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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Trump and Clinton Frontrunners; Rubio Suspends CampaignKasich Wins Home State of Ohio; Super Tuesday 2 Results. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired March 16, 2016 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:00:00] JOHN BERMAN, EARLY START SHOW HOST: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to a special post super-duper Tuesday edition of Early Start. It is now Wednesday. I'm John Berman.
JOHN BERMAN, EARLY START SHOW HOST: Call it twins day. I'm Christine Romans. We welcome all of our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world.
BERMAN: What a night it was. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton the two front-runners right now. They were the big winners on this Election Day. Donald Trump continues his march toward the republican convention, at least almost certainly going to get there with the most delegates.
He won at least three states, Illinois, North Carolina and Florida, big. He may still win a fourth. Look at Missouri right now. Less than 2,000 votes separate Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. They have suspended counting for the night. They're going to look at the absentee and provisional ballots tomorrow.
But Donald Trump leading there right now, the Cruz campaign, by the way, could request a recount if it wanted to. But the Cruz campaign tells our Sunlen Serfaty, they have no plans to do so at this point. So, if this holds, Donald Trump with four out of five states on this Super Tuesday. Donald Trump told supporters overnight that his movement will not be stopped.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have a great opportunity. And the people that are voting are democrats are coming in. Independents are coming in. And very, very importantly, people that never voted before. It's an incredible thing.
(APPLAUSE)
We're going to go forward. And we're going to win. But more importantly, we're going to win for the country. We're going to win, win, win. And we're not stopping. We're going have great victories for our country. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Now Donald Trump did not run the table last night. Why? Ohio and John Kasich. John Kasich now on the board in the 2016 republican primaries. He won his home state, the first state that he has won, but it's a big state, 66 delegates. His campaign still very much alive. The same cannot be said for Marco Rubio.
The Florida Senator lost badly in his home state to Donald Trump. And he has now suspended his campaign. So, right now the republican delegate count looks like this. Donald Trump with 640. That number will grow. There are a lot of delegates from Missouri and Illinois that he will win that we have not allocated yet.
Ted Cruz in second at 405. He may pick up a few more. Marco Rubio at 170. His campaign now suspended. John Kasich in fourth place in 138, but still very much in the race.
ROMANS: All right. The front-runners had a very good night. At the democratic side, nearly a clean sweep for Hillary Clinton, winning in Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, and Illinois. Missouri as we said, too close to call for the democrats, too. Clinton taking a giant step toward being the party nominee.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, (D) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We know we will add to our delegate lead to roughly 300 with over two million more votes nationwide.
(APPLAUSE)
We are moving closer to securing the Democratic Party nomination and winning this election in November.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: All right. The democratic delegate count now, Hillary Clinton, 1,568. Sanders, 797. Here to help us break down the Super Tuesday results, M.J. Lee, CNN politics and money reporter is in Washington. The front-runners had a good night. Rubio is out. Kasich is alive.
M.J. LEE, CNN POLITICS & CNN MONEY REPORTER: That's right. A big, big night for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. The two parties' front- runners. Donald Trump getting the win that he really wanted to get. And this was his prize possession and win that he had been talking about for weeks and weeks, Florida, where 99 delegates were at stake.
He defeated Marco Rubio in his home state. Adding 99 delegates, again, to his already growing pile of delegates. He also won the States of Illinois and North Carolina. And we are still waiting for results to come in Missouri.
This was also a win for Trump, coming as an anti-Trump campaign, has very much been gaining steam. A lot of money spent over the last week to try to stop Trump's momentum. Clearly not successful tonight.
This was also a big night for John Kasich. As you mentioned, he won his home State of Ohio, notching his very first victory of the 2016 cycle, making the republican race now a three-man race between Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and John Kasich.
Now on the democratic side, a good night for Hillary Clinton as well. She has won the States of Florida, Ohio, Illinois, and North Carolina. Again, on that side as well. We're waiting to get the results from Missouri.
But in her election speech, it was clear that she is now pivoting to the general election. She is very confident, seeing the results from tonight. And clearly delivering a message that was aimed at Donald Trump.
[03:05:03] Now, with Trump winning Florida, this did lead to Marco Rubio conceding defeat, take himself out of the White House campaign. So, the GOP race has really been shaken up tonight. And this is going to be a three-man race going forward.
ROMANS: All right, M.J., thank you for that. Stick with us. I want to reintroduce our panel as well. Josh Rogin, CNN political analyst, a columnist for Bloomberg View in Washington in L.A., Dylan Byers, CNN senior reporter for media politics. Chris Moody, senior correspondent for cnnpolitics.com. He is in Boynton Beach for us this morning in Florida; and Alex Burns, national political reporter for The New York Times. All with us. Great analysis and insight for you.
Dylan, I want to start you. There was a moment last night in Trump's press conference that wasn't a press conference. He said in a press release they were going to have a press conference. But he did not take questions from the press.
In fact, he had some choice words for the press in that conference. But then he said something about his right-hand man, Corey Lewandowski. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Sit down, everybody, please. I mean, this is Mar-A-Lago. We give you seats. You don't have to stand. I'm looking at all these people. Corey, good job, Corey. Good job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: An endorsement of Corey, who has been embroiled in I guess some of the controversy over the tactics inside the campaign. What did you make of that moment? That was a pointed moment of support for Corey.
DYLAN BYERS, CNN SENIOR MEDIA AND POLITICS REPORTER: Yes, it was a moment of support. It was an effectively an endorsement of his campaign manager, who has been embroiled in controversy. And it was a thumb in the eye of reporters. And frankly, especially female reporters who feel like this whole
scandal involving Corey Lewandowski and Michelle Fields, a reporter from Breitbart News who has accused him of assaulting her after a rally last week, look, there is a lot of dispute over exactly what happened in that moment.
But the response from the Trump campaign, from Corey Lewandowski, from Trump, from their spokesperson has been to try and throw into question the credibility of the reporter and really question her integrity as a reporter. And that's really rubbed a lot of members of the press the wrong way.
To have Corey up there, to have Trump turn to him and say, you know, "good job, Corey, and then to get off the stage without taking any questions, it's just the latest in a long line of incidents where Trump has stuck his thumb in the eye of the media and really said hey, look, I don't care about you. I'm going run the campaign I want to run. And I'm not going to play by your rules.
And of course on the same night, a reporter from Politico was barred from even attending the event because he had written a critical piece about Corey Lewandowski. So, the Trump campaign's treatment of the press as a whole is really terrible frankly. And it's something that you're starting to see the reporters sort of push back against.
BERMAN: And Alex Burns, you know, how much this has hurt him so far?
ROMANS: None.
BERMAN: About zero, right? I mean, despite all of that, despite the controversy over the violence at his campaign rallies, despite the fights that broke out in Chicago on Friday night, all of these things were yet more things that could have been a problem for Donald Trump.
Yet, he won at least three out of the five states last night. Maybe four out of the five states. Last night. And this morning appears to be in a better position in the republican race than he was yesterday.
ALEX BURNS, THE NEW YORK TIMES NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, John, it really breaks down as sort of a short game versus long game for Donald Trump. That, yes, it's true that he continues to win despite the series of controversies, the violence at the rallies, all the stuff with his campaign manager.
I would add to that the flap around the endorsement by David Duke several weeks ago. But he is paying a price over the longer term with mainstream republican voters who he would need in a general election and other voters, independents and even moderate democrats, really striking in the exit polls Tuesday night.
In none of the five states that voted did a majority of the republican primary voters. Republican primary voters say that Donald Trump was honest and trustworthy. On that score, he was worse off with republicans than Hillary Clinton was with democrats. And that was supposed to be her area of greatest weakness. Also in the exit polls, in every state that voted except for Florida,
at least two and five are republican primary voters said they would consider a third party candidate.
So, while this is not slowing down Trump in the near term, he is taking on water in a meaningful way that has republicans outside his campaign really deeply concerned about a general election.
ROMANS: Chris Moody, you're there.
(CROSSTALK)
BYERS: Can I?
ROMANS: Yes, go ahead.
BYERS: Can I just add one more point to what Alex just said? He is also day by day by day providing more fodder to the anti-Trump effort that Hillary Clinton will inevitably make against him in the general election. I mean, he is just giving him fuel for attack ads. And the republicans haven't been successful in turning his, you know, what he has done into attack ads.
[03:10:03] But certainly the Hillary Clinton campaign is going to make a concerted effort to do so in the general election should they run against Donald Trump.
ROMANS: Chris Moody, let's talk about the Hillary Clinton campaign. You're there in Boynton Beach, Florida. She gave her speech in West Palm Beach, and then she is back on her way to New York tonight, looking ahead very clearly. Is Hillary Clinton, do you think, going to start to pivot toward that general election and try to keep Bernie Sanders on her left flank?
CHRIS MOODY, CNN POLITICS.COM SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: She is certainly looking at both sides at the same time because Bernie Sanders is not going away today or tomorrow. But she is looking ahead. And she is calling Donald Trump out by name. And I think we're going see a lot more of that, laying the foundation for the kind of attacks we're going see in the general election. And trust me, there will be many.
And we're seeing what those will look like, not necessarily from democrats at this point, but from republicans. Remember, the never Trump movement is conservatives. It is republicans. And they are finally putting money behind ads. We saw an ad from a group just the other day, having women quote things that Donald Trump has said that can be construed as anti-women.
Boy, oh, boy, you better believe you're going to see some of that in the general election. You're going to see a lot of that if Donald Trump is the nominee. Remember, he spent a lot of time before being a politician as a bit of an entertainer, a playboy, and of course as the multibillionaire entrepreneur.
He had a mouth and he used it in public. And those quotes about women or about minorities were on camera, were on tape and we're going to be hearing them over and over in the general. And that's what a lot of republicans are terrified about.
BERMAN: But republicans are already running against him and he won Florida, and the republicans are already running against him and he won Illinois and he is leading in Missouri.
So, Josh, it's a perfect segue into where is the stop Trump movement or the never Trump movement this morning? Because this last Tuesday, yesterday was supposed to be their big stand.
JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think they're nursing their wounds this morning and preparing for the next day. The next three contest, Arizona, Utah, and Wisconsin. That's what they're focused on. But Arizona is probably going to go Trump.
Utah and Wisconsin, they feel Trump is vulnerable. But the problem for the never Trump movement is that the schedule gets elongated, right, there is big delays now between each of these primaries. So, it makes it a lot harder to build anti-Trump momentum.
The other problem from an anti-Trump movement, and some people call it sort of a frame of mind, right? It's not necessarily a group of people, although there are bunch of organizations.
So, now that the Rubio money is going to drop out, they're looking at the Cruz donors. Will the Cruz donors step up and fill the gap? I mean, it seems to be in his interest. Is that a tactic that the Cruz donors are going the take?
So, there is a feeling that they have to keep going with this, even if it's a Sisyphean effort. But they're not exactly sure what to do. They were really only planning until today as far as that is to believe.
BERMAN: Right. There seems to be overlap between the pro-Rubio and the never Trump movement.
ROGIN: That's right.
BERMAN: Now that the pro-Rubio movement is never more. How much of it will shift into a never Trump movement. That would be a pro-Ted Cruz or a John Kasich. I think that is an open question.
ROGIN: Exactly.
BERMAN: OK, guys, standby.
ROMANS: All right. So much more to get to this morning. Donald Trump reinforcing his status as GOP front-runner. North Carolina one of his Super Tuesday prizes. We are going to talk to the state GOP chair. That's next.
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[03:15:02] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN NEWSROOM: Hello, everyone. I'm Rosemary Church. This is CNN News now.
The number of people killed in a bus explosion in Northwestern Pakistan has now risen to 11. Hospital officials say 31 others have been wounded. It happened in Peshawar's heavily fortified army camp.
An information minister says the explosive material was planted inside the bus. Pakistan's prime minister strongly condemned the attack.
Belgian police are combing through an area of Brussels, looking for at least two suspects who escaped during a raid tied to last year's Paris terror attacks. Officers went to search what they thought was an empty apartment Tuesday when they say people inside opened fire. One suspect died. Four officers were wounded.
In just a few hours, negotiators are expected to begin a third day of talks meant to end Syria's Civil War. They come as Russian warplanes return home from Syria. Moscow announced Monday that it plans to pull most of its forces out of the country.
China's Xinhua news agency says North Korea has sentenced an American student to 15 years hard labor for crimes against the state. Although Warmbier admitted last month he tried to steal a banner with a political slogan from his hotel in Pyongyang.
Argentina's coast guard sank a Chinese fishing boat Monday after a chase through restricted waters. The agency says the boat tried to ram the coast guard's ship. China wants Argentina to investigate and make sure this does not happen again, saying the crew was performing fishing tasks.
And that's your CNN News now. Let's return to CNN's Early Start with special coverage of the U.S. presidential primary.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We're going to make our country rich again. We're going to make our country great again. And we need the rich in order to make the great, I'm sorry to tell you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: All right. One of the states that Donald Trump won last night, North Carolina, edging out Ted Cruz there. Proportional delegate allegation. So, they both lead with delegates. But still, yet, another state in Donald Trump's pocket.
Joining us now from Raleigh is Dallas Woodhouse, he is the executive director of the North Carolina Republican Party. First of all, Mr. Woodhouse, thanks for staying up. Great to have you here with us live this morning. I really appreciate it. Your state was close, but Donald Trump did win, as he has won so many other places. What's going on?
DALLAS WOODHOUSE, NORTH CAROLINA REPUBLICAN PARTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Well, I think the real story we saw tonight in North Carolina is the incredible amount of people that voted republican in the state. We actually had more people vote republican in North Carolina than the democrats did by about 10,000, 11,000 votes.
There are 700,000 more registered democrats in the State of North Carolina than there are republicans. The democrats are down about 400,000 votes from their last contested primary election in 2008. Our side is up 500,000.
You're talking a net swing of 900,000 for republicans. Also, republicans are up 155,000 since 2012. So, Mr. Cruz and Mr. Trump both campaigned in North Carolina. Trump campaigned a lot. He did pull out the victory. Both are going to win a significant amount of delegates.
But what we're seeing now is just an incredible amount of enthusiasm for republicans. And we saw that at the polls, with real live people showing up to vote.
ROMANS: So, what's driving that enthusiasm? I mean, when we look at the exit polling across the board, its economy and jobs that are the most pressing issue for people. When we look at exit polling in North Carolina in particular, it looks like almost 7 out of 10 North Carolina voters said that they support a temporary ban on Muslims coming into the United States. That is a signature Trump issue. It is Trump's issues like that that are drawing these new voters in?
WOODHOUSE: Well, I think there is a couple things. I think we have a broad selection of candidates, ones that are still in the race. And I think republicans generally like their candidates. And I think one of the important things to note tonight is that so many of the unaffiliated polled the republican ballot.
Now they can pick one which one to vote in. And they decided to vote republicans because those candidates are more interesting. I think people think the republican will win in November. And if you're on the democrat side you have Hillary Clinton, who has been around forever, and Bernie Sanders, who is an utter socialist.
So, I think our side is simply more attractive. And I think it bodes very well for republicans in North Carolina, which will be a swing state again. It was the closest state in the last two presidential cycles. It bodes very well that we had a higher proportion of unaffiliated vote for us on our side tonight.
[03:20:07] BERMAN: All right. You are a party official in North Carolina. Party officials are going to be very, very important over the next several months, leading into the convention in Cleveland.
If it is a contested convention, which is the only way by the way that John Kasich will end up with the nomination, maybe the only way Ted Cruz at this point ends up with a nomination.
So, a contested convention very much in play right now. As a party official in North Carolina, how do the delegate rules work in your state? A lot of this, you may not even know. It's hard to know. State by state rules. Will they be bound? How many ballots are they bound in Cleveland? And do you think as a party official that it's fair that it go to a contested convention?
WOODHOUSE: Well, I support the rules that were adopted by the Republican National Committee. They are debated by a broad section of Republican Party activists and delegates across the country. And we have rules for a reason. And ultimately, I trust the voters who are and delegates to figure
this out. And I think we'll come out with a strong nominee out of Cleveland. And I think we'll be unified.
ROMANS: I'm interested, Mr. Woodhouse, in your thoughts just looking back over the past nine months or a year. I mean, you couldn't have predicted back then where we would be today. You're a veteran of politics. This has been such an interesting -- the rule book has been thrown out, hasn't it?
WOODHOUSE: You know, it really has. And I've done a lot of different things. I've worked as a television reporter covering campaigns years ago. I've worked in political nonprofits. And it is an exciting time, you know. It is live television drama every night. It's unscripted. The voters are sending messages. But they're not all sending the same messages.
What I would say is I do believe that it is good on our side that we have people coming to our side to vote. And here is a little interesting tidbit about North Carolina.
Forty years ago, we had a primary roughly about this same time where Ronald Reagan won North Carolina to save his political career. See, we normally have our primaries in May. We're in March this time. And so, I think voters in our state unique to us are just particularly excited about being able to weigh in on the presidential race in an early important time.
Because a lot of times by the time it's gotten us to, it's been over. So I think that's one reason why we're seeing the enthusiasm. And our people have just enthusiastically embraced the early primary. And just come out in droves. I mean, just extremely high percentage of voters. I mean, and you've just got to think that the democrats are down 400,000 from 2008 in a state that is growing by leaps and bounds.
BERMAN: OK.
WOODHOUSE: And in fact, we outvoted in the night is really incredible. It's just unprecedented. They have a 700,000 registration advantage on us. It's just unbelievable.
ROMANS: All right.
BERMAN: Yes. We heard the same thing from Florida. We're talking to the chairman down there. And a lot of credit from the chairman of Florida went to Donald Trump for exciting the voters. Donald Trump winning North Carolina, winning Florida as well.
Dallas Woodhouse, thanks so much for being with us. I appreciate it.
ROMANS: Thanks for getting up early, for your enthusiasm.
BERMAN: Or staying up late either late.
ROMANS: Staying up late. There you go. Thanks, Dallas Woodhouse. Let's bring our panel back in and talk about this a bit. You know, Josh Rogin, I want to talk about North Carolina in
particular. When you look at these exit polls, again, I mentioned it just now to the executive director of the GOP there. But you look at the exit polls there. You clearly see that the ban on Muslims, the temporary ban on Muslims, an exit poll we never would ever have asked in any way, shape or form but now brought up by Donald Trump.
A huge support for that. A huge support for that among Trump supporters. We're hearing again and again, Josh, that so much of this energy and so much of the turnout is because of the Donald Trump effect.
ROGIN: Right. I think you said two important things here. One is that a truism. Trump has brought out lots of new voters. The other one, what the polls shows is that Trump's policies are actually influencing the thinking of these voters. And that is something that the Republican Party, especially republican leadership in Washington is taking very seriously.
You know, have I some exclusive reporting for you right now. This morning, Paul Ryan, the House Speaker spoke to his caucus. And he was, they were talking about the prospect that Trump would become the nominee. And he said, and I quote from a source in the room, "We are the last line of defense."
And what he is saying there is that if Trump tries to bring the party away from what it considers to be its core values and do things like institute a ban on Muslims, which Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell have expressly come out against, there will be a battle between that republican leadership and the Trump campaign.
[03:25:03] And it's not clear which side most republican primary voters will end up on. You know, you have all of these down ticket races, all of these candidates all over the Republican Party trying to decide do. We do with our leadership and our conservative movement such as it is. Do we break that off into a third party, or do we sign up and get on the Trump train, wherever that leads? And I think that those North Carolina exit poles speak to that crisis really that's going on.
ROMANS: Yes.
BERMAN: Donald Trump actually talked a little bit about Paul Ryan tonight. Donald Trump and Paul Ryan have spoken on the phone. Donald Trump has actually spoken to Mitch McConnell as well. This is what Donald Trump talked about. His outreach, his conversation with the party leadership.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Paul Ryan called me the other day. Tremendous call. I spoke with Mitch McConnell today. We had a great conversation. The fact is we have to bring our party together. We have to bring it together.
(APPLAUSE) We have -- we have something happening that actually makes the Republican Party probably the biggest political story anywhere in the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: All right, M.J. Lee, that was what Donald Trump said about Paul Ryan. Paul Ryan, though, overnight said something very interesting or he didn't say something very interesting. He refused to rule out being called to run at the convention, if his name somehow ends up in nomination. And all the delegates rise up and support him.
He refused to categorically rule it out. He didn't look too fondly upon it. But it didn't make a sure man statement and a lot of people say, well, Paul Ryan, you know, sometimes, you know, denies wanting a job and ultimately takes it to begin with.
What's the likelihood at this point right now of the contested convention? How hard are these campaigns working toward that end?
LEE: Well, first of all, I think it's really fascinating how often now Donald Trump is name dropping Paul Ryan, of all people, in his speeches, saying that he has spoken to Paul Ryan. He also said that he has spoken to Mitch McConnell, which I asked Trump at Mar-A-Lago just a few days ago, have you spoken to the Senate Majority Leader, and he said no.
So, this is certainly a new development. He is clearly saying this because he now wants to show the party that he wants to unify the party. He is not just a, you know, a flame thrower, that he can work with party leadership.
But as we have talked about, they there are going to be so many bitter pills for the party and party leaders to swallow if in fact, they do want to work together on Donald Trump as they try to, you know, progress their own agenda and the party's agenda going forward.
And I think the contested convention as you, John mentioned, that's a big part of this consideration, right? Is the party actually willing to accept that Donald Trump is leading by a lot now in the delegate race, or do they really want to take it to the convention this summer and try to stop him at all costs? And I think the second option comes with a lot of risks.
ROMANS: All right, M.J., yes. And, you know, Trump surrogates have been saying forever, you know, that's just still the foot-dragging and the mainstream media and the establishment has about accepting that Donald Trump is it.
All the -- all the convoluted, you know, remote routes to a contested convention, just give it up. That's what they say.
All right. Thanks, everybody. Stick there because we got so much more to talk about. Then there were three in the GOP. Marco Rubio is out.
BERMAN: Yes. ROMANS: John Kasich is alive after beating Trump in his home state of Kasich? Where does Kasich go from here? We'll look at that next.
[03:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: All right. Defying all expectations, beating all the odds, the governor of Ohio won the State of Ohio. No, John Kasich, look, it was a big deal, the first state he has won in this race so far. It means he is staying in this race. He gets 66 delegates in the winner-take- all state. And John Kasich, just after it became official, spoke to Wolf Blitzer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, THE SITUATION ROOM SHOW HOST: John Kasich, the Governor of Ohio, the winner of the Ohio republican presidential primaries joining us on the phone right now.
Governor, congratulations on your very important win in your home State of Ohio. I know you're going to be speaking to your supporters soon. But give us your reaction. How excited are you?
JOHN KASICH, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, we're all very, very happy, Wolf. We've run a positive campaign and one that, you know, that shows the record of balancing budgets and cutting back is the most important, growing jobs, and leaving no one behind.
And I'm just so appreciative of the people of Ohio. My third straight statewide win. And we got one more to go. We'll have one more to go this fall when we beat Hillary Clinton here. Because I'm in the best position to beat her. And we're going to get a lot of momentum.
We have a lot of people now joining us, who they were on the sidelines. They want to come now both. I heard Jake Tapper saying, well, he doesn't have any money. I mean, tell Jake I'll have all the money we need, OK? And we're also were lining up great political support.
And, look, look at these people, how happy they are. And you know what it is? What it is it's a real election for somebody that knows how to fix the country, the economy. That's what this is about. And we're fired up. I'm going to Philadelphia tomorrow. I think we'll have a great event in Philadelphia. And we're just all thrilled. My wife and my kids are here. And my sister-in-law, the whole family. And many, many volunteers.
BLITZER: All right. Let's talk a little bit about your path forward right now. You've got all 66 delegates in your home State of Ohio. But walk us through there is still an enormous number you need to capture the republican presidential nomination.
KASICH: Yes. Well, there is over a thousand delegates yet to be selected. And we're going to be working all across this country. Like I say, we're in Pennsylvania tomorrow. We'll be heading to the eastern seaboard. I'm going to get on the covered wagon and hope for a big breeze. And
then we're going to head out to the west. We're going to go out to Colorado and we're going to go to Maryland, by the way, down on the eastern shore. We'll be out in California where I think we'll be very competitive.
[03:35:01] And So, look, this is the little engine that can. People said we wouldn't be at this place, said we were not going to be able to make it. So, for those people who like the underdog, for that person in the March madness that can go from the bottom seed all the way up now, there is three of us left. It's pretty cool. So, we're excited, Wolf.
BLITZER: Do you think you're going to be able to go all the way to the convention and see what happens at the convention if no one gets that 1237, that magic number needed to capture the nomination?
KASICH: Oh, yes. Look, I may go to the convention before this is over with more delegates than anybody else. There is a thousand yet to pick. And look, we've only been paid attention to for about the last two or three weeks.
I've had more attention in the last three weeks than I had in the last six months. So, people are finally starting to hear the message of success in Washington, balancing the budget, job growth in Ohio, turning it around. Job growth.
And, Wolf, at the same time all that has happened, we've left no one behind. Which we helped the mentally ill, the drug addicted, the working poor. I mean, we're proud of what we've done. We want to bring the country together and not divide this country anymore.
That's why this was such a big victory tonight. Because what it does is it says you want to go and divide them? OK. You came to Ohio. You threw everything you had at me. And guess what? It didn't work. Because we know that we need to unite this country and be Americans and not spend our time dividing people in this country.
BLITZER: Governor Kasich, congratulations. Sixty six delegates in Ohio. You capture them all. It's a winner-take-all state. Congratulations. We'll see you out there on the campaign trail.
KASICH: Well, we'll see you tonight. I'm going to be out there to make a speech pretty soon to all the supporters and the people of Ohio, I love you, I love you. I fight for you every day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Governor John Kasich finally in the board. He's got a state, his own state. But, you know, Ted Cruz is the one who is number two for delegates behind Donald Trump. And Ted Cruz is the one who says look, this is not a three-man race. This is still a two-man race. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TED CRUZ, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Starting tomorrow morning, every republican has a clear choice. Only two campaigns have a plausible path to the nomination. Ours and Donald Trump's. Nobody else has any mathematical possibility whatsoever. Only one campaign has beaten Donald Trump over and over and over again.
(CROWD CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: There we go, guys. Alex from The New York Times. Is it a two- man race? Is it a fly in the ointment for the Kasich win last night for Ted Cruz or something more?
BURNS: What Cruz is saying is absolutely right. It's uncontestably right. The only people with a path to the majority of delegates are Trump and Cruz, and probably really only Trump. The other two guys are banking out a convention to varying degrees.
If you look at sort of what Kasich has pulled off in this race. You know, he said in that interview with Wolf that, you know, they said it couldn't be done. Everybody doubted us. I don't think anybody ever doubted that Kasich could or had a strong chance of winning his home state.
The real challenge for him is can he project his strength anywhere else in the country. And if you look at the map from Tuesday night so, far the answer is no. That he was seen as a candidate with appeal across the Midwest. He came in third in Michigan last week. He came in third in several of the other states that voted last night.
And really a distant third in Missouri. So, you're not looking at a guy who has shown that he has broad appeal anywhere within the Republican Party, that doesn't mean that he is not a factor in the race. He is a significant obstacle for Ted Cruz. And some of these more moderate states coming up like Washington State and Wisconsin.
BERMAN: Chris Moody, I spend way too much time looking at the map than looking at the calendar, trying to figure out what states are voting when and where. Look at that right there. You have New York, you have Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island.
Those are northeastern states often considered more moderate. Now Alex was just saying that northwestern, well, not to mention California. The Kasich people say these are places where we can compete.
In fact, they say these are places where, you know, we have more strength than perhaps Ted Cruz. Ted Cruz doesn't run well in the north, Maine aside. So, you know, is Kasich a better anti-Trump candidate in those places?
MOODY: I think the ambition of the establishment is a little convoluted here. They needed Kasich to be in the race now so he can be sure to beat Donald Trump and hold him from getting to that magic number. But I've heard many people say tonight that they need him to get out in order to make it a two-man race between Cruz and Trump, to help the never Trump or the anti-Trump forces.
So, certainly in the northeast, Kasich can do better -- or not certainly, but possibly can do better than Cruz. Although he hasn't proven it in the past contests. This is the first time he has won.
And in the next few states, he is going to have to -- he better prove that he can do it again, or else you're going to hear from a guy named Ted Cruz again and again saying hey, this is a two-man race. It's me and Trump.
[03:40:09] And Kasich being in there certainly does not help Cruz, although tonight he certainly did put in his effort to make sure that this could possibly go to contested convention.
ROMANS: We know that John Kasich told our Wolf Blitzer that he has plenty of money. He has money. He is going the stay in. He has money.
BERMAN: But Ted Cruz told me overnight a few choice things about John Kasich. I had a chance to interview him. That interview is in bar that we can't play it until noon today at 5.30. But trust me, there is some new stuff in there about his feelings on the race and whether or not there should be a third candidate. So, stay tuned for that.
Plus, coming up, Hillary Clinton winning at least four states, perhaps going five for five. I got to say, after what happened in Michigan, this was an unexpected outcome for a lot of people. So, what does that mean for her? What does it mean for Bernie Sanders? That's next.
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CHURCH: Hello, everyone. I'm Rosemary Church. This is CNN News now. There is breaking financial news. Germany's Deutsche Borse says it will go forward with a plan merger with the London's Stock Exchange. The companies first announced the plans last month. The merger would create a much bigger competitor to other world exchanges, especially those in New York and Hong Kong.
The number of people killed in a bus explosion in Northwestern Pakistan has now risen to 11. Hospital officials say 31 others have been wounded. It happened in Peshawar's heavily fortified army camp. And the bus was carrying local government employees. Pakistan's prime minister strongly condemned the attack.
A North Korean official says told CNN the country has sentenced an American student to 15 years hard labor for crimes against the state. Although, Warmbier admitted last month that he tried to steal a banner with a political slogan from his hotel in Pyongyang.
A third day of peace talks meant to end Syria's Civil War is set to begin in a few hours. The U.N. is mediating the talks in Geneva with representatives of the Syrian government and the opposition.
Meantime, more Russian fighter planes are returning home from Syria. Russia is pulling most of its forces out of the country.
And a manhunt is under way in Brussels for at least two suspects who escaped during a raid linked to last year's deadly Paris terror attacks. Officers went to search an apartment that was supposed to be empty Tuesday when they say people inside opened fire. One suspect died and four officers were wounded.
And that's your CNN News now. Let's return to CNN's Early Start with special coverage of the U.S. presidential primary.
BERMAN: All right. The democratic race last night. Hillary Clinton won at least four states, Florida, big. North Carolina, big. Ohio, bigger than people thought. Illinois as well. And Missouri right now, she is leading in Missouri by 1500 votes.
CNN is not going to call this race tonight. It's actually 100 percent of the precincts reporting. They reported everywhere around the state. But we're waiting for the absentee and provisional ballots to be counted in that state that could take some time.
[03:44:58] So, it could be a while before it is official. But Hillary Clinton leads there. And it could be five for five for her, which means it could be, Josh Rogin, 0 for 5 for Bernie Sanders, which is a disappointing night for the Sanders campaign, particularly after what happened in Michigan, the upset victory there.
They wanted a victory tonight. Perhaps another upset in Ohio in those Midwestern states to prove they are viable and have staying power.
ROGIN: Right. The greatest achievement tonight for Hillary Clinton is that she gets to change the narrative. Whereas, the narrative after last Super Tuesday, oh, Bernie is still hanging in there and winning states. Now the narrative is that her nomination is all but secured.
But as we get a little bit deeper into the numbers, we can still see some interesting things about how the Clinton campaign is faring against the Sanders campaign. For example, the Sanders campaign lost 2 to 1 amongst democrats, right?
You can't win the democratic primary if you're not winning democrats. At the same time, the Clinton campaign lost 2 to 1 with independents. So, it shows that Hillary Clinton is still not reaching a lot of people who are not traditional members of the party. That's a problem for her going forward.
A really positive note for Hillary Clinton last night, and I'm looking at the Ohio exit polls here is that she was up 61-36 over Bernie Sanders with women voters. And that's an improvement over the discussion that we all were having just a couple of weeks ago, when there was a lot of discussion about whether or not women would really feel obligated to vote for Hillary Clinton.
So, you know, overall, it's all good news for Hillary Clinton. But there are still some vulnerabilities in her campaign. She does have an enthusiasm gap, a problem with independents, and a problem with the younger voters. So, these are the things she has to address going forward. ROMANS: Yes. She'll have to woo those for sure. But even when you look
within those Ohio exit polls, you can see that Hillary Clinton won on the economy, she won on the trade issue even. And that was something that many people after, M.J., after Michigan last week, I mean, wow, what a difference a week makes.
Everyone looked at that Michigan victory for Bernie Sanders and thought that was really going to pretend badly for some of these -- some of these, you now, former rust belt, call the rust belt states. And like North Carolina where they lost a lot of manufacturing jobs. It didn't hurt her.
LEE: Yes, I thought that reversal was pretty striking too. I noticed that from our exit polls. I remember last week among the voters who believe that international trade costs American jobs, Sanders actually performed better than Clinton just seven days ago.
But today, we saw those numbers had flipped. So, you know, maybe because Clinton campaigned harder, or, you know, leaned a little more into that message. But whatever happened, it showed that that populist message that really carried Sanders from a week ago, the same thing just simply did not transpire seven days later.
I also just wanted to share some interesting reporting from our wonderful Sanders and met Liz Landers. She spoke to Sanders' strategist Jeff Weaver just a little while ago. And he is spinning the results of tonight in an interesting way. Actually saying that they didn't have to win even a single state, that they weren't necessarily expecting it. And that they actually think that they did better than they had expected.
He pointed to the fact that they tied in Missouri. They tied in Illinois. And he also said we outperformed substantially in North Carolina. Much better than any other southern state.
So, already the Sanders campaign after a disappointing night spinning the results to say look, we're still in the game and we had a better night than we could have expected.
ROMANS: One thing on that Ohio reversal from Michigan to Ohio, that was interesting and Senator Sherrod Brown and others in Ohio who, this week were pointing out quite rightly that there are all of these factories in Ohio that because of American trade laws have been protected from anti-dumping and the like.
And so, they were pointing to Hillary Clinton for that. So, they were trying to kind of go out there and show hey, wait a minute, it's not all gutted factories. In fact, some of these factories that are still, you know, humming are because of American trade agreements.
BERMAN: We heard from Hillary Clinton last night as she gave a speech, a victory speech. And she was clearly very enthusiastic about what happened. How could she not be excited by the results last night. She seemed to be trying to pivot once again toward the general election. Let's listen to Hillary Clinton.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: Every candidate, every candidate makes promises like this. But every candidate owes it to you to be clear and direct about what our plans will cost and how we're going to make them work. That's the difference between running for president and being president.
(CROWD CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: That bit right there sort of being a back reference to Bernie Sanders about being realistic. But, Chris Moody, she spoke just as much about the rhetoric coming from the republican side, though she never mentioned Donald Trump by name. And you did get the sense that Hillary Clinton going forward is going to put most of her attention there.
MOODY: Right. And the comments she mentioned there speaks to her strengths as somebody who in the Senate was able to accomplish a lot. And I think States like Ohio, they're always important in a general election.
[03:49:57] But if Clinton is the nominee, and if Trump is the nominee, it's going to be especially fascinating because a lot of voters in Ohio, even though he lost tonight, Trump has been able to pull in a lot of the kind of working class democrats or independent voters from the so-called rust belt in a way republicans have not been able to do in past general election presidential cycles.
So, I think you're really going to see quite a battleground there if it is Clinton versus Trump. Ohio always interesting. But I think going to be really good in 2016, if that's the case.
ROMANS: You know, Ron Brownstein made this really interesting point earlier in the night. When you look at how Donald Trump has consolidated support among blue collar men, among men who do not have a college degree, it's unbelievable the kind of consistent support he has gotten from that group.
BERMAN: But he needs to do better with that group than anyone has ever done before to make up for whatever minority votes he may lose going forward.
All right. After the big election results last night, what does it mean for Hillary Clinton? What does it mean for Donald Trump? What are the big takeaways? We will ask our esteemed panel for the biggest points they would take away from this night. That's next.
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[03:55:00] (TECHNICAL PROBLEM)
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[04:00:01] ROMANS: Breaking news this morning, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton win big on Super Tuesday, each coming closer to their party's nomination, but upset victory in one state with races still too close to be called. I mean, the race from president for president is --
