Return to Transcripts main page
New Day
Chicago Cubs Win First World Series Since 1908; Trump & Clinton Hit Battlegrounds as Races Tightens. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired November 03, 2016 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Imagine with me what it would be like to have Donald Trump sitting in the Oval Office.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Stay on point, Donald. Stay on point. Nice and easy. Nice --
CLINTON: Everything he has said and done in his career and in this campaign is a pretty good preview of what's to come.
TRUMP: You think Hillary is so honest with our government? I don't think so, folks.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's not often where you can move the arc of history. Don't let that chance slip away.
SPORTS ANCHOR: A moment that many thought might never happen.
BERMAN: The Chicago Cubs are World Series champions.
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It's Thursday, November 3rd, 5:00 in the East.
And we do begin with breaking news. The curse is broken. No, the election isn't over. But the Chicago Cubs are World Series champions for the first time in more than a century. That was the longest championship drought in baseball history.
And what a finale. An epic game seven, extra inning, rain delay win over the Cleveland Indians.
CAMEROTA: So, the Cub fans going crazy into the night in Wrigleyville. A hundred and eight years in the making. The celebration is still going on this morning.
We have all the bases covered for you, beginning with Andy Scholes who was at the game in Cleveland.
Andy, give us all the highlights.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN BLEACHER REPORT: Alisyn, what a game. What a series. I mean, game seven last night is going to go down as one of the best World Series games we've ever seen. And the range of emotions that both of these fan bases had to go through last night enough to last a lifetime.
[05:00:05] Indians down two in the eighth when Rajai Davis sends this crowd here in Progressive Field into a frenzy with a two-run home run. It goes right off the camera in left field.
Check out LeBron James going nuts as the Indians tied the game.
Now, we would go to extra innings. After a short rain delay, Cubs left fielder Ben Zobrist would be the hero with the RBI double in the 10th. He is the World Series MVP. Bill Murray weeps as the Cubs win 8-7 to end the 108-year World Series drought.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THEO EPSTEIN, CUBS PRESIDENT: A hundred and eight years. I've been waiting for a team like you, boys.
JAKE ARRIETA, CUBS PITCHER: A hundred and eight years doesn't mean anything. It is the start of something new, a new chapter for the Cubs, for the entire city.
SCHOLES: What do you say about the team the way you came back from 3- 1 to win this?
DEXTER FOWLER, CUBS CENTER FIELDER: We never quit. It's never over until it's over now. Well, it's over now, we're on top.
KRIS BRYANT, CUBS THIRD BASEMAN: This is what you dream for as a kid. I'm 24 years old. I'm the luckiest guy on the planet, man.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Here's the cover of "The Chicago Tribune" this morning. It reads, simply, "At Last!" And I'll tell you what, guys, I have been in a couple of champagne parties in the locker room. Last night was a big one. My eyes are still burning, Chris. I got hit right in the eyes so many times.
CUOMO: You are supposed to drink it, Andy. Not just take it the whole time.
What a piece of history to see. I told you this would be one of the best assignments you ever had. It came true.
All right. Andy, thank you very much.
So, as you saw, they are partying at Wrigley like it is 1908. Cubs fans flocking to the park to bask in this moment in history. It is a celebration that literally could last a lifetime.
We've got CNN's Brynn Gingras live outside Wrigley Field in Chicago.
What a place to be for you.
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, yes, Chris. It's the party is not over. It's not going to be over anytime soon. As you said, people are coming here to Wrigley Field. The reason is I want to go over my shoulder. There's a fan right there.
CUBS FANS: Chicago!
GINGRAS: Where you see Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, World Series champions.
There are so many people who are continuing to just take pictures of that sign right there. The excitement is all around this place. At least tapering out a little bit. It has been through the streets throughout the evening.
I actually talked to one man. I was like, can you describe why this is important to you? He said it is a generational thing. You know, he watched baseball games with his father and grandfather. A year and a half ago, his father passed away. He said, then tonight, this win brought a grown man to tears.
And that's why there's just so much excitement. It's not just the sport, but stories behind it and all of the excitement and this partying. I can tell you, it's going to continue into tomorrow and probably into next week and probably into next year and for a while.
A lot of sick calls, Chris and Alisyn, into work tomorrow, or I guess later this morning, I should say.
CAMEROTA: We appreciate you being on the job, Brynn, and bringing it to us. It is exciting.
I was in Boston when the curse was broken. It's just -- I mean, it grips the whole city. It's such a feel-good story. It is wonderful.
CUOMO: Well, look, the Red Sox deserve the curse. They should have stayed on curse as far as I'm concerned.
CAMEROTA: Here we go.
CUOMO: But this one, you know, look, I know what it is like to be the fan of a failing team. I'm a New York Jets fan. You become joined by this misery that it's never going to happen. It's never going to happen.
CAMEROTA: Right, right.
CUOMO: And if something does, I don't know that experience because I'm a Jets fan. But for these Cubs fans, they have now lived through something that this is a whole new era, as the pitcher said, as Arrieta said.
Here's a picture of Hillary Clinton. She is obviously from Illinois. Here she is in Arizona watching last night, watching the game on the device there. Of course, she is celebrating the victory like the rest of her home state.
CAMEROTA: That is exciting for everybody involved.
All right. Let's turn to our sidebar story now, the presidential race. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump hitting the battleground states and the polls show the race is tightening. We are just five days away from election day.
CNN'S Joe Johns is live in Washington with more.
Good morning, Joe.
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.
In the closing days, Donald Trump continuing his personal struggle with message discipline as Hillary Clinton's closing argument to get out the vote are sounding much more somber than her campaign would prefer as the tightening in the polls continues with just five days to go.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS (voice-over): Donald Trump reminding himself to stay on message.
TRUMP: We've got to be nice and cool. Nice and cool. Stay on point, Donald. Stay on point.
JOHNS: Making his big push in battleground Florida as new CNN polls show the race tightening in several swing states.
[05:05:05] TRUMP: I've been watching Hillary the last few days. She's totally unhinged.
JOHNS: Clinton striking a grave tone, targeting minority voters in Nevada by using Trump's own words against him.
CLINTON: Someone who demeans women, mocks the disabled, insults Latinos and African-Americans.
JOHNS: Clinton also setting her sights on the red state of Arizona where Trump holds a five-point lead.
CLINTON: If Donald Trump s were to win this election, we would have a commander in chief who is completely out of his depth and whose ideas are incredibly dangerous, or maybe heaven forbids, start a real war instead of just a Twitter war.
JOHNS: Both candidates ramping up attacks. Clinton calling Trump dark and divisive.
CLINTON: We know that the presidency doesn't change who you are. It reveals who you are.
JOHNS: As Trump hits her on trustworthiness and on Obamacare.
TRUMP: Real change begins with immediately repealing and replacing Obamacare. You think Hillary is going to restore honesty in government? I don't think so, folks.
JOHNS: And hammering away at the recent FBI scrutiny over the e-mail server.
TRUMP: They just found 650,000 e-mails. I have a feeling those e- mails are going to be -- oh, there are going to be some beauties in there.
JOHNS: In an interview with "People" magazine, Clinton calling the FBI email review just noise and distraction, while remaining confident in the final stretch.
CLINTON: Everything he has said and done both in his career and in this campaign is a pretty good preview of what's to come.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: Today, the battleground state focus continues where they're going tells you a little bit about what their priorities are. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, both headed to North Carolina.
Back to you.
CAMEROTA: OK, Joe. Thanks so much.
New CNN/ORC polls show the race tightening in several swing states. Let's discuss it with CNN senior political analyst and senior editor for "The Atlantic", Ron Brownstein, and CNN political analyst, David Gregory.
Gentlemen, great to have you here. Let's pull up the latest polls of these all important swing states.
We have Arizona. As you can see, at the moment, Donald Trump is beating her there, 49 percent to 44 percent. In Florida, she has a slight lead, 49 percent to 47 percent. Nevada, he is now leading, 49 percent to 43 percent. Pennsylvania, she is leading, 48 to 44.
Ron, what do you see in these states?
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, look, I think the first thing is you've got to look at averages of polls, right, because any one poll, particularly the Nevada poll is a little off from what we have seen. Also, I think there's a core question in all of these polls. All of these polls and many -- you know, the deluge polls that came out last few days include last weekend during the James Comey announcement.
And the question I think really is, is that the high point for Donald Trump or is there something that extends beyond? I think if he is behind four points in Pennsylvania and that poll, and two others that came out yesterday, six points in Wisconsin, in polling that includes the announcement, it is hard to see him getting over the top. But he is keeping this very competitive and leaving her with very little margin for error.
CUOMO: Quick follow, Ron. You wrote this piece in "The Atlantic." People should read it for themselves. But you describe something that is reminiscent of what Romney tried in 2012, which is trying to go to states like Wisconsin and like a Michigan and Pennsylvania in this case where Donald Trump probably won't win and instead of focusing on the state he has to win.
BROWNSTEIN: It is really both. There are two things. If you look at the calendar, and you look at where the candidates are going, and where they are spending people, it tells you what they believe the world looks like. The reality is that Donald Trump at the end is making a push for New Mexico, Colorado, Michigan and Wisconsin.
There are two reasons for that. One is that he has to win a state that has been counted in her corner to get to 270. Even if he wins all of the battleground states, he has to win one more place. But Clinton has taken a very calculated risk, Chris, is that she has spent all of her time and money in October in the battleground states that she doesn't have to win -- Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Iowa, Nevada.
She has put much less effort in the states that are in her core. I mean, there are seven states that are part of her core 270 that are competitive. And they are Colorado, New Mexico, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire. You know, in none of those, in two of those has she truly treated them as battleground states. A lot more money and time in reach states.
And so, the question is, has she left the back door open in any of them for Donald Trump?
CAMEROTA: So, David, let's look at the Colorado poll, because it's interesting. Trump tied, 39 percent to 39 percent. What do you see in all these numbers?
[05:10:01] DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think as Ron says, you have to look at the averages, because that Colorado poll is a little bit closer than we've seen in some of these other polls. But I think that the idea of him slipping to the backdoor is still something that she has got to be worried about.
As I have spoken to senior Republicans in the past couple of days, they see, a couple of things going on. One, they do see Republicans coming home. Notably, Republicans, big donors and others who might have thought that Trump was out of this thing. And now, as they see him get closer, they don't want to be blamed if he were to lose by two or three points. So, it's kind of bringing them back in, as well as some tight Senate races where, say, a Ron Johnson in Wisconsin might be helping Trump a little bit because he's getting his voters out and these are people who might also vote for Trump.
But I think the reality is there's a little bit more pessimism than optimism here. While they like where things are trending, Republicans I talk to think that Trump probably has the best shot at in Pennsylvania and in New Hampshire. But they recognize down four points in Pennsylvania, slipping in New Hampshire. They probably need some kind of other outside event, some other disclosure to help him.
CUOMO: Right.
GREGORY: And if you look at Wisconsin, Marquette Poll came out yesterday, she is up six points. She is up four points in our polling in Pennsylvania. If she keeps those together, all she needs in New Hampshire and she puts the race away and she's out there. So --
(CROSSTALK)
BROWNSTEIN: -- Colorado, I mean --
CUOMO: And for them to look at fortune and it is true, fortune favors the bold. If the Comey bomb didn't get them where they need to be.
BROWNSTEIN: That really is the question, right?
CUOMO: I don't know --
BROWNSTEIN: If you're still behind six points in Wisconsin and four points in Pennsylvania, two states that have been basically Lucy and the football for the Democrats since 1992, you know, the question is, if you are not ahead at that moment, with polling at that moment, will you go ahead --
(CROSSTALK)
BROWNSTEIN: I think both of them are very hard. North Carolina is very different, obviously.
CUOMO: You say poll of polls, Florida, OK? That's why CNN does the poll of polls. If you look at Florida, it's like, oh, look, Clinton is back up there. The average is it's a tie. That means if it is tied there, does Trump now have a better potential path to 270?
BROWNSTEIN: Yes. I mean, because if he loses North Carolina or Florida, it is hard for him to get there. The straight forward path is to hold the states Romney won in 2012, which includes holding North Carolina which at the moment is --
CUOMO: So, he has to hold North Carolina?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, yes, I think. And then add to that, Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania. That's the most straightforward path. That gets him to victory.
Pennsylvania seems like a bridge too far, so they have to come together something else. Some combination of Nevada, Iowa and something else. The something else is one of the states that we have considered more safely in the Clinton column. It could be Colorado. It could be Michigan. It could be Wisconsin. Those last two look very hard. New Hampshire, as David said, looks difficult. Every road for him
ends at a state that has been considered more safely in Clinton's corner. And the question is whether they rely are locked down as much as it appears.
CAMEROTA: Go ahead, David.
GREGORY: But look what is happening in the turn out models. I mean, here you have the president and Hillary Clinton going out trying to keep the focus on Donald vulnerability. It is interesting saying, imagine him in the White House, can you imagine him in the Oval Office? I think that's a key issue. So, really about making it about the character and what we see in the polls, that most voters don't find him fit temperamentally or qualified to be president.
But you have the president of the United States urging African- American voters to come out or else his legacy could be erased. So, you know, we saw in 2012 going into last day of voting, a very small percentage difference between Romney and Obama in the national poll averages. It showed how important turnout was for the Obama team, getting that Obama coalition out there. I think she's got to rely on that here. We are just not going to see it until Election Day.
BROWNSTEIN: Real quick, that "Washington Post"/ABC poll that's gotten a lot of attention, having the race tied, I look at that less as a prediction other than a scenario. It has a model where 75 percent of the voters are white. If 75 percent of the voters in fact are white, Donald Trump will have a very good chance of winning.
But whether you use the census in 2012 with 74 percent white, the exit polls were 72 white, and both of them have been shrinking by two points every four year, which will give you an electorate by historical trends, that will be somewhere between 72 percent and 70 percent white. They say it's 75 percent. If, in fact, it is 75, you see the result.
CAMEROTA: Donald Trump wins?
BROWNSTEIN: At least it's a nail biter. So, you know --
CAMEROTA: If it's 70, Hillary Clinton wins?
BROWNSTEIN: I think if it's 70, it's going to be much harder for Donald Trump. There's -- the preferences of the three big groups, right, non college whites, college whites and nonwhites are so distinct, so divergent, that tiny changes in your assumptions about the composition of the electorate have huge impact on the polls. In reality, Hillary Clinton has to worry about the African-American turnout and the early voting. The Hispanic turnout seems positive and the college white turnout seems positive. And how that all sorts out, we'll know in a few days.
CAMEROTA: David, let's look at this graphic that we put together of the controversies, basically the moments where the polls shifted in the past three months. [05:15:07] And you can see it has gone up and down. Hillary Clinton
has always been on top. If you look at the poll of polls, in other words you're averaging all of the major polls, she has always been on top throughout various controversies, some for him, some for her. Do you think that she has rebounded from Friday's non-troversy as Chris would say of the Comey announcement of looking into the Huma Abedin e- mails?
GREGORY: Well, I mean, what does it mean to rebound? I mean, I think she maintained a three-point lead in the national polls and still h a stronger position on the electoral map. But for all the reasons we've talked about, she is in a much closer contest now. And there is more momentum on Donald Trump's side, much more of a coming home factor, in combination with these tighter Senate races.
So, we don't know if she's rebounded. We've got a new reality of the race tighter with the advantage still her way.
CAMEROTA: All right. Guys, thank you. Stick around. We have many more questions for you.
Coming up on NEW DAY, we have Trump campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway. She's going to join us in our 8:00 hour. Stay awake for that.
CUOMO: It has been a long and bruising road in this campaign. Now the candidates obviously in the home stretch. So, what are they doing? Clinton is reaching out to minorities and she's going on the attack. Can you imagine Donald Trump in the Oval Office?
What is Trump doing? He is speaking out loud to himself saying stay on message. You know what? He should take his advice. Why? Next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:20:46] CUOMO: Just five days until Election Day. Trump and Clinton in their final stretch, final pitch. Clinton is going hard at the Obama coalition, which is code for minority voters, hoping to motivate the group in hopes of turnout because they were key for President Obama in both his races.
Meanwhile, Trump is saying stay on message. He's literally saying it out loud at the podium.
Let's bring back our political analyst, David Gregory, and Ron Brownstein.
And, for once, Brownstein --
BROWNSTEIN: You don't remember H.W. Bush? Message I care when he's reading the stage instructions, I mean, this one we haven't seen in 25 years --
CUOMO: Yes. This is one of the times where Trump should follow his instincts. BROWNSTEIN: Yes. No, it's -- look, you know, his -- the ad they have
up now kind of crystallizes what has been his one strength in the polls, change. You know, people are dissatisfied with what output of the political system, for good reason, it has been stalemated and deadlocked more often than not, and Donald Trump is seen more as an agent of change, where he suffers as Hilary Clinton has tried to emphasize, it's temperament, experience, judgment, ability to be commander in chief.
The last few points of her lead, Chris, has been voters who don't really like her, who don't trust her, who don't have a favorable view of her, but have been unable to envision Donald Trump as president. That is what is moved back college white men and non-college white women in the national polling.
And what she is trying to do is put back front and center of them, here is why you didn't want Donald Trump to be president. You may think I'm an imperfect politician. He is someone who is a different order of risks to you.
CAMEROTA: David, let's dive into some of these demographics and look at North Carolina. We can look at a lot of battleground states. In terms of, let's go with the black vote, OK? So, it has been down, as Chris said, the Obama coalition not turning out at least in the early voting right now.
So, in North Carolina, it's down 5.3. In Georgia, its' down 5.3. In Florida, it's down 3.2.
But then, let's look at Latinos, because maybe this will help boost some of these numbers for her in North Carolina. That's up, obviously not as significantly, 0.7 percent. Georgia, 0.7 percent. Florida, up 4.5 percent.
So, what do you see?
GREGORY: Well, I think it's a similar trend. If you're Republicans and as I've talked to them, they're arguing, look, we are in better shape in North Carolina if you look at the early voting than we were in 2012. That was a state that Romney won.
So, there is concern about the African-American turnout. And that's why it's not just Hillary Clinton, but it's President Obama who is making the case in two ways, not only saying you have to get out, but his criticism of Jim Comey of the FBI I thought was significant, because I think it's part of the strategy to really go to war with James Comey, to say to Democratic voters what's happening to her is unfair.
And that she's the target of something that's unfair and therefore, you've got to try to right that in the polls. Don't let this sentiment essentially and this process suppress turnout for Hillary Clinton. So, I think that's important. And I think there is a notion of Hillary Clinton's own coalition, which could be more dependent on Hispanic voters turning out in large numbers in a state like Florida, in Arizona, even in North Carolina that could ultimately be decisive for her.
And that's why I think, you know, this business, because I agree with Ron, the other thing that is strong for Donald Trump is not only is he really punching at the wound of her trustworthiness, but also this idea, do you think anything is going to get done in Washington. If she's being investigated and if there is so much turmoil, I think that's a salient argument for him to make as change agent.
CUOMO: Well, remember, if there's somebody who can compete with Trump, in terms of Trump is perceived increase in trust, it's President Barack Obama, because especially, for his coalition, he was the real change.
He is in North Carolina. And interestingly, he is using another Trump argument. Rigged. He is saying, you know what, North Carolina, especially African-American folks, they are making it hard for you to come out. And by they, he means the Republican infrastructure and he probably has a good case.
Here is some of his sound.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[05:25:00] BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Those who wanted to suppress the vote, they're going to fade. The law was struck down. Your rights have been restored. It's easier to vote than ever in North Carolina. But if you don't vote, then you have done the work of those who would suppress your vote without them having to lift a finger. Come on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: Now, the court case, he's right. They won the court case, and, boy, was that an ugly decision.
BROWNSTEIN: Surgical precision.
CAMEROTA: That's what they found when they had targeted African- Americans.
CUOMO: But you know what? It's still paying off, because the lines are long. The precincts are fewer where you can go in and vote early. And that could be suppressing the vote. To use Trump's word, rigged.
And yet, there was a desperation that went beyond the system. It was about his legacy, about the undoing.
How powerful is that message?
BROWNSTEIN: Look, it goes to the point we're talking about before. The composition of the electorate is hugely important here. I mean, Hillary Clinton may, in fact, have to compensate for less African- American enthusiasm than it was about electing and reelecting the first African-American president.
And she will have to do with two means principally. One would be Latino turnout in some of these Sunbelt States, particularly Nevada, Colorado and Florida. But the other, which will be very much reflected in North Carolina would be doing better among college educated white voters than President Obama did. In the exit polls in 2012, he lost college educated white voters by 14 points.
No Democratic presidential nominee has ever won most college educated white voters. But she has been leading in the polls, particularly among college educated white women. Our poll, I think, the poll that Quinnipiac that came out yesterday, had her narrowly behind him on college whites in North Carolina. It is hard to keep all of this in our heads.
But it is important to remember that she does not have to win North Carolina, Florida or Ohio or Nevada or Iowa. If she holds her core states, she is at 273 without any --
CUOMO: What does the money say?
BROWNSTEIN: Exactly right. If you look at -- if you look at North Carolina, Florida and Ohio, three states she doesn't have to win, they had spent $180 million on television in those three states. If you look at Michigan, Wisconsin and Colorado, three states they do have to win, they spent $16 million.
They are going on the air now. They made a bet these states are secure in their hands and Donald is testing that bet in the final days.
GREGORY: Testing that bet. But let's also remember, there's a larger goal here that Hillary Clinton has and her supporters have. And they had it going back now two weeks when she was really surging ahead, which is not just to win, but to win big. So, she wants some of the bigger prizes so she can run up the electorate vote margin and try to claim something of a mandate.
She wins to win, don't get me wrong, but if she wins a squeaker at 272 electoral votes, there's going to be repercussions for that in terms of her ability to govern.
CAMEROTA: Gentlemen, thank you. We'll speak to you again the program. Thanks so much.
CUOMO: T-minus five. Just five days until Election Day. Please join us for our complete coverage nobody will have, every race and result covered the way CNN will.
CAMEROTA: OK. But up next, the fight for Mosul. Iraqi forces ready to move in as the leader ISIS releases a rare audio message to rally his troops. What does it say? We have a live report from the frontlines ahead on NEW DAY.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
