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President Obama Reveals Super Bowl Traditions; Bill Clinton Unleashes Stinging Attacks On Sanders; Mad Dash To Win Over New Hampshire Voters; Trump Carrying Double-Digit Lead In Latest CNN N.H. Poll. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired February 08, 2016 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:31:34] MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Some headlines now for you at the bottom of the hour. The Taliban will reportedly have a seat at the table when Afghan peace talks resume this month. "The Associated Press" says it stands to be a private meeting with members of the Afghan government marking the first time the two have sat down since direct talks broke off after just one session last summer. Afghan forces have struggled to hold off the Taliban ever since the U.S. and NATO ended their combat mission in 2014.

Wow, check this out. A cruise ship rocked by really rough seas. Passengers going from New York to The Bahamas flooding social media. After getting orders to stay in their rooms, they posted clips and videos of churning waves, furniture being tossed about on the ship. The Royal Caribbean's Anthem of the Seas now on its way to Port Canaveral, Florida. Officials say there was no damage to the ship.

A fiery movie stunt sparked all sorts of panic in London over the weekend. You can see a double-decker bus explode into flames as it's crossing he River Thames. The explosion is part of a new Jackie Chan movie. Residents nearby say that they were warned before the explosion, however it was quite an alarming scene for visitors who did not know about it and weren't alerted. Firefighters were on stand-by in case anything went wrong. Quite a fright if you didn't know what was going on.

President Obama sitting down for his yearly pre-Super Bowl interview and for the first time, the first lady joined him. As millions tuned in for the Super Bowl, the president revealed what it's like to watch the big game from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: We have sort of three ways that we do the Super Bowl. We have the serious watchers, and that's the treaty room, where you got to be -- if you're in that room, you're watching the game.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Watch the game.

M. OBAMA: Then there's the outside room where the kids, where they're kind of fooling around, they're by the food. B. OBAMA: We keep them away.

M. OBAMA: Then there's, what I call, the champagne room. That's where my mother sits where you really don't know what's going on but you're close to the champagne.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: Sounds like my kind of room. The president's party includes all your typical Super Bowl spread. The first lady says she actually puts aside her let's move campaign for the day to indulge in all sorts of things like wings, pizza and nachos. So it's good to know that at least you have a cheat day, even in the White House, Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: The key word when eating at the Super Bowl is more.

PEREIRA: More.

CUOMO: More.

PEREIRA: More queso.

CUOMO: That's the word. That's right. I'll see you in a little bit. All right. So just a day before the New Hampshire primary here, and the democratic race is getting ugly. Now, this time it's not Hillary Clinton throwing jabs at Bernie Sanders. It happens to be the former president of the United States, Bill Clinton, launching into a series of attacking against Sanders here in New Hampshire. Is this working? What is the line? What's the balance? What's the expectation?

Let's bring in CNN political commentator and democratic strategist Hilary Rosen and Jonathan Tasini, political strategist and author of "The Essential Bernie Sanders and His Vision For America". Hilary Rosen, often there's only one definition of success and that is winning. However, in a campaign, things are long, things can sometimes get relative. Do you believe that applies to how to look at what Hillary Clinton needs to do in New Hampshire? Is coming in first the only bar for winning?

[07:34:56] HILARY ROSEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No. And she's not -- likely not going to win. And what she is doing, though, and she said it best herself, which is she is talking to the people in New Hampshire, doing what she needs to do, acting like a candidate, assuring people that it matters. I think so much of what Hillary Clinton has to be doing in this campaign is simply engaging, letting people see who she is. Because she is extremely wonky. And that requires a conversation. It's not a sound bite, it's not a slap on the back, it's not a glad hand. It's a conversation about where she wants to take the country and it's hard to do that on a one day.

CUOMO: Right. And wonky is also a term that was often applied to Senator Sanders who now, Tasini, has turned into like Elvis when he has these events. What do you see as the engine of his momentum?

JONATHAN TASINI, POLITICAL STRATEGIST, POLITICAL STRATEGIST: I think he's talking about, as Simone said in the previous segment, he's talking about what the voters want to hear, which is a political revolution. He wants to end the corruption in Washington, free health care for people from cradle to grave, all the things that are on peoples' minds, he's really ignited that kind of energy and enthusiasm that we haven't seen in a long, long time.

CUOMO: Now, there's no question Senator Sanders believes it, he's always believed it, he's been talking about it for a long time. What do you make of this criticism of the risk of overpromising? Nancy Pelosi comes out and says this single payer thing that he's talking about, Medicare for all, it's not going to happen. Is there a risk that, yes, you are telling people what they want to hear, but you can't deliver and you're setting them up for disappointment. Is that a fair criticism?

TASINI: No, because I think what Bernie has said from the very beginning is when he's inaugurated on January 20, 2017, I believe he will win the election, will be the nominee, and will win the general election, it's only the beginning of a political revolution. What he wants to see is millions of people get engaged. I think he looks at it, frankly, as a 10-year project that you're going to have to move things slowly but surely, but you have the start from somewhere. When John Kennedy said, we're going to reach the moon, people said, oh, that's crazy. And you go through history, when you look at millions of people trying to get marriage equality, we never imagined that five years ago that the supreme court would then rule in favor of marriage equality. That took a lot of work and a lot of people in the streets and trying to push and build a movement.

CUOMO: So that criticism then rebounds onto Hillary Clinton. Simone Sanders, the press secretary for the Sanders campaign says, Bernie is, yes, we can. Hillary is, no, we can't. Fair criticism?

ROSEN: No, it's not, no, we can't. I think she's been pretty aggressive about her substantive policy proposals, the things she wants to do. If you look at her, what she has done, foster care for kids started as a dream. It became a reality. Children's health insurance started as a dream but became a reality. So she clearly has some experience with the dreaming but there's no question that she could use a little more dreaming and he could use a little more practical reality. And I think democrats are struggling right now with that very question. How much is this about our, only our hopes and dreams and how much is this about really a governing process with a president that we know is going to be taking office in a fairly divided country?

CUOMO: Now, as we saw in 2008, a very tight race then. Entering the picture for Hillary Clinton was bill Clinton, dropping the hammer on Barack Obama. Very mixed results. Happening now with Senator Sanders. Here's his recent salvo from Clinton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Anybody who takes money from Goldman Sachs couldn't possibly be president. You heard that sort of in the last debate, didn't you? Well after that CNN report yesterday, he may have to tweak that answer a little bit. Either that or we're going to have to get us a write-in candidate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: So when you hear that, that is a dicey message and an unusual messenger for it. What do you think?

ROSEN: Yes. Let's just start with the message. It turns out that Bernie Sanders has been part of a significant number of Democratic senate campaign committee fund-raising outreach to Wall Street and other places. So there is a little bit of disingenuousness in his purity. Having said that, Bill Clinton is not a good messenger to attack Bernie Sanders or anyone else for that matter. He's her husband and he gets too engaged, too emotional. And what he thinks is, I'm a former president and a damn popular one so I have credibility to say this stuff. But people really, at this point, are seeing him as her husband and he's got to pay more attention to that.

CUOMO: What do you think the spread's going to be in New Hampshire? Give me a quick take.

TASINI: Oh, man, I don't want to doing betting. But I think -- look, we're going to win. I feel pretty confident. If you look at the crowds, I've been out in New Hampshire the last few days. But I think the more important thing is the kind of energy and the message that Bernie has stuck with, which is the political revolution and going out from New Hampshire onto the next states, the fundraising that's going to come from that and the energy that's already out in the super Tuesday states. I'm already looking ahead past New Hampshire, but it's going to be an interesting race. I think we are going to win and I can't tell you what the spread is going to be.

[07:40:07] ROSEN: I don't think he wins, Bernie Sanders wins, until he gets off his talking points about the problems in the country. He only talks about the problems. He really very rarely talks about the solutions. People need to hear that more. I think in some respects, Hillary Clinton talks too much about the solutions and not enough about owning, recognizing the problems.

CUOMO: Well let's see how it bears out here in New Hampshire. It's always the best judge of your effectiveness. Hilary Rosen, thank you very much. Jonathan Tasini, as always.

So, on the other side of the ball, who do we have? Florida Senator Marco Rubio. He is trying to deal with an ebb in the campaign. He came out of Iowa like a rocket. Then he came down in that debate. That's the way it goes. It's about, how do you recover? Chris Christie saying, he can't recover. Well, what does Governor Jeb Bush say? He knows Marco Rubio better than anyone else in this race. We have the takes from all the big shots straight ahead.

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[07:44:54] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Marco Rubio having to defend himself ahead of tomorrow's primary after his rivals went on a full- scale attack during his lackluster debate performance. Are the governors exacting their revenge now? Here to discuss, CNN political commentator and Jeb Bush supporter, Ana

Navarro, along with Miami Beach mayor, Philip Levine. He's a surrogate for Hillary Clinton's campaign. Great to have both of you with us here at the Waterworks Cafe. Ana, you're a friend of Marco Rubio's. Have you had a chance to talk to him about what went wrong during that debate?

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: A little bit intense time right now. You know, I'm supporting Jeb Bush. We have a primary in one day. No, we're not doing much talking these days. But look, I was sitting four rows away from the debate. It was an incredibly intense moment. Chris Christie went at him with everything he had. I've got to tell you this, I was -- by the fourth time he was repeating the exact same words verbatim, I was concerned for his health. Marco's too good.

CAMEROTA: So what do you think happened? Why was he on that repeat cycle?

NAVARRO: I can't explain it but I think he was over-caffeinated and over-rehearsed and somehow his cables got crossed. He like short circuited and it was -- it was very weird and Chris Christie just did not let up. I can't explain to you the intensity with which Christie was holding onto that podium and looking at him directly, taking him on. It was a very intense moment.

CUOMO: And we make prize fight analogies for a reason. Mayor Levine, what did you see going on on the stage?

PHILIP LEVINE, MAYOR, MIAMI BEACH: Well I thought I was watching the Rhonda Rousey fight. Literally -- I think Marco basically got exposed for what he is. It's unfortunate, but Senator Rubio, I think the only thing he was missing were those cymbals, or it could have kept clicking back and forth.

CUOMO: Oh, come on. He's come across so well in debates before, so polished --

LEVINE: The reality is, you're looking for a chief executive officer of the United States of America. Senator Rubio does not have it. What America's saying is, it's not about saying the right things. It's about having the right stuff. Unfortunately, Senator Rubio does not have the right stuff. I mean, when you have all the former speaker of the house in the state of Florida taking an ad out in New Hampshire and they're saying, this guy is not commander in chief material, got to listen to the folks in Florida telling you about their own native son.

NAVARRO: I do think Marco did very well later on in the debate in the exchanges that were about foreign policy. I also think he had a solid answer on the issue of life. He stuck to his convictions. For him, it's a faith issue. But I think the stuff at the beginning with that repetition verbatim four times was frankly devastating, and it has made -- it had an effect. It has made a dent and people are asking about it and wondering, is he too scripted? The thing about New Hampshire is when you go to New Hampshire town halls and folks who aren't here should look at them on live stream, people go in there and they open up their souls to you, man. They ask you real questions, tell you their real problems, and they want real answers. They don't want scripted answers. Marco needs to let loose, let go, let God. He needs to be himself.

CAMEROTA: So Mr. Mayor, Marco's slip-up, who benefits most?

LEVINE: No question about it, people with actual experience. I think what America's saying is, we want a chief executive officer --

CAMEROTA: Meaning a governor.

LEVINE: The governors clearly are going to. I think Chris Christie did a wonderful job. I mean he was the prosecutor there, there's no question about it. He was the prosecutor and he called out senator Rubio for what he was. So I think governors, actually -- I think Governor Kasich, Governor Bush, and Donald Trump, people with real executive experience -- and I've got to tell you, that's why Secretary Clinton is the right woman for the job.

CUOMO: But there's a balance, right? It's the romanticism and then the rules, right? What has to happen versus what people want to happen. Isn't that something that's plaguing Secretary Clinton right now in her campaign, that Bernie Sanders is saying, I dream, I believe, I hope, and she's saying, yes, but I know how to get it done. That doesn't' resonate the same way. How do you balance inspiring the heart while compelling the mind?

LEVINE: Well, it's an interesting question, Chris. Actually, the fact of the matter is that when you're selling a socialist revolution, you promise everything. For example, Senator Sanders out there is saying, I'm going to give you free health care. I'm going to give you free education. I'm going to tear down Wall Street. I understand right now he's offering free Uber, free Netflix, and possibly, I think, free Starbucks coffee for all young millennials. The fact of the matter is, socialist revolution --

NAVARRO: You think he'd offer it to a middle-aged Hispanic woman?

CUOMO: 29 is not middle-aged.

NAVARRO: Can we talk about socialist revolutions? I come from the state of Florida. As you know, Ana, a lot of the folks there have left countries that had socialist revolutions. We had them in Cuba, we had them in Venezuela, you had them in your home country of Nicaragua. They don't work out too well. You know where those people are today? They're in Miami. So if you sell that socialist revolution in Florida, it will sell flat. It will not work.

[07:49:49] NAVARRO: Actually, Phil, half of us are in New Hampshire today because for Jeb and Marco Rubio, let me tell you, there are more people from Miami in New Hampshire right now trying not to kill ourselves walking through the snow and I can't even begin to tell you. But look, I think Bernie Sanders is having a tremendous effect in cutting through because he is unvarnished, truthful, he screams, he's passionate, he's enthusiastic. On the other side, you've got Hillary Clinton who is much more guarded and scripted. And I'm going to say this to Hillary Clinton and her allies. Please stop trying to guilt women into voting for a woman. This thing that Madeleine Albright said -- I respect Madeleine Albright -- but for her to say that there is a special place in hell for women who don't vote for women, who don't help women, that's just wrong. And that doesn't rub young women the right way. Sell her to me, persuade me on her qualifications, do not guilt me because of her body parts and gender.

LEVINE: Well I agree with that but could I just say this, though? The fact of the matter is we're interviewing for a chief executive officer. If I look at all resumes of all the candidates out there, I don't care if they're African-American, if they're a woman, if they're Jewish, I don't care who they are. Secretary Clinton has the experience for the job and she's the right person for the CEO of this nation.

CAMEROTA: Phil Levine, Ana, thank you very much.

CUOMO: All right. Now on the GOP side, there's only one man at the top of the heat by any poll you look at. His name is Donald Trump. He's changing his game, as well. Why and how? Answers ahead.

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CAMEROTA: We are here in Manchester, New Hampshire, the state where Donald Trump is carrying a double digit lead. This is the latest CNN poll of New Hampshire voters.

[07:54:57] CUOMO: Sounds an awful lot like his situation heading into Iowa with the caucuses but this is different. He has a much bigger margin and he is expected to keep it. But what has changed is him. Who knows it better than CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash caught up with the GOP frontrunner right after this weekend's debate and you noticed it right away, Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's true. He certainly is still tough but he's not hurling the insults, kind of one after the other as he had before. He's going much more back to basics. I started by asking him that question.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: I have to say talking to you now, watching you at your rally a couple of days ago here in New Hampshire, I kind of want to ask who are you and what have you done with Donald Trump?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Why?

BASH: Because you really have seemed to have changed your tone. You've gone back to basics. You're really not engaging. Even when people engage you, you talk about the fact that you're a counter puncher and it's not happening now and I'm wondering if --

TRUMP: You mean that in a positive way, I hope? Yes, I hope so.

BASH: Yes, it's meant in a positive way because I was wondering if you think that all of that kind of was overshadowing your core message which really does appeal to people, that you're not bought and sold, that you can make deals --

TRUMP: Well, I've developed a certain confidence. You know, I've never done this before, Dana. I've been a builder, a jobs producer, I'm a businessman. And I've been a very successful businessman. I've never been involved in politics other than on the other side.

BASH: You talked about the fact that you could have had a better ground game in Iowa. You built your company on doing things and on learning lessons from it. What lessons have you learned from Iowa that you're applying here? What are you doing differently to get people out to the polls.

TRUMP: I mean, we'll find out when the polls come out. You know, the polls are amazing in a sense but the real poll now is coming on Tuesday. We don't need polls anymore because the real poll comes on Tuesday.

BASH: And to get people out, are you doing more phone banking?

TRUMP: Yes, they do. They do.

BASH: It is a science and you know that.

TRUMP: It is a science up to a point. But you still need the product. If I give you the wrong product, you can do all of the social engineering in the world and you're not going to get anything.

BASH: Do you now feel confident you have the product?

TRUMP: I think I've done my job. I've given them the product. The product is me, I guess, in a sense. But you know, you can have all of that in the world. If you don't have the right person, it's not going to matter. So up here, we've done well.

BASH: But are you, as like the CEO of your campaign, engaging -- what's going on in operations -- ?

TRUMP: Yes. But I still believe most important thing is the person doing the talking and the message. I think that's more important than people knocking on doors. Now I may be wrong about that but I think it's more important than people knocking on doors but we'll see what happens. Tuesdays going to be a big day. I'm very, very happy the debate is over with but I enjoyed the experience.

BASH: You keep saying that. It's almost like --

TRUMP: There was a lot of pressure. No, no, there was a lot of pressure on the debate. I'll be honest. For everybody, not just for me. And there's more pressure when I see you and all of your people and everybody else saying, oh, this is a vital debate for Trump. I wish I didn't hear it. When I hear Jeremy saying, this debate is vital for Trump, so it makes it even more pressure. And I've always liked pressure, to be honest with you. I sort of like pressure. And it came out very well. BASH: One last question -- you did very well in Iowa. Not taking

that away from you. But as you know, because you built a brand on understanding that perception is everything, and the perception, because of the polls, is that you would win Iowa. So if you don't win in New Hampshire, what is that going to do to your political brand? Is it going to be damaged?

TRUMP: So if I had two seconds, I think I'm doing OK. I'd much rather win. I could say to you, if I came in second or third, I'd be thrilled, OK? And that way we lower expectations. I know all about expectations. We lower expectations. If I came in second I wouldn't be happy. OK? So now if I come in second you can go around and say -- No, I would much prefer to win in New Hampshire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: So a moment of candor there, that he admitted he kind of hast to win, and for him to say anything else, nobody would probably believe at this point because he is so high atop most polls, he does have pretty far to fall. And if he does take that fall, it's pretty hard to see him recovering from that.

CAMEROTA: Still, you definitely got more candor out of Donald Trump than I've seen in a long time. That was a great talk. Dana, thanks so much for sharing that.

Well, we're following a lot of news, here. We have live interviews with Jeb Bush and John Kasich so let's get right to it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I know I've got an uphill climb.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The most important foreign policy issue was the war in Iraq. I was right on that issue; Hillary Clinton was wrong.

H. CLINTON: I'm going to keep fighting until the last vote is cast.

B. CLINTON: When you're making a revolution, you can't be too careful about the facts.

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R-NJ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm ready for the job, Senator Rubio is not.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm going to keep saying it over and over again. Barack Obama is trying to change America.

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When I'm president of the United States, I'll run to the fire to put it out. I won't blame my predecessor.