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Inside Politics
Will the Debate Hurt Rubio?; CNN/WMUR Poll: Trump's New Hampshire Lead Grow, 3-Way Fight for Second; Sanders v. Clinton on Being Progressive; The Problem of Hillary's Emails, Sanders' Foreign Policy; Campaign Moves to South Carolina Later This Week. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired February 07, 2016 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[08:00:19] JOHN KING, CNN HOST (voice-over): Ted Cruz sets his sights on another win, and on Donald Trump.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald is throwing yet another temper tantrum, or if you like, yet, another Trumpertantrum.
KING: But Trump is leading in New Hampshire and predicts a rebound.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I'd love to win, because I like to win. My life is about winning.
KING: And is there really Marco-mentum?
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I know this about politics -- when everyone's attacking, you must be doing something right.
KING: But Bernie Sanders turns up the heat on Hillary's Wall Street ties.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think it's time to end the very artful smear that you and your campaign have been carrying out.
KING: Testing time again this Tuesday.
INSIDE POLITICS -- the biggest stories sourced by the best reporters -- now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Welcome to INSIDE POLITICS. I'm John King. Thanks for sharing your Sunday morning.
We're live this morning for the full hour from the Foundry Restaurant in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Now, New Hampshire's first in the national presidential primary is Tuesday, and fresh from a feisty Republican debate last night, here are three big questions.
Can Donald Trump get a victory and bounce back from his slip to second in Iowa?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: When I came out, I hit immigration. I hit it very hard. Everybody said oh, the temperament -- because I talked about illegal immigration. Now everybody's coming to me. They're all trying to say, oh, well, he's right, we have to come to him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: There's another question. Will scorching criticism at last night's debate slowed Marco Rubio's post-Iowa momentum?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R-NJ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When you're president of the United States, when you're governor of a state, the 30-second speech where you talk about how great America is at the end of it doesn't solve one problem for one person.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: And on the Democratic side, will Hillary Clinton feel the burn or mount a late comeback as she did here in 2008?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: I want to take on the issues that are really tugging at people's lives, that are making it so difficult for so many to get on with their lives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: With us this morning to share their reporting and insights, Jonathan Martin and Maggie Haberman of "The New York Times", CNN's Manu Raju and Maeve Reston.
Breaking news to begin this conversation, brand-new numbers from our CNN/WMUR New Hampshire tracking poll. With two days until New Hampshire votes, look at the numbers. Donald Trump leading the Republican field with 33 percent, Marco Rubio at second at 16 percent, Ted Cruz is third at 14 percent, John Kasich fourth at 11 percent.
In the bottom of the pack, Jeb Bush fifth at 7 percent. Carly Fiorina is next at sixth. Chris Christie seventh at 4 percent. And Ben Carson eighth at 2 percent.
Now, the trend is often as important as the numbers in these tracking polls. So let's look at that. Trump is up since Thursday. Rubio down two points. Cruz ticked up a point. Kasich down one. At the back half of the pack, Bush lost some ground and Carly Fiorina gained a little, perhaps benefiting from all the media coverage of ABC's decision to exclude her last night. It's also important to note this poll was completed last night just
before the debate. That's important, because only 45 percent of likely Republican voters say they have definitely decided who gets their vote on Tuesday, so the debate could have changed some minds.
Let's get straight to it.
Maggie Haberman, the morning newspapers and the headlines and conversations might change some minds, too. Let's just put up on the front page, "The Boston Herald," a lot of people in New Hampshire read the "Boston Herald", it's just down the road. Look at this front page of the "Boston Herald" today. Marco Rubio, "Choke".
That is not the headline you want two days before New Hampshire votes, when there was a possibility -- the conversation heading into that debate was if Marco Rubio had a good night, a strong second was probably in his grasp already, and perhaps he could catch Trump.
MAGGIE HABERMAN, NEW YORK TIMES POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Look, I think that is a brutal headline. I think a lot of the headlines today are going to be brutal. He had a very rough night. I think it let loose a lot of questions about whether he has a glass jaw. People have been asking this for a while. I think you saw Chris Christie really take a swing at that jaw and see if he could make it break apart.
Rubio had as rough a time against Chris Christie as he could. Chris Christie was really just essentially a chain saw coming at him unleashed.
And there was a bit of a murder-suicide thing there. I don't know how much that actually helps Christie at the end of the day. But Christie, who is clearly angry that the Rubio super PAC has been airing a lot of ads against him that really halted his momentum in December, just swung back very, very hard.
And when you have -- Rubio knew he was going to be the center of essentially a four-car pile-on, but he basically froze at a really rough moment. And Christie just moved in for the kill. He never quite recovered. He did a bit at the end.
I don't know as we head into a Super Bowl tonight and as we have basically one more full day of anybody paying attention, it might not hurt him as much as it would otherwise, that there were several days. That's his pest hope.
KING: You make a key point. I want to get to some of this sound as we continue the conversation. The Rubio team and the senator himself knew all week long, the other candidates are saying, we need to stop Marco, because he got third place in Iowa.
[08:05:04] You didn't want him to come in strong second and win here and be the center-right guy, because that would wipe out those other guys in the race.
So, you know it's coming. You also know it's a huge debate, right, before the primaries. So, it's a big night. Super Bowl metaphor, do you play well in the big game? Or do you not play well in the big game?
Christie did this right from the beginning. He signaled very early on in the debate. He had one target. It was Marco Rubio essentially saying nice guy, but you're not ready to be president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUBIO: I'm proud of my service in the United States Senate, and before that in the Florida legislature. I will say if politics becomes and the presidency becomes about electing the people who have been in Congress or the Senate the longest, we should all rally around Joe Biden. He's been around a thousand years.
CHRISTIE: You have not been involved in a consequential decision where you had to be held accountable. You just simply haven't. The fact is when you talk about Hezbollah sanctions act as you list as one of your accomplishments and just did, you weren't even there to vote for it. That's not leadership, that's truancy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: That's just one of the examples. They went at it again and again and again. Marco tried to get back at Governor Christie saying you had to be forced to go home to deal with the snowstorm. Maybe scored a little bit there.
But it was Rubio on his heels for most of those exchanges.
MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: Absolutely. This was maybe the toughest moment that we've seen, even tougher than some of those Trump moments in previous debates. I do agree with Maggie, though. For Christie to go that hard, there was a level of bullying about it that may not resonate well with New Hampshire voters here.
But I think that he took what are Marco Rubio's strengths in the sense of being young, the fresh new face of the party, and really turned that on him to charge ahead with a readiness argument. And I think that a lot of people who watched that debate now are going to be questioning that.
And it wasn't just Christie. You know, then you had the others come in too and make that same argument. And it just was -- just not a good night.
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: John, you know, New Hampshire is so important, for obvious reasons being the first in the nation primary. But also because for Marco Rubio, he's going to continue on to South Carolina no matter how he does here.
The question is what does Chris Christie do? I mean, he's right now at the polls at 4 percent. If he's at 4 percent. If he does not do -- if he's at 4 percent, how does he continue to South Carolina?
So, if he's no longer in this race after New Hampshire, that's going to help Marco Rubio because Chris Christie can go after him the way that no other candidate does.
JONATHAN MARTIN, NEW YORK TIMES: But to that point, though, he has offered a legacy even after he perhaps enters the political afterlife, and he has bequeathed the rest of the field damning video of showing this bright young star in the party being exposed as somebody who has simply memorized a good 25-second speech.
RESTON: And that went viral on Twitter, too. The loop of Rubio coming back to the same answer over and over again.
KING: Right after Christie said that was -- yes.
(CROSSTALK)
RAJU: That was the perplexing thing, because going into it, that had been the criticism. All week Christie had been saying that. It's been an issue for Rubio. And he still fell back on it after being called out in the debate, which is really surprising.
MARTIN: And that's the micro legacy of Christie, is that now Marco is going to have that video loop coming back at him. I'm sure on paid TV at some point here in the next few days going to South Carolina.
The macro legacy of Chris Christie, assuming he does not somehow find a way -- by the way, he only has a million dollars in the bank. So, it's going to be hard.
The macro legacy is this -- is that he has potentially prolonged this race. There was a feeling this week that Marco Rubio could really get a strong second. Or even come close to beating Trump here. And there was that sort of train leaving the station vibe that all of us kind of felt that the party really wants this to happen. People were endorsing him every day.
HABERMAN: Donors were waiting.
MARTIN: Absolutely.
Chris Christie last night may have prolonged this race, not just in South Carolina and Nevada, but well into March perhaps, even April.
RAJU: Yes, it could prevent other big force names in the party from standing behind him.
MARTIN: If you're Jeb, after that, that performance last night by Rubio, you want to stay in the race as long as you can.
HABERMAN: South Carolina is not that far away. So, if you're Jeb, you have a decent argument about, to people who've been --
(CROSSTALK)
RAJU: And Jeb probably had his best performance last night.
HABERMAN: Absolutely. RESTON: Both Jeb and Kasich last night had strong performances. Very
smooth. You know, it was sort of the night of the governors in that debate last night.
And a lot of voters watching that and thinking about electability and experience may be looking more toward them. And both of them have spent so much time here that it may --
KING: I want to talk more about them in a minute. But Donald Trump has a big lead here. He was left almost untouched.
HABERMAN: Yes.
KING: And Ted Cruz --
(CROSSTALK)]
KING: And Ted Cruz, you're Iowa winner, who's just looking for a strong second or strong third here, that's all he wants here, because this is not his state, virtually untouched.
One of the most interesting moments for me with Trump is this is not an ideological primary, as you expect most primary races are. And he gets asked about politics 101 if you're running for the Republican nomination for president.
[08:10:00] Define a conservative.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Well, I think I am. To me, I view the word conservative as a derivative of the word "conserve". We want to conserve our money. We want to conserve our wealth.
We want to be smart. We want to be smart where we go, where we spend, how we spend. We want to conserve our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: An interesting moment there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How about that?
KING: It's a strange answer for a guy running in a Republican primary. What are we eight debits, nine debates in. And after, he was asked about a lot of criticism in Iowa. Although he turned in a record number of votes if Ted Cruz hadn't beat him.
There was a lot of questions about his operations. Do you know how to run a campaign, a modern day campaign? Do you have data contact with your voters? Can you turn them out?
Here's what Trump said after the debate about whether he needs a ground here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: Personally, I think the debate tonight is more important than the ground game. In New Hampshire, the people, they like you and they're going to go out and they're going to vote, and they're going to go back. You know, there's not so much of a ground game. I think our ground game is good, but I really think the debate tonight was more important than the ground game.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: If you're the Republican establishment --
HABERMAN: The ground game.
KING: The ground game -- if you're the Republican establishment and you so dislike Trump and Cruz, you want them to go away, why does he get a pass in this debate?
HABERMAN: I mean, I think a couple of reasons. I think people continue to not take him seriously or know what to make of him. They are afraid have him turn on them with whatever sort of spray he has in past debates and that has dominated the debate performances of a lot of these folks onstage for months.
Rubio was a more immediate threat. People had to really slow him down. And so, I think people figured that Trump would implode of his own.
As it happens, I think Trump prepared a lot for that debate based on what we saw. We saw the most sort of normalized, basic politician debate. He acted like a frontrunner.
He did have his sort of Trump moments, including stabbing a Jeb and throwing a dart at Cruz, attacking the audience. I actually thought that worked for him. Throwing a dart at Ted Cruz as the debate was about to end.
But -- and so because of that, I think that Trump probably won by default. And he has a huge lead. You still have to assume he's the favorite in Tuesday.
But all I'm willing to say right now with certainty is Rubio had a bad night and I don't know who benefits.
RAJU: Got to fight for second place here. That's why all of the jostling has been around Marco Rubio, who can become that Trump alternative. That's why -- but what was surprising to me on that, though, is that Cruz had an opportunity to attack Trump very early on in the debate, and was asked if he wants to stick by his criticism to Donald Trump and he refused to do so.
KING: Let's get to that. That was interesting maybe because Ted Cruz campaigns are scornful about this. He campaigned saying, you know, you can trust me, you can't trust them. I'm the conservative with a spine of steel.
Unlike everybody else who's campaigned for this job before, I'm not going to say this and when I'm president, not do it. He said on the campaign trail this week, he did not trust Donald Trump as commander- in-chief, that Trump did not have the temperament or the judgment.
So, David Muir of ABC News said, standing right there, Senator, go for it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID MUIR, ABC NEWS: Senator, you did say of Trump's behavior this week, that's not the temperament of a leader to keep this country safe. Why not?
CRUZ: Well, you know, David, the assessment the voters are making here in New Hampshire and across the country is they're evaluating each and every one of us.
MUIR: Senator Cruz, I did ask about Mr. Trump. You said he doesn't have the temperament to be commander-in-chief. You stand by those words?
CRUZ: I think that is an assessment the voters will make and they'll make it of each and every one of us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARTIN: Wow. I don't get that.
KING: Cruz who says I never back down from a fight, he backed down from a fight. And then the others didn't jump in. Somebody could have jumped in and said, Ted, I thought you were the man of steel, and go after Trump.
HABERMAN: Absolutely. And what was interesting was the person who took Cruz on for being a politician the most was Trump. He used that at the very beginning and said, you know, Ted, you're not answering the question, with all due respect. And between Carson and Trump, they clearly had found a way to handle Cruz, for I think the first time in this debate.
But to your question in terms of Trump, I think that everybody has assumed he's going to fall of his own weight and that's the only way to go at him. Look, we saw in Iowa he is susceptible to negative ads and I think you'll see a lot more of those heading into South Carolina. But people are going to have to change their approach.
RESTON: It's so important to remember all of those people in Iowa who were changing their minds within that last week drifted away from Trump. And we don't know here in New Hampshire how soft his support is in the polls.
We don't know whether or not those first-time voters were so excited by him, are really going to turn out. And there is a possibility -- it feels very volatile on the ground.
RAJU: One warning sign for Trump is that the polls actually -- one of the CNN polls last week said 36 percent of New Hampshire voters have ruled out voting for Trump. That is way more than anybody.
KING: He's not going to get (INAUDIBLE)
RAJU: He has less from that --
RESTON: And it's surprising that he didn't learn from the ground game issues that he had in Iowa. I mean, that's going to be important here.
KING: Given the question about whether his support is soft and whether you can move it or collapse it or get it to stay home, that's why I was surprised people just left him alone last night. But that's their decision.
Up next, two candidates quick the race after Iowa now. How many will New Hampshire send to the exits?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:19:01] KING: Welcome back.
For a long time, governors were thought to have an advantage in presidential politics. After all, before they moved to the White House, it was Governor Ronald Reagan, Governor Bill Clinton, Governor George W. Bush.
But the governors have been struggling this cycle, as voters look for something new. And it's a safe bet at least one of these men, possibly two, will be gone from the race by the end of this week -- Governor Chris Christie, Governor John Kasich, and Governor Jeb Bush.
Survival was their debate strategy last night. Christie picking a fight with Marco Rubio. Kasich talked about 100-plus New Hampshire town halls and his record in Ohio. Jeb Bush promised he'd be a steady hand as commander in chief and he picked a fight or two with Donald Trump, this one over eminent domain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: What Donald Trump did was use eminent domain to try to take the property of an elderly woman on the strip in Atlantic City. That is not public purpose. That is downright wrong.
TRUMP: Jeb wants to be -- he wants to be a tough guy. I didn't take the property.
(CROSSTALK)
BUSH: Property from an elderly woman?
[08:20:01] TRUMP: Let me talk, quiet. A lot of times --
BUSH: How tough is it?
(BOOS)
TRUMP: A lot of times -
(BOOS)
TRUMP: That's all of his donors and special interests out there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: That was one of the most interesting moments, particularly because Bush has backed off from those confrontations in the past when Trump gives him the quiet, or shut up. And he had the energy --
MARTIN: Yes, that was high-energy Jeb Bush.
HABERMAN: It was Bush's best debate by far. I think it is coming rather late in the process. But if Bush has any case in this fluid a race, of keeping going with credibility into South Carolina, keeping his supporters with him, this gave him ammunition.
RESTON: And particularly on this issue, eminent domain, which is so important here in New Hampshire. Jeb knew his audience. He's been out doing all these town halls. And he really drew blood in that exchange.
RAJU: Jeb -- John, I have to say, I was at one of Jeb's events yesterday in Bedford, and the anti-Trump contingent there was really, really strong. I mean, among the Jeb supporters, one voter actually stood up and said, "I want you to throw a punch at Donald Trump tonight." Clearly, there was a feeling that he needs to come out --
RESTON: Like the blue steel thing.
MARTIN: It certainly played to a segment here of the electorate that is college-educated, that is frankly appalled by Donald Trump and the idea of Donald Trump.
He has gone after them with gusto. I think that might be enough to sort of at least keep his campaign going.
But real fast, though, the problem that Jeb has here is that he's not alone doing that. John Kasich is appealing to the same voters. If Kasich wasn't on the ballot, Jeb would almost certainly take it -- it's harder, though, now.
HABERMAN: But to your point, Trump has been basically capped at a certain rage. There was this big question about his ceiling, and his supporters get angry when we talk about his ceiling. There's the largest section that says they will not vote for someone, are not voting for him.
And what you saw in Iowa, you saw this enormous turnout. A lot of his was Trump, a lot of was stop Trump.
So, I do wonder what you'll see in terms of that here. How many people are going to be motivated? I heard anecdotally in Iowa, a lot of people basically said, I will vote against that guy. Let's see if that's the case -- KING: But who do they pick is the issue. I was there yesterday. Ten
minutes before I was at a Chris Christie event, a mile up the road, looking for the same suburban voters in Bedford, sort of establishment Republicans. And Kasich is going after largely the same crowd, he wants a little bit more independence coming in.
I listened to Kasich last night because you've had the other guys -- Kasich says he's running a completely positive campaign. Nobody runs a completely positive campaign. He gets into it when he needs to.
But he has tried to create his own lane, this sort of blue collar Republican. Last night he tried to close by saying, look at what I've done in Ohio.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When you go from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black, when you cut taxes by $5 billion and you grow over 400,000 jobs -- that is a record that I can take to Washington.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: If you add it up, Kasich, Bush, Christie, put Carly Fiorina in there, she's essentially going after them more or less, even though she's an outside establishment voters, and Marco Rubio, Donald Trump would be in the rear-view mirror. But you have this cluster.
RAJU: Yes. And for Kasich, the question is -- you know, he may do well here, but where is he going to do well afterwards? It's hard to see him doing well in South Carolina or the Super Tuesday states. And he does not have the kind of organization that he's built that could actually compete for a national campaign.
That is the one thing that Jeb does have going for him, while he has burned through a lot of money, he does have a national --
MARTIN: It's why Ted Cruz's campaign is quietly cheering for Jeb Bush, the ultimate representative of the establishment. But Cruz's folks are cheering for Jeb here in New Hampshire because they want Jeb, and more importantly, they want Jeb's super PAC to keep going to South Carolina and keeping its fire on Marco.
KING: We know Cruz has the money and we know there are a lot of evangelical tea party members in the South. The calendar is going to go after New Hampshire, the place is good for him.
We don't know about Trump's staying power, but if he gets a New Hampshire victory, he's back to being a winner and that makes him still a force in the race as we go forward.
MARTIN: Sure.
KING: We thought New Hampshire was going to give us the establishment alternative. Looks like it may not.
(CROSSTALK)
RESTON: Just looking to keep everything going for months and months.
KING: But do they have the money?
HABERMAN: Look, I mean, in the case of Jeb, I think that even -- we're looking -- at least to South Carolina, that's all you can look at right now. So, initially, it looked like we might see maybe three people go into South Carolina and then a bunch of bloody stumps marching on. I now think you're going to see people who are doing a little bit better. It is only 11 days from now.
After that, it becomes a much bigger problem. But remember Martin O'Malley ran on no money, alone, his staffers working for free for basically three months. This could go for a while.
RAJU: The question is how much money does Jeb Bush's super PAC have? But they burned through a ton of money. They had $50 million on cash at hand, but that was at the end of the year and they spent a lot of money in Iowa going after Marco Rubio.
RESTON: We're all looking on South Carolina, but you also -- you have Nevada in there in the middle. And that's a big wild card, too, because if Jeb can show some strength, try to argue that he would have broader appeal in a general election, a state with a big Latino population, that could kind of throw some juice his way, too.
[08:25:00] KING: Somebody will come back from the -- somewhere down the road. Maybe not here.
Everybody, sit tight.
Up next, our new poll numbers in the Democratic race that is getting more and more personal.
And this week's installment of "Politicians Say the Darnedest Things" -- think of it this way: wealthy Larry David and poor Bernie Sanders look for an empty life boat on "Saturday Night Live's" take on the Titanic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am so sick of the 1 percent getting this preferential treatment.
(LAUGHTER & APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: Enough is enough!
LARRY DAVID, COMEDIAN: Sounds like socialism to me!
SANDERS: Democratic socialism.
DAVID: What's the difference?
SANDERS: Huge difference! (END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Welcome back.
I want to move on to the Democratic race now and share with you our brand new CNN/WMUR tracking poll. It shows Bernie Sanders continuing to hold a big lead here in New Hampshire.
[08:30:00] Look at those numbers. The Vermont senator is the choice of 58 percent of likely Democratic voters. Hillary Clinton runs a distant second at 35 percent.
Now the trend line among the Democrats, Sanders lost three points over the past three days. Clinton gained five.
Sanders says in every interview and in most speeches, he thinks the race is actually closer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: This campaign is trying to do is to ask the American people to think big and not small.
(END VDIEO CLIP)
KING: Now, if his ideas are big, it's pretty clear who he regards maybe as small, and she takes offense.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: I have spent my entire adult life trying to knock down barriers, trying to even the odds.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: There's the tension between the candidates of late, and listen to this one, the surrogates are turning it up, too.
Listen here, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright after saying she doesn't understand why young women are flocking to support Senator Sanders.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MADELEINE ALBRIGHT, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Just remember, there's a special place in hell for women who don't help each other.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Wow.
Well, OK. CNN's Maeve Reston and Jonathan Martin of The New York Times are still with us. We are also joined by The Atlantic's Molly Ball and CNN's Jeff Zeleny. Who would have thunk it? Madeleine Albright, attack dog.
MARTIN: Did you see the look on secretary's face, Secretary Clinton's face? No expression there.
But I mean, we were talking about this earlier, it is amazing to see when you talk to young women voter supporters of Bernie Sanders. And they're
everywhere.
And the Clinton campaign has started to acknowledge them directly this week. I've been really surprised by that.
Over the last three or four days or so, she's like, look, I know you're not with me now, but I'm going to be fighting for you in the end.
But they're really panicking and concerned about this.
But when you ask young voters why that is, they believe there will be a woman president in their lifetime and they believe that she is not necessarily the perfect one. It doesn't mean they're not going to vote for her at the end of the day, but right now they like Bernie.
KING: But the Hillary Clinton approach makes sense, in the sense that you're not with me now, but I'll still fight for you. Please don't rule she's thinking okay, if I beat Bernie Sanders, I need to bring them back into the fold.
That's actually tactical -- it's strategic, it make sense. But special place in hell?
RESTON: I mean, that was pretty rough.
And it -- I don't actually think that that plays well with young women, because when you speak to them out on the campaign trail, they over and over again say, I'm not going to vote for her just because she's a woman. I'm going to vote for the candidate who I think has the best ideals.
And I think that there's this interesting tension that's developing, particularly women over 45, who remember, you know, what they've been through. What Secretary Clinton has been through. And then who are talking about these younger women as saying they don't understand, you know, what we're going through.
And Hillary Clinton tried to make that argument in the rally in Concord yesterday.
KING: Gloria Steinem saying the girls are there because the boys are there.
MARTIN: I was struck by that more than the Albright line. Because that, to me, for a feminist icon to say that about young women is stunning.
The Albright line is not new. She's said that in the past.
But obviously it looks a heck of a lot different three days before the primary at a rally this close.
But Hillary in the debate said that very line about look, you're not with me now, but I want your vote. I'm going to be there for you even though you aren't for me right now, which tells me that she has her eye on ultimately unifying the party, and she is concerned, but is not necessarily panicked about the possibility of losing those voters in a general election.
KING: But when you talk, Molly, to her supporters, and we can't read Secretary Clinton's mind, but when you talk to her supporters, they're sort like, they don't get this. It's like wait a minute. She's been doing this for years. Who is Bernie Sanders. He was a socialist. He's not even a loyal Democrat.
You know, who is he? Much like the Republicans reacted to Ted Cruz. Who is he to say that we're all not qualified or we don't fit as conservatives. And this played out in the debate they had this past week where Bernie Sanders was trying to make the case "I'm a much better progressive, I'm not even sure she is a progressive," and Hillary Clinton got a little feisty.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: I do not know any progressive who has a super PAC and takes $15 million from Wall Street.
CLINTON: But if we're going to get into labels, I don't think it was particularly progressive to vote against the Brady bill five times.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: I don't think it was progressive to vote to give gun makers and sellers immunity. I don't think it was progressive to vote against Ted Kennedy's immigration reform.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: She also in this debate tried to suggest that Senator Sanders is being too cute by half, this is a line used to be used about her husband quite a bit. Where she used essentially saying just say it to my face, Senator Sanders, instead of what she called this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: And enough is enough. If you've got something to say, say it directly. But you will not find that I ever changed a view or a vote because of any donation that I ever received. So I think it's time to end the very artful smear that you and your campaign have been carrying out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: This was a relatively polite race for a long time. Not anymore.
RESTON: Not anymore.
And I think that the thing about that also is that Senator Sanders has really run a polite campaign. And Hillary Clinton's people have come out and said he's running the most negative campaign that we've seen in years, which is just somewhat ridiculous.
MARTIN: You would think that Bernie is running like the next version of the Horton ads right now against Hillary Clinton. Look, he's gone after her on Wall Street and on her paid speaking fees, but it hasn't been some kind of a brutal, savage attack on the air. But it does reflect the fact that he has made progress given what she said the other night there, which to me showed her to be a little bit too angry, I thought.
MOLLY BALL, "THE ATLANTIC": And you talk about the supporters, right. I think Bernie's supporters are much more personal against Hillary Clinton than he is. Every time it's come to a personal attack on her trustworthiness, on the email issue, things like that, he's sort of veered away from it.
But we've talked to the supporters and these young women that you're talk about at these Bernie Sanders rallies, and it's this really interesting phenomenon where there's a very strong I think feminist consciousness in young liberal women on college campuses. And I went to Bernie Sanders' rally on a college campus here in New Hampshire yesterday, and these women say I'm a feminist, I'm concerned about rape culture, I share all these liberal feminist views, and I think Bernie is the better feminist in the race.
They look at -- one young woman say to me, you know, I think Hillary is only there because of her husband and I want a strong, independent woman.
And so there's a really sort of scorching I think attitude toward Hillary.
RESTON: And not just that, they also feel that, you know, that all of the progress that has been made over these decades has left them in a position where they don't have to choose the woman just because she's the woman. And that she should have the freedom to make that choice.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: I think she was sort of effective there, though, in calling him out for all of this. He's been saying Wall Street, Wall Street is bad so she must have done something. He hasn't given an example of a vote that she necessarily changed.
So this is the question for Bernie Sanders, is he going to go there? Is he really going to go for the jugular or is he not? His aides and his supporters, you are right, Molly, have been much more aggressive. He could have brought up her vote on the bankruptcy bill. He could have done some other things. But I think as this race goes forward, as we go into South Carolina, is he going to remind voters of these things? I don't think he probably is at this point. MARTIN: I don't think he has...
BALL: I think it depends on how negative she goes on him.
ZELENY: How negative she goes on him and what the margin is here, in the sense that Bernie Sanders has gotten tougher as he has seen wait a minute, I'm viable. I could win...
ZELENY: And on the flight here to New Hampshire from Iowa, it seems like a month ago, but it was actually a week. He looked at us -- he seemed very enthused to be on his big 757 plane, us flying with him. He said look, I'm in it for the long haul. We're not a fringe campaign. We're going to fight to the convention. And that is an interesting point to think about.
There are -- even if everything works out right, the earliest this could be over, if they keep going, is May.
And 19 states, only 19 states remain where you can still get someone else on the ballot. So some of the chatter we're going to here -- could Biden get in, someone else get in. There aren't enough delegates...
RESTON: I do think, though, that Hillary Clinton over the last couple of days has been making a very, very strong case on her progressive record on the stump that's going over well with her crowds. And we do know that, you know, a lot of people changed their mind in the last weekend. I do think that those poll numbers for Sanders are a little bit inflated, and she really does have an opportunity to at least close the gap here.
MARTIN: That trend, the Bernie campaign staff wants it more than Bernie himself when it comes to going after Hillary Clinton. Look at what happened in that debate, when she was asked about the transcripts of her paid speeches. Will you release them? What was stunning to me was the silence from Bernie. Why wouldn't he jump in and try to hold her accountable on that?
And it shows to me that he preferred to give his stump speech and make his case about what he's passionate about than try and attack her.
KING: Everybody sit tight. We're going to continue this conversation.
Up next, Hillary Clinton's new answers to two questions that will linger long after New Hampshire vote -- her emails and her trustworthiness.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:43:13] KING: Bernie Sanders rarely talks about Hillary Clinton's e-mails unless he's asked about them, and he never says you can't trust her. But Republicans raise those issues all the time. As Molly noted earlier, so do Sanders supporters sometimes. And the Republicans will continue to raise them. Just yesterday, Secretary Clinton was asked about them at a town hall here in New Hampshire. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: Secretary Powell, Secretary Rice's closest aides used private e-mail. Everybody knew that. But the idea was to somehow turn what I did into something that was out of, you know, that nobody else had ever done. Nobody else had ever, you know, used private e- mail. That's just not true.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Secretary Clinton also blaming Republicans as well as pharmaceutical and insurance interests for stoking doubts about her honesty and integrity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: Look, it's not a stupid strategy. You sow doubts about somebody, you make claims about somebody, you undermine somebody, and even when it is not true, it leaves exactly the impression that you just described.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: And it is interesting. In the final days, she's having to deal with this here in New Hampshire. I just want to make one point of clarity. Secretary Rice and Secretary Powell did have private e-mail accounts. They did not have a private server in their home, which is one of the big issues with Secretary Clinton, the classified information -- where even if it's classified after the fact -- that being in her home. They used government computers; they just had a personal e-mail address.
RESTON: This was -- I was at this event with her in Hanniker (ph). A very, very tough event for her. Often you have to wonder whether these questions -- you know, there's a possibility that they're planted. In this case, the woman who was asking the question about the e-mails and saying that she wasn't really accepting Hillary's answers went on for quite some time to the point where there was a tussle about whether to take her microphone away. And she -- we went after her in the crowd to try to see if the answer had satisfied her, and the woman had completely disappeared.
[08:45:08] So it was just a really interesting moment. I thought what was so fascinating was that Hillary Clinton just very calmly, and not defensive, handled the question. But you did feel in the room there were a whole series of questions that got at this trust issue for her. It really is lingering among Democrats. As much as everyone likes to say that the e-mail issue doesn't matter to Democrats, it really does to some of them who have doubts.
ZELENY: And is it turns out, the Clinton campaign invited some Sanders supporters to that very event. They put up an ad on Reddit, the popular social media site, and urged them to come out. They believe that these direct -- not confrontations, but exchanges actually help her, because it gets out there. But this e-mail situation -- she has gone from being contrite about
this several months ago, saying it was an error in judgment, to now there's nothing to see. So this is still going to go on. It's still not as big of an issue in the Democratic primary, but it will linger, linger, linger in the general election.
(CROSSTALK)
RESTON: -- people that Molly were talking about.
BALL: Yes. Well, even some of Hillary's supporters, what I hear is, you know, I don't think this is an issue, but I have so many friends, especially female friends, who don't trust her and I'm worried about that in a general election. Or even in the primary.
KING: Let's -- I want to get this in quickly. That will linger for her as we move on to other states, and Republicans still keep bringing it up.
One of the things the Clinton campaign thinks it an use against Bernie Sanders in long run is they think she makes a better case on international affairs, foreign policy. They think in the last debate, Bernie Sanders showed some vulnerability.
This is an interesting moment here I want to show you. Chuck Todd of NBC News asked Senator Sanders specifically about Afghanistan, whether like President Obama he would reluctantly have to leave more troops there if he is elected in November. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHUCK TODD, NBC NEWS: And how long will those troops be in Afghanistan under President Sanders?
SANDERS: Well, I think our great task is to make certain that our young men and women in the military do not get sucked into a never ending perpetual warfare within the quagmire of Syria and IRaq.
TODD: Can you address the question on Afghanistan?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Jonathan, he gave him two chances on Afghanistan and Senator Sanders either didn't hear it, didn't understand it, or maybe just didn't want to go there.
MARTIN: It's one of the I think incredibly underplayed story lines in this campaign. On foreign policy, Sanders is so vague. He's got basically one answer when it comes to Hillary Clinton, and that is to bring up her vote in '02 to authorize the Iraq War. And to me it's ironic, John, because nobody complains more, at least on the Democratic side, about the media than Bernie Sanders. But the fact is if he was held further to account when it comes to his answers on foreign policy, and frankly issues, the coverage would be a lot rougher. But the fact is, is that he's seen as kind of this real surprise in
the campaign. But if you dig down, there's not a lot of depth there on foreign policy across the board.
(CROSSTALK)
RESTON: And that's going to be obvious in that debate.
BALL: And what's astonishing to me is that he hasn't done anything about it. He doesn't he seem to have studied --
(CROSSTALK)
KING: We'll see in the debates, especially as we move to the south, the military installation, it comes up. Got to rush this one out.
Next, our reporters share from their notebooks, including potential problems for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump as they head south.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:52:25] KING: Let's close by asking our great reporters to share a nugget or two from their notebooks, get you ahead of the big political news just around the corner -- Jonathan Martin.
MARTIN: John, as the campaign moves south this week to South Carolina, which is a military-heavy state with active duty and veterans, don't be surprised if you hear a new line of attack against Donald Trump.
And that is raising the question of his draft status during the Vietnam War. Mr. Trump got both student and medical deferments, an issue that, for most of this campaign, has not been talked about very much because there's been tons of other stuff to talk about when it comes to Trump.
But don't be surprised if at least one of the campaigns or super PACs raises that issue in the next couple of days.
KING: Watch that one as we go forward -- Maggie.
HABERMAN: Hillary Clinton is under fire about the transcripts for her paid speeches that she did when she left the State Department before she became a candidate. This was an issue that was very foreseeable by her campaign, so much so that some aides did foresee it.
There was a big push by some people working with her early on to do a big, thorough personal vulnerability study. This is not something she has ever really wanted. It is not something they did. And they are now, just like the e-mails, finding themselves flying blind, handling a pretty foreseeable issue. So we'll see how that plays out.
KING: OK. That's going to be with us for a long time, I suspect -- Jeff.
ZELENY: All that talk about a southern firewall for Hillary Clinton is over because Bernie Sanders' unusual and strong fundraising strength. This has taken Brooklyn by surprise, how much he's been able to raise online without doing really much himself.
So the idea that South Carolina was going to be her firewall is over. And the -- several Republicans may be sort of looking for gas in the tank. Bernie Sanders is going to have more gas in the tank than her. And it is a huge surprise for Clinton.
So how they are fundraising going forward is a challenge for her, because every time she steps into a Wall Street-type fundraiser, he's going to hit her on that. So they are actively looking for ways to fundraise without her there.
But they can't do it. It's one of the big surprises and worries and shots for the Clinton campaign. They need her out there fundraising. So this is going to go on for a very long time. The March calendar, at least the beginning of it, is very friendly to Bernie Sanders.
KING: Even "Saturday Night Live" making fun of the $27 average donation --
(CROSSTALK)
KING: -- in every speech, sometimes more than once -- Molly.
BALL: Well, talking about Bernie Sanders and his strategy, I had an interesting conversation with his strategist about the three constituencies that they see as key to his strategy going forward.
And this was borne out in the entrance polls in Iowa. Young voters, obviously the 18- to 29-year-old voting one, it's staggering, 84 percent of that. We knew the kids liked Bernie but not that much necessarily. But
he also increased the turnout of young voters. It was unusually high. Same thing with independents. They were an unusually large share, 20 percent of Iowa caucus-goers. And they went overwhelmingly for Bernie.
And then voters making under $50,000 a year; Bernie won those voters. And that helps to cut against the sort of wine track, beer track narrative that was emerging between Bernie and Hillary.
If he can carry that forward into New Hampshire, it's obviously a state with a lot of independent voters. If he can goose that youth turnout, he expects to also carry it forward in the primary. And then even in the general election, he thinks that these constituencies are his main strength.
KING: Go on for a little bit. We'll watch this one.
I'll close with a look at one of my favorite New Hampshire primary traditions. That's late campaigning by surrogates who, yes, are here in New Hampshire to help one of the candidates but who also, you might say, taking a little peek perhaps into the future. The Republican Governor Charlie Baker of Massachusetts was here
yesterday, campaigning for Chris Christie and New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, well, he's part of Hillary Clinton's campaign's closing team here.
Now both insist they're here for one reason and one reason only: to help their friend. But both are also ambitious men and possible players in campaigns here down the road or maybe in vice presidential chatter. Watching the next generation light up as they scan the big final week in New Hampshire crowds is always fun.
That's it for INSIDE POLITICS. Again, thanks for sharing your Sunday morning.
Stay with us. Just ahead, a special "STATE OF THE UNION" with Jake Tapper. Five presidential candidates, commercial-free.
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