family. And the best way to do that is to go right at the people.

COOPER: Senator Sanders --

CLINTON: We talk about corporate greed. That gun manufacturing sell guns to make as much money as they can make.

SANDERS: We are, if elected president, going to invest a lot of money into mental health. And when you watch these Republican debates, you know why we need to invest in mental health.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: CNN's Jeff Zeleny has more on this debate from Flint, Michigan.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, the lively and contentious Democratic debate here in Flint, Michigan, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton going after it on trade, the auto bailout, even crime issues. It was one of the most contentious Democratic debates that we have seen really and of course not as comparable to Republicans but for the Democratic side, it was pretty raucous. And of course, Bernie Sanders is running out of time to make his case to Democrats that they should elect him.

Now one of the things I was really struck by, we are here in Michigan in the heart of the auto industry, Hillary Clinton assailed him for voting against the auto bailout back in 2009. Listen to what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: I voted to save the auto industry. He voted against the money that ended up saving the auto industry. I think that is a pretty big difference. SANDERS: Well, I -- if you are talking about the Wall Street bailout,

where some of your friends destroyed this economy --

CLINTON: You know --

SANDERS: Excuse me, I'm talking.

COOPER: Let him sprung.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

[04:35:02] CLINTON: If you're going to talk, tell the whole story, Senator Sanders.

SANDERS: Let me tell my story, you tell your story.

CLINTON: I will.

SANDERS: Your story is for voting for every disastrous trade agreement and voting for corporate America. Did I vote against the Wall Street bailout when billionaires on Wall Street destroyed this economy? They went to Congress and they said please, we'll be good boys, bail us out. You know what I said? I said let the billionaires themselves bail out Wall Street. Shouldn't be the middle class of this country.

CLINTON: OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: Now in the middle of all this contentious exchanges, it is hard to know if any gains were really made. If you're a supporter of Senator Sanders going into this debate, you certainly supported him coming out of it. The same for Hillary Clinton.

Now there's just one more full day of campaigning before this Michigan primary goes to the voters and this campaign will be critical. The rustbelt voter, a central part of the electorate here. If Bernie Sanders can make gains here, can win here, this will definitely propel this nomination fight even farther. If Hillary Clinton wins, it will just keep her assertion going on and her delegate lead certainly going strong here.

So a big day of campaigning today in Michigan. Hillary Clinton is campaigning. Bernie Sanders as well. And then they both scatter to those March 15th states, but first the Michigan primary on Tuesday -- John and Christine.

BERMAN: All right, Jeff Zeleny, thanks so much.

Joining us now to discuss, Tom LoBianco, CNN Politics reporter. He is in our Washington bureau.

Tom, your big take away from the debate. Who won?

TOM LOBIANCO, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Oh boy, that's a good question. You know, they both won in a sense amping up their messages like that. They had some great hits back and forth there. You know, I think Clinton had a really great parried where she pointed -- she took the guns issue, which a clear weakness for Sanders, and turned it into a defense of her Wall Street ties, where she took -- he has supported the gun maker's Immunity Bill In 2005. He voted for that. He since said that he might -- he would not have done that.

But that has been a key striking point. And she took that vote and turned it on him and said if you're so much against corporate greed, why don't you vote against the gun makers? And you could see that the audience just lit up before she was even done with the answer. It was -- that was one of the sharpest moments of the night.

ROMANS: So that's the -- that's the night. What about the weekend? Who won the weekend? A very big weekend in politics. Moving the ball forward here for what is going to be an incredibly important Tuesday and then a bunch of other debates and then more voting next week.

LOBIANCO: You know what's interesting about the Democratic side is the delegate rules are proportional. So it's not -- you don't have these winner-take-all contests like you do on the Republican side. So when Bernie Sanders wins in Kansas, when he wins in Nebraska, that's good. It looks good for him. But he's not winning by huge margins. Clinton, when she wins the southern states, these are just knockouts that she is pulling out here.

And you know, before you could argue, if you're one of the Sanders folks, you could argue that OK, she has this lead based on super delegates. People -- the establishment rallying to her side. She has a -- about 500 super delegates, I believe. And what was happening, though, is that since Super Tuesday and again on Saturday and possibly on Tuesday, tomorrow, in Michigan, she has been slowly pulling away in the elected delegates.

So it makes it harder for the Sanders people to just say OK, this is just the Democratic chairman. These are the senators. These are the moneyed interests. You know, you can't rely on that as much anymore. So Michigan is really big for him. For her, it means she could put him away sooner. But for him, it's a chance to keep on arguing OK, there is a path to the nomination. I do have something. So this is really crucial.

BERMAN: She has about a 200 delegate lead in the pledge delegate. But we do count the super delegates because you know what, they count at the convention.

LOBIANCO: That's right.

BERMAN: Either way Hillary Clinton is leading and as you say very interesting. Even though Sanders won Kansas, Nebraska and Maine this weekend and Hillary Clinton only won Louisiana, basically even on delegates for the weekend. I don't know how Maine changes the equation because that happened fairly late yesterday. But going into Maine, she still, even though, she'd only won one state actually won more delegates this weekend. Back to the debate for one second, Tom, because I was struck by her

auto bailout answer. It was almost like Bernie Sanders wasn't prepared for that line of attack. That was -- you know, she came out very early in the debate and said I supported the auto bailout which is of course a very big deal in Flint and in Michigan, and Bernie Sanders did not.

LOBIANCO: Right. And you know, I think they focused so much on the trade. And that's -- I mean, that's exactly what you have to focus on in the rustbelt. I think the Sanders people focus so much on trade, NAFTA, CAFTA, and all this, that it was a great move from Clinton. They did seem taken a little aback.

[04:40:08] I mean, you know, you could joke and say that Sanders' issue -- answer for everything is Wall Street. And his answer there was Wall Street. In this case, it is relevant with the -- with the Wall Street bailout and some of that auto bailout being money taken out of that fund. But yes, it did look like he was unprepared for it. They have been throwing a lot of stuff at him and really, you know, that one -- that one hit. It was a good shot.

BERMAN: All right, Tom. Tom LoBianco for us. We'll talk to you again in a little bit.

And of course stay with CNN for the most comprehensive political coverage anywhere on earth. Tomorrow, voting in four states, including Michigan and Mississippi. Idaho and Hawaii for the Republicans. Wednesday, there is another Democratic debate in Miami. And Thursday, it really could be the final Republican debate, certainly the final Republican debate before Super Tuesday. That in Miami. This is a huge political week of events. And they are all only right here on CNN.

ROMANS: And then a bunch of voting the week after that, too, so you've got another seven to 10 days of excitement, folks.

Let's take a look at your money. Time for an EARLY START on your money. The politics behind the February jobs report shows two different sides of the U.S. economy. Nearly 250,000 jobs created in just one month. In December and January's numbers revised higher by 30,000.

This is good news for Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. It shows the Obama economy humming when it comes to job creation. Even better than those numbers, the labor force is growing as a whole, meaning more people are coming off the sidelines and going back into the workforce. That's been happening since September. That takes a little bit of the power behind the Republican argument.

But the weak growth in wages leaves a big target for the GOP candidates. Hourly pay rising just 2.2 percent year-over-year, falling 3 cents an hour last month. Not enough for people to feel good about their personal economies.

That was a strong jobs report overall but still plenty of data pointing -- plenty of data points for the candidates to spin. I found it really interesting because when you look at the energy in

some parts of the labor market and then you hear on the campaign trail the anxiety among the middle class. I mean, you heard Bernie Sanders say elevating the middle class is his number one priority. Donald Trump saying, you know, manufacturing workers get -- you know, I'm not going to say the word he would say, but you know, many factory workers need help. It's just interesting these two different worlds.

BERMAN: And Michigan is the microcosm of that entire discussion.

ROMANS: Totally.

BERMAN: Of course they vote tomorrow.

ROMANS: All right. A busy week ahead for Republicans. Four states set to vote tomorrow but who were the big winners in the contest over the weekend? We're going to break all that down for you.

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[04:46:19] BERMAN: All right. One day to some pretty key primaries on the Republican side of the race. The candidates all out there today campaigning as hard as they possibly can. Michigan, Mississippi, Idaho and Hawaii, all hold their contests tomorrow. Michigan, which is the biggest prize. Donald Trump out in front in one of the latest polls. You can see the numbers right there.

Over the weekend, Donald Trump, he did win two contests in Kentucky and Louisiana. But those were by very slim margins. Ted Cruz won big in Kansas and Maine. Marco Rubio won Puerto Rico. The primary there. Ted Cruz actually picked up the most delegates over the weekend.

There are a lot of primaries over the next two weeks. A lot of votes to be cast this week in Michigan. This will be, like I said, and next week in Florida and Ohio. Ohio, of course, the home state of John Kasich. John Kasich didn't win anything over the last few days but he did pick up some endorsements, some newspaper endorsements. Ronald Reagan's son Michael endorsed him as did former governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, FORMER GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA: I want John Kasich to be the next nominee of the Republicans and also to be the next president of the United States. Here he is.

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you, Arnold. Love you man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

ROMANS: All right. To discuss, let's bring back CNN political reporter Tom LoBianco in Washington for us. And let's stay here on the Republicans to talk a bit about just the

action this weekend and really this sort of exciting weekend. Marco Rubio on the board sort of with a win in Puerto Rico. And here he is, Marco Rubio, talking about that win. We'll talk about the significance of it on the other end.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In an open primary, where anyone can vote, not just Republicans, Democrats and independents, I got over 70 percent of the vote. Not because I became less conservative, but because I took our conservative principles to people who are living the way I grew up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: So Rubio wins Puerto Rico. Will it help him? Does it keep him alive here?

LOBIANCO: He's got -- you know, he's got to put the wins on the board. This is a delegate race. It is true. But the wins are about perception. Politics is about perception. You know, fortunately, he won Minnesota Super Tuesday. He came out again and won Puerto Rico. And so these are good. This helps blunt some of those arguments from Trump and, you know, where Trump says, OK, look, it's time to leave the race.

You know, Cruz wasn't quite putting it that way, but every time he would talk about, making the argument that I'm the guy to beat Trump, he would say it, you put it on the back end of the statement, he would say, and Rubio hasn't won any states. I'm the guy who's won states.

Well, now Rubio has that. But, you know, we're pretty deep into it right now. And, you know, Kasich hasn't won any states either. But there's not really an expectation that he's the anti-Trump guy. So, you know, at some point Rubio has to start putting more on the board. He has to start breaking away.

BERMAN: Ted Cruz won the most delegates this weekend, which his supporters are bragging about and rightfully so. Donald Trump may have underperformed a little bit this weekend. In the states that he did win, he barely won. So what are you looking for from Donald Trump the next few days to try to learn if in fact his momentum is stalled or if this was just a little roadblock?

LOBIANCO: You know what's interesting about Trump is the -- usually he'll do pretty good in the southern states, but, you know, Michigan is going to be a big test right there. I think we saw that polling earlier where it looks like he is up about double on Cruz as the nearest competitor.

[04:50:06] You know, if he wins there, that's the biggest prize. We haven't hit the winner-take-all states yet. Those are going to be the real kind of ball works in determining when -- you know, this is -- that's make or break time. This kind of helps to explain this never Trump movement that's come up in the last week. The timing of it. Because that's really do or die. You know, up until now, there's always been the hope that you could put something out there.

ROMANS: Let's talk "SNL" this weekend. You know, they do such a funny, mean, funny, mean, funny job of taking these candidates to task. And they had something this weekend that was particularly, I don't know, cringe worthy or hysterical depending on your politics and perspective. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So when people ask why you support Donald Trump, you just tell them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's going to take our economy from here to here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's not some cautious politician. He says what I'm thinking.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know what it is. I just like the guy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some of his ideas seem a little out there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: You know, "Saturday Night Live" having some fun. The ad is called "Racist for Trump." But you know, it should be noted, by the way, that "SNL", "Saturday Night Live" had Donald Trump on as their host.

LOBIANCO: Right. You know, what I was thinking about when I saw this that you don't get to make an ad like this or, you know, "SNL" doesn't lampoon like this unless you have trouble answering a question about the KKK. And this is why, you know, political veterans, you know, everything, though, Trump has been running against political correctness, there is this a strategic point to it which is that you don't trip over answers like an endorsement from David Duke, the former leader of the Ku Klux Klan.

ROMANS: Right.

LOBIANCO: And this is -- this is part of the fallout. This is the natural occurrence in the world of politics. And you get a mock "Racist for Trump" ad, which is -- astounding.

ROMANS: A lot of material for "SNL." I mean, they've had a lot of -- a lot of material in general for both parties. So it's been funny and fun to watch.

All right, Tom LoBianco, thank you so much.

Tributes this morning pouring in from across the country and around the world for Nancy Reagan who died Sunday at her home in California from congestive heart failure. She was 94 years old.

Nancy Reagan was one of the most influential women of the 20th Century. She was of course first lady to her husband, President Ronald Reagan. Fiercely protective during his two terms in the White House. The depth of her devotion was perhaps even more evident in the years after he left office and he battled Alzheimer's disease.

The president and Mrs. Obama extending their condolences in a statement saying, they were fortunate to benefit from her proud example and her warm and generous advice. Nancy will be buried next to her husband at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California.

All right. The worst start to the year ever for stocks, it doesn't seem so bad right now. Are they staging a comeback. I got a check on your money when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:56:27] BERMAN: All right. New tensions this morning in the Korean Peninsula with the north threatening a, quote, preemptive and offensive nuclear strike. This as the United States and South Korea begin their annual joint military training exercises.

CNN's Paula Hancocks following these developments. She is live in Seoul, South Korea.

Paula, threats, nothing new, but this time the idea of a -- you know, preemptive and offensive nuclear strikes. Not exactly something we've heard before.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, North Korea is certainly doing what it does best. Threatening Washington and Seoul with nuclear war. The new aspect of this, of course, saying it will be an indiscriminate attack. But they have threatened nuclear war on the U.S. and South Korea and others before. But certainly this time around, we're seeing that tensions are particularly high on the Korean Peninsula. You would always expect Pyongyang to be angered by these annual military drills held between the U.S. and South Korea. This year no exception.

But of course you have to look at the run-up to this March. And the fact that January, there was a nuclear test. In February, they had a satellite launch which was widely seen as a long-range missile test. And then just last week, the U.N. passing the strongest sanctions on North Korea that they have in two decades. And then just on Friday Kim Jong-Un said he wants his nuclear weapons at the ready to use when he wants. That these military drills this year between the U.S. and South Korea are the largest ever. 300,000 Korean soldiers, 17,000 U.S. soldiers and certainly Pyongyang sees it as a dress rehearsal for an invasion. But Washington says they are defensive in nature -- John.

BERMAN: The next few days will be interesting to be sure.

Paula Hancocks for us, thanks so much.

ROMANS: All right. It's Monday. Let's get an EARLY START on your money. U.S. stock futures down a little bit. Strong gains on Friday. The Dow up 62 points on Friday. You know, the Nasdaq and the S&P also closing higher.

Stocks rally Friday third straight week of gains. Why? You know, the February jobs report was strong. The worst start to a year ever for stocks suddenly doesn't look so bad. If you bought during those worst days of February, like John Berman did, you will be probably higher. The fear on Wall Street has turned into fear of missing a bounce. Especially after that strong jobs report.

Look at this. Nearly 250,000 jobs created in just one month. That's the last key piece of data before the Feds meet next week. A strong report could put a rate hike back on the table so higher interest rates could be coming. At least it says that the U.S. economy is stronger than all those fears we had back in February.

Watching the price of oil. Keeps climbing here. A barrel of crude above $36 right now. Up about 40 percent from lows last month.

You know, the fundamentals have not changed much. The world still has too much oil. But U.S. energy firms did cut back on the number of oil rigs. They're now at their lowest level since December of 2009.

The other big story happening overnight, China laying out its plan for the country's slowing economy. The world's second largest economy has set a target range for economic growth at 6.5 percent to 7 percent this year. GDP grew by 6.9 percent last year. The slowest pace in 25 years. And that was weaker than the government's 7 percent target after decades of breakneck expansion.

China's economy now decelerating. The country's top economic planner insists the economy is not headed for a hard landing. I sure hope they are right. 6.5 percent to 7 percent. Still sounds pretty good, right? But --

BERMAN: It does. But 6.5 percent, the fact they're setting the target lower that their annual 7 percent is actually a very big deal.

ROMANS: Yes.

BERMAN: It shows that there's some pessimism there.

ROMANS: Absolutely.

BERMAN: EARLY START continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: If you are talking about the Wall Street bailout, where some of your friends destroyed this economy --

CLINTON: You know --

SANDERS: Excuse me, I'm talking.