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Voters Head to the Polls in Four States Today; Clinton & Sanders Battle for Michigan, Mississippi; Packed Commuter Train Derails into Creek; U.S. Airstrikes Kill 150 Terror Fighters. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired March 08, 2016 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I swear I'm going to vote for Donald Trump.

[05:58:53] SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A turning point is coming.

TRUMP: Lying Ted Cruz is really -- is a liar.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're getting closer to a two-man race.

RUBIO: If you don't want Donald Trump to be the Republican nominee, you have to vote for Marco Rubio.

TRUMP: Little Marco Rubio couldn't be elected dog catcher.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We've got our work cut out for us.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is a campaign of the people, by the people, and for the people.

CLINTON: The sooner I become your nominee, the more I could begin to turn our attention to the Republicans.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A Stream (ph) No. 10 struck a tree. The first part of the train derailed into Alameda Creek.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I held onto the rails, and right then, the train tipped over.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's scary. It's still scary.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It's Tuesday, March 8, 6 a.m. in the east. And guess what? It is Super Tuesday again, but this one is all its own. This is a big, big deal leading up to the next Super Tuesday. That's not a joke. Here's why.

On the Republican side, voters are heading to the polls in four different states. There are 150 delegates up for grabs. This is the last good chance of proportional voting for the GOP candidates to make their move. Michigan, Mississippi, Idaho, along with caucuses in Hawaii.

Donald Trump's rivals are betting everything that their regional appeal will slow the billionaire's path to the nomination. This as all eyes are on Rubio and Kasich. Can they win their battleground home states next week?

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: So for the Democrats, two states, Michigan and Mississippi, in play today with 188 delegates at stake. Hillary Clinton now almost at the halfway Mark to the delegates she needs to clinch the nomination.

So we have this race covered for you from every angle the way only CNN can. Let's begin with Phil Mattingly. He's live in Detroit on the Republican side of the race.

Hi, Phil.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

Well, it's the Tuesday before the Tuesday, obviously. At least one out of all four candidates looking towards next week, those crucial states, Ohio and Florida most notably. But before that, four essential contests that will go a long way to determining who has momentum going into those do or die states.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: NASCAR endorsed Trump. Can you believe that?

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Donald Trump running strong as voters head to the polls today for what's being dubbed Super Tuesday 2.

TRUMP: I have been to Michigan a lot, and I think we're going to do well there.

MATTINGLY: With 150 crucial delegates at stake, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz hustle to take votes away from Trump. The frontrunner sparring with protesters during a swing through North Carolina.

TRUMP: Oh, we have a protester. Out, out. Bye. Go home to Mommy. Go home to Mommy. Tell her to tuck you in bed. Bye-bye.

MATTINGLY: Cruz making quick and previously unannounced stops in Mississippi...

CRUZ: We're seeing folks who had been supporting Donald Trump who are realizing he isn't who they thought it was.

MATTINGLY: ... and grappling with flight delays, arrived late in another state voting today, Michigan. CRUZ: This is effectively a rally in the middle of the night. How is

that?

MATTINGLY: Florida Senator Marco Rubio shifting his focus to his home state.

RUBIO: It always comes down to Florida.

MATTINGLY: A new poll showing Rubio down by eight points in the Sunshine State as he continues making the case that he is the best Trump alternative.

RUBIO: I'm the only one that has any chance of beating Donald Trump in Florida. So if you don't want Donald Trump to be the Republican nominee, you have to vote for Marco Rubio.

MATTINGLY: And Ohio Governor John Kasich also finishing a push through Michigan before ramping up his own efforts in his must-win home state contest next week.

KASICH: We're going to get some momentum out of Michigan. We're going to win Ohio. There's going to be a campaign all across the country. It's going to be exciting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: Now Michaela, really underscoring the importance of the next seven days, CNN has confirmed that 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney has recorded a robocall for Senator Marco Rubio down in Florida. The crux of the call, not so much an endorsement. In fact, it's not an endorsement at all, more of an endorsement of stopping Donald Trump. Obviously, coming less than a week after Mitt Romney's scathing remarks about Donald Trump. His spokesman confirming that this isn't just about Marco Rubio. Mitt Romney is willing to do this for Ted Cruz and John Kasich, as well.

Again, all leading up, both tonight's results and then next Tuesday, where Marco Rubio and John Kasich either have to win or possibly go home, Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Interesting tactic on the part of Romney. All right. Phil, thank you so much for that.

We turn now to the Democrats, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, battling for critical votes in delegate-rich Michigan and Mississippi.

Clinton is hoping to surpass the halfway-delegate Mark to accelerate her path to the nomination. Our senior political correspondent, Brianna Keilar, is live in Miami with more.

Hi, Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there, Michaela.

Big stakes today for Democrats in Michigan and Mississippi, especially Michigan, which is rather delegate rich. And the race is pretty close there between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. Polls show Clinton ahead. But I'm hearing from both camps that they think that this is actually tighter than we've seen in the polls.

We just saw Bernie Sanders last night at a FOX News town hall cleaning up an answer that he gave during the CNN debate, where he said, taking about racial blind spots, that when you're white, you don't know what it's like to live in a ghetto and be poor, or be hassled walking down the street. Here is what he said to clean that up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: In African-American communities, you have people living in desperation, often being abused by white police officers. That is a bad thing. And that has got to change. And that's why I'm fighting to reform a broken criminal justice system.

But I know about white poverty. It exists in my state; it exists all over the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: The Clinton campaign and many supporters had jumped on him for what they saw was suggesting that only black people live in ghettos.

Meantime, Hillary Clinton plagued again by her e-mail controversy. More than 2,000 of those e-mails that she sent on her private server as secretary of state now classified, 22 of them top secret. She did blame over-classification in part for that.

Here's what she said.

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[06:05:12] CLINTON: Others might say, you know, that wasn't at the time, but now, with circumstances, we don't want to release it. So therefore, we have to classify it. I've asked -- and I echo Colin Powell on this -- release it. Once the American people see it, they will know how absurd this is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: And Alisyn and Chris, I know that you're thinking, why are you in Miami covering the Michigan primary, Mississippi primary? It's because this is where both candidates are going to be pivoting. Bernie Sanders will actually come to Miami tonight, really pushing towards the next series of contests.

Even as he waits for the returns to come in in Michigan, Hillary Clinton will be here tomorrow. We have that Univision event that will be simulcast on CNN. So we'll have both candidates answering some tough questions here tomorrow.

CAMEROTA: No. We were thinking brilliant boondoggle. And we are actually...

KEILAR: Right. Total racket.

CAMEROTA: And we'll be joining you there later today. Brianna, thanks so much for that.

So here with us to preview today's Republican contest, CNN senior political analyst and senior editor at "The Atlantic," Ron Brownstein; senior politics editor at "The Daily Beast" and fellow at Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service, Jackie Kucinich; and CNN Politics executive editor Mark Preston. Great to have all of you.

Let's start in Michigan. And Ron, I want to get your take on Michigan, because I know that you are paying close attention to what happens in Michigan, not just because it's the biggest piece of the pie but because you think that it's telling of where the electorate is.

Let me just pull up the polls. So this is a snapshot of where the Republicans are right now. Now, Trump gets 36; Cruz 23; Kasich, who has said he will do very well there, gets 21; Rubio, 13. Ron, why are you so focused on Michigan?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, Michigan, first of all, was one of the trio of states -- Michigan, Illinois, Ohio -- that ended the race in 2012. Michigan is really going to tell us, Alisyn, whether Ted Cruz can do what he needs to do, which is expand behind the primarily evangelical voters that he has been relying on.

It's going to be another important signal. You have a series of Midwestern battlegrounds coming soon after Michigan, including Illinois and Missouri and Ohio; and there -- in all of these states, evangelicals are a big portion of the population. But they're probably not enough to win on their own.

And I think what we're going to see here is whether any of the candidates -- Marco Rubio has been fading, Ted Cruz and John Kasich have both been narrow-casting in their own way. Cruz relying mostly on evangelicals, Kasich on moderates. Whether any of them can get big enough to truly challenge Trump, who seems to have hit a wall. He is the front-runner, but he's a plurality front-runner. The question is whether any of the other candidates can get big and broad enough to take advantage of it.

CUOMO: Mark Preston, let's take a look at the latest numbers about what may happen in Florida, and in that context, what are you hearing about this push to have Marco Rubio step out, not as a position of weakness but one of strength? A sacrifice for the party, to set him up for the future, maybe V.P., but more likely, looking like a guy who gave it all early for the party.

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Well, look, I think there is probably some concern amongst backers that Marco Rubio hasn't taken off like they had hoped he would. He was going to be the establishment candidate that everyone was going to rally behind.

But look, Marco Rubio won in Florida, if we recall, back in 2010, he ran against a very popular governor, Charlie Crist. He came out of nowhere. And he did very well. You know, Ron always talks about late breakers. You know, he does the math in a way that no one else can. There's something to be said about Marco Rubio being able to win his home state against the odds,, you know, and against the fact that Donald Trump, while he might do well in the polling, might not be able to get his supporters out.

The biggest problem for Marco Rubio in Florida, though, is up along the Panhandle. It is on that Georgia/Alabama border. It's voters that don't necessarily -- are connected to Marco Rubio. You know, we talk about politics. We talk oftentimes about Cubans, and you know, we talked about the carta (ph) right in the middle of the state. But for Marco Rubio, he needs to do well up in Jacksonville, all the way across the Tallahassee, or at least try to stunt any inroads that Ted Cruz and Donald Trump can make in that part of the state.

CUOMO: Rogue 10 percent. And, you know, especially with the margin of error, it could be, like, five, six points. It's the closest we've seen it.

CAMEROTA: Jackie, let's talk about Donald Trump. You know, there is still this concerted effort to try to go after him, basically. And there's this new conservative super PAC ad that highlights some of his more colorful language. So let me play a portion of that for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I went to an Ivy League school. I'm very highly educated. I know words. I have the best words.

(EXPLETIVE DELETED).

He gets the nomination they're going to sue his (EXPLETIVE DELETED). She said he's a (EXPLETIVE DELETED). I don't give a (EXPLETIVE DELETED). We will beat the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) shit out of them. They are ripping the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) out of the sea. (EXPLETIVE DELETED). What the hell are we doing? You're not going to raise that (EXPLETIVE DELETED) price.

[06:10:08] I have the best words.

And you can tell them, go (EXPLETIVE DELETED) themselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: So, Jackie, do you -- I mean, it's entertaining. Do you think that that actually -- voters know that he uses colorful language. Why is the PAC going in that direction?

JACKIE KUCINICH, SENIOR POLITICS EDITOR, "THE DAILY BEAST": If you see that on your TV over and over again, maybe it will start moving the needle with some people who haven't been paying attention until now, which is hard for us to believe to us, but they are out there.

Now, so I was talking to some folks from that super PAC yesterday, and they were saying that they are seeing the needle start to move on Trump. The question is, though, is this all too little too late at this point? Is -- IO mean, are these numbers -- Trump's numbers, are they at 30? And they're not going to move. And the question is, if someone else can accumulate more than him at this point. But just -- we just don't know if this movement is actually going to pay dividends.

CUOMO: Well, here's the nice thing of watching NEW DAY this morning. We can actually kind of answer this question, because we've got Ron Brownstein on this panel. You've been looking very closely at the Trump ceiling. You took some lumps early on as he was making his big leaps. But now you say you are seeing the suggestion. Pick your metaphor: moving of the needle, slowing of the trend. What is that theory about this -- not attrition but settling?

BROWNSTEIN: Right. You've got this kind of precarious balance in the Republican race that can allow it to kind of limp along for a long time.

Donald Trump has won almost exactly one-third of the total votes cast. On Super Tuesday, he only got about 40 percent twice. You know, and normally, kind of a traditional candidate -- and Mark and I have talked about this. A traditional candidate that won Arkansas, Massachusetts, Vermont and Alabama, you would see both voters and elected officials coalescing behind him. That's not happening. Donald Trump is not moving out of second gear. He's staying where he is, in that 35, 36, 38, maybe 40 range. Bigger than anybody else but not big enough to put it away.

The problem is that you've got Kasich and Cruz, two candidates who are narrow-casting. Cruz is overly dependent on evangelicals. He hasn't shown he can win large numbers of voters who are not evangelicals outside of caucuses. Kasich is moderate only, and Rubio is fading. So you can kind of imagine a world where this all limps along, with Trump having the most delegates but not getting to a point where he decisively puts it away, and then you just have the math question, whether he gets over the top of the majority by the time of the convention.

CAMEROTA: But Mark, I mean, quickly, Donald Trump is still far and away the front-runner. And as such, as you know, all sorts of establishment Republicans have tried to take -- put a chink in his armor. Mitt Romney most notably in the past week. So now there's this new get-out-the-vote call that Mitt Romney has recorded for Marco Rubio. We've just gotten a hold of it. So listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), 2012 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Hello. This is Mitt Romney, and I'm calling on behalf of Marco Rubio for President. I believe these are critical times that demand a serious thoughtful commander in chief. If we Republicans were to choose Donald Trump as our nominee, I believe that the prospects for a safe and prosperous future would be greatly diminished. And I'm convinced Donald Trump would lose to Hillary Clinton.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: And Mark, does this mean that Mitt Romney is supporting Marco Rubio?

PRESTON: Yes. And no. It means that he's supporting Marco Rubio, ad John Kasich, and Ted Cruz, and quite frankly, Alisyn Camerota and Chris Cuomo if they decide to get into the race. Because what he's trying to do is he's trying to stunt any momentum, as Ron noted, for Donald Trump in this race.

I spoke to a Romney spokesperson early this morning, if you can even imagine that, in the wee hours. And the spokesperson basically told me that Governor Romney is happy to help Senator Rubio, Senator Cruz or Governor Kasich any way he can, and that he clearly believes that Donald Trump is not the best person to represent the Republican Party, and it's not someone that he can support, that being Donald Trump, for the Republican nomination. So Mitt Romney still weighing in. He gave that speech. But you know, a very strong speech.

But where this could help, and the "New York Times" broke this story overnight, they could help. And they were very smart in saying this, is that this could potentially help Marco Rubio in the state of Michigan or in the state of Idaho, where there are a lot of LDS members, Mormons; and Mitt Romney is a Mormon.

CAMEROTA: OK, panel, thank you very much. By the way, if called upon, Chris and I would serve.

CUOMO: No.

CAMEROTA: Panel, stick around. We do want to talk to you about the Democratic side coming up.

Stay with CNN for the most comprehensive political coverage. We'll have results from today's Super Tuesday 2 contest, starting at 7 p.m. Back-to-back debates tomorrow night on CNN. CNN will simulcast the Univision Democratic debate in Miami. And Thursday night, we'll have the last Republican debate before the big primaries in Florida and Ohio. NEW DAY will be live from Florida tomorrow and the rest of the week -- Michaela.

[06:15:05] PEREIRA: All right. We turn now to breaking news. At least nine people have been injured after a packed commuter train jumps the tracks and plunged into a creek near the San Francisco Bay area. Officials say that train was traveling from San Jose to Stockton last night. It apparently stuck a tree that had fallen in the middle of the tracks.

Dan Simon is live from San Francisco with the breaking details. I think it's amazing that nobody was killed.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Good morning, Michaela. This was quite a scare. You had some bad weather move into the bay area, and that is what caused this tree to fall across the tracks, which is what led to the derailment.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIMON (voice-over): Breaking overnight, a harrowing scene of panic and chaos. A packed train derailing 45 miles east of San Francisco after hitting a downed tree on the tracks, sending a train car full of passengers plunging into a swollen creek.

JIM VIAYEN, PASSENGER ON DERAILED TRAIN: I realized something was wrong. I held onto the rails. And right then the train flipped over.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was thrown out of my seat.

SIMON: All 214 miraculously managing to make it off the train alive. Officials saying nine injuries, four critically, but not life- threatening.

SGT. J.D. NELSON, ALAMEDA COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: It was absolutely chaotic. You can only imagine the terror and the angst that went through their mind. Very fortunate that nobody was killed.

SIMON: Rescue crews fighting the creek's fast-moving currents throughout the night to pull riders to safety.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's scary. It's still scary. But, you know, somebody was watching over us tonight. Everybody got out. And everybody is going to hopefully be OK.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIMON: Well, the NTSB has a team headed to the region, Chris. Obviously, there will be no service today along that route.

Back to you.

CUOMO: All right, Dan. Appreciate the reporting.

In other news, the Pentagon confirming U.S. airstrikes killed 150 fighters in the Somali terror group al Shabaab, calling them an imminent threat.

We've got CNN's Barbara Starr, live at the Pentagon with the latest. What's the word?

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris. This may have been one of the deadliest airstrikes by the U.S. in years. Drones and manned fighter jets striking this al Shabaab camp about 120 miles north of Mogadishu in Somalia, killing, the Pentagon claims, 150 fighters, staving off, also, what the Pentagon claims was an imminent threat. The White House press secretary, Josh Earnest, talking about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Their removal, the removal of those terrorist fighters, degrades al Shabaab's ability to meet the group's objectives in Somalia, including recruiting of members, establishing bases and planning attacks on U.S. and Amazon (ph) forces.

(END VIDEO CLIP) STARR: Now, this camp had been under surveillance by special

operations for several weeks. They moved in when they saw what they believed were the fighters ready to move out on an attack, but they're not saying where that attack might have been. The al Shabaab group growing concern to the U.S. They are said to be responsible in recent weeks for bringing down an airliner. And just yesterday, another explosion at an airport in Somalia. A lot of concern they are moving beyond Somalia's borders -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Barbara, thanks so much for all of that.

Well, former first lady Nancy Reagan will be laid to rest on Friday. Starting tomorrow, she will be lying in repose at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library for the public to say their good-byes.

First lady Michelle Obama will attend the funeral. Mrs. Reagan died Sunday of congestive heart failure. She was 94 years old.

PEREIRA: Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are facing off until Michigan and Mississippi today, Clinton hoping to open an insurmountable lead. We'll discuss the Democratic race next.

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[06:22:42] CUOMO: OK. Voters less than an hour from heading to the polls in the delegate-rich state of Michigan and Mississippi, as well. Let's take a look at a new poll from Monmouth, showing Hillary Clinton leading Bernie Sanders. This is not new in this state. But there is a couple of new dynamics.

So let's discuss. Jackie Kucinich, Ron Brownstein, Mark Preston.

Ron, we'll start with you. She has been up in Michigan. But let's start this way. Everyone wants to figure out if she's going to get to the halfway point, and we get to the winner-take-all states. It's a big deal. How big a deal is it that she goes into the halfway point before getting to the winner-take-all?

BROWNSTEIN: I don't think not only that is a big deal. I think Michigan, though, is very revealing of what's ahead. The core dynamic in this race has been Bernie Sanders has not been able to win white voters by a large enough margin or consistently enough to overcome Hillary Clinton's overwhelming advantage among African-American voters. She has 78 percent in every state except Oklahoma, and even there she was 71.

The Sanders campaign says that the South is a particular problem with African-American voters. They can do better when they get out of the South into the Midwest. OK, here's the test. Michigan looks a lot like these other big states that are going to follow Ohio, Illinois, all coming in the next -- you know, on the March 15. And if Sanders can't break through among African-American voters in Michigan, it's hard to see him breaking through in those other states. Even though he has shown he can't compete for those working-class whites, it's not known if she's going to win the black voters 4-1. CAMEROTA: Jackie, obviously, Secretary Clinton's, one of her Achilles

heels throughout this has been voters' impressions of whether or not she's honest and trustworthy. That came up again in a town hall meeting that FOX had last night, where it was posed to Bernie Sanders whether or not he believes she's honest and trustworthy. And he did not exactly take the bait. So listen to this moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: ... concerns of your supporters that Secretary Clinton is not honest and trustworthy.

SANDERS: Well, I will let the people of the United States make that decision.

GEORGE JACKSON, VOTER: I'll speak for the American public: you're much more honest than Hillary.

Also a Trump supporter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Jackie, what do you think of that tactic, where a few times now on the campaign trail, we've seen that he doesn't take the softball that's robbed in order to sort of take the hard road?

KUCINICH: You know, he's been focused on keeping it as a policy discussion when it comes to Hillary Clinton. We saw this very early in the debates, where he said, "No one -- no one cares about your e- mails."

[06:25:09] And we actually saw it in the debate the other night, because he was very critical of her. It did get a little chippy. But it didn't get into that space where it got personal, where it became about this e-mail scandal, which Republicans have really seized on.

That said, I mean, Hillary Clinton is going to have to continue to answer this question into the general, far beyond if Bernie Sanders falls to the way side eventually.

CUOMO: People who are close to Clinton and Sanders both immediately ran away from this -- you know, Bernie's tone in the debate line, because that's Bernie being Bernie. He wasn't trying to be mean to her then, and he's not been taking the bait all along. Whether or not it's going to be good enough strategy for him is what remains to be seen.

Preston, in this FOX town hall, it was interesting that they didn't have more ammo ready to go on these big chunky issues that they love about Hillary Clinton: the e-mails, the trustworthiness. You know, it kind of just, like, went right by like it would have anywhere else, let alone FOX. What do you think the significance on that is?

PRESTON: Well, a couple things. One is Hillary Clinton has been criticized over and over and over again by FOX for not appearing on their network. And listen, you know, they do get a lot of viewers. They tend to get the Republican viewers. No doubt about that.

But in many ways this question about Hillary Clinton and her honesty and her e-mails and what have you have been answered over and over and over again. And if you do not have the rival, if you do not have Bernie Sanders out there outright, demanding over and over again that she release the e-mails or continue to beat the drum on the transcripts of the speeches that she gave to Wall Street firms, it's kind of hard for a journalist then to continue to do so.

But as we head into November, Chris, as you know, this is a very competitive business. And I'm sure FOX in some ways wanted to put out some kind of an olive branch to the Democratic candidates to try to get them to come on their air a little more.

CAMEROTA: So Ron, what does Bernie Sanders need to accomplish today in order to stay viable and move forward?

BROWNSTEIN: I think -- I think it's pretty clear. I think he has to prove he can compete among African-American voters outside of the South.

As I said, Sanders has advanced from the initial beachhead. We talked about it before. He started as that classic line wine (ph) track candidate, relying primarily on white collar, white liberals and young people. He has shown that, more than previous candidates who fit that mold, he can compete for blue-collar working-class white voters. And that does get him into the game in the Midwest, in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri. But it's not enough, Alisyn. Necessary but not sufficient. And he -- what he has to do today is show that the wipe- out he has experienced among African-American voters in the South is not what he's going to see in the Midwest. If we see that again in Michigan today, it's really hard to see the dynamic of this race.

CUOMO: Jackie, quickly, what do you make of this push from Bernie supporters, saying stop talking about the super delegates. Yes, they count, but they don't really count. They can switch their side. They're not officially pledged. Do you think that it is wrong or confusing to state the super delegate count?

KUCINICH: I mean, they're part of the count. Whether you like them or not, on the Democratic side, those are the rules. There are super delegates. And right now, a lot of them are going to Hillary Clinton. As long as that remains a fact, whether or not Sanders supporters are probably on my Twitter feed right now likes it, that is -- it's just a fact in the Democratic contest.

CAMEROTA: OK. Panel, thank you very much. I believe the polls open half an hour from now in Michigan. So thank you. We'll rely on you guys all day long -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: All right. Big news, a stunning legal victory for sports reporter Erin Andrews. A jury ruling that her stalker and the Nashville hotel where he secretly videotaped her are libel for $55 million. We'll hear reaction from her next.

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