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Complete Analysis Of CNN Democratic Presidential Town Halls. Aired: 12-1a ET

Aired April 23, 2019 - 00:00   ET

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

[00:00:00] ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: The 2020 Democrats. I'm Erica Hill, thanks for joining us. You're just seeing things wrapping up there at St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire. Mayor Pete Buttigieg taking some selfies, interacting with the students and the college age voters there who've been asking questions all night.

In the hour ahead, complete analysis of CNN Democratic Presidential Town Halls. Five candidates for President answering those questions from the audience which as we said college-aged voters pressing these Democrats on a variety of topics -- healthcare, student debt, criminal justice reform climate change, impeachment.

Senators Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris and Mayor Pete Buttigieg leaving the stage just a few minutes ago. So how did they do? Who better to answer that question then CNN political director David Chalian who's at St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, again, the site of tonight's Town Halls.

And here in New York, CNN senior political reporter Nia-Malika Henderson, and senior political commentator, David Axelrod.

Good to have all of you with us tonight. Clearly a lot of energy, David Chalian in that room, which they needed to sustain over five hours, kept us engaged here. Overall, what really stood out to you from these candidates tonight?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, there were a few things that stood out Erica, and you mentioned them in some of the topics. I thought the answers about impeachment post-Mueller report, really interesting because it seems like inside this Democratic nominating contest field that we have of these candidates for the idea of the House moving along in that direction at the very same time that Nancy Pelosi is sort of trying to tamp that down. I thought that was interesting to hear. Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg sort of advanced that in a way that they had not before.

I also thought there was some surprises in the night, whether it was talking about whether or not felons currently serving their prison terms in prison should be able to vote or not. That seems to become a whole new topic of debate now in this field, because of the position Bernie Sanders took tonight, and then others responding to that.

Overall, I think you are right -- healthcare, college affordability -- these are the issues that these candidates hear about everywhere they go on the campaign trail, and they heard about them tonight. The top of mind, front of mind for voters, and I think this gave an opportunity to these candidates to speak to an audience they all want to court because they see it as a critical component to a winning coalition in the Democratic nominating contest. This young vote and answering those topics that are front of their mind was important to these candidates to do.

HILL: Yes, we certainly heard that and some the answer. Senator Klobuchar, making it very clear that it was the youth she said. She said it was their moment that they've got Democrats there in November.

I want to pick up though on impeachment, Nia-Malika, because each candidate was asked about that. And to get to the issues on the campaign trail, they're going to have to first get through this question whether they want you or not. What Senator Warren had to say, really stuck with a lot of people, let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There is no political inconvenience exception to the United States Constitution. If any other human being in this country had done what's documented in the Mueller report, they would be arrested and put in jail.

If there are people in the House or the Senate who want to say that's what a President can do. When the President is being investigated for his own wrongdoings or when a foreign government attacks our country, then they should have to take that vote and live with it for the rest of their lives.

(Cheering and Applause)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[00:05:02] HILL: That last part, we are going to be hearing more.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: That's right, and you see the crowd there reacting, cheering her on Elizabeth Warren is probably the leader of the ideas primary, right? She's got the big bold ideas. She doesn't necessarily call on just yet in terms of the polls and in terms of fundraising, but there with that answer, I think she is going to be echoed by a lot of progressives.

We see the House already saying that they want impeachment. Certainly grassroots voters as well who want to see impeachment. I thought she articulated it quite well, quite clearly in the way she has done with other policy issues. Whether it's breaking up the big tech companies, whether it's this bold policy she has, for instance, on college loan debt.

So we'll see. I mean, I think she set a real line in the sand. And she did this earlier, right. I mean, she's been the one who came out really early and said impeachment after she read the Mueller report and you see there where Klobuchar where she was like, "Oh, you know, it's not really up to me."

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: She said, "I'm on the jury."

HENDERSON: I'm on the jury, yes, it's up to the House, exactly. And then you saw Kamala Harris coming out further than she'd come out before in terms of impeachment, but also saying, "Let's be practical about this. It wouldn't happen in the Senate."

HILL: Well, and there was a practicality issue that came a little bit from Bernie Sanders. So I wanted to play what they both had to say and then pick up on that with you, David.

AXELROD: Right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Do you believe that anything you've read and processed in that report could have the word "impeachable" attached to it?

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: First of all, I believe I'm the jury here, so I'm not going to predispose things. I'm not going to say it is or it isn't. But what I will say is there is very disturbing things that would lead you to believe there's obstruction of justice.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Here is my concern. At the end of the day, what is most important to me is to see that Donald Trump is not reelected President and I intend to do everything I can to make sure that doesn't happen.

But if -- and this is an if -- if for the next year, year and a half going right into the heart of the election, all that the Congress is talking about is impeaching Trump and Trump, Trump, Trump and Mueller, Mueller, Mueller, what I worry about is that works to Trump's advantage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: He had a point.

AXELROD: Yes, and it was quite the contrast. First of all, it's Elizabeth Warren has -- I have no doubt that she believes what she said. She also understands that there may be political advantage to it. She's had a hard time getting her campaign going here. She's been leading on ideas, not leading in terms of money, not leading in terms of polls. And this clearly is something that she hopes will ignite people on the left and she's in a bit of a competition with Bernie Sanders for some of those votes.

In his answer, what you saw is part of the key to his appeal, which is his laser like focus on economic issues and economic populism. She too, a populist, but he has really cornered that. And he's basically saying, you know what these economic issues that are close people's lives? That's what I'm talking about. That's number one on my agenda. So different approaches.

HILL: Interesting too when we hear from Kamala Harris, and I want I want to play her response to that question.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe Congress should take the steps towards impeachment. I've not seen any evidence since I've been in the United States Senate, that the United States Senate and the Republicans hold the majority, I've not seen any evidence to suggest that they will weigh on the facts instead of on partisan adherence to being protective of this President. And that's what concerns me and what will be the eventual outcome. So we have to be realistic about what might be the end result. But that doesn't mean the process should not take hold.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: The process should take hold, David Chalian. Congress should take the steps. Is there a slight shift there?

CHALIAN: Oh, definitely. I mean, just over the weekend, she was asked about this and did not go to this place of saying that the House should take steps. I mean, I think David Axelrod hit on something there, which is that I think Kamala Harris is showing us, she too, has determined it is probably smarter politics than not in terms of enlivening the progressive base of the Democratic Party to move in this position of saying, "Hey, the House should start this."

And without, by the way, real political downside for these folks to take that position for Elizabeth Warren to be out there. Kamala Harris now moving that way. We also heard Buttigieg move a little bit talking about this as well. He still says, "I'm going to leave this up to the House and the Senate." But he was in a new place after reviewing the Mueller report to say, "Hey, they should do something."

That seems to me a political play that these Democrats have determined is a way to enliven the base without really much risk of anything, any downside for their campaign, and quite frankly, as Kamala Harris was saying, without the notion that Donald Trump is really in danger of being pushed out of office in some way.

[00:10:02] AXELROD: Your point though on the language that Senator Harris used is really interesting. You know, she is a very accomplished lawyer and she gives a lot of lawyerly answers. And that was lawyerly language, not he should be impeached, we should take the steps toward impeachment with a disclaimer that the Senate probably wouldn't act on it. And there were at least four other occasions during her answers when she was asked about tough questions -- reparations, voting on the part of prisoners -- where her answer was, "Well, we should have that conversation. That's a discussion we should have."

And I think that at some point, this could end up being a problem. She is an incredibly compelling personality, very bright, and accomplished person. But she's very cautious. And that caution was pretty apparent in a lot of her answers tonight.

HILL: And it's interesting, too, when you look at the juxtaposition with her answers on something like voting rights for convicted felons, while they're behind bars, versus what we heard from Pete Buttigieg, but all of that came after the first person to really, you know, to really talk about this. And this was a moment that no one saw coming. But this is certainly having a moment tonight, and we can expect you to continue throughout the day. Let's listen specifically to what Senator Bernie Sanders had to say on that question.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: I think the right to vote is inherent to our democracy. Yes. Even for terrible people. Because once you start chipping away, and you say like, "Well, I committed a terrible crime," I'm not going to let him vote. Well, that person did that, I'm not going to let that person vote. You're running down a slippery slope.

CUOMO: My follow up question goes to this being like you're writing an opposition-ed against you by saying you think the Boston Marathon bomber should vote not after he pays his debt to society, but while he's in jail. You sure about that?

SANDERS: Well, Chris, I think I have written many 30-second opposition-eds throughout my life. This will be just another one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: There is a question about whether or not this is opposition-ed gold, because we know that this this would perhaps work very well.

HENDERSON: It is.

AXELROD: That's just stipulation.

HILL: And it is, but the response is -- yes, exactly. But the response is when Pete Buttigieg was asked about that by Anderson, just a few minutes ago, he was very clear. He said no.

AXELROD: Right.

HILL: I don't think -- I don't have to think about it. I'm clear. I know where I stand. After they've done and they've served their time, my answer is yes.

AXELROD: Yes, But you know what, I think that's -- I think Senator Sanders is on the wrong political end of that issue. Part of his appeal, however, is that he just appears to be a guy who is speaking his mind. He is not making calculations. And that's part of it.

A part of Buttigieg's appeal, and certainly that was apparent in that answer was, he answered directly? There's an answer. It's yes or no? And he said, no, and he explained that when you're in prison, you're there, and it's a punishment and you make sacrifices. You're sacrificing your freedom. And this is one of the sacrifices you have to make.

I suspect he'd win that debate, but both of them probably got credit for not equivocating about the question. HENDERSON: And the RNC was out pretty immediately after Kamala

Harris' equivocation with the e-mail, the subject is "Kamala wants to have a conversation about the Boston Marathon bomber voting," right? So it is going to be an issue maybe for her or just a sort of equivocation, essentially saying, "Oh, this is something that I need to think about."

AXELROD: On the other hand, she might take some solace in the fact that they thought it was -- she was worthy of that.

HENDERSON: Yes.

AXELROD: Mario Cuomo -- Mario Cuomo, the late Governor of New York used to say, the only place where they shoot backwards is in cowboy movies. Meaning if you're ahead, they're shooting at you. If you're not, nobody is going after you.

HENDERSON: But actually, she's the target. That's good.

HILL: You take that as a good thing.

AXELROD: Yes, she can take some satisfaction in knowing that she's on their radar.

HILL: That's a lovely place to stop our conversation briefly, but we'll pick it up. Stay with me, everyone. These five Democrats taking questions tonight from college-age students in a series of presidential Town Halls. Our coverage continues, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:18:08] HILL: We have such a large field, one way to really stand out with voters is actually pretty simple. Just give specifics. The audience questions tonight asking for them, hitting on several issues from healthcare to veterans, climate change, the student debt and voting rights.

Back now with David Chalian, Nima-Malika Henderson and David Axelrod. As we look at everything we touched in, one of the things that stood out right off the top with our last Town Hall with Mayor Pete Buttigieg was Anderson Cooper really pushed him on the lack of policy specifics that he has laid out and that he's made available on his website as well. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE BUTTIGIEG, (D-IN), MAYOR, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I also think it's important that we not drown people in minutia before we've vindicated the values that animate our policies, because as Democrats, that this is a habit that we have. We go right to the policy proposals and we expect people to be able to figure out what our values must be from then.

I expect that it will be very easy and clear to tell where I stand on every specific policy challenge of our time. But I'm going to take the time to lay that out while also talking about values and everyday impacts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: He's going to take a little time. He is going to figure it out. He'll get back. Is that - I mean, is that the right answer tonight?

HENDERSON: You know, it's the only answer he has at this point. I guess, as somebody was saying, "Well, there's going to be something on the website. Well, you can do a search to see how I feel about some ..."

AXELROD: Well, it turns out, it was on their website.

HILL: Which then it would be fair. Yes. We confirmed that it had been added.

HENDERSON: This is a problem that Beto O'Rourke has had as well. The idea of where is the beef to your soaring rhetoric? I think in many ways Beto O'Rourke is probably better at the soaring rhetoric, better at the kind of values and explaining the values of the Democratic Party than Pete Buttigieg is.

Pete Buttigieg is a lot like a technocrat. There's at least to my mind, there wasn't a lot of connection I felt that he made with the audience there. With Beto, I thought at the end, and this in some ways was his crowd, right?

[00:20:10] HENDERSON: It was a bunch of Harvard kids, right, which -- and he went to Harvard. So you know, again, I mean, he was our --

AXELROD: He was playing to the crowd.

HENDERSON: Yes, he was our five. So maybe the kids were a little tired from sitting there. But you know, I think he's got to work on that, I mean, particularly because he's a young guy. So he's got to come out, I think with some policy --

AXELROD: He has been on a rocket ride since his first CNN Town Hall, which was really his introduction to the country. And he's been on a on a very, very energetic media blitz, and he's done very well. But there comes a point, when you know, you have to kind of shed the booster rocket and go to the next stage in order to get into orbit. He's at that point now. He has to begin to lay out some of the particulars.

Now, we should point out that most Americans are not tuned into this race to that degree yet. He has time just as Beto O'Rourke has time. We tend to judge these things in the moment. And he has gotten off to a great start. But there are limits to that booster rocket stage and he's about arrived at it.

HILL: As you're bringing this up, I want to bring you back to --

CHALIAN: David, don't I remember Barack Obama in 2007, correct me if I'm wrong, David, but sort of shunning the idea that white papers were needed as he was first starting out his campaign on every policy.

AXELROD: Yes, I also remember, David, and you will too that he stumbled. He went to a Town Hall in Las Vegas on healthcare, and did very, very poorly. And there were a lot of people who are saying, you know, maybe he's not up to this, maybe the beef isn't there. And over the coming months, he kind of leveraged his way back in the debates, it helped him do that.

So we should point out, we're at Mile 2 of a 26-mile marathon. And so people will fall behind and catch up, people will go ahead and fall behind. But I do think that Buttigieg has had a remarkable run here. But he's going to have to turn the page now and get to the next act.

HILL: Like any marathon, you never want to discount the last point, too. Trust me. Because that's where we really -- that's when we know. As we're looking at this, and we need more -- you know, we're talking about how we need more specifics. You brought this up briefly at the top of the hour, David, but you tweeted earlier, that Kamala Harris, I believe your words were "likes to study stuff." Because we've heard that from her a number of times. We pulled a few of those moments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Elizabeth Warren is here, as you know, she said that she supports student loan forgiveness for 42 million Americans.

HARRIS: Yes.

LEMON: Would you go that far? Do you support that?

HARRIS: Well, I support anything that is about reducing the debt of student loans. And I think that's an important conversation to have.

LEMON: Do you support financial reparations?

HARRIS: I support that we study that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you believe that American should have the right to vote at age 16?

HARRIS: I'm really interested in having that conversation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: That's a lot of conversations, a lot of studying happening.

AXELROD: Yes. As I said, you know, she is very cautious. And she is very lawyerly at times. She can be soaring and charismatic. But when she gets a question that she's not sure about, she tends to go to that refuge. And, and that, you know, the thing I said a long time ago, that presidential races are MRIs for the soul, like whoever you are, people kind of scope that out. And this will become a noticed thing.

You have to come. You have to be ready to answer these questions honestly and openly. And maybe the honest answer is, you know, I haven't thought about that.

HILL: Right.

AXELROD: But --

HILL: Well, it would seem more and more, right? As people do become more transparent, they want that kind of answer.

AXELROD: I think that sort of authenticity is absolutely essential, ultimately, if you're going to be successful in a presidential race.

HENDERSON: And I thought her energy and passion tonight really set her apart. In some ways, I think a lot of the other candidates, there was a sort of nervousness, there was sort of not necessarily connecting with the audience. I thought when she came out, she kind of bounded on stage, connected with the audience, told some personal stories, talked about her own life and her own record.

So I thought she did herself some real good there. I think I began to see her in a different light, because one of the, I think rats on her, is that she didn't necessarily have the kind of retail political skills that a lot of the other folks have. Because she's been, you know, Attorney General, it's just sort of a different thing than if your mayor or senator. So yes, I thought in that way, there was a real kind of morph to her tonight.

AXELROD: She also made news tonight by saying that she would issue an Executive Order done.

HILL: She did.

HENDERSON: Yes.

AXELROD: If Congress didn't act within a hundred days of her of her presidency on background checks. So that was clearly something she planned to do. She came out and she did it.

HILL: Speaking of planning, I'm going to guess that this was planned because it was a Town Hall. I was just going to say David, it sets us up for next -- as we look at in terms of maybe things that were planned, Senator Warren releasing her proposal today to really cancel out student debt.

[00:25:07] HILL: You can see some of the details there on the screen, but canceling up to $50,000.00 in student loan debt based on income for folks making $100,000.00 or less. She also talked very specifically, because this is always the question, of course, how do you pay for it? Here's her plan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WARREN: I started several months ago talking about a wealth tax, an ultra-millionaire's tax, it is two cents on every dollar of the great fortunes above $50 million. So you're 50 millionth and first dollar, you've got to pay two cents and two cents on all of the dollars after that. And here's the stunning part. If we ask the great fortunes in this country and understand, this isn't about trying to be nasty or say that you've done anything wrong. What it's about is saying, look, you had a great idea. You got out there. You've worked hard or you inherited well, whichever one it was.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: David Chalian, one of the things that really stood stuck -- pardon me -- stuck out to me there is her language, right? It's not that she's prepared and she's got this, we know she wants to be the policy wonk here in this race. But the fact, David that she is saying two cents, not 2 percent, we're talking about pennies that is very carefully chosen.

CHALIAN: Oh, without a doubt. And in fact, I think if you look over time, she has shifted to that. Because when she first rolled out the policy of the big wealth tax that she had put out there was, you know, 2 percent on those in the over 50 million range, and then 3 percent on billionaires.

But now she's incorporating much more this notion of putting that in perspective for people and using, as you said, well-crafted language to say we're talking about two cents on a dollar for the dollars over 50 million. She's trying to make, which -- a policy proposal that many people would think might be very hard to get through the Congress, and it probably would be in the current setup, trying to make it more relatable and appealing for people. And that kind of language can help for them.

I mean, I think Elizabeth Warren, by coming in and rolling out that policy on this day to this crowd of college students, you know that that was no accident. And that was that was probably a pretty shrewd political move for her tonight because it's a hugely important issue to these folks.

AXELROD: It was either a shrewd move or stunningly good luck is what I would say.

HILL: I'm going to go with shrewd and well planned.

AXELROD: You know what's really interesting to me was back-to-back Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, because they're really in very many -- in many ways, they're going after the same voter. They have the same outlook, the same sort of populist outlook. But she has come in with this battery of very specific proposals.

She has put meat on the college for all proposal that Senator Sanders debuted four years ago and so on. But they have very different styles around the same set of issues. He is a lot more rhetorical. She is much more programmatic.

HILL: It is fascinating to watch. Stay with us. We have much more to discuss, including who may have best connected with voters tonight. We touched on it a little bit, but why is it so important? What does it say about their chances of the nomination?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [00:32:24] HILL: Five Democratic presidential candidates speaking

directly to voters. Tonight in the audience, college-age voters, students asking those questions. So who was able to best communicate their message? David Chalian, Nia-Malika Henderson and David Axelrod all back with us. As we listen to different moments, there has been a lot said, a lot made of what we've been hearing in recent weeks from Pete Buttigieg specifically as it relates to Vice President Mike Pence. Take a listen to this exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: You've come into kind of a back and forth -- a public back and forth between Vice President Pence and yourself over the issue of discrimination against LGBTQ people and faith. The current Ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell who is also gay, he weighed in on this saying that you have been quote, "pushing this hate hoax along the lines of Jussie Smollett for a very long time now, several weeks." How do you respond to that?

BUTTIGIEG: I'm not a master fisherman, but I know bait when I see it and I'm not going to take it.

(Cheering and Applause)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: He wasn't taking it. David Chalian, how did that go over there in the hall.

CHALIAN: It was one of the biggest crowd pleasing lines of the night for this audience. And I think, you know what that shows right there, right, that is part of why as David Axelrod was describing Buttigieg has had these rocket boosters on because that's just raw political skill right there, you know, to have a Rick Grenell sort of trolling him and his refusal to get re-engaged in a way with somebody who is not Vice President Pence makes little sense to him. And he was able to dispatch with that pretty quickly.

I will say, though, the larger battle that we saw Buttigieg having with Pence, you know, I think probably works politically for both Pence and Buttigieg. And I think they both realized that so they sort of seemed to be over the course of their back and forth, I thought, a real understanding that it was working for each of their political needs.

HILL: And so it's not going anywhere anytime soon is what I'm also reading between the lines there from you. As we're looking at the way people were connecting, Amy Klobuchar was up first. The senator seemed a little nervous, I will say in the beginning, clearly trying to connect with her audience. Not all of those moments seemed to work. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KLOBUCHAR: I am someone that runs in a purple state. It is a state that when I first started running for office, the other senator was Republican. The governor was Republican and three of our four constitutional officers were Republican.

[00:35:09] KLOBUCHAR: And then I started running. And every single time I have run, I have won every single congressional district in my state, including Michelle Bachmann's, okay. It's when you guys are supposed to cheer. Okay, all right, so I --

(Applause)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: That is a good moment, right, for her to lay it out like that and saying, "I am the person," right? Who can win in all of these places, but you don't want to tell people to cheer there.

AXELROD: That was a Jeb Bush moment. Remember that when he said, you can clap now. That was not a good moment. But on the whole, that was a strong answer for her. And she did show flashes of humor, one of which was at the expense of our colleague, Chris Cuomo when he was trying to get her to finish an answer.

So that that was to her benefit. She's a moderate and she is selling herself as a moderate. And she's talking to an audience there of young people. The Harvard poll that came out today of young people show that 80 percent of them said they'd rather be with someone who reflects their points of view than someone who simply argues that they can beat the President.

So this wasn't necessarily her crowd. She was really speaking to the broader audience out there, because her argument is, look, I'm a Midwestern, a center-left politician who has a better chance of winning those states that President Trump carried to win the presidency in 2016.

HENDERSON: And you saw that in her answers in the impeachment answer, basically, she's on the Senate side, let the House take care of that in terms of whether or not they want to file Articles of Impeachment.

You also saw that in terms of her answer about college and she said at one point, listen, I can't staple a college diploma onto the bottom of your seats. And this is just an image practical idea, the idea that you can forgive a student loan debt, the idea that you can make college free, public colleges free as some of these other folks are arguing.

HILL: And that's got its appeal, too, right?

HENDERSON: Yes. It does. It's hard work and all of that stuff.

HILL: And that's rooted in the Midwestern. You know, it's not just, it's not about Minnesota tonight, in this case, it's about let's be honest with where we stand right here. We can't afford that. We're not doing it. Hey, I'd love to. There's something to be said for that.

HENDERSON: No, I think that's right. It's sort of that Midwestern practicality, I think that she's running on. I mean, these Harvard students are more likely with folks like Bernie, right? I mean, if you look at some of these early polls out of the Harvard Institute, the IOP, a lot of them are with Bernie at this point.

AXELROD: I actually think she could have gotten more out of that moment if she had been even more direct, right from the start of that answer about the Elizabeth Warren program and said, "No, I don't agree with that. And this is why."

And she has sort of danced around it a little bit. She tried to be the truth teller, but, you know, tried to put the pill in the apple sauce and that's not -- you know, you either have to be the truth teller or not.

HILL: As we're listening to all of this, I found it interesting. Senator Warren was asked what she learned from Hillary Clinton in 2016, and concerns about sexism and her answer actually went back a little bit further, and I think it may have surprised a fair amount of people take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WARREN: So every day, when I saw a little girl, I would come up, and I'd usually get down. I'm a teacher. And I would say, "Hi, my name is Elizabeth. And I'm running for Senate. Because that's what girls do."

(Cheering and Applause)

WARREN: And then we would pinky swear to remember. And so every night when I went home, no matter what the day had been, like, I would count up how many pinkie swears we've done during the day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: David Chalian, how is that playing?

CHALIAN: You know, I thought it was a pretty good moment for her. And quite frankly, I think Elizabeth Warren had a really strong night, I think, as a storyteller and performer, I think when you look at the field across the board and watch them campaigning on the trail right now, she's one of the most consistent performers on that score.

I will tell you, her campaign thought so much of that moment that that's what they clipped and sent out to their supporters. So they're hoping that brings in some dollars, brings in some e-mail addresses and organizing effort because what you didn't see Elizabeth Warren do there, which I thought was so interesting, and how she answered that question, Erica, was she did not touch the Hillary Clinton piece of that at all.

The question was, are you going to be Hillary'd and she just went in to an entirely different direction, did not seem to want to sort of associate herself with Hillary Clinton or in any way, re-litigate 2016.

[00:40:10] CHALIAN: But instead, wanted to tell what she thinks is an inspirational story from her life on the trail. And it's one that her campaign clearly thinks can give them a bit of an advantage.

AXELROD: You know, there's a little bit of a side on this, but she talked about being a teacher, you know, I was a teacher, and she talked earlier about having studied to become a Special Needs teacher, which she did briefly in her life. And all throughout, she was referring to herself as a teacher. But she never mentioned that the last 30 years or so she's been teaching at Harvard University, in a room full of Harvard students.

And there's a reason for that as well, because that I don't think they feel is a credential that they want to burnish out there. She's trying to be a tribune of everyday people and that is a kind of separation that she doesn't want to accentuate.

HENDERSON: Yes, it's a marker of elitism that she was at Harvard Law, even though she was there in front of a lot of Harvard kids. It wasn't a card that she wanted to play, because again, she likes to talk about her hardscrabble roots in Oklahoma.

AXELROD: Which is all legitimate.

HENDERSON: Which is all legitimate and she tells it a very effectively and if you've seen around in the stump, people really connect with the stories she tells about growing up and dropping out of college and her first marriage went bad and you know, all those kinds of stories and you saw the story is compelling.

AXELROD: The story is definitely -- her biography is foundational for her politics. And there's no question about it. David says she's a great storyteller. My question is, is she too good a storyteller? You know, every answer feels like a TED Talk to me. And is it too polished? Is it too practiced? Does it seem too much like a performance and not an answer? I don't know. I don't know the answer to that. But she's had some problems connecting, maybe not in the room, but certainly broadly, to this point.

And I wonder if that's a barrier, because the policy is there, the biography is there, all the ingredients should be there for her to do very well.

HENDERSON: You know, this in some ways relates to the question of gender, right? Can a woman actually break through, right? If you look at all of the polls, unless, like, let's be honest, it's early. I mean, the folks who are leading the polls -- Biden, Bernie Sanders -- I think there was a poll out of New Hampshire more recently, a small sample size, but I think Mayor Pete was doing pretty well in this poll.

There is this conversation going on among Democrats, among Democrats of all stripes, African Americans, Latinos, white voters as well, can a woman actually win after the heartbreak that many democrats experienced in 2016? Maybe they want to go with a safer choice this go-round of the safer choice looks more like Biden, it looks more like somebody like Bernie Sanders, a white male.

HILL: With all of these Democrats, of course, vying for the White House, they're facing a critical question of who can actually beat President Trump? Is it a woman? Is it a white man? We will dissect, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:47:00] HILL: Well, the five candidates you heard from tonight may not share the exact same vision, they all have the same goal. They want to beat President Trump in 2020. We are back once again with David Chalian, Nia-Malika Henderson and David Axelrod. As we keep looking at the polling, Bernie Sanders consistently at the top there and he was asked specifically tonight, why is it he thinks that young voters are really still looking to Bernie Sanders? Here's his answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: Your generation, unless we turn things around, will be the first generation in the modern history of America to have a lower standard of living than your parents. We have seen an explosion in worker productivity. But everything being equal, many people in your generation will earn less money than your parents. You're going to leave school more deeply in debt than your parents. You're going to have a harder time finding affordable housing than your parents. I think those are some of the reasons why our message has resonated with young people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: It's still early, but even earlier than tonight on here, David Chalian a lot of what we talked about when we looked at polling was also name recognition, the fact that Bernie Sanders is well known, especially among young voters, especially as we look at the support they had in 2016. At this point, is it about name recognition? Or is it the fact that they really do as he believes identify with his policies and his vision? Sorry, that was for David Chalian.

CHALIAN: Well, I think it's a both end kind of thing. Sorry, I think it is sort of a bit of both, Erica. I don't want to diminish Bernie Sanders support and just say he's only riding high in the polls, because of name recognition. He clearly in 2016, formed a real base of support. And there is a big chunk of that support that is showing back up for him again this cycle.

I mean, I think this goes to what David Axelrod was saying before about Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders fighting over the same voters, but he seems to have a hold of them, which is making it I think, difficult for her to get a foothold and make real traction. So it is partially that he is certainly of all the people on the stage one of the best known if not the best known.

But also, as you noted, this was a part of his coalition, the youth vote in 2016 against Hillary Clinton. He won those millennials and he has been able to keep that conversation going with them over the course of the last four years. And many of them are still finding him an appealing choice at this stage of the game.

AXELROD: It's kind of paradoxical. He is 79 years old and he is favored by so many young people. And part of it is that he speaks and he is not an incrementalist. For those who are impatient for solutions, he does not speak in incremental solutions. He talks about big bold structural reforms, but I'll say you know, last time we had the field to himself, it was Bernie Sanders versus Hillary Clinton.

Now, not just Elizabeth Warren but competing for these younger voters. You have Kamala Harris, you have Pete Buttigieg.

[00:50:09] AXELROD: You have Beto O'Rourke. He is not going to have that field to himself this time. So I don't think I would assume, if I were him that this was -- that this is his solid and impregnable base.

HILL There's something else that stood out. Kamala Harris was asked specifically about her comments about winning back Midwestern voters. Here's how she answered.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: There's a conversation that all of us have been hearing about, especially the 2020 election, which is a conversation saying, "Oh, who can talk to the person in the Midwest?" Oh, who's --

And I just -- I reject that notion that you have one conversation with someone in the Midwest, and another conversation with somebody in the south, and another conversation with people who live on the coast. I reject that notion. And I think it is -- it is -- it is short sighted and it is actually not connected with where people really are. The American public don't want that.

(Applause)

HARRIS: They don't want that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENDERSON: I mean, this is a version of Obama's line about there's no red America, there's no blue America, there is the United States of America, which, you know, got huge applause when he delivered that line in 2004. And clearly what she's talking about without really saying it is, the idea is, can she appeal to voters in the Midwest who are white, right? Can a black woman who is from California, who has a certain record, a pretty progressive record out there, can she appeal to sort of the working class white guy who works in a factory or a waitress? A white woman who is a waitress or something like that? Or can she just appeal to black voters in the south? That's essentially what she's saying.

We don't know. But that's the conversation that everybody is having, right? Does it take a white man to appeal to those voters or can she do it in the way that Obama? Obama was able to put together a pretty broad coalition folks in the Midwest.

AXELROD: Right. In fairness, he was from Illinois. He was from a state next to Iowa, which made it easy for him. The other the other way -- there's no doubt that there are many, many people in this country and many Democrats who are tired of being divided feel that the President has been a divisive force. And she, in many ways was speaking to them there.

It also could be read as a bit of a rebuke, for example, to Senator Klobuchar, who made such a pronounced effort at this Town Hall to say, "I'm the one who can win those Midwestern voters." In a sense, what Senator Harris was saying is, "That's the wrong way to go."

HILL: This really stood out to me, so I want to play is this, and I want you to react just specifically David Axelrod, so Senator Warren was asked why she shifted from being Republican to being a Democrat. She talked about her experience working on bankruptcy and here's how she laid it out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WARREN: And by the end of that fight, I fully understood that every single Republican stood there for the banks and half of the Democrats did. So my party was the party that at least we got half of them to stand up for working people and that was the big change for me.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AXELROD: That's the Bankruptcy Bill of 2005, which really advantaged credit card companies. And one of the proponents of that legislation was Joe Biden, who was the Senator from Delaware, where these companies are -- many of them are headquartered. I expect that this was a little bit of a shot across the bow at the Vice President who we are told is going to enter the race in the next couple of days. And it's something I think he can expect to hear from Senator Warren, as we move along.

HILL: It's fascinating to watch all of that. And David, as we watch this, I mean, just the sheer volume of what we saw tonight, the fact that each one of these candidates is going back-to-back. And what was fascinating to me is to watch each one pick up on what had come before, not just in the questioning from our colleagues, but just in the way they seem to be reacting to the answers that came before and also to the audience.

CHALIAN: Yes, it was really the first opportunity of this cycle so far. And again, we are in the early stages, to really start sizing them up against each other. And this is why I think the points that David and me were making before about Kamala Harris' caution and whether or not that may be a liability in a vacuum, in a Town Hall solo event that may not have been quite as glaring as on a night where there are several of her competitors who were answering much more directly on some questions.

And so you all of a sudden are starting to see this next phase of this campaign where these folks are going to be sized up against each other. Here, it was in succession on the same stage before the same audience. But we're only just a few weeks away now from the first debate where they will be on the stage together and really mixing it up.

[00:55:11] CHALIAN: So I do think this afforded us a sort of new opportunity and new lens through which we can start assessing these candidates.

HILL: Well, it was great to watch and always fun to talk about it all with the three of you afterwards. David Chalian, Nia-Malika Henderson and David Axelrod. Thank you. Thanks to all of you at home for watching. I'm Erica Hill. Our live coverage continues right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I am John Vause. Ahead this hour. Amid fears of more attacks, officials in Sri Lanka declare a national emergency. New U.S. Intelligence appears to link ISIS to a wave of suicide bombings on Sunday.

The "I" word. The Democrats -- should they impeach the U.S. President now or wait until 2020 and let voters decide his fate?

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