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Trump Takes New Hampshire; Kasich Talks about 2nd-Place Finish; Sanders Defeats Hillary Clinton in N.H. Primary. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired February 10, 2016 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you, New Hampshire.

[05:58:38] HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: New Hampshire.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: New Hampshire.

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: New Hampshire.

TRUMP: We are going to start winning again.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: John Kasich had a good night.

KASICH: From this day forward, I'm going to go slower and spend my time listening.

TRUMP: We're going to win so much. You're going to be so happy.

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This campaign is not dead. We're going on to South Carolina.

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R-NJ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We've decided that we're going home to New Jersey, and we're going to take a deep breath.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Our disappointment tonight is not on you. It's on me.

I did not do well on Saturday night. That will never happen again.

TRUMP: I am going to be the greatest jobs president that God ever created. Remember that.

SANDERS: We have sent the message that will echo from Wall Street to Washington.

CLINTON: It's not whether you get knocked down that matters. It's whether you get back up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota and Michaela Pereira.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is NEW DAY.

Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump owned the night and New Hampshire. Trump scoring his first electoral win, blowing away the Republican field. The other headline: new names emerging at the top of that field. Ohio Governor John Kasich securing a strong second-place finish. Jeb Bush in a dead heat for third with Iowa winner Ted Cruz.

Just as important, we have not mentioned yet Marco Rubio dropping to fifth after his poor debate performance. Chris Christie, the man who eviscerated Rubio in that debate, did not get the bump he needed. Carson, Fiorina, afterthoughts.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Now, on the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders with a runaway win over Hillary Clinton, thanks to independents and younger voters. Sanders and Clinton now preparing to battle for minority voters in South Carolina and Nevada. We will hear from three of the Republican candidates this morning: Donald Trump, John Kasich, and Jeb Bush.

Let's begin our coverage with CNN's Sara Murray. She's live in Charleston, South Carolina, because she flew there overnight with John Kasich. Tell us how the night went, Sara.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Well, Alisyn, last night, it was just such an incredible shakeup in the GOP field. But one guy had to win. That was Donald Trump, and he did it decisively.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: New Hampshire, I want to thank you. We love you. We're going to be back a lot. We're not going to forget you. You started it.

MURRAY (voice-over): Donald Trump exhilarated after crushing his GOP rivals by more than 50,000 votes.

TRUMP: We are going to make America so great again. Maybe greater than ever before.

MURRAY: Boasting, amid record Republican pullout after a disappointing loss in Iowa.

TRUMP (via phone): I think the ground game was very strong. And I'll tell you, we are focused on it after Iowa. You know, the ground game is not something I was extremely familiar with, but I learned quickly.

MURRAY: The other big winner of the night, second-place finisher Ohio Governor John Kasich.

KASICH: If you don't have a seat belt, go get one.

MURRAY: Kasich taking pride in running a positive campaign in a field of sharp elbows.

KASICH: Tonight, the light overcame the darkness of negative campaigning.

MURRAY: Meanwhile, the winner of the Iowa caucuses, Ted Cruz, in a dead heat for third with Jeb Bush.

BUSH: This campaign is not dead. We're going on to South Carolina.

MURRAY: As Marco Rubio suffered a bruising fifth-place finish.

RUBIO: I know many people are disappointed. I'm disappointed with tonight.

MURRAY: Even admitting his rocky debate performance was likely to blame.

RUBIO: Our disappointment tonight is not on you. It's on me. It's on me. I did not --I did not do well on Saturday night. So listen to this. That will never happen again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MURRAY: Now, there were a number of candidates who were pinning their hopes on New Hampshire. And Ohio Governor John Kasich was one of them. Now, you would think that, on his flight overnight here, he would just be ecstatic, stunned by his victory. But he told me he wasn't stunned. He was prepared to come in second this whole time. And now he's ready to move the race to South Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MURRAY: What was going through your head when you got the second- place victory tonight? Were you expecting it? Did it come as a surprise?

KASICH: You know, I was very calm about it. I sort of felt we were going to be in second place. I heard earlier that, you know, we -- there was some word that we were going to be there.

And then, you know, when I traveled around to the polling places, it was pretty clear. You know, I was running into everybody. And they were like, "Yes, we really like you" and all that stuff. So, you know, I'm gratified by it, for sure. I think it's fantastic. But I wouldn't say I was shocked by it.

MURRAY: Now, the Bush campaign is already previewing the attacks they're going to use against you in South Carolina, saying that you're going to weaken the military.

KASICH: I'm going to weaken the military?

MURRAY: Are you prepared for the incoming fire that's going to come your way, now that you have landed a second-place finish?

KASICH: Well, I think they've spent about $120 million so far. And I don't know. Somebody said as much as 50 million in New Hampshire. I mean, they ought to get this thing figured out at some point. I mean, they're spending so much money. I don't know who's advising them. But I mean, I think that's kind of silly, that I'm weakening the

military. I don't even understand what you're talking about.

MURRAY: Are you ready for this to be the new normal?

KASICH: I think it is pretty normal. Yes, I think I'm fine. You know, my efforts have been validated.

And then I thought, you know, how cool it would be to be able to finish up high. And I wasn't spinning any of you. I really thought we would. Because it was like running for Congress.

And then, you know, I'm not really shocked that we're in second. But everything sort of evolved more than it's just been like we flipped the switch and then, all of a sudden, this is happening. I'm prepared for this.

What do we think the Bush campaign spent against me?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seven or 8 million dollars.

KASICH: OK, they spent 7 or 8. There was 4 million spent by another super PAC. That was 12. Rubio spent money against me, about a million and a half. That's like $15 million of direct hits. And that doesn't even count the mail pieces. And we beat everybody, except Trump, who never attacked me.

[06:05:09] So I know we just can't just go through this, you know, like falling off a turnip truck and saying that everything is just going to be positive, because I'm going to have to respond to some of this stuff. But I'm starting to really think we're onto something. I'm starting to really think that the positive nature of a campaign can be very effective. I'm starting to think it could be true.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Oh, Sara, stick with us. Let's bring in the former moderator of "Meet the Press," David Gregory; and CNN political commentator and political anchor at Time Warner Cable News, Errol Louis. Seamless transitions. That's what I am known for here.

Errol, let's start with Donald Trump. Donald Trump won decisively. In fact, he got more than two times the votes of his closest competitor, John Kasich. Look at this. And I just want to pull up, Errol, he even beat the predictions. OK. The poll of polls that we were looking at the day before this had him at 31 percent. He got 35 percent. Tell us your thoughts on what happened in New Hampshire.

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, it's even broader than that. You look at the map, and you compare what happened four years ago. There were -- there was an interesting group of voters that were up for grabs on the Republican side. The people who voted for Ron Paul, who actually did quite well there.

And those libertarian voters, Ted Cruz was making a play for them. We know that Jeb Bush was going after them. Everybody was sort of trying to get to them. They all went to Trump. And it was really throughout the state. Small towns, big towns, the cities, the Massachusetts suburbs, everything.

So he really has an appeal that goes beyond simply, you know, working- class white, less educated people, which was sort of his base as far as we could tell demographically. But no, it's much broader now.

CUOMO: So we know the "what," right? We know what the spread was. And now you get to why, which really starts making an even more compelling case for the Trump candidacy. When we look, the things that jumped out, David, and take us through it. "I'm not happy with my party."

DAVID GREGORY, FORMER MODERATOR, NBC'S "MEET THE PRESS": Right.

CUOMO: "I'm not happy with my country," "And I don't like people who have been there." If you check one of those three boxes, you're looking right to Donald Trump.

GREGORY: He is the personification of a chaotic, populist angry campaign season that values the outsider. Not just anti- establishment. But totally on the outside and unconventional.

You've got to give him his due. In no other cycle, if somebody had showed up as well as he did in Iowa and then wins New Hampshire decisively, this is his race right now. He is the clear frontrunner. He goes south, where he has a lot of support.

And you hit it on the head, I think, Chris. He is channeling -- remember the ads we talked about in New Hampshire? "Make America great again." And then he says in his rallies, "Everything you believe in is under assault." He is sending this really strong message. It's a dark message about where he thinks America is and speaking to those voters. There's anger at Obama. He's channeling that. There's so much anger at Republicans in this party, their own party, for not standing up to Obama more. He's channeling that. That's what gives him his strength.

CAMEROTA: Then look at the split screen, Sara, between what John Kasich told you on the plane last night about his positive message, and Donald Trump, who has not relied on a positive message. He's gone after whomever he has wanted to and to show -- you know, held their flaws in stark relief. And the fact that voters went for both of those two guys at the top, it's just interesting, right? I mean, what New Hampshire -- what does that say moving forward?

MURRAY: It's just another thing that's so indicative of how abnormal this election year is. But I think when you look at New Hampshire, there are so many independents there that the Kasich campaign went after. And they really like John Kasich's positive message. They like that he's a little bit more moderate. That might be a tougher thing to pull off here in South Carolina. In South Carolina, you know, Trump's appeal with conservatives who are angry at their own party might do better. And I think that that could be a struggle for him in some of these upcoming states that, of course, right now he's just riding high on that second-place finish. CUOMO: We all know the GOP rule. You have to play to conservatives

to get the nomination. And then you have to move toward the middle. If the conservative vote, then, is at a premium right now, Kasich has his work cut out for him. He got 11 percent of it. Trump not only got the most. He got the most, and then he got more than Cruz and Rubio combined.

Right. And that's the good news. And by the way, then you go down South. A guy like Kasich has a harder time. You have a lot of evangelicals on Super Tuesday primaries. Think about Alabama, where they could be as much as 75 percent. Virginia, Texas, Tennessee, others. But also the muddle, the muddle in the middle, as I talked to party officials last night.

CUOMO: That's a T-shirt right there.

GREGORY: Right. You could say "Make America great" on the back and "Muddle in the middle" on the front.

So if you look at that, and this is what party officials were saying last night. They just said, "Look, we're ready for the long haul here."

If you do the math, the establishment candidates, of which Kasich is one, is at 45 percent. You put all those together. I've taken Christie out of that. I've taken Fiorina out of that. And I've taken Carson out of that.

Trump is at 35. What does that tell you? Trump does well when it's a big field. It's still a big field. The race is not settled. We thought New Hampshire might winnow that down a little bit. It has not. That's why Trump is in control. And Cruz, winner of Iowa, going to the south strong. This is very strong. They're sitting there waiting for him. They're in control of this race.

CAMEROTA: Errol, let's talk about the rest of the field and what you see. Jeb did better than expectations. Chris Christie probably did worse.

LOUIS: Chris Christie did a lot worse. And you could see it in his face, you know? He says he's going to come -- you know, come back to New Jersey, take a deep breath, maybe start to do his job a little bit. I think the end is near.

It was -- it was really. There was a lot of chatter that he was really acting on behalf of Bush. That he'd effectively thrown in the towel, and that he was going to be an attack dog against Rubio, hope for the best last night.

CAMEROTA: You mean, before the debate that he was going to fall on his sword?

LOUIS: Not so much fall on his sword, but you know, take what he had. And he had a lot going in. I mean, he spent a lot of time in New Hampshire. He had the endorsement of the largest paper. He had reason to think that there was going to be some magic that was going to go his way.

But he also knew that he had to sort of, you know, try and make some plans. And what he was doing in going after Rubio was intended to sort of help what's left of the establishment. I mean, you know, you talk about the muddle in the middle. There are some people who are determined to defend the middle, whatever that might look like. Chris Christie ended up being one of those.

CUOMO: I don't think that he's a defend the middle guy. I think that he was going for his. But I think you wind up in the same place, practically, which is he has to figure it out right now.

The other factor for you to speak to, Errol, and let's bring in Sara on this, as well, is money. OK? Chris Christie spent $18 million trying to get it done in New Hampshire. That was a big bite out of his pocketbook. John Kasich spent $12 million. Trump, only like 3.7, but he knows he gets a lot of free media attention. Cruz, only 580,000.

Sara, what will those numbers mean going forward?

MURRAY: Well, before moving to states that are going to be much more extensive propositions than Iowa or the New Hampshire, you go to South Carolina, you go to Florida. And to compete on Super Tuesday, you're talking about competing in a lot of places at the same time.

Donald Trump can do that with free media. He can do that as he wants to put money into his campaign. But John Kasich is going to have to rely on bringing in more donations, bringing in new donors after his second-place finish.

For Chris Christie, it's hard to make an argument to donors that they should invest more in your campaign or that they should jump on board now when the state you've been pinning all your hopes on didn't come through for you. And I think that's going to be part of the issue for him.

CAMEROTA: OK, panel. Stick around. We have to talk about the Democrats in a moment.

But coming up on NEW DAY, you will hear from Donald Trump and John Kasich on their big finishes. Also, Jeb Bush joins us live in the 7 a.m. hour. Stick around for that -- Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Speaking of the Democratic race, Bernie Sanders with a commanding victory over rival Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire. How will both campaigns shift their strategy going into the next contest? Well, senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny might have the answer. At least he's looking at it, live from New Hampshire this morning.

Hey, Jeff.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Michaela. It was commanding, as you said, also convincing across-the-board win

for Bernie Sanders. Also, a humbling defeat for Hillary -- the Clinton campaign here in New Hampshire. Excuse me.

But the question is going forward, can Bernie Sanders take the show on the road and survive the front-runner scrutiny?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY (voice-over): A victory lap for Bernie Sanders.

SANDERS: The people of New Hampshire have sent a profound message to the political establishment, to the economic establishment and, by the way, to the media establishment.

ZELENY: In a profound message to Hillary Clinton, who's no longer the undisputed Democratic front-runner. A commanding across-the-board win for Sanders among women, young voters and independents, riding a wave of discontentment at politics as usual.

SANDERS: The people want real change.

ZELENY: The Clinton campaign had predicted a loss in New Hampshire. And they got one, even bigger than they feared. Supporters masked their frustration with cheers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hillary! Hillary! Hillary!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hillary! Hillary! Hillary!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hillary! Hillary! Hillary!

CLINTON: My goodness. I -- I don't know what we'd have done tonight if we'd actually won.

ZELENY: It's a new day in the Democratic primary fight. Sanders will suddenly draw more scrutiny as the battle with Clinton intensifies.

SANDERS: They're throwing everything at me except the kitchen sink. And I have the feeling that kitchen sink is coming pretty soon.

ZELENY: As the race moves to Nevada and South Carolina, Sanders vowed to build on his growing movement. But it's an open question whether he can find the same appeal in a diverse electorate of black and Hispanic voters.

SANDERS: What began last week in Iowa, what voters here in New Hampshire confirmed tonight is nothing short of the beginning of a political revolution.

ZELENY: A humbling and frustrating moment for Clinton. But she made clear she's been down that road before.

[06:15:07] CLINTON: I know I've had a blessed life. But I also know what it's like to stumble and fall. And we've learned it's not whether you get knocked town that matters. It's whether you get back up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY: Now, as -- as she reassesses her campaign today, tries to fine-tune that message, Bernie Sanders is meeting with Al Sharpton. He's beginning the path to try and expand his appeal to that more diverse electorate.

And Chris, that is the question here: can Bernie Sanders go national? Can he expand to the real base of the Democratic Party? If he can, this race is a serious, serious challenge for Hillary Clinton.

CUOMO: You are asking the right question, my friend. And there's a lot of doubt cast on what before was conventional wisdom. Is Clinton a lock with that community? Bernie Sanders and his followers do not think so.

Jeff, thank you very much.

So what did we see in New Hampshire? Well, it's not just about strength; it's about vulnerabilities, especially when it comes to Hillary Clinton's campaign. The question now, can Sanders gain support from this group that Clinton is supposed to own? Minority voters. We'll discuss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:20:07] CUOMO: Bernie Sanders's victory over Hillary Clinton, big, big, big, to paraphrase his doppelganger, Larry David, in large part due to resounding support from young voters but also independents and women.

So what does this mean in terms of the big mo? Does he have the momentum to catapult him forward?

CAMEROTA: That's your fault (ph).

CUOMO: I am. I used to be. Now I'm, like, middle mo. Middle-aged mo.

David Gregory, Errol Louis back with us now. Joining them is CNN national political reporter, Maeve Reston.

Maeve, let me start with you. You're out in the cold. The way forward for Sanders, the plus/minus.

MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we know is that the money is pouring into Sanders's campaign. This has been obviously true ever since his basic tie-win with Hillary Clinton in Iowa. And you do really feel the electricity in his crowds.

The question now is whether or not he can ramp up that organization to compete with a very sophisticated ground operation that Hillary Clinton has across the country. Sanders thinks that he can do well in some of these caucus states that are coming up like Minnesota, Maine, Massachusetts. And -- but it's not clear yet whether or not they have the

organization to go forward all the way. But there's so much momentum behind his campaign right now. Clinton is clearly trying to sort of take a moment, reassess, and see what she can do to stop that going forward.

CAMEROTA: OK, so Errol, there's the ground game and infrastructure question. Also, can he win over minority voters? Can he work with blacks and Hispanics in South Carolina and Nevada?

LOUIS: There's no reason to assume that he cannot. I mean, he's in Manhattan today. He's going to be meeting with the Reverend Al Sharpton.

CUOMO: How about that move, taken on its own? Is that the right first step for people to see him making?

LOUIS: Absolutely. I mean, look at -- this is part of a larger issue. It's not like Al Sharpton has a bunch of votes to deliver or anything like that. He's not that kind of political leader.

But he does three hours of radio every day. He's in 40 radio markets all around the country. He -- he sort of has his finger on the pulse to a certain extent. And he symbolizes what is a larger question that any Democratic nominee, whether it's Clinton or Sanders is going to have to deal with, which is what happens to the black vote?

I mean, where, in 2008, 2012, for the first time in American history, the black vote that exceeded the non-Hispanic white vote, 64, 65 percent turnout. You're not going to see that again. There's going to be some level of a sort of pulling back after the historic candidacy and presidency of Barack Obama. And somebody's going to have to try and talk to folks. That's really very much up for grabs. I don't think Hillary Clinton has any reason to assume that it's going to automatically go away.

GREGORY: I think that's a really smart point. It is that level of enthusiasm -- first of all, the money is going to be there. All the $27 checks are coming in. So Bernie Sanders is going to have the money.

He is a movement liberal, and people are falling in love with this guy and his message. And the danger for the Clintons, just like in 2008, is essentially saying, "This is a fantasy." Remember that line from Bill Clinton? "This is a fantasy. This is a pipe dream. You can't get any of this stuff done." A lot of people who support Sanders don't want to hear that. They want to hear what he's actually capable of doing. They want to give voice to that aspiration.

And so I think that piece of it is very important. And Sanders gets a new look this morning, has an ability to talk about free college education, single-payer. I think there's a lot of problems with his policies, and that's where Hillary Clinton is going to go to work. She's going to try to inspire more and really take...

CUOMO: Maybe there are -- look, her friends, Feinstein. You have Pelosi coming out, you know, the Democratic leadership coming out, saying we have some problems with Sanders. I don't know if that works against him or for him.

Sara Murray, in terms of talking to this group of voters, what the problem may be with the message, income inequality; you need to do better; your cost structure needs to come down; and the burden needs to be shifted to someone else. Why would that not resonate with minority voters?

RESTON: I think that a lot of those policies will resonate with minority voters. The question is the Clintons have deep, deep ties in these communities, going back to Bill Clinton's presidency, his runs, the policies that he put through.

And as David just mentioned, I mean, Hillary Clinton has made a very forceful case over the last week that his policies are much too expensive, pie in the sky, things that could never be achieved through the legislative process. She is trying to make this argument that she is the proven change maker who's actually been able to carry out some degree of these policies on health care for children's health insurance, for example.

And so I think that there is going to be a very big clash argument going forward here over whether any of this is achievable. And whether Bernie Sanders really has what it takes the way the Clintons have in terms of their history of working with others in Washington. He's been out there kind of on his own. That's part of his appeal. Now he's going to have to prove that he's ready to slide into that commander in chief role.

CUOMO: Good question, Maeve.

[06:25:03] GREGORY: The grassroots of the Democratic Party is more liberal. This nostalgia for the '90s is over. It's a different party. And so a lot of the Clinton supporters and the Team Clinton say, yes, but remember Bill's presidency? She's more centrist. She gets along well with corporate America, Goldman Sachs, the military. It's a more liberal base here, a base that is disappointed with Barack Obama. And that is the energy right now that Sanders has.

CAMEROTA: Errol, he also won with people -- with demographics that should have been going to her. Moderate Democrats.

LOUIS: Sure. Sure.

CAMEROTA: Who identify themselves as that. Women. That -- so is that a New Hampshire specific thing?

LOUIS: Well, no. Well, we'll see, obviously. But these are three legs of the Obama coalition. Right? The moderates, the millennials, and the women. She was supposed to get all of that, or at least some portion of it. She got wiped out in all three of them. The last leg of that, of course, are the black and Latino voters. We'll see how that works.

I mean, one thing to keep in mind, Latino voters were unbelievably loyal to Obamacare. They loved Obamacare. It was an important part of their communities, an important part of their lives. They voted in droves before Obamacare. You know, we're going to see whether that means they really want single-payer. In which case they really might want to have a conversation with Bernie Sanders.

CUOMO: A little irony, too. The last Democrat to win after not winning Iowa and in New Hampshire, Bill Clinton.

CAMEROTA: There you go.

All right. Panel, thank you for all the insight. Great to have you.

Clinton and Sanders will face off tomorrow night in Wisconsin. This is the "PBS News Hour" Democratic debate. It will be simulcast right here on CNN at 9 p.m. Eastern tomorrow night -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: So exit polls in New Hampshire have proven to shed quite a bit of light on what might come next in South Carolina and Nevada. How will the independent voters impact the fortunes of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders after their big wins in New Hampshire? We'll discuss.

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