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CNN NEWSROOM

Super Tuesday Voting Now Underway; Democrats in Super Tuesday Showdown; Battle of Delegates Underway; Voters Head to the Polls in Virginia. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired March 1, 2016 - 09:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[09:00:34] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, today is the day. GOP candidates steamroll into Super Tuesday.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He knows American people are frustrated. He knows Americans are frustrated. He knows Americans are scared. And he's preying on that. He's tapping into that in a very negative day.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Are you from Mexico? Right smack in the middle of my punch line.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Marco Rubio is losing his home state of Florida by 20 points. That is real problem. You can't beat Donald Trump if you can't win your own home state.

COSTELLO: CNN crews spread out across America. Will Trump and Clinton dominate or will Super Tuesday change everything?

Let's talk. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Super Tuesday, it's here. Voting now under way. Candidate Bernie Sanders casting his vote a couple of hours ago in his home state of Vermont. The stakes today unbelievably huge has Bernie would say. In the fight for the Democratic nomination, more than a third of the delegates needed are up for grabs. For Republicans the stakes are even higher. About half of the GOP delegates needed will be doled out today.

And while no one will clinch today frontrunners Clinton and Trump could jump out to a lead that would be almost insurmountable.

Our reporters and guests are scattered across the country to follow this critical day for the campaigns. But let's begin with CNN's Ed Lavandera, he's live in Texas.

Good morning. ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Well, a

massive turnout expected here in the state of Texas where polls opened just an hour ago and this is one of the few places where someone other than Donald Trump has a lead in the polls going into Super Tuesday and of course Ted Cruz, his home state, this is where Ted Cruz needs to do well. And he knows that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRUZ: Super Tuesday is going to be the most important day of the entire primary. We are doing very well in Texas and I'll tell you, we're running neck-and-neck in states all across Super Tuesday. We've been traveling all across. We were in Oklahoma, we were in Arkansas, we were in Georgia, we were in Alabama. We're seeing very competitive races for Super Tuesday.

And I think the likely outcome on Wednesday morning is that Donald Trump is going to have a big chunk of delegates. We are going to have a big chunk of delegates and there is going to be a huge drop-off for everybody else. What we're seeing is conservatives consolidating and uniting behind our campaign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: And, Carol, what's driving really a lot of the interests is that the Texas primary day has been moved up on the political calendar, which really for the first time in along as anyone can remember here in the state of Texas, Republican primary voters getting a significant say in how all of this process will play out and how the party will eventually pick its candidate.

The turnout here incredibly massive. We are in the city of Allen, Texas, which is one of the big massive suburbs just north of Dallas in Colin County where the Republican Party chairman, Carol, told me yesterday that they've already seen a record historic turnout just in early voting numbers alone. More people turned out in early voting than have ever turned out in any Republican primary in this county's history.

And we haven't even -- we're only one hour into election day here today. So expect massive lines in many polling locations throughout the state -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. A busy day in Allen, Texas, for everyone.

Ed Lavandera, many thanks.

Now let's turn to the Trump campaign. CNN's Jim Acosta live in Columbus, Ohio, where a rally is scheduled in a few hours.

Good morning, Jim.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Donald Trump has all the momentum heading into the Super Tuesday. His nearest rivals are showing no signs they can stop him and more top Republicans are rejecting him. Pointing to the daily firestorms ignited by his campaign at his rallies, for example, and they're warning he will be a disaster for the party come November. Just consider the last GOP nominee, Mitt Romney, who's been on a tear on Twitter criticizing Donald Trump. Not to mention there are top GOP senators up on Capitol Hill who are also raising question about what the Trump effect will be on the rest of the party come November.

But Donald Trump who was on "Good Morning America" earlier this morning brushed off those concerns. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I think it's just the opposite. I've had tremendous calls from tremendous establishment people. And non-establishment people. And the party is going to get bigger.

[09:05:01] If you look at -- if you look at any one of the primaries that I won, whether you go to New Hampshire or South Carolina or Nevada, you take a look -- look at how many people have come out. We're just absolutely -- the numbers are double and triple in some cases what they had four years ago. We are getting Democrats coming in. We are getting independents coming in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And Donald Trump has been saying over the last day or so that he can even beat Hillary Clinton in the state of New York. So he's feeling very confident about his general election prospects.

The campaign is feeling very confident about what's going to happen later on tonight. But I should caution by saying that Trump's campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, he told me yesterday that it will be tough to defeat Ted Cruz in Texas, saying that would be like beating the New England Patriots on their home turf, but Donald Trump is already looking ahead beyond Super Tuesday.

That is what you're going to do when you are way out in front like he is right now. He's got this rally in Ohio later on today. And his own watch party tonight in Florida where he hopes to beat Marco Rubio in his home state later this month -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Jim Acosta, reporting live from Columbus, Ohio.

By the end of tonight we will know if Donald Trump is unstoppable. If he is, unstoppable that is, establishment Republicans may revolt. Here is what they are seeing. In the latest CNN-ORC poll, Donald Trump loses to Hillary Clinton by eight points. Trump loses to Bernie Sanders by 12 points.

Many Republicans up in arms after Trump vacillated on David Duke but at this point there seems to be no stopping him.

So let's talk about that now with Republican strategist and former senior adviser to Senator Rand Paul's presidential campaign, Steve Munisteri. I'm also joined by CNN political commentator and political anchor of Time Warner Cable -- Time Warner Cable News, rather, Errol Louis, and CNN political commentator Ana Navarro. Welcome to all of you.

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Good morning. So, Errol, Trump seems confident. Should he be?

LOUIS: For today absolutely. He's doing very, very well. The polls show him farther out in front in ways that people did not really anticipate. I mean, your latest poll, the CNN poll, showing him with 49 percent of Republicans is really extraordinary. For months now people have been saying, oh, he's got a high floor and a low ceiling. Well, the ceiling is gone. The ceiling is blown off.

He is in fact well along the way to conducting what you could call a hostile takeover of the Republican Party. He's going to have a lot of chips when he goes into bargain within this establishment that he's been bashing for the last few months.

COSTELLO: Interesting. So, Steve, you heard Ed Lavandera. He said there are record -- there is a record turnout already in Allen, Texas. Voters are jazzed. Many of them first-time voters. Does that mean Trump could beat Cruz in his home state?

STEVE MUNISTERI, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: No. Donald Trump will not beat Ted Cruz in his home state. We already have 800,000 Republican votes in the bank. They came in when Ted Cruz was leading. There hasn't been a single poll that has had Trump leading. He has a great organization here. Ted Cruz will win but the question is how many of the delegates will go to Donald Trump. Ted Cruz will not get over 50 percent. The magic number for winner-take-all.

And then another question is, will Marco Rubio get 20 percent? That's the threshold for him to get delegates. If Marco Rubio gets 20 percent then these delegates can be really chopped up. But it will be a good night for Ted Cruz. The question is how good a night.

COSTELLO: Well, let's talk about Marco Rubio now, Ana, because you heard what Steve said. Is it possible Marco Rubio will get, you know, 20 percent? And if he doesn't, what happens then?

NAVARRO: Well, look, I think Marco has a lot of eggs placed in the Florida basket. Texas is a litmus test for Senator Ted Cruz, not for Marco Rubio. I think the three people left in the race beside Trump -- well, actually Carson is left there, too. But for Kasich it's all about Ohio. For Ted Cruz it's all about Texas and for Marco it's all about Florida.

Those are litmus test, must-win states for each of them. It's going to be very hard for them to continue making an argument that they should stay in if they can't win their home state.

COSTELLO: OK. So let's say they can't win their home states and Trump just sweeps everything. So what's next for the Republican Party, Errol?

LOUIS: Well, that's a very interesting question, Carol. I mean, you start by trying to identify who the party is. And when people say the establishment, it is really a network. Rather loosely affiliated network in some case of consultants, elected officials, party chairs at the county level, at the state level. Everybody really has to make their own decision about what they're going to do. I've already talked with a number of people who've said they are basically going to sit on their hands if the Trump is the nominee.

They can't risk having their down ticket, their local races tainted by or affected by the image that's being portrayed by Donald Trump. And I think you are going to see a very wide range of decision-making that people go to when they say look, I'm not going to sacrifice two or three congressional seats. I'm not going sacrifice control of my state legislature with this guy at the top of the ticket.

[09:10:11] COSTELLO: Steve, do you think that's what will happen?

MUNISTERI: Well, my biggest concern here in Texas is whether Donald Trump will make it difficult for us to attract minority voters. We're only one of four states that's majority minority. And the reason we won last time is we won the Asian American vote. John Cornyn won the Hispanic vote and we had increases in the African-American vote. So the concern among the establishment here, the elected officials here, is that the rhetoric that is hostile to Hispanics could put Texas in play.

And we have 38 electoral votes and Texas is not as Republican as people think. When I took over as chairman Democrats held 55 percent of the offices around the state. The legislature was split 76-74 and the average state wide only got 52.94. We won by 60 percent to 40 percent because we attracted minority voters.

Our party cannot win unless where we attract minority voters. Pew just had a study that showed 31 percent of national voters now will be minority voters and that is really the concern here.

COSTELLO: Well, Ana, it's so much of a concern that the RNC put out a YouTube ad and it has African-American Republicans touting the GOP. Maybe we can show you that, I don't know. We had it before. But -- we do. So we're going to show you. This is what the RNC put out right after this whole hullabaloo with David Duke and Donald Trump, and then Donald Trump throwing those Valdosta University students out of his rally yesterday, even though they weren't protesting anything and they were African-Americans.

What do you make of this, Ana?

NAVARRO: You know, it's a contradiction in terms. Right? On the one hand we've got this Donald Trump campaign that has struck this nerve. That is very based on divisive rhetoric. On the other hand you've got a Republican field that includes am African-American and two Hispanics, two guys from -- you know, of Cuban descent, Rubio and Cruz. So we have tremendous diversity on display but we have got a problem

with perception, I think. And I -- you know, I applaud the RNC and Reince Priebus for making sure that people understand that Donald Trump does not speak for all of us. That what's going on in the campaign is not reflective of the whole Republican Party.

I think one of the silver linings -- few silver linings to this entire David Duke flap is that all the other candidates have come out and very strongly disavowed and denounced David Duke, the KKK, et cetera. It is not a wide held belief by the Republican Party. And I think Reince is trying to emphasize that by this -- with this ad campaign.

COSTELLO: We'll see what happens. Steve Munisteri, Errol Louis, Ana Navarro, thanks to all of you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, you're looking -- you're looking a live at West Roxbury, Massachusetts, where President Bill Clinton and the mayor of Boston are about to visit a polling station. Hillary Clinton expected to have a super strong Tuesday in Massachusetts.

I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:17:13] COSTELLO: A potentially decisive day lies ahead for Democrats and the race for the White House. More 1,000 delegates up for grabs this Super Tuesday. Bernie Sanders casting his vote early this morning ahead of a rally in his home state of Vermont tonight. His rival Hillary Clinton hitting Minnesota before awaiting results in Miami. Her husband Bill Clinton and the mayor of Boston, Marty Walsh, about to visit a polling station in West Roxbury, Massachusetts.

You're looking at the live picture now. We expect that to happen at any moment. That's why you see all of those reporters waiting there.

Our senior Washington correspondent Brianna Keilar is traveling with the Sanders campaign. She's live in Williston, Vermont.

Good morning.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol. That's right. Bernie Sanders casting his ballot this morning saying that he knows that he has at least one vote in Vermont and that he's still working on Jane, that would be his wife.

We do assume of course that she will be very happily voting for her husband. But it was also significant that Sanders really downplayed the negative impact of any losses that he may be suffering Super Tuesday. Of course he has an uphill battle today. Hillary Clinton is leading in the polls in most of the Super Tuesday states. But Bernie Sanders again sort of downplaying that saying that essentially even if he does lose some of these states he is still going to pick up delegates. Here is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: What is a good Super Tuesday for you today looks like versus a very --

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, you know, I think what I hope that everybody here understands and sometimes the media forgets, this is not like in November election day where if you win California by two votes you got all of the electoral votes. Everybody here I hope understands that this is about proportional representation. So if you end up with 52 percent, you end up with 48 percent in a state it is a relatively small number of delegates.

So our hope is that we can win a number of states. And in those states where we don't do well obviously we want as large a vote as possible. I mean, the goal of today is to end up with as many delegates as we possibly can.

(CROSSTALK)

SANDERS: Maybe one more question.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you ever consider the number of delegates that you need?

SANDERS: As many as we can find.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Now the Sanders campaign stressing that while there are 11 states where Democrats are going to the polls today, four have already voted. They say that's 15 states. That's still just a minority of the states that are going to participate in the nominating process so really a message, Carol, that they are trying to say hey, we're going forward. Kind of no matter what happens today. And they're also stressing Bernie Sanders fundraising prowess in February. He raised $42 million in February. That's a pretty big number.

They are also stressing that just yesterday alone, $6 million. That's about what he raised the day after his win in New Hampshire. Their message is that they are in this for some time yet.

COSTELLO: All right. Brianna Keilar reporting live from Vermont.

[09:20:01] We are now just hours away from having a clearer picture of this race than ever before. Nearly half of the delegates needed to win the GOP nomination will be decided today. As for the Democratic delegates, about one-third are up for grabs.

Christine Romans is breaking it down. Good morning.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. It is all about the math and the math favors Donald Trump.

I want to start here with the delegates on the board right now and start with the GOP. 125 delegates have already been awarded. Donald Trump 82, those pledged to him, after his triple wins in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. 82 of those delegates already in his pocket. So Super Tuesday now a dozen states up for grabs. Arguably the most important day of the election season to date. As you said, Carol, about half of the 1237 Republican delegates needed

to secure the nomination are at stake here and polls show Donald Trump really dominating. Our most recent polling here shows Trump at 49 percent, up eight points in just a month and that's pretty much spread across these states.

The biggest prize, the biggest prize today, Carol, the delegate count in Texas. 155 there. Look at the polling here. It's home to Senator Ted Cruz. He's been campaigning hard in his own state. 155 delegates at stake to be awarded proportionally. Cruz needs a big win there. Even a narrow win for Cruz still means Trump can run up the delegate numbers.

Georgia is the second biggest haul here with 76 delegates. Latest polls again favor Trump. We'll see it again and again. Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, vying for second here. Marco Rubio still looking for his first big win here. Virginia perhaps. Some folks on his team are confident about Virginia. Maybe Minnesota. Arkansas potentially. Could be good for Cruz. That is where he could pick up some delegates overall.

Let me talk to you quickly about the Democrats here. You've already seen here what's at stake. Hillary Clinton already has six times the delegates as Bernie Sanders. Many of those are super delegates. She hopes to sweep the south. Her team would like to sweep the south here and pick up a lot of momentum from South Carolina after that staggering victory there. Sanders is hopeful for potentially Oklahoma. You look at some of the polls there. Things look not too bad for him in Oklahoma. He's got a five-point lead there.

Also potentially looking north to Minnesota. And then you've got Massachusetts and his backyard, where he's -- Clinton is leading by about eight points here but his team seems confident there and of course Vermont, that's his home state. 16 delegates there, Carol. We'll start counting the math as the hours count down here -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Christine Romans, many thanks.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz let loose on Donald Trump. The big question, is it enough?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:26:54] COSTELLO: Voters in Virginia have been hitting the polls for more than three hours. Virginia considered a pivotal swing state who's outcome some say could predict the eventual winner.

Brian Todd is with voters there this morning. Hi, Brian.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. A lot of voter energy here in Dominion Trail precinct in Ashburn, Virginia. Voters coming in for the day. There's been a steady flow of them. A lot of energy here. They check in over here. They vote on paper ballots behind these small partitions here then the votes are tabulated over there on the scanner. They'll be printed out at the end of the day and then taken to their local precinct. Now what's really kind of dynamic here is that we've sampled a lot of

first-time primary voters. That's a big indicator of how it's going to go maybe throughout the state. Of the 50 people that we sampled here. I'd say nearly a third of them are first-time primary voters. That indicates a lot of energy. And we expected that kind of a turnout.

Now we're going to show you something different here about covering these ballots because it's different everywhere you go. From the inside we're going outside and we're going to show you kind of the rules that we're under.

Come on over here, Stephen. We have a first-time primary voter but we're not allowed to talk to him within about 40 feet of the polling area. So we have walk out here, Carol. We're going to show you where they marked it off where we can actually talk to a voter after he's voted.

Here is the 40-foot mark right here in the middle of this driveway here at the elementary school. This is Stephen Blyskal, first-time primary voters. Voted for Bernie Sanders.

Stephen, what got you energized to vote for him?

STEPHEN BLYSKAL, FIRST-TIME PRIMARY VOTER: Well, I've just been paying attention to his long voting record. And I've really liked the consistency of his views. He doesn't seem to flip-flop back and forth and he seems to really care about the people he represents and what their concerns are. And he doesn't seem to change his vote very often. So that is I think what really got me attracted to him.

TODD: All right. Well, Stephen, best of luck to you. Thanks very much for talking to us.

BLYSKAL: All right. All right. Thank you very much.

TODD: Good to meet you.

So, Carol, here is what we're sampling here. A lot of first-time voters. A lot of energy here at t polls. And, you know, it's going to be a steady flow today until the polls close at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time. So a total of 13 hours of voting here in Virginia.

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump expected to have big days here in this state. And as we know it is a battle ground. We'll see how it turns out in November as well.

COSTELLO: I'm still laughing about the chalk line. I mean, there is a reason that you're not allowed to interview voters so close to a polling station. Right? There is a good reason.

TODD: There is. It's really for privacy reasons. They don't want people to be interfered with when they're near the polling stations. So -- but it's different in every state, Carol. I have to say, you know, in Iowa and New Hampshire, we were allowed to come up to people pretty close to where they voted and talk to them. But it's different everywhere and we want to kind of illustrate that this morning.

Here in Virginia, pretty strict rules. They don't want you near voters. They really respect the voter's privacy and they just don't want you interfering in the voting process. We're always very respectful of that, of course, even when we come close to voters. We never get in the way of it. But just to illustrate how different it is in every state. Very different here in Virginia.

COSTELLO: All right. Thanks for the story, Brian Todd. Always appreciate it.

Donald Trump is poised to win big in Virginia and in other key states. There may be no way of stopping of him. Unless there is. His opponents are throwing everything but the kitchen sink at him. Ted Cruz hitting at Mafia ties and even hitting Trump on immigration charging Trump backpedaled in an off-the-record interview with the "New York Times." Trump hit back on FOX News.