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Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders Debate in New Hampshire; Donald Trump Campaigns in New Hampshire; Jeb Bush's Family Campaigns for Him; Barbara Bush: Jeb is "The World's Nicest Man". Aired 8-8:30a ET
Aired February 05, 2016 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:00] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: -- their only one-on-one debate before the New Hampshire primary. Coming up telling Sanders to end what she calls an artful smear of her record.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, as for the Republicans, Chris, Donald Trump says it is time to move on from his loss in Iowa. He's focusing on New Hampshire where the primary is now four days away, and the latest polls still have Trump on top. CNN's coverage of the 2016 race begins this morning with John Berman. He has highlights from last night's Democratic debate. It was a good one, John. What did you see?
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: It was a good one and it was a different one, much different than we have seen from these Democratic candidates, particularly with Hillary Clinton. No longer willing to just sit and wait out the Bernie Sanders phenomenon, she decided to take it head-on.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: Three days after barely winning Iowa, five days before facing daunting odds in New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton clearly decided she could not wait another day to fight back.
HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I really don't think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy of you.
BERMAN: The battle, who was the real progressive and who was beholden to the establishment?
CLINTON: I have a progressive who gets things done, and the root of that word progressive is progress.
BERNIE SANDERS, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Secretary Clinton does represent the establishment. I represent, I hope, ordinary Americans, and, by the way, who are not all that enamored with the establishment.
BERMAN: Clinton, who has been careful not to offend the young, passionate support behind Bernie Sanders, now seems to think it is worth the risk.
CLINTON: Senator Sanders is the only person I think would characterize me, a woman running to be the first woman president, as exemplifying the establishment. And I've got to tell you, it's really quite amusing to me.
SANDERS: Being part of the establishment is, is in the last quarter, having the super PAC that raised $15 million from Wall Street.
CLINTON: Enough is enough. If you've got something to say, say it directly. You will not find that I ever changed a view or a vote because of any donation that I ever received.
I think it's time to end the very artful smear that you and your campaign have been carrying out in recent weeks. And let's talk about the issues that divide us.
BERMAN: Sanders was only too happy to talk about the divisions, not just on Wall Street donations, but also then Senator Clinton's vote to authorize the Iraq war.
SANDERS: Experience is not the only point. Judgment is. And once again, back in 2002 when we both looked at the same evidence about the wisdom of the war in Iraq, one of us voted the right way, and one of us didn't.
CLINTON: A vote in 2002 is not a plan to defeat ISIS. We have to look at the threats that we face right now, and we have to be prepared to take them on and defeat them.
(APPLAUSE)
BERMAN: Clinton also tried to use new information to diffuse the controversy over her use of a private e-mail server as secretary of state. The fact that now e-mails sent to both Colin Powell and top aides to Condoleezza Rice when they held the job have been deemed classified.
CLINTON: You have these people in the government who are doing the same thing to Secretary Powell and Secretary Rice aides they've been doing to me, which is that I never sent or received any classified material. They are retroactively classifying it. I agree completely with Secretary Powell who said today this is an absurdity.
BERMAN: Once again, Sanders refused to pounce on the e-mail questions, though he noted the opportunity is out there.
SANDERS: I will not politicize it. There's not a day that goes by why I am, when I am not asked to attack her on that issue, and I have refrained from doing that, and I will continue to refrain from doing that.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CUOMO: All right, John Berman, stay with us. Let's bring in CNN national political reporter Maeve Reston and CNN politics executive editor Mr. Mark Preston. All right, I have news of new numbers. Now, polls suggestive, more than predictive, but here's the first one since the Iowa caucus. It was done the Tuesday after the Iowa caucusing, and finished yesterday on Thursday. The numbers show an incredible tightening of the race on the Democratic side, 44 Clinton, 42 Sanders, for frame of reference. Quinnipiac, same polling outfit in December, had it 61-30, all right? So a big contraction there, 11 percent undecided in this new number of 44-42.
Mr. Preston, I start with you. This will be a surprise. It's just one. It could be a reflection of noise coming out of Iowa, but it's still a real new number. How do you see it?
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: It is a real new number.
[08:05:00] And I'll tell you what, in last night's debate, Chris, what we saw Hillary Clinton not talking to New Hampshire voters. She was talking to voters in South Carolina, to Nevada, and elsewhere in the south. Our poll last night had her down 31 points. You're showing national numbers right now that show that this race is tightening up, and the Clinton campaign, as John said at the top of his piece, they're taking this seriously now. They know they have to try to take out Bernie Sanders now. They do not need a prolonged fight heading into the summer.
CUOMO: Maeve Reston, when you see these numbers, the question is -- are these a reflection of noise and heat coming off Iowa? Or is this something we see of a pattern of movement in the race? What's your take?
MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, I think what's happening here is that a lot of people who are very attracted to Bernie Sanders originally but just didn't think he could make it for the long haul are starting to take a look at that. That is the driving force over the next couple of days for Hillary Clinton. She has to continue hammering this argument that she is going to be the strongest candidate against the GOP nominee and that Sanders, while he has many ideals that have galvanized young voters, that he doesn't have the record of progressive change that she has.
So I really think that this is, you know, getting down to the wire here. We know in New Hampshire a lot of people make up their mind at the last moment, and a lot of people just really are taking Bernie Sanders more seriously now and looking at some of those matchup polls with him against Donald Trump and some of the other GOP nominees and asking themselves, well, is Hillary Clinton the strongest candidate up against the Republicans or could Bernie have something going on here?
CUOMO: Preston's numbers in New Hampshire have as much as a third of the electorate still figuring what to do. J.B., I'm feeling you, channeling your energy, saying but there's more in this new Quinnipiac poll. You're right. On the GOP side we see certainly a coalescing around number two as well. Their numbers, 31 for Trump, 22 for Cruz, 19 for Rubio. Again, these are national numbers. And then look at the divide. While we say it's all about number two. Carson, the next one down at six. Everybody else gathered around three percent. What story do these numbers suggest? BERMAN: Marco Rubio is getting what he wants here. He wants
this field to winnow. He wants to get all of the establishment support in one place. You see John Kasich's number shrinking. You see Chris Christie's number shrinking. You see Jeb Bush's numbers shrinking, and Ben Carson all but disappearing right there. Marco Rubio collected a lot of it, and he wants to take that forward not just in New Hampshire, maybe a second place finish there, but to South Carolina and beyond.
One thing you see that's pretty interesting, too, is Donald Trump relatively stable at the number he's at nationally, at least, 30 percent, which is also the number that he is stable at in New Hampshire as well, 30 percent, 31 percent right there. It will be interesting to see if he can maintain that. Everyone said he had a bad day in Iowa. So far where it counts in New Hampshire and beyond it hasn't seemed to hurt him yet, at least in polling.
CUOMO: It will be interesting to see if people look at that number as a reflection of the Donald support or the feeling of general discontent.
Mr. Preston, let me ask you this. When you're looking at these numbers in terms of what they mean, we start to get into the labels. I get that progressive is a nice way of saying liberal, or at least a new way. Marco Rubio is being billed as the establishment guy, which most believe suggests center, moderate within the GOP. But this was a guy who was elected as a Tea Party favorite. This is a guy who doesn't believe in the science of global warming. This is a guy who doesn't believe in any exceptions to reproductive rights. That is not a center position traditionally. What is going on here?
PRESTON: No. You know, the Marco Rubio political sphere life that he's taken on since he's run for federal office has been really remarkable. He did run at the anti-establishment candidate against a very popular governor, Charlie Crist, who was thought to be a vice presidential candidate at one point. He ran as a Tea Party candidate. When he wins the nomination and goes on to win the race, he comes to Washington. He morphs into this more centrist type of lawmaker, and that might be because the other Tea Party types in Washington were louder than Marco Rubio and he was more subdued.
Now as he comes out on to the campaign trail, he's really of splitting these lanes right now of being this anti-establishment guy who doesn't want to run for another term in the U.S. Senate. At the same time, though, being this guy who is kind of the establishment. He's getting establishment money. So he's really having it both ways. And we'll see at some point, though, where the Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio lanes come together and where they crash, though, Chris. That's going to be the really interesting political story out of this.
CUOMO: Yes, true. Preston, very wired, Berman, very wired as well. I'm wired, but only on caffeine, because it's 100:00 in the morning here.
[08:10:03] Berman, what are you hearing from the campaigns on this pushback of this, hey, stop with the Marco-mentum. Look at New Hampshire. The governors are gaining. How real is that part?
BERMAN: The polls don't show the governors gaining. In fact, they show the exact opposite. If you look at the polls over the last few days including our poll, Marco Rubio is the one that gained substantially, everyone else relatively static.
And the person with a gripe on this notion of Marco-mentum, and a legitimate gripe, is Ted Cruz. The guy who actually won Iowa hasn't received the type of bump you would normally get from winning Iowa. If you actually look at the Quinnipiac poll, the national one that just came out, I think Ted Cruz's number may have been down from before in that Quinnipiac poll. So he got no national bounce from the Iowa victory. And a lot of that has to do, yes, there you see. From December until now he actually went down, despite the fact that he won Iowa, and part of it is this focus, some of it created by the Rubio campaign, some by the media, on this idea of Marco-mentum.
CUOMO: J.B. drawing the pithy insight into the numbers there. Gentlemen, thank you very much. Our thanks to Maeve as well. Her shot went down, Alisyn.
(LAUGHTER)
CAMEROTA: I know how the satellites can be, Chris. Thanks so much.
One day after tearing into rival Ted Cruz, accusing him of cheating in Iowa and demanding a rematch, Donald Trump saying he's over it. The GOP frontrunner telling CNN's Anderson Cooper the only thing on this mind now, New Hampshire. A new CNN-WMUR poll shows Trump holding a wide lead among Republicans in the granite state, and a battle for second now emerging with Marco Rubio moving up into the polls. CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is live in Manchester, New Hampshire, with all of the latest. Good morning, Sunlen.
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. Donald Trump is noticeably backing down, not attacking Ted Cruz, really toning down his rhetoric on the campaign trail. And what he's doing is recalibrating just a bit and campaigning in a more traditional way.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SERFATY: Going into the nation's first primary next Tuesday, the GOP candidates are taking New Hampshire by storm.
TRUMP: February 9th, you've got to get out and vote. No matter when you are, no matter how you feel, I don't give a damn.
SERFATY: Donald Trump ramping up his ground game, a lesson learned from his second-place finish in Iowa, switching gears at last night's rally in Portsmouth. He didn't attack opponents Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, instead firing up the crowd with one message. He'd in it to win it.
TRUMP: We're going to win on health care. We're going to win with the military. We're going to and knock the -- out of ISIS. We're going to knock the -- out of it.
SERFATY: The latest poll CNN poll shows Trump maintaining his lead among granite state, Rubio surging second place, Ted Cruz downplaying his third-place status.
SEN. TED CRUZ, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If momentum were measured by the media, Marco Rubio would already be the Republican nominee. Iowa demonstrated the media doesn't get to pick the Republican candidate.
SERFATY: While sharpening attacks on Donald Trump.
CRUZ: Donald Trump is very rattled right now. He told the entire world her w was going to win Iowa, and then he didn't win.
God bless the great state of Iowa.
SERFATY: And just a day after accusing the Texas senator of stealing those Iowa coke is votes, Trump now telling CNN's Anderson Cooper he's over it.
TRUMP: I'm so much, because I've been here now two days, I'm so much into, into this, into New Hampshire that I just don't care about that anymore.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: But do you think Ted Cruz intentionally was spreading --
TRUMP: I don't care. I don't want to even say. Let's see what happens. I guess people are looking at it. Who cares?
SERFATY: Meanwhile, former GOP candidate Lindsey Graham, who endorsed Jeb Bush, blasting both candidates this week, calling Trump's views on foreign policy gibberish and calling Cruz an opportunist.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R) SOUTH CAROLINA: If you're a Republican and your choices are Donald Trump and Ted Cruz in a general election, it's the difference between poison or shot. You're still bit.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SERFATY: And while Cruz and Trump do get out, the battle within this establishment of this party really are escalating the lines of attack with target number one being Marco Rubio. Michaela?
MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, I'm sure he feels that and it will motivate him even further. All right, thanks so much, Sunlen.
SERFATY: The Bush family lending their star power to help out Jeb's struggling presidential campaign. And 90-year-old Barbara Bush hitting the trail in New Hampshire, trying to convince voters to support her son. She calls him the world's nicest man. And Jeb's brother, George W., has taped a TV ad that's debuting today. Athena Jones live in Washington with more on all of the Bush family. ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michaela.
Remember, this is a candidate whose logo doesn't even include his famous last name. He's talked about running as his own man. Now he's embracing that family name like never before. And if Jeb Bush himself struggles to spark the kind of excitement we've seen from some of his other competitors, it's clear last night that his mother doesn't have that problem.
[08:15:00] She came out to a crowd that Jeb noted was a lot bigger than usual. Take a listen to some of what she had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARBARA BUSH, FORMER FIRST LADY: Jeb is the -- nicest, wisest, most caring, loyal, disciplined -- that's good. Not by me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: And Bush is not just looking to his popular 90-year-old mother for help. As you mentioned, his brother popular brother is also stepping up in a new ad from Bush's Right to Rise super PAC. Let's listen to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT: I know Jeb. I know his good heart and his strong backbone. Jeb will unite our country. He knows how to bring the world together against terror. And he knows when tough measures must be taken.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: And, look, Bush is in double digits in New Hampshire in our latest tracking poll but still in fifth place behind Marco Rubio, behind John Kasich, two candidates he'd like to beat or at least not lose too badly. So, he's pulling out all the stops. We'll see if it works -- Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: OK, Athena, we're going to talk more about that, about why Jeb is bringing in his famous family now. We're going to ask Jeb's communications director about that, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAMEROTA: Some very familiar faces hitting the campaign trail with just four days to go into the New Hampshire primaries.
First Lady Barbara Bush making an appearance at her son's campaign event in New Hampshire last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[08:20:04] BUSH: Jeb is the nicest, wisest, most caring, loyal, disciplined -- that's good. Not by me. He's decent, honest. He's everything we need in a president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: Let's bring in now, Tim Miller. He's the communications director for Jeb Bush's campaign.
Good morning, Tim.
TIM MILLER, JEB BUSH CAMPAIGN'S COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Hey, Alisyn. How great was that?
CAMEROTA: That was a really nice moment. It was a really sweet moment. It was great to see Barbara Bush.
You know, she's always Barbara Bush. Doesn't matter what year, 20 years ago, 10 years ago, yesterday, she is who she is, and that's -- it was really nice to -- she's always in -- it appears that she's in good health, and it was nice to see her.
MILLER: Yes.
CAMEROTA: And, of course, Tim, that begs the question, why didn't we use her sooner?
MILLER: She's as sharp as a tack. There's no doubt about that. She was on fire last night.
You know, look, I think when she was listing out those values that Jeb has, one she didn't show, was not a bragger, like some other people we know in this campaign. I think when we look at the campaign, at first it was just nice to have Barbara Bush on the trail.
But, secondly, she spoke to the American values we've lost a little bit in our politics, of honor and service, and humility, and you know, Jeb really represents those, and so it was nice to have Barbara vouching for that last night.
CAMEROTA: Yes. But, I mean, Tim, my question, why didn't we see her sooner? Why didn't you roll her out sooner, such a warm welcome from the crowd?
MILLER: Sure, yes.
CAMEROTA: Even Jeb even said, my crowd isn't usually this big. So, was it a miscalculation not to use Barbara Bush sooner?
MILLER: I don't know. Barbara came to his announcement speech back in June. And, you know, look, Jeb had to run his own campaign. I think -- you know, he loves his mother, he loves his father. And you follow us on the campaign trail, Alisyn, he often tells the story of how he won the lottery when he was born in Nidland, Texas, opened his eyes and saw those Barbara Bush pearl.
So, you know, look, he's talked about her on the campaign trail. I think it's nice for somebody's who's 91 to be able to come out in the week before the New Hampshire primary and spend a little time up here and that's what made sense.
CAMEROTA: It's not just Barbara Bush who is now giving, lending her voice to his campaign. It's also his brother, George W., former president.
MILLER: Yes.
CAMEROTA: He is in a video for Jeb Bush's super PAC. So, let me play a clip of that for our viewers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT: The first job of the president is to protect America. Our next president must be prepared to lead. I know Jeb. I know his good heart, and his strong backbone. Jeb will unite our country. He knows how to bring the world together against terror.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: So, Tim, same question. Why not use the former president in a more significant way before now?
MILLER: Sure. Well, look, I'd say just in the same way that Barbara Bush spoke to those kind of American values we've lost, what Jeb's brother can speak to is, the need for somebody with a strong backbone who's willing to take the fight to the terrorists and keep us safe. President George W. Bush is uniquely suited to make that case.
I'd give the same answer, which is, look, he's been helpful behind the scenes. He gives Jeb advice when he calls him. But, look, this campaign had to be about the fact that Jeb has the most proven conservative record in the field, unlike the other candidates who are leading this race, and Jeb has the detailed plans to make the country safe and to lift our economy.
So, Jeb had to make that case and I think in certain areas on certain issues, it's good to have his family vouch for him, because the American people respect them so much, but Jeb has to make his case as well.
CAMEROTA: Tim, let's look at the latest CNN/WMUR poll of what's going on --
MILLER: Sure.
CAMEROTA: -- in New Hampshire. This is among likely Republican voters. Jeb Bush is in fifth place, but his number is going in the right direction. I mean, from late January, it was 6 percent. Now it's 10 percent.
We've heard from our reporter ma Maeve Reston he's getting bigger audiences at events. But if Jeb doesn't come in in the top, say, three in New Hampshire, then what?
MILLER: Well, look, first the question of New Hampshire, we feel we have the best ground game in the state. The neutral New Hampshire Republican Party chair Jennifer Horn said as much the other day. And we are moving in the right direction.
I think that this is basically a tight four-way race for second, depending which poll you look at. You know, yours showed Jeb in the bunch there. There's a different poll yesterday that showed him at the top of that heap. So, I think this is a really tight race behind Donald Trump for second right now.
And, look, this is the thing, we feel we have the best team in South Carolina and the best team in Nevada. We just got Lindsey Graham's support in South Carolina, which is a big deal.
[08:25:00] We have Senator Heller's support in Nevada.
So, unlike other candidates like Chris Christie and John Kasich, who really have nowhere to go, besides New Hampshire, Jeb is running a national campaign. So, I think we'll be going down to South Carolina next week and I think you'll see more family members on the trail there as well.
CAMEROTA: OK. Tim Miller, communications director for Jeb's campaign, we'll see you in New Hampshire, I'm sure, on Monday. Thanks so much for being on NEW DAY.
MILLER: Look forward to it, Alisyn. Get up here. It's snowing.
CAMEROTA: OK. We'll be there. Thanks so much, Tim.
Let's over to Michaela.
PEREIRA: It's also snowing here in New York City.
All right. So, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton went at it in their first face-to-face sparring match last night. We're going to ask their supporters who they think won.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAMEROTA: The gloves are coming off between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton in a heated debate last night, but who won on the big issues, and will it impact the New Hampshire primary now just four days away. This as a new Quinnipiac national poll shows tightening of the race after Iowa and Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. They are now in a dead heat.
So, let's turn to CNN political contributor Michael Nutter. He's the former mayor of Philadelphia and a supporter of Hillary Clinton.
