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Sanders Overtakes Clinton in New Poll; Trump Maintains Lead in Iowa, New Hampshire; Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis Files Appeal; Desperate Migrants Waiting for Help on Hungary Border; Refugees Rescued off the Coast of Turkey. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired September 7, 2015 - 07:00   ET

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


CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: There's a new name in play, as well. So let's get the developments for you. Let's begin with CNN senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny, on the hustings in Davenport, Iowa. Tell us about the poll.

[07:00:11] JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Chris.

I mean, Hillary Clinton is starting this Labor Day in a far different place than she and many Democrats expected that she would be. The word "underdog" can now be attached to her name in New Hampshire.

Senator Bernie Sanders is beating Hillary Clinton by nine points in this latest poll. But it's not just this poll. It's been, over the last few weeks or so, a combination of polls so that he has a commanding lead in New Hampshire.

Not quite the same here in Iowa. She is leading Bernie Sanders by some 11 points. But Chris, that is down from 24 points just about six weeks ago. So she is losing ground, and he is gaining ground in both states.

As this is happening, of course, this new poll shows some interesting numbers about Joe Biden. He has a higher favorability rating than Hillary Clinton among Democrats and among general election voters overall.

But it's important to remember that she still is liked by the majority of Democrats. More than 6 in 10 Democrats give her a favorable rating. It's those general election numbers, she's about at 30 percent overall, which says a lot of independents and Republicans don't like her.

Well, she knows that. She was on the trail in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Sunday evening, and she addressed her challenges ahead. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's going to a hard election. The other side has said they will spend, do and say anything to win back the White House. I have a little experience with that. I am absolutely confident that whatever they throw at me, I can throw it right back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: And that, of course, is Hillary Clinton's strength in many ways. When she is back on her heels, she's known as a fighter. And Democrats want to see more fight from her. So we'll see that coming up as she enters this new phase of her campaign, post-Labor Day -- Alisyn.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, Jeff, stand by. We'll be back with you in a moment.

Meanwhile, for Republicans in New Hampshire and Iowa, Trump is still on top. Jeb Bush has lost almost half of his supporters in New Hampshire since July. CNN's Sunlen Serfaty joins us live from Milford, New Hampshire, with the latest GOP numbers.

Good morning, Sunlen.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

Well, there is momentum for Donald Trump, and there's big trouble for Jeb Bush here in New Hampshire.

Trump still has a big lead. This new poll shows that he's up 28 percent. He's picked up seven percentage points in the last month. Now meanwhile, at No. 2 is John Kasich with 12 percent support, followed by Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina, who recently have been on the rise.

But these numbers are not good for Jeb Bush. There is a sharp dive in his support here in New Hampshire. He's now polling only at 8 percent.

Now in Iowa, both Trump -- Trump is still on top, but we're also seeing in Iowa Ben Carson really gaining some ground there. But again, in Iowa, Jeb Bush seeing a sharp decline there, too, like in New Hampshire. He's only polling at 6 percent in Iowa.

Scott Walker, too, he just last month led the pack in Iowa. Now he's only polling at 5 percent. And here in New Hampshire, I caught up with Scott Walker while he was launching a motorcycle tour and asked him about this decline.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. SCOTT WALKER (R-WI), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The person who won the primary four years ago was about at that same point at this point. So we have every confidence that, like I said, there are going to be ups and downs with polling along the way. But our key is to stay true to who we are and get our message out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: Now many candidates will use this Labor Day to hit the reset button on this campaign, like Jeb Bush, who here in New Hampshire, he will go up with his first TV ads of the campaign. Alisyn and Chris, he is going to be spending half a million dollars here in New Hampshire.

CUOMO: All right. Thank you very much, Sunlen. Appreciate it.

Let's bring back Jeff Zeleny and get into a conversation with former senior adviser to Bill Clinton and Democratic political strategist Mr. Richard Socarides.

Jeff, take us through what you see in the numbers as indicative of the state of play for Hillary Clinton. And let's see if Socarides has answers to these woes.

ZELENY: Well, it's important to point out a couple of things, Chris. One, she is liked by Democrats. There's no question about that. We're not seeing the bottom fall out from under her among Democratic supporters. She still has a high favorable rating among Democrats, some 6 in 10, almost 7 in 10 Democrats like her.

But the questions about her candidacy still persist. And the Democrats who are wondering if Joe Biden is jumping in are looking at the other number in the polls overall. Registered voters say only 33 percent supporters. So her favorable ratings overall across the electorate are potential problems in the long term.

But in the short term, she's strong here. It depends, of course, what Joe Biden is going to do. I mean, that is sort of the open question still hanging over this here and how she adapts to Sanders.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

ZELENY: She's gone from sort of the summer of Sanders into the fall of Sanders is a real thing she has to contend with.

CAMEROTA: OK. So let's look at some of those numbers. Let's pull up what's going on in New Hampshire, Richard, because this is interesting. Bernie Sanders has gone up almost 10 percent. He now has 41 percent. And that is higher than Hillary Clinton. Joe Biden gets 16 percent.

Look what's happened since just July. He has gone up 10 percent; she has gone down 10 percent. What's happening here, Richard?

[07:05:14] RICHARD SOCARIDES, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I think the race on the Democratic side has become -- the summer has become about Hillary's email practices. And I think that what you're seeing is, you know, how would any of us fare if we spend three months going through our -- through our emails?

CAMEROTA: You think those numbers are a direct result of what's going on with her email?

SOCARIDES: I do. I think that those numbers are a direct result of the pressure she's been under from the media and from her --her opponents, both in the race and on the Republican side and in Congress. This constant drip, drip, drip. And I think that it's obviously been a difficult summer for her.

But -- but I think that we always thought the race would be competitive. I always thought the race would be competitive. I think we're seeing a lot of fluidity in it now. I still think that she is better positioned than anybody else, certainly on the Democratic side, and better positioned to be elected president overall. So I think it's not quite right to say that she's struggling. Maybe it will help her in New Hampshire to be the underdog.

But also, let's look at this poll, too. I wouldn't read too much into this poll, because it's a very small sampling, about 350 people, in both Iowa and New Hampshire.

There's a plus or minus margin of -- it's within the margin of error. Even though it seems like a big percentage, there's -- the margin of error is 5 percent.

CUOMO: Would you be saying that if the poll had her up 15 percent from the last time this was mentioned?

SOCARIDES: Well, listen, I think there will be a lot of polls. Right? I mean, there are going to be a lot of polls.

CUOMO: But trending. The trending. I think here is your legitimate issue that you have to deal with if you're in the Hillary campaign. I want your take on it.

She does not have the passion behind her right now among Democrats. Many thought she was the presumptive favorite and that she was going to be their only choice. Bernie Sanders has that mantle of the heart of the party right now in this current state of play. How does she take that from him without going at Bernie Sanders, because you know you lose if you go right at Bernie?

SOCARIDES: Yes. I mean, I would dispute the premise a little bit. I mean, I think there are a lot of people, including myself, who are very excited and passionate about Hillary Clinton. I think there are a lot of women voters.

CUOMO: The big crowds feeling the Bern.

SOCARIDES: Listen, I think Bernie Sanders raises a lot of important issues. And I think that he -- the issues here he is raising are exciting for his party. They play particularly well in New Hampshire and in Iowa.

I think once we get out of New Hampshire and Iowa, what other states could he possibly win other than New Hampshire? Now let's also remember, he's from Vermont, which is a neighboring state. So people know him there.

But he has not been subjected to any kind of the press scrutiny. I mean, listen, I'm on this show a lot, and I like being here. But every time I'm here, we talk about Hillary's emails. We have never once talked about the challenges that he has.

CUOMO: What does he have that's like the email situation? What does he have like that?

SOCARIDES: I don't know. I don't know what he has, because he hasn't been subjected to the press scrutiny. But listen, he's taken some tough votes. His -- once his record becomes more widely known, he will have -- he will have some questions asked.

CAMEROTA: But Richard, isn't part of the problem that, when Hillary Clinton announced her candidacy, the people around her said this time is going to be different. She learned her mistake from last time. And this time, she's going to be accessible. She's going to be relatable, and then we haven't been able to interview her for these months. I mean, in other words...

CUOMO: And we blame you, by the way, Socarides.

SOCARIDES: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: There is something to that. When you can't have access to the candidate, it's hard to get past the, sort of, controversy of the day.

SOCARIDES: I do think that we have seen a much more authentic Hillary Clinton. I mean, I think in the clips you've been showing this morning, she is definitely speaking from the heart. I think her relationship with the press has always been a central problem for her.

And you've got to understand, she has a very long and unique relationship with the press. The press go at her in a way that they do not go at anybody else. There's been some false reporting already about the e-mail situation. "The New York Times" reported that there was a criminal inquiry when there was never a criminal inquiry.

I think that, both on the press side and on the Hillary Clinton side, there are issues that they have to overcome. So I do think that you will see her doing more interviews. But I think she -- you have to -- from her perspective, the press don't treat her fairly.

CAMEROTA: Well...

SOCARIDES: So she's going to have to get over that.

CUOMO: Very few politicians believe the media does treat them fairly.

SOCARIDES: Well, I believe the press is always fair.

CUOMO: Thank you very much, Richard.

CAMEROTA: Very nice, Richard.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: Jeff Zeleny, let me ask you one quick last thing here. We hear there is going to be a significant change from the Hillary Clinton campaign and strategy. Socarides is referring to that, that she's going to be out there more. What, specifically, do you think they're going to try and do now? ZELENY: Chris, they know the e-mail controversy is not going away.

That is going to be the soundtrack of this fall and in the next year.

But what they're going to do is add more to it. She's giving more policy speeches, more interviews. We're going to see her in more presidential-like settings, starting with an Iran speech on Wednesday.

Her advisers want to send the message to Democrats that she is the electable, presidential, serious candidate in this race here. That's how they are going to try and go after Bernie Sanders, by drawing a contrast like that.

So she's going to be giving an Iran speech on Wednesday. She will be doing a lot of interviews. She'll on "The Ellen Show" tomorrow. She'll be taping that. She'll be doing other network interviews coming up. So she is coming out more in this post-Labor Day phase.

[07:10:13] But one thing about Iowa and New Hampshire that Richard said before, those are the only states he can win. Remember the 2008 campaign. Barack Obama won in caucus states in the west across this country. Bernie Sanders is very strong in those caucus states. So it is not simply Iowa and New Hampshire. This could be a long campaign next year.

CAMEROTA: All right, Jeff. Let her know that we would love to have Hillary Clinton on NEW DAY anytime. You, too, Richard.

SOCARIDES: I'll tell them. I'll tell them.

CAMEROTA: And be sure to tune in Wednesday, September 16, to the CNN Republican debate. It starts at 6 p.m. Eastern -- Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right. More legal action this morning in the case of Kim Davis, the Kentucky court clerk who refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses. She is now appealing the order that put her in jail last week. We turn to CNN's Alexandra Field with more on this.

Good morning.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michaela.

Kim Davis says this is a heaven-or-hell matter for her. She says she cannot issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples because of her religious convictions. But a judge ordered her to do that, and she continued to refuse to give out the licenses. So now she's appealing that.

Here's what her attorney says: "Mrs. Davis is entitled to proper notice and due process when she is threatened with the loss of her freedom. There was no indication that she would be incarcerated. We will be presenting our arguments on appeal and asking for an expedited ruling."

So what does the attorney mean by that? Well, he means that the judge had the option to fine Kim Davis instead of sending her off to jail, but the federal district judge said he didn't believe that that would force Kim Davis to comply with his orders. So instead he has forced or ordered her deputy clerks to issue these marriage licenses. Kim Davis is refusing to authorize those licenses as prescribed by Kentucky state law, which is why she remains in jail.

But this whole thing has touched a nerve. And she's got a lot of supporters who are coming to her defense, including Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, who is actually going to visit her in jail on Tuesday. And he plans to hold a rally on her behalf -- Chris.

CUOMO: Well, supporting the beliefs is one thing; supporting the actions as an employee is something very different, certainly in the eyes of the law. Alexandra, thank you very much.

So we also have breaking news for you this morning to tell you about. France announcing it will take in 24,000 new refugees to obviously ease the escalating crisis in Europe. This as Austria announces it will end emergency measures for refugees. What does that mean?

Let's begin team coverage with CNN senior international correspondent Arwa Damon. She is along the Serbian/Hungary border.

Arwa, what is going on behind you now, and is the situation showing better or worse control by the government there?

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's getting a lot worse. And right now, you have those who have crossed over from Serbia into Hungary, who are fed up with having waited for a day, overnight, if not longer. Many of them in the freezing cold, staging a sit-in in front of the police.

Just a short while ago, there was a fairly sizable scuffle as they tried to push forward, break the ranks, because down the road from here is a transit camp that they are waiting for buses to take them to. Problem is, there's too many of them here; the buses aren't coming fast enough. They don't have proper food or water. There is no proper sanitation.

The conditions at this camp are absolutely horrible. This man showing a small injury that he got from the scuffle.

If you come over this way real quick, we can show you the conditions that people are having to live in, which is exactly why they are so fed up with being here and don't understand why even the most basic of things is not being provided for them.

But there's that one little tent there where there's a medic and, again, some of that aid being distributed. But the rest of it is basically them having to live out here in this open field.

And as he is saying right now, "Look, it's garbage. We're just living in garbage. They're putting us to live in garbage."

It's been especially hard for the children. I mean, you see the children there, their parents trying to offer them what little comfort that they can. But a lot of them have been getting very sick, especially at night. As I was saying, it does get to be bitterly cold. And this really is not providing enough for them. And they lack things like blankets and sleeping bags.

Many of them failing to understand how it is that this is how they're being treated when they finally reach Europe, where they thought, at the very least, their dignity and basic rights would be respected.

CAMEROTA: Arwa, your reports just bring it all so vividly to life for us. Thank you for that.

We also want to talk about what's going on in Turkey, because rescue crews there overnight saving a boatful of migrants. The scene unfolding right near that beach where that Syrian toddler's body washed ashore.

CNN senior correspondent Ivan Watson witnessed this whole thing, and he joins us live from Bodrum, Turkey. What did you see, Ivan?

[07:15:00] IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

Just days ago, the world shocked to see tragic images of a Syrian refugee child, his body washed up lifeless on the beaches of this Turkish resort here after his family made a doomed attempt to try to cross the sea here to a neighboring Greek island.

Well, last night, we saw Turkish rescue teams going out, and just four days after that family suffered such awful loss of life, we saw other migrants not deterred, trying to make that same dangerous journey, and being rescued by Turkish rescue crews, rescued from what could have been a watery doom.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON (voice-over): Under the spotlight of a Turkish coast guard cutter...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You see? You see the refugees?

WATSON: ... the silhouettes of more than 20 people, stranded in a rubber boat. They are desperate, frightened but tonight, luckily, saved by volunteers from the Bodrum Sea Rescue Association, who work alongside the Turkish Coast Guard.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not all together. Wait, wait.

WATSON: Among the passengers rescued, five little children. Just four days of the world was shocked by photographs of a Syrian refugee toddler who drown at sea, these people have embarked on the exact same perilous journey.

They set off from the Turkish resort peninsula of Bodrum in hope of reaching the Greek island of Kos. Instead of drifting at sea with a failed engine, these people will be brought back safely to Turkey. The beaches below Bodrum's villas and posh resorts an unlikely

launching point for tens of thousands of refugees and migrants willing to risk everything to reach Europe.

Under the light of the crescent moon, we witness another attempt at a crossing.

(on camera): It's after 2 a.m., and we've encountered another little rubber dinghy loaded with people. They're actually paddling in the direction of Greece. It's incredibly overloaded, this little boat. It's an accident waiting to happen.

(voice-over): To make matters worse, some wear heavy backpacks over their life jackets.

Before possible disaster strikes, the coast guard comes to the rescue. Tonight, they failed to reach Greece, but they will live another day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON: Now, the Turkish government says that in the last nine months, they have made at least 50,000 rescues of migrants and refugees at sea, trying to make this perilous journey.

But the rescue workers that we traveled with last night, they say just in the last month or so, they've counted the bodies of at least 12 other children that perished in this area, trying to make that same journey with their families. We don't know how many people have died trying to make this desperate and dangerous journey -- Alisyn and Chris.

PEREIRA: I'll take it from here, Nick. An incredibly sobering thought. Thank you for that report. It is very important for us to see. As we've mentioned -- mentioned, pardon me, this migrant crisis is escalating in Europe. Is there a clear solution? We're going to take a look at what needs to be done.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:22:12] CAMEROTA: The migrant crisis in Europe reaching global urgency. And the question remains, where will they all go?

Over the weekend, thousands of refugees arrived in Austria and Germany. But tens of thousands more migrants are still trying to find shelter. So joining us now is former ambassador to NATO and former State Department official Nicholas Burns.

Ambassador Burns, thank you so much for being on NEW DAY.

NICHOLAS BURNS, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO NATO: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: The numbers are hard to pin down exactly, because as we've just seen from our correspondents in the field, people are traveling under the cover of darkness. But Amnesty International believes that 4 million refugees have fled Syria. So far, the U.S. has accepted 1,500 refugees from Syria. How much responsibility do you think the U.S. should bear?

BURNS: Alisyn, I think we do have some responsibility. We're the wealthiest country in the world. We're an immigrant nation. We're a refugee nation. I think that -- remember, Albert Einstein and Madeline Albright came here as refugees.

And traditionally, in these kind of humanitarian crises, over many decades, the United States general takes about half of all the refugees that the United Nations calls to be resettled. So the figure this year is for the U.N. to resettle 130,000 Syrian refugees by the end of this year. That would mean that our quota would be 65,000.

But clearly, as you say, the need is going to be far greater than that. Because there are 11 million homeless, half the Syrian population; 4.7 million out of the country. The remains are in the country with the Syrian civil war continuing to rage. And it's being fueled by those terrorist groups and the Syrian government. We should expect more refugees.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BURNS: And that would mean that the United States needs to do much more.

CAMEROTA: I mean, if you're saying that the right number for the U.S. is 65,000 and we've only taken a fraction of that. I mean, 1,500 so far.

Now what the officials in the U.S. say is that the vetting process is very long and complicated. Because while, as you pointed out, there are some stellar examples of people who were refugees who have come on to be great leaders, there are also some terrible examples. The Boston bombers were taken into this country as refugees. So it is critical, is it not, to vet them to make sure that there aren't some sort of ISIS members or extremists trying to sneak in?

BURNS: Very definitely. We've always vetted refugees, always in the past. You have to do that for criminal or terrorist activity. And that has to happen now, particularly given the fact that these people are from Syria.

But the great, great majority of these people, clearly -- you see them -- are women and children. These are people who have been affected by the civil -- by the civil war there.

So, if the problem is vetting, then we need to put more resources into the vetting process. But, there's a humanitarian urgency here. People, as your report clearly shows, people are at risk of dying on this perilous route overseas from Turkey to Greece and on up into Europe. And we have a self-interest as well as a humanitarian interest in seeing that the United States does more and that we do our part. And you see that Germany has now agreed to take in 800,000 refugees. Our total will be 1,500. That doesn't seem right.

[07:25:15] CAMEROTA: To your point, the root of this problem is the civil war in Syria. So, what's being done to address that? BURNS: Well, as you know, the civil war has been produced by the

Assad government, by terrorist groups like the Islamic State. And what has to happen -- and this will be extraordinarily difficult -- is there has to be a major international effort to try to see if there's a way to end the war, to try to provide a path out of Syria for Assad -- Bashar al-Assad, the ruler of Syria; to try to convince Russia and Iran to diminish their support for him; to try to think about what a transitional government would look like. This may take a year or two, or more. But it has to start.

And I commend Secretary Kerry and President Obama for trying to start this process now. They're not being helped by the Russian government, which is now accelerating its own military aid to the Assad government. And certainly, not being helped by Iran, which is the major funder and armer, through Hezbollah, of the Syrian government forces.

CAMEROTA: Ambassador Nicholas Burns, thank you. We always appreciate getting your wisdom on this. Great to see you.

BURNS: Thank you. Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Let's get over to Chris.

CUOMO: It will be good to see when and if somebody does step up here. We'll be asking for that. Thank you, Allie.

So Bernie Sanders is beating Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire. Yes, he's from Vermont. But this matters. And it is going to be a reason that Hillary is changing her strategy. How? We'll tell you on "Inside Politics," coming up.

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