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Democratic Presidential Candidates Prepare for Debate; Interview with Representative Dina Titus; What's At Stake During Tonight's Debate? Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired October 13, 2015 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: -- he will jump in.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: If she were a betting woman.

CAMEROTA: If she were a betting woman, so appropriate for today. Let's begin our CNN's debate coverage today with senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta inside the debate hall. How's it looking, Jim?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is not in the cards for Vice President Biden to be here tonight. The White House says Vice President Biden will be back in Washington. He will not be in Las Vegas for tonight's Democratic debate.

As for the candidates who will be here, they will be testing Hillary Clinton, who has not debated since 2008. But she's already looking beyond her Democratic rivals and taking on Donald Trump. As soon as she arrived here in Las Vegas she was firing off on the real estate tycoon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: Democratic debate day is here. What happens in Vegas could shake up the next stage of the race for five presidential hopefuls. Seasoned debater Hillary Clinton back by solid early poll numbers in key is establishing her presence at these debates. The former secretary of state making an unannounced stop at a union rally at Donald Trump's Vegas hotel, taunting the business tycoon.

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Some people think Mr. Trump is entertaining, but I don't think it's entertaining when somebody insults immigrants, insults women. If you are going to run for president, then you should represent all of the people of the United States.

ACOSTA: Bernie Sanders, who has yet to do a mock debate, insists he's going to play nice as long as his competitors do. The Vermont senator continues to pick up traction seeing crowds 13,000 strong in Tucson, Arizona.

BERNIE SANDERS, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let's treat each other civilly. Let's treat each other respectfully, and let's not try to demonize people who may have disagreements with us.

ACOSTA: A stark contrast to the strategy of their counterpunching Republican rivals.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'd love to run against her because she is so flawed I think she's very beatable. But she shouldn't even be allowed to run.

ACOSTA: Clinton is prepping for the debate with veteran Washington attorney Bob Barnett. A senior Clinton aide said her main objective, cutting through the politics. As for Bernie Sanders, he is seeking to convince voters that he's a serious candidate with mainstream views. Meanwhile, Jim Webb, Lincoln Chafee, and Martin O'Malley have a tough road ahead, all looking for a breakout moment on the stage. But in a betting town like Vegas, anything is possible.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: Now, as for candidates Martin O'Malley, Jim Webb and Lincoln Chafee, they will all be looking for a breakout moment at tonight's debate. All they have to do is look to Carly Fiorina and Marco Rubio who had strong performances at the last GOP debate and were rewarded with stronger poll numbers. The big test for Hillary Clinton, looking and sounding presidential on this big stage later on tonight, Alisyn and Chris.

CUOMO: Too true, Jim, too true. This is an introduction. You only one chance to make a first impression. What will Governor O'Mally, former senator Webb, what will they do with it?

CAMEROTA: What about Lincoln Chafee?

CUOMO: What about Lincoln Chafee?

CAMEROTA: There you go.

CUOMO: We'll see.

CAMEROTA: Why are you leaving him out?

CUOMO: Because I think he's got it stacked against him.

So let's see what somebody who matters what they think, Nevada Democratic Representative Dina Titus. She has endorsed Hillary Clinton in this race here. And obviously this is her district, the strip, talk about a great job as a politician. So you have already endorsed Hillary Clinton. First of all, thank you for welcoming us to our town.

CAMEROTA: We're having a great time.

REP. DINA TITUS, (D) NEVADA: I'm glad. That's what you're supposed to do in Las Vegas.

CUOMO: It's hard to avoid it. Why have you gone for Hillary so soon?

TITUS: I've supported her for a long time, back when she was running before. I've known her personally. I've watched her career. I think her depth of knowledge and breadth of experience, plus her commitment just makes her the perfect package. She's the kind of person I want fighting for me and for this country.

CAMEROTA: So what worries you about tonight? Does it concern you her positions have morphed on some policy issues, TPP, Keystone pipeline, took her a long time to come around to her decision? Will that come up, and will that give you a little pause?

TITUS: I think this will give her a great opportunity to explain how her positions have evolved. She's a great debater. She knows the issues just so well and feels so strongly about them. I think her performance will be perfect.

CUOMO: Perfect? That's a reasonable expectation.

CAMEROTA: High bar.

CUOMO: Why not Bernie Sanders? Why not Martin O'Malley. Both of those gentlemen have records of caring about the issues that certainly matter to people here in Nevada, strong working class community. Why not one of those?

TITUS: I think all of our Democratic candidates look good and so are so much better than those you see on the Republican stage. And they all agree on some of those basic issues like income inequality, voting right, those things that Democrats feel very strongly about. But I just believe Hillary has the experience. She's been tested over and over again. She comes back fighting for other people. She's trying to win this every vote one at a time, not taking anything for granted. That's just the kind of leadership that we needed.

[08:05:03] CUOMO: The polls echo your interest in Hillary Clinton, if we can put them up from people. The latest numbers in Nevada have Hillary at 50 percent there, I think there, right? This is with Joe Biden. When you take him out the numbers become even more expansive. Let me ask you about the big x factor. The vice president, obviously if he's not in bigger bump for Hillary Clinton. Do you think the vice president is going to get into this race?

TITUS: I don't sense that. I think his personal feelings are maybe not ready to commit. But if he does, you know, I love Joe Biden. I've worked with him --

CUOMO: Would it make you question what to do?

TITUS: No, I wouldn't change my commitment. And I have actually told hid camp that.

CAMEROTA: You told his camp that you believe he should not get in?

TITUS: No, I didn't give him that advice. I just told him I'm with the secretary and I'm going to stay with her regardless.

CAMEROTA: Let's talk about this little controversy with Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard who says she was disinvited by the DNC because she dared to speak her mind about the notion that there should be more Democratic debates as many of the candidates feel and in fact many of the voters feel. How do you think the DNC has handled this?

TITUS: I think the more debates the better.

CUOMO: Uh-oh. You're going to get booted off your own strip.

TITUS: That is not true. I think they discouraged a lot of members from coming because this is about the candidates. This is their moment. As you said earlier, they have not had a chance to show themselves to the public. We don't want to distract from that. I just happen to be here because this is my district.

CAMEROTA: Do you think the DNC has mishandled this, making this a public spat with her?

TITUS: Well, I don't know what Tulsi's motivations were. I like her. She's a member of the House and we get along well, so I don't know the nuances of why she feels that way, but they say that was not the case.

CUOMO: What do you say to people when they come up and say I like you, Dina. But you Democrats, you've had a rough eight years as far as I'm concerned. I don't think the economy is back. I'm afraid of what's going on overseas. Why should I give you guys another turn when really it's supposed to be the Republicans turn just judging by cyclical history. What you do tell them?

TITUS: I'll say when I went into office at the beginning of this administration, Las Vegas was facing a crisis. We were one of the places hardest hit, unemployment, foreclosure, bankruptcy. We have come back. Not back far enough, but we're on the right path. If you go back to those Republican ways, that will be turning the clock back. We don't want to go back to those so-called good old days because they weren't that damn good for a lot of people, especially here in Las Vegas. So we're moving forward, and that's what gets people energized and thinking positively about the Democrats.

CAMEROTA: But is that the challenge right there for Hillary Clinton, to distance herself from some of what Barack Obama has done. Some she has to support as secretary of state, but some of it she has to criticize. How does she walk that?

TITUS: I think you do it like anybody does it. I'm a big supporter of the president. I have voted for most of his agenda. But we don't agree on every single thing.

I think she has a platform that appeals to working people in this state for sure. Her feelings about income inequality, raising the minimum wage, women's rights issues, immigration reform, all of that plays very well to this population. They are not comparing did we have a Democrat before or a Republican. They are comparing how their lives are. And that is what they're concerned about.

CUOMO: What odds are you laying on who comes as having won the debate tonight? TITUS: I think Hillary Clinton will win.

CUOMO: Even money? Or are you giving me any odds.

(LAUGHTER)

TITUS: Well, it's a gambling town. You've got to take a chance.

CUOMO: They're making a market in it somewhere, I promise you.

TITUS: I'm not sure we can bet on politics, but just about anything else.

CAMEROTA: Congressman Dina Titus, thanks so much.

TITUS: My pleasure.

CUOMO: All right, what are your bets? You are going to get to get a good look at your wager tonight. The first Democratic debate 8:30 Eastern right here on CNN. And tomorrow morning, get a load of this, all the high points of the debate, the analysis, maybe a couple of surprises -- a new time for NEW DAY just tomorrow, 5:30 eastern. Alisyn brilliantly, brilliantly coming up with the name "Same Day."

CAMEROTA: In case we pull an all-nighter, which has happened, Michaela, as you know. But we should be bright eyed and bushy tailed tomorrow.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: I think it is a sure bet in Las Vegas that you will be doing an all-nighter, especially on debate day.

All right, guys, we'll be back with you in a minute. We are following breaking news right now. And these four attacks across Jerusalem and central Israel including several stabbing incidents and a shooting on a bus has left three Israel civilians dead. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's anger boiling over in a speech to parliament, accusing Israel's Arab leaders of helping incite violence during the past few weeks.

To more breaking news, we have new insight now into the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17's final moments.

[08:10:00] A just released report by the Dutch safety board says a Russian surface to air missile brought down MH17 in July of 2014 over Ukraine killing all 298 aboard. Now, the board did not place blame, but it does reject Russia's claim the Ukrainian troops fired the missile, and a Dutch official says none of the parties involved did a good enough job recognizing the risks, the fighting on the ground posed the air space above.

Two Kansas City firefighters killed last night in a building collapse. They were battling a fire at an apartment complex when that structure collapsed on them. Two other firefighters were injured. Their identities have not yet been released. Two residents were trapped inside their second floor apartment were saved by firefighters.

Those are your head lines, ten minutes past the hour. Back to Vegas, back to the action. I hope I gave you enough time to zip out to a buffet, but I don't know if that worked or not.

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: Oh, believe he we are plied with food and liquids.

CUOMO: That was practicing my craps game.

CAMEROTA: I saw that, whatever just happened there. Michaela, thanks so much. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders going head-to-head with each other of course tonight, also three other rivals. So who will throw the first verbal punch? We'll predict coming up.

CUOMO: Or real punch. Imagine that. Tough to come out ahead in that scenario.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:15:43] CAMEROTA: Welcome back to NEW DAY.

We are here at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas. Look at all of the big marquees. The stage is set for the five Democratic candidates to face off for the first time tonight.

So, let's break down what to expect with our CNN political commentators. We have with us, Paul Begala, he's our Democratic strategist and senior advisor to a pro-Hillary super PAC, Van Jones, CNN political commentator, and Ana Navarro, Republican strategist and Jeb Bush suproter.

Great to see you all of you this morning.

Van, let me start with you --

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: By the way, it is not morning. Let's just get this straight.

CUOMO: Fair point, fair point.

NAVARRO: This is the middle of the dang night. Okay?

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: OK. That is a great semantics point and I totally agree. Happy evening. everyone.

So let's talk Bernie Sanders, because you think there are real challenges for him tonight. What is the problem for him?

VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I mean, I know he's a good debater. People say he's going to debate. This is a different thing for him. He's been doing 90 minute speeches and now, he's got to give 90 second answers and that's just hard for anybody. I don't care who you are.

Also, because he's not somebody who believes in traditional debate prep, Hillary Clinton might come in over-prepared this her head, underprepared her heart, he could be the opposite. He could be so overprepared emotionally, but has he really gone more than two inches deep on any policy thing for the past couple of months? Not really.

So, I think he's -- it could be his night. He could run away with it. People like him the more they see him. But he could also find himself struggling on that big stage.

CUOMO: Let's bounce it back your way, your fellow Republican Donald Trump says he expects it to stink tonight but he's going live tweet the whole time anyway. From the Republican perspective, what do you think is the bar for the big Democrats tonight? For Bernie, for Hillary, what do they have to show to be persuasive to those Republican, independent, anybody who's thinking of maybe going other than the norm.

NAVARRO: I'm not sure they can do anything here today to bring in Republicans. But, look, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, first and foremost, do no harm. Make no mistakes.

For Hillary Clinton, she's got to show that she is human, that she's capable of exhibiting human emotion. That she can connect with the American public. She has got to dispel some of the problems.

Remember the word cloud on Hillary Clinton -- untrustworthy, liar. She's got to address those issues. She's going to be able to tackle the e-mail issue, which is certain to come out.

Bernie Sanders, he's got to prove that he is more than the 74- year-old scary socialist from Vermont, that he can have mass appeal.

CAMEROTA: Paul, let's talk about the phrase we've been using, Carly Fiorina moments.

PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Someone who exceeds expectations and surprises everyone. Who is poised to do that?

BEGALA: Well, any of these candidates, right? In the polls --

NAVARRO: Some of them are double asterisks, OK?

BEGALA: They're impressive people.

But here is the thing, the Fiorina moment was a Fiorina flop. She performed terrific in the debates and zoomed up to 15 percent. And guess what? In week's "New York Times"/CBS poll, she's back down to 6. Why? She didn't tell the truth.

I don't want to be ungracious to Ms. Fiorina, but she lied and she got caught. There's two kinds of cover for a debate, theater criticism and fact checking.

CUOMO: What are you referring to?

BEGALA: She talked about the video that she claimed from --

CAMEROTA: The Planned Parenthood.

BEGALA: About Planned Parenthood, that in fact was not from the Planned Parenthood.

CAMEROTA: And you think that has hurt her poll numbers?

BEGALA: Something has. I think yes. I think even Republicans don't they like it when you lie to their face. And these candidates have to think about both, the theater criticism because it is a performance, and also the fact checkers.

If you are too wacky, which is I think Hillary's risk, you can lose the heart. But if you get too spun up in the emotion the way Ms. Fiorina did and you misstate facts, that's going to come --

NAVARRO: And there was Paul Begala not being ungracious to Carly Fiorina.

(LAUGHTER)

BEGALA: Trying hard.

JONES: But listen, I think the most underestimated person on that stage has got to be O'Malley. You don't get to be a mayor, a governor with zero political skills. The problem is --

NAVARRO: Yes, you do. Have you been to Florida?

(CROSSTALK)

NAVARRO: What's wrong with you? I mean, have you met Charlie Crist? Have you met some of the --

(CROSSTALK)

JONES: Or Jeb Bush for that matter.

NAVARRO: You would -- listen, Jeb Bush has two terms, 65 percent approval rating and was the first Republican governor to win two terms back to back.

[08:20:06] So watch yourself.

JONES: And asterisk today?

Anyway, my only point is that O'Malley actually has political skills. He's actually done stuff. He's got zero oxygen. This is the first time he's had one molecule of oxygen.

He could catch fire. I don't think it's likely, but I think -- I would not be surprised if tomorrow morning, we're talking about O'Malley, O'Malley, O'Malley, and how he surprised people by what he's actually is able to say and do.

NAVARRO: I went on Google and searched O'Malley, because we haven't talked at all about these other three. Webb, O'Malley, Chafee. O'Malley, there are all these shirtless pictures of him. He's like the Vladimir Putin of the United States of America.

(CROSSTALK)

NAVARRO: So, I'm thinking some shirtless planking on the stage tonight might do something for his numbers.

CUOMO: O'Malley has a big opportunity. That is the benefit of getting a big stage when you are an unknown. Period.

However, a little bit of it is his own doing. We said earlier on the show, he doesn't come on the show. If you don't come out and make the case for yourself everywhere that you can, Hillary got hit with that stick as well. You have to play the game if you want the game to respect you.

BEGALA: Absolutely. And the contrast, Bernie Sanders was an asterisk when he started this. And now he's winning in New Hampshire, double digits. Why? And not only because he did media and I love the press, but he had a strategy to put himself on the map by building large crowds.

Hillary could have built large crowds, but she didn't need that strategy. She needed to get small. She needed to get back to the grassroots.

CUOMO: You suggest.

BEGALA: I'm sure.

CUOMO: Well, I think there are two sides on that. Why does she still have that big built in negative? Maybe if she had been making the case earlier with, you know, the sophisticated types like the Camerotas in the media, maybe it would have helped her out.

BEGALA: That's well and good. My point is she has to campaign person to person, neighborhood to neighborhood, because that's the grassroots of my part, has got to see her and touch her.

Bernie needed the big rallies to put himself on the map, and it succeeded wonderfully. And O'Malley should have gotten --

NAVARRO: I don't know, Paul. I honestly don't think he set out as the strategy to build these gigantic crowds. These gigantic crowd have taken all of us, including himself by surprise.

CUOMO: He says whoa every time he walked out there.

BEGALA: And he should, and this is impressive. But you book that hall, you fill that hall. This is not magic. It is work and his cam pain has done it really brilliantly. And I so admired.

Martin should have done that, Governor O'Malley. He's a talented guy but he didn't have the option of doing really small because he's not the most famous in the world like Hillary.

NAVARRO: One of the things I'm really interested in seeing. I've been to two Republican debates now. I'm one of the things I'm very interested in seeing tonight is the audience interaction. It was a huge part of the first Republican debate.

Today, there are a lot of tickets that went to the DNC. That means donors. That means Hillary Clinton people for the most part. Bernie Sanders gets his money from small donors.

But each campaign got 60 or 70 tickets and then some folks from Nevada here. There are some folks from the Democratic Party.

So, it is going to be have a very interesting component, because there are 1,300. It is a lot less than the first Republican debate. A lot more than the second.

CAMEROTA: Yes, that is interesting. Because the energy between the candidates and audience, the energy they get from each other. How does Hillary do in these type of settings?

JONES: Well, I'll tell you, the larger size ordinarily would help Bernie Sanders. He's used to the crowd, used to throwing that raw meat. The question is, is he throwing raw meat to vegetarians? If he's throwing raw meat, and you mainly have Hillary people out there, it's going to fall flat. That could throw him off.

So, you got to -- you know, he's going to try to test to see if there is a crowd out there for his applause lines. If he gets a couple of the big applause lines and she starts feeling it, she's going feel the Bern.

BEGALA: At the same time, all this negative press about Hillary now has actually set her up nicely. They keep saying, oh, she's too stiff, she's robotic, you know, what -- if she in fact went, she in fact engages with the audience, with the questionnaires from Facebook, with the folks in the audience there, I think a lot of people who have only heard the negative are going to be very impressed. She actually for the first time got a chance to jujitsu all of that negative press.

JONES: She could have a moment. And listen, I love Hillary Clinton. I just want to say that. She's always been somebody on my issues, except for criminal justice early on. She's been there.

When she talks about her mother, a lot of people said this earlier today, I well up. I don't -- I think people think that Hillary Clinton was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. Born at Yale. They don't know her story still because she's so Midwestern armored about. Whenever she left a little bit of that out, she moves the country.

NAVARRO: Well, first, let's start with the fact that you well up almost as easily as the John Boehner. Any mention of Elizabeth Warren and you're tearing up at any moment.

JONES: As a matter of fact.

CUOMO: You are known for a flourish of emotion as well, by the way. Just so you know.

NAVARRO: I'm Hispanic. What do you want?

CUOMO: You are?

NAVARRO: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: Stick around.

[08:25:01] We have a lot more with you and see who wells up. And, of course, we do have another reminder. Care to take it?

CUOMO: Do you know what tonight? Democratic debate, 8:30 Eastern on CNN.

CAMEROTA: And also the GOP contenders will likely be watching the debate very closely. Some of them have said that. So, our all- star political panel returns to weigh in on what they are hoping will happen. Stay with us.

CUOMO: Also known as why Ana got up.

NAVARRO: I still don't know the answer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Do you know who is going to be watching tonight? All of you.

And do you know who else? The Republican candidates. Donald Trump already making some bold predictions about the Democrat ice first face off.

Let's bring back our CNN political commentators, because remember, everything that happens tonight matters for the Democrats but also by extension, the Republicans.

CAMEROTA: Sure, of course. It makes perfect sense.

CUOMO: Democratic strategist and senior adviser to pro-Hillary super PAC, Paul Begala is here. Van Jones, CNN political commentator. Ana Navarro, Republican strategist and FOJ, friend of Jeb, here as well this morning.

So, your people, they are going to be watching tonight. What are they watching for?

NAVARRO: I think they are watching for, first how are the debate skills? What are they going to say? Is there anything that is a mistake that carries through to the general election?

Debates are really important. And we have just seen it in the last two GOP debates. They can move the needle one way or the other.