Return to Transcripts main page

NEW DAY

Trump And Sanders Win Big In New Hampshire; Kasich's New Hampshire Strategy Pays Off; Clinton Campaign Expected To Re-Tool Messaging. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired February 10, 2016 - 05:30   ET

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


ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is NEW DAY.

Bernie Sanders wins big. Donald Trump wins big. Two decisive victories in New Hampshire.

[05:30:04] Trump has his first victory, doubling the closest challenger, but he does have some new names to go after. Ohio Governor John Kasich posting a strong second. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush in a dead heat for third with Ted Cruz, the man who was a winner just a week ago in Iowa. Marco Rubio coming in fifth after his poor debate performance over the weekend. The results all but guaranteeing that we, my friends, are in for a long hall to a nomination.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders defeating Hillary Clinton with a decisive victory. Independents and young voters giving Sanders that win. The devastating defeat for Clinton setting the stage for what will happen next and that's a battle for minority voters in South Carolina and Nevada. This chaotic presidential race appears to be wide open for both parties. This morning, we will keep with three of the Republican candidates, Donald Trump, John Kasich and Jeb Bush.

But let's begin our coverage with Sara Murray. She is live in Charleston, South Carolina. What a night, Sara.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: What a night is right, Alisyn. Donald Trump finally pulled off what many people thought he could never do. He notched his first victory, winning New Hampshire handily. And last night he thanked the voters there for delivering his first win.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: 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. Remember, you started it.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MURRAY: Now, Trump may have had the biggest finish, but the surprise of the night was Ohio Governor John Kasich. He came in second and to many people, it seemed like it came totally out of nowhere, but I talked to John Kasich on his campaign plane overnight on his flight here to South Carolina and he said he wasn't surprised.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: 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 -- there was some word that we were going to be there. And then 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 I'm gratified by it for sure. I think it's fantastic. But I wouldn't say I was shocked by it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: Now, Kasich really worked it on the ground in New Hampshire. He had 106 town halls, he spent 62 days there. The question is, can he replicate that winning strategy in some of the upcoming states like South Carolina and the others further down the field?

Now one of the big disappointing finishes last night was definitely Marco Rubio. He showed up in New Hampshire on big momentum after a strong finish in Iowa, but after that stumble on the debate stage he was never really able to recover and it turns out that hurt him a lot more than his aids let on, so much so that he actually apologized for that slip up during his speech last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: 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 VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: Now along with big wins comes a lot of heart break. When you look at Ben Carson, when you look at Chris Christie, when you look at Carly Fiorina, they did not finish where they were hoping to last night. And as the race moves here to South Carolina, they may have hard choices on their hands about whether they're going to stay in. Chris --

CAMEROTA: I'll take it here, Sara, thanks so much for all of that background. Over on the Democratic side, a landslide victory for Senator Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton. Sanders was expected to win last night's primary in New Hampshire but not by this much. How will it change the next contest?

CNN's senior Washington correspondent, Jeff Zeleny is live in Manchester, New Hampshire for us. How's it looking there, Jeff? JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning,

Alisyn. It's looking very good for Bernie Sanders. He didn't win, he won big. 22 points. The Clinton campaign, as you said, was talking about a defeat but not one this big, not one this resounding. Bernie Sanders won among young voters, among women voters, among independent voters. Of course, the question is, can he expand this appeal as this campaign goes national, as it goes across the country to Nevada first on the Democratic side and then South Carolina? Bernie Sanders said last night that he can, that he does have wider appeal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What happened here in New Hampshire in terms of an enthusiastic and aroused electorate, people who came out in large numbers -- that is what will happen all over this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[05:34:44] ZELENY: And that, of course, is the challenge for Bernie Sanders if he is able to replicate that all over the country. There are some reasons to believe that he can. He has had more fundraising success across the country nationally than any other presidential candidate, an average of $27 people have sent in. And this is from people all across the country, not just Iowa and New Hampshire, of course here. Now, on the Clinton side, I was at her party last night. It was sort of masked as a victory party but I can tell you, beneath the music, underneath all the cheering, it was not a victory at all. The question for her is, is this a bump in the road or is this the beginning of larger problems ahead? Of course, she's faced challenges before and she addressed that head on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I know I've had a blessed life but I also know what it's like to stumble and fall and so many people across America know that feeling. And we've learned it's not whether you get knocked down that matters, it's whether you get back up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: And we know Hillary Clinton will get back up. We saw her in her last presidential campaign in 2008, when she was knocked down, she was often better when she was being challenged. Well there are a few issues in their campaign. They realize that they need to do a better job tapping into this message that is really doing so well for Bernie Sanders but there's also an issue of her as a candidate. Several voters were -- questioned her honesty, her trustworthiness, so we know the challenges going forward here. Alisyn and Chris, this is the beginning of a very long Democratic race, a fight over delegates that's going to move across the country starting today.

CAMEROTA: It sure looks like it, Jeff. Thanks so much for that.

Let's bring back in CNN political reporter Sara Murray and joining us on set, former moderator of "Meet The Press", David Gregory, and CNN Anchor of "EARLY START" and at this hour, John Berman. Great to have all of you here for this big day. What a night. There are so many headlines but the big headline, John, where we should start, is that Donald Trump won decisively and more than predicted.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR, "EARLY START": He defied expectations, if you can believe it. Look, we were all up in New Hampshire and the whispers going into primary day were, Donald Trump might win but it's going to be close. It's going to be 7, 8 points, single digits. That's what everyone up there was saying and, no way. Look at that, 19 points, which is at least as well as John McCain did in 2000 when he blew out George Bush. It could be an even bigger, more historic win than that. Across most demographic groups, Donald Trump proved that he's here and he's not going anywhere. He's going to be a force for a long time.

CUOMO: A couple key distinguishers for them also, David. One, they had the record on turn out last night, the GOP side.

DAVID GREGORY, FORMER MODERATOR, MEET THE PRESS: Yes. Just like Iowa.

CUOMO: Big numbers for the Democrats but not a record. Absolutely. And, they were looking for Trump. His camp was confident, they were confident, they were trying to set expectations as just how much we're going to win by, but I'll tell you what, the number they were pointing to last night is look at conservatives, look at conservatives. He beats Cruz and Rubio, Trump got 36 percent of conservative voters, combined Cruz and Rubio got 27.

BERMAN: He won evangelicals.

GREGORY: It is such an important point. He is the personification of this anti-establishment, angry populous year. No better personification than Donald Trump. And you have to give him his due. He came in strong second in Iowa as a guy who's not a politician, cut into that evangelical vote and it was a thumping here in New Hampshire. He is for real, as John said. He is the clear frontrunner. If anybody else were the front runner we would say that this guy almost has a --

BERMAN: Yes, measure the drapes in the oval office.

GREGORY: Right. So he is, and he is getting stronger --

CUOMO: They would be gold, by the way.

GREGORY: Right. Gold drapes. But he gets stronger as he goes south into South Carolina and those March 1 primaries. Here's the other piece of this. What he brings together, blue collar, down scale Republican voters and Democratic voters. He's got the conservative vote as you mentioned. But it's also not just anger at Obama, it is anger at Republicans. Those Republicans who think that GOP leaders in Washington simply caved to Obama and didn't get it done. He represents all that, you've got to give him his due on getting this done. CAMEROTA: Sara, let's also talk about another person who considers

himself a big winner from last night. That's John Kasich. He had been predicting he was going to do very well in New Hampshire. In fact, he did. He was second to Donald Trump and what he did, that he says was different than everybody else, is that he remained positive, he didn't engage in the name calling, so we talked about that last night. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KASICH: We never went negative because we have more good to sell than to spend our time being critical of somebody else.

Maybe, just maybe we are turning the page on a dark part of American politics because tonight the light overcame the darkness of negative campaigning. And you made it happen. You made it happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: So Sara, what is the plan for him in South Carolina? Do we know what his ground game is like there?

[05:39:44] MURRAY: Well, I think that it's going to be -- you know, it's going to be a tough path for John Kasich here in South Carolina. He wanted to show up with momentum and he is doing that. He flew here overnight, he's holding a couple of events here today, but I think his team is realistic that this is not necessarily a state that he's going to be able to win. He did sell well in New Hampshire because he was able to play to those independent voters there. In South Carolina, you're talking to a much more conservative audience. And I think the other reality is, once you come in second place, you are going to be the target of more attacks and that makes it much harder to run this positive campaign that John Kasich has been talking about and he acknowledged that when I talked to him on the plane last night, essentially saying, I like running a positive campaign, I still want to do that, but we may have to be more responsive to the attacks that start coming in. And you can certainly expect to see a number of those attacks coming from Jeb Bush. They've already forecasted that.

CUOMO: All right. So John, let's talk about this shift between New Hampshire and everywhere else, specifically for John Kasich, because New Hampshire is a what you do state. He did 100 town halls up there. You put in the work, you often get results there. Now he's moving to states where it's what you represent. That's going to be a tougher call for John Kasich as he moves and tries to bite into Trump's lead. Because it's not about turning a page. Trump won with his tactics. He was close to 40 percent last night. Where is the space? Where is the opening?

BERMAN: I can tell you, actually, it's geographic. It's South Carolina. I was talking to the campaign over the weekend and into Monday, they're going to South Carolina, the place where there are a lot of transplants, people who have moved to South Carolina recently along the coast. Hilton Head, Charleston, the low country, where Sara is right now -- that's where they're starting. That's who they're picking off. But it's not that simple. There's a bigger thing here that's going on for John Kasich and Jeb Bush and it's courtesy of Marco Rubio and Chris Christie, right? They blew this race wide open Saturday night. Christie going after Rubio, Rubio perhaps wilting is a term you could use there on the debate stage -- that opened the door.

CUOMO: 89 percent.

CAMEROTA: We've got that poll. Look at what people say. This is the exit poll from New Hampshire in terms of whether the debate was a factor in their decision when they pulled the lever yesterday and 89 percent said yes it was.

CUOMO: More than anything else.

GREGORY: By the way, do you know what's really damaging about that? The reason these debates matter so much and why so many people are watching -- when you get a caricature out of a debate, it is hard to shake. Just ask guys like Mitt Romney. And what does Marco Rubio have right now? That he's robotic, that he's scripted, that he's inexperienced. He's got to shake and he doesn't have a lot of time to do it because he finished fifth and then he has third. He's got to win somewhere if he's going to be the man.

BERMAN: They had a three, two, one strategy. Third in Iowa, two in New Hampshire, one in South Carolina. Three, five, one, doesn't work nearly as well.

GREGORY: And it's so hard to get to one in South Carolina in this big field. The other point about Kasich I think is important. What a contrast to Donald Trump. I mean, Donald Trump, we just talked about the personification of this anger, but here is Kasich who wants to work with Democrats, who's given the president his due on the Iranian deal, who accepted the Medicaid expansion under the affordable care act in Ohio, bucking conservative orthodoxy, talks about a prism of love and compassion in the race -- different kind of message.

CAMEROTA: We'll see how that plays going forward. Guys, stick around if you would. Would be great to talk to you about the Democratic side. Coming up on NEW DAY, we'll hear from Donald Trump and John Kasich on their big finishes.

CUOMO: Also, we're going to have Jeb Bush live in the 7:00 hour so stay with us for all of that. Mich.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: So much so stick around for. Bernie Sanders with a big win in New Hampshire, exposing vulnerabilities with Hillary Clinton's campaign. The question now -- can Sanders woo the support of minority voters to keep Clinton down?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:47:23] CUOMO: Politics is often about perspective and indeed, Bernie Sanders was expected to win, but not like this. He beat Hillary Clinton by more than 20 points. His message resonating with all types of Democrats, especially strong among young voters, independents, and women. So now, what happens for the senator moving forward?

Let's bring in again David Gregory and CNN's Washington correspondent, Jeff Zeleny, joins us again. Also, let's bring in CNN national political reporter, Maeve Reston. It's great to have everybody for this discussion now. We talked about the GOP, let's move to the other side of the ball. The number is big and impressive, but the why, David, why people went out for Sanders, probably a bigger impact.

GREGORY: Well, again, I think it's, again, the personification of an angry populist electorate that feels left, feels left out of the economy. And the strength of Bernie Sanders, among other things, is clarity of message. He gave a pretty long acceptance speech last night. I thought it was the "State of the Union" at one point, but he's really making a clear message. It is not about him. As cool as he is in his 74-year-old socialist self, he is basically saying, look, this is about you. You're carrying this. You're left out. The system is rigged against you and he's got kind of a great pitch on this and he really brought that home. We were just like, he wins across the board. I mean, independents, he wins women.

CUOMO: Young.

GREGORY: And he wins the young. There is very much a movement cool feel about Sanders here that I think is really important. And we can get to it as we look at some of the other elements of this. Trustworthiness is so big and it's a real problem for Hillary Clinton. Whether she is honest. Look at that, 54 to 45, is Clinton honest and trustworthy?

CUOMO: In her own party.

GREGORY: No. Within her own party. Which this is not only an e-mail issue, whether she's believable and credible, but Democrats are also saying, look, this is a liability as we move forward into a general election.

CAMEROTA: Maeve, let's talk about the fascinating demographic of women and what it is. I mean we've been trying to sort of analyze this and parse it for the past week but here it is, just spelled out, as we just saw in the numbers. More women turned out for Sanders than for Hillary. What is she doing wrong with women?

[05:49:52] MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, she has tried to position herself once again as having this historic -- this historic candidacy, breaking the highest, hardest glass ceiling as she said in 2008, but that argument just isn't working for a lot of young women. I think the latest exit polls that I saw last night was something like Bernie taking 70 percent of women under 30. And a lot of the women that we've talked to in the last couple of days who are supporting Sanders are saying, yes, we think it would be great for there to be a first woman president but we don't feel obligated to vote on that basis for Hillary Clinton. And I think that there were some tactical mistakes over the last week. You had the Gloria Steinem interview with Bill Maher, also Madeline Albright getting up and introducing Hillary Clinton and saying that there was a special place in hell for women who didn't help other women. That had a really negative effect on some of the women who were still deciding and many of them who were said they were supporting Bernie Sanders. And so there's a very fascinating dynamic going on here. I know Jeff has talked to a lot of the same people saying that as well.

CUOMO: Jeff, you've been coaching me to keep my eye on the states to come and how the demographics shift. What do we see in that, because that is a last big open question with Sanders biting into the strength of Clinton, or at least the perceived strength. How so?

ZELENY: No doubt. I mean, as this race sort of goes national, that is the challenge for Bernie Sanders. But I can tell you, if you look at the people who are giving him money, if you look at the people who are at some of these big rallies across the country, he is gaining a lot more support than you might think. This is not an Iowa or New Hampshire candidacy alone by any means. He is growing this movement. The question is, will he be able to keep this up now that the scrutiny is going to be on him? He now is the front runner of this Democratic race, without a question. He has more delegates, and the scrutiny now is going to be on him like never before. We really haven't scrutinized his plans as much, his records as much. So as this moves into more Democratic voters as opposed to independent voters, that is his challenge here. He is still not of the Democratic party. He is still not a lifelong member of that. And watch for Hillary Clinton to point that out again and again. The question is, does it matter? I'm not sure that voters are that into political parties anymore. We're seeing that on both sides. So that is her big challenge here. But I was at her, I guess -- her victory party, it was kind of a defeat party last night, and I was struck by how she was trying to show herself that she's not in the establishment. She said, you know this whole campaign finance system? The ruling was named after me. Citizens United was because there was a conservative group going after me. So she is trying to claim some of that mantel of anger out there but it's just a challenge for her. So her campaign is in a reset mode. No doubt about it, they're going to be bringing in some new people and how she recovers from this is going to determine how the next month or two is going on. And it's just the beginning, it's not the end, but this is a big bump in the road for Hillary Clinton.

GREGORY: You know, there's an aspect of this, again, I mean, you've got to give it to Sanders. Trump and Sanders get their due. They ran great campaigns. They have really stepped up well and Sanders almost wins Iowa, wins decisively in New Hampshire. Look, Hillary Clinton had eight years to prepare for New Hampshire. She won here before. It is Clinton territory, as we know, going back to 1992. She had big establishment support. She made avoidable errors on the issue of gender with Madeline Albright, and to Jeff's point, this is about a feeling. You know, the new liberal progressivism in the country is a feeling and the party in New Hampshire was more Democratic, it was more liberal. She didn't fare well. She's trying to connect to her progressivism. He's going to get a new look. And that's what's important as we go forward.

CAMEROTA: All right, David, Maeve, Jeff, thank you so much. Obviously we'll check back with you throughout the show.

CUOMO: Now, to David's point, a new look. You know when he's going to get it? Real soon. Clinton and Sanders face off tomorrow night in Wisconsin. The PBS news hour Democratic debate. Guess what? It's going to be simulcast right here on CNN 9:00 Eastern tomorrow night.

CAMEROTA: OK. So we know the winners of the New Hampshire primary. Who turned out and why did they support who they ended up voting for? What does it mean for the contest ahead? That and so much more when NEW DAY returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: Thank you, New Hampshire.

CLINTON: New Hampshire.

TRUMP: New Hampshire.

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 are 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 decided we're going to go home to New Jersey and we're going to take a deep breath.

RUBIO: 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 we'll echo from Wall Street to Washington.

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

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: 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, who we have not mentioned yet. Marco Rubio dropping to fifth after his poor debate performance.