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CNN Live Event/Special
Final Hour Of Voting In South Carolina; Sanders Team Acknowledges "Uphill Fight" In South Carolina. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired February 29, 2020 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[18:00:00]
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: This is riding a wave that could threaten Biden's plans. Now, the outcome tonight is crucial, especially as it sets the stage three days from now for Super Tuesday.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf, and we are in a really important phase of the race and South Carolina is very key.
We have correspondents covering the candidates as they await the first votes. Let's check in with a few of them starting with Jessica Dean with Vice President Joe Biden's campaign. Jessica, what are you hearing?
JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Dana, I just spoke with the senior Biden campaign adviser who tells me they feel great about how things are shaping up with about one hour left before polls close here in South Carolina.
This adviser believes that this win, that if they get a win here, that they are poised to have the momentum they want going into Super Tuesday and I asked about fundraising, too. They said, they have seen that boost in fundraising throughout this week. It's been a very strong week for Joe Biden here in South Carolina and they expect the money to also come in if he wins here, and win strongly.
But again, the Biden campaign right now with one hour left in South Carolina, feeling great. They're looking for their first big win of this primary season -- Dana.
BASH: Jessica, thank you so much. Now let's get to Ryan Nobles, covering Bernie Sanders campaign, and Ryan, the senator is flexing his muscle looking ahead to Super Tuesday.
RYAN NOBLES, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: It certainly is, Dana, we expect him here in Virginia Beach in just about a couple of hours or so. And, of course, Virginia, one of the most important states on the Super Tuesday calendar, which is coming up in a couple of days.
But we should point out that Sanders did make a play for South Carolina though his team does expect he'll come up short tonight, they did have a focus on improving Sanders' relationship with African- American voters in particular. And even further out, they made a specific play for African-American
women. They view that as one of the most reliable and important voting blocs not just in South Carolina, but across the country. And they saw an opportunity with Richland council member, Dalhi Myers and she was someone that supported Joe Biden's candidacy, switch to support the Bernie Sanders campaign.
When she made that switch, the Sanders team swooped in, cut an ad with her and got it on the air as quick as possible. And when they increased their ad buy in the closing week of the campaign, they featured the Myers ad heavily, especially in the spots where they believe that African-American women were paying the most attention.
So when we see these returns come in tonight, it will be interesting to see how many gains the Sanders team has made with the African- American voting bloc, and in particular, if he was able to convince African-American women to come to his side, again, the Sanders campaign wasn't necessarily about a victory for them in South Carolina, it is about closing that gap and preventing Joe Biden from getting a big win tonight.
We'll have to see what the results tell us, but there's no doubt, Dana, their big focus is on next Tuesday, which is one of the reasons we'll see him here in Virginia tonight -- Dana.
BASH: Thank you so much, Ryan. Glad to see CNN is still on in the background there. Let's get over to Rebecca Buck, who is covering Tom Steyer's campaign in Columbia, South Carolina.
Rebecca, $22 million in TV and Facebook ads alone; that doesn't even count of the dollars that he spent on the ground in elsewhere. Will he see a return for this investment? That's the question, right?
REBECCA BUCK, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: That's right, Dana, a big chunk of change, and certainly the Steyer campaign is hoping that they get a return on that investment here in South Carolina tonight. They're hoping for a strong finish and they're optimistic that they'll place at least second or third here in South Carolina.
They recognize, of course, that Biden remains strong here and they expect him to do very well. But they do hope that if they finish second or third place here, a strong showing in South Carolina that that could springboard them into Super Tuesday, and maybe give voters a reason to give them another look.
Another reason for optimism among the Steyer campaign, one aide tells me is that they've watched Michael Bloomberg stumble in some of these debates and they feel he's invested so much money in Super Tuesday. It is his entire strategy, but they believe that they might now have an opening because he has not performed strongly in those debates and they've been running an ad in some of these Super Tuesday states, California, Texas, North Carolina, Alabama, contrasting his support, Steyer support for reparations with Michael Bloomberg's record on stop and frisk.
So very much trying as they have in South Carolina to appeal to the African-American vote. They are optimistic, though that this is just the beginning for them here tonight and that they will have an opportunity, Dana, moving forward.
BASH: Okay. Well, money helps, that's for sure. Rebecca, thank you so much. Appreciate that. And Wolf, as we get closer to the polls closing and seeing the first results, it's noteworthy to see where things stand with the most important thing, which is the delegate count, right?
Bernie Sanders is ahead by far with 45 delegates; Pete Buttigieg is behind, 26; Joe Biden, 15; Warren eight and Klobuchar seven, nobody else has any of them, including the campaign where we just were.
Tonight, South Carolina. They are going to be looking at 54 total. And so it's proportional. We should remind our viewers that, so it's not winner take all like Republicans, 54 total in South Carolina, and you have to get at least 15 percent of the vote to get even one delegate.
And that is why Joe Biden is hoping to do very, very well, not just because of the perception of what that means, but also raw math.
[18:05:26]
BLITZER: Yes. And if he does really well, that will be significant going in to Super Tuesday, but let's see. The polls close less than an hour from now.
David Chalian, in the meantime, you're getting some more exit poll numbers.
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: That's right, Wolf. And South Carolina is the fourth state and once again, we're learning healthcare was the dominant issue for voters.
According to the exit poll, 39 percent of those participating in the South Carolina Democratic primary today, saying healthcare was the most important issue to their vote, followed by income inequality at 21 percent, race relations at 18 percent and climate change down at 14 percent.
We've also been asking the question in all these states, do you support Medicare-for-All, a government run plan over private insurance? Once again, support beats opposition, but here in South Carolina, 50 percent say they support a government plan instead of private insurance. That is significantly lower, seven, eight, 10 points lower than we've seen in the previous states in this contest. Forty four percent oppose the government plan and instead favor private insurance.
And finally, what about the economic system in the United States? Take a look at this, 51 percent, a majority participating in the Democratic primary today in South Carolina says that the economic system needs complete overhaul -- complete overhaul. Thirty five percent says it needs minor changes and only 10 percent of the electorate says it works well as it is. Watch to be this a motivating factor today and in contest in the
future if voters think the economic system needs a complete major overhaul -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Very interesting, indeed. David, thank you. We're counting down to the end of voting and our first chance potentially, to make a projection. More on the South Carolina stakes. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Welcome back to our very special live coverage of the primary in South Carolina. As you can see here, the polls will be closing very soon in just under 49 minutes, we'll be keeping an eye on that. And the entire political world is focusing its gaze on this state to see what happens in this very important primary.
I want to talk to our panel about this. There are things that South Carolina is going to tell us that Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada have not told us.
Joe Biden appears to be on top. He really has to pull out a win. But what Kirsten does a win really look like?
KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: So that's -- I think that's in contention now. I heard you say 10 or double, you think --
KEILAR: Well, if he wins double digits.
POWERS: Double digits, yes.
KEILAR: We think it's a big win.
POWERS: Yes. So you know, a lot of people are saying if it's by 10 points, I actually, I don't agree with that, because this is a state that he has put everything into, and this is what he said it is his firewall and so 10 points is not actually that impressive.
Yes, I know the field is divided, but also he needs to be showing that you can consolidate a bit the field. So you know, I would say something more like 20 points.
And I don't think -- because I really think like if this is what you say, I put all of my energy into this. This is the place where I can win. I don't think moving forward 10 points says that you have a really incredible strong candidate.
CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICS REPORTER AND EDITOR-AT-LARGE: I will disagree. And the reason I'll do it is because I sat here, we were in the same chairs and Bakari told me, Iowa and New Hampshire. Don't worry about it. South Carolina, it's going to be that.
Fourth place in Iowa. Fifth place in New Hampshire. He wasn't even in the state when they voted, second but by -- you know, by a lot second in Nevada. I give him credit. I don't think if he wins -- but I don't think he wins, but one, it matters. But that is a remarkable --
If you asked me after Iowa, is Joe Biden going to win South Carolina? I would have said --
POWERS: This is exactly what I'm talking about. The lowering of standards for Biden all along the way.
CILLIZZA: Yes, that's fair.
POWERS: So that if he actually does something and actually went to state, we're all supposed to be jumping up and down.
CILLIZZA: But the trajectory is --
POWERS: No, but the trajectory was up and then down.
CILLIZZA: True.
POWERS: And now he's like working his way back and so we have to -- I don't think we should overstate the strength there.
BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: But I just think that --I think that we're -- I mean, yes, throwing out random numbers is okay of what he should win by, but the political dynamics in South Carolina right now are totally different.
And what I mean by those dynamics is Tom Steyer. Okay, Tom Steyer is the human dynamic in this race. He is siphoning votes from one person and one person only, and that's Joe Biden.
Tom Steyer spent $22.48 whatever --
KEILAR: Does the point matter at this point?
SELLERS: I mean, if he spent $22 million on just TV and radio, what we didn't include was the number that he spent on direct mail. He's been -- he has been, like just papering people's houses for a complete year. Tom Steyer is going to eat some of that margin.
Now, I do agree that he has to win by, you know, 10, 12, 15 points. I can see that and see that actually happening tonight. So I'm not necessarily lowering and then say if he squeaks out of here with the six-point victory, oh my god, he's back.
But he needs to have a victory that will springboard him and I do think that you know, double digits, 15 points, I don't -- I just think it's practically impossible to get a 20 to 25 point win tonight, just because of so many people in the race and the Tom Steyer dynamic.
ABDUL EL-SAYED, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: The question I think people are asking on the center side of the party is who can chase down Bernie? And I just want to go back to those numbers that David showed, which is 50 percent in exit polls, saying that they believe in government healthcare, 51 percent, believing we need to reform the economy. What's clear is that over the last four years --
KEILAR: Not just reform, a complete overhaul.
EL-SAYED: A complete overhaul of the economy and the last four years --
KEILAR: They want something big.
EL-SAYED: That's Bernie's message, and it's really clear that is resonating. So the question that I think coming out of this is, can Biden come back from what has been a message of, you know, I hate to say it, sort of a Democratic version of Make America Great Again, right? Let's go back to the Obama years and we'll be okay.
[18:15:10]
EL-SAYED: And I just don't think that given what we're seeing out of these exit polls, that he may be able to make that.
JESS MCINTOSH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That's been one of the issues that he's had this entire election season. He came in saying he was the electable safe candidate.
And I mean, as a progressive, if I had believed that he was the electable safe candidate, I would have been on the Biden train on day one. But the idea that he was going to sell a country that is as angry as poll suggests they are, as dissatisfied on this idea that we can simply go back.
Like Trump was an aberration and we can get over that, and if we just keep things the way they were, everything will be fine, because things were not fine for the vast majority of this country.
JENNIFER GRANHOLM, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I would say that we should not over play the notion of issues versus people's gut feeling. I mean, I totally agree. I think we should do an overhaul of the economic system and I would like to see some government involvement in healthcare.
But I think if you look this past week, at what Joe Biden did at the CNN Town Hall, for example, where he responded with such heart to the man from Mother Emanuel church whose wife was passed away, that clip got a huge number of views.
The notion that you -- that people are moved by somebody who has a heart, who somebody who is good, who really feels empathy, that I think is an even bigger boost than sometimes these more narrowly sliced head issues.
EL-SAYED: There's no doubt that he's a good man, and I'll never take that away from Joe Biden. I just think that the country has really moved in four years.
I think if you look at why you're seeing those kinds of attitudes among voters, it's because if you look at the African-American electric electorate, nobody has been as affected by the issues of dire poverty, lack of access to healthcare, the fact that they feel like these institutions have locked people out.
And so I just -- I worry that that empathy that take us back to that moment where we all felt good about America again, isn't going to get us --
SELLERS: I mean, I guess my question is, what's the disconnect then? So, I mean, I think I know what the answer is, but I would ask you as someone who supports Bernie Sanders, so when you see somebody, it is 50 percent, supporting a government run insurance, you want this entire overhaul, but you still see someone who does not necessarily overwhelm or do substantially well with African-American voters.
I mean, it Bernie Sanders wins --
EL-SAYED: I mean nationally, he is catching up.
KEILAR: And I will say, on that note, we will pick -- we will pick up that very important thought in just a moment. Stay with us as we get some new information from our exit poll after a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:22:11]
KEILAR: Welcome back to CNN for our special live coverage of the South Carolina primary, and here, in just under 38 minutes, polls will close in South Carolina. We will start getting a flood of results and this is going to be a pivotal moment in this race for the Democratic nomination. This is very much a do or die night for Joe Biden.
So let's pick up where we left off and Bakari, so you are for Biden. You Abdul are for Bernie Sanders. But you --
SELLERS: No, I think -- I was just asking a question because one of the numbers that we're seeing often is those persons who were in favor of abolishing the private insurance going to a government insurance. We talk about the overhaul of our economy.
So my question is, don't we have to see Bernie Sanders begin to catch up with the progressive shift, the window shift that we're seeing in the Democratic Party, particularly with African-American voters and doesn't that have to start tonight?
EL-SAYED: I think it's already happening. And you know, I hate to talk about any group of voters as a monolith.
SELLERS: Of course, no one -- yes.
EL-SAYED: You know, black voters in South Carolina are different than black voters in Michigan, different with the black voters in California.
Nationally, Bernie is catching up. In fact, he's starting to exceed. Number two, though, you've got to remember Joe Biden was Vice President of the United States for eight years, building that kind of relationship, especially as the Vice President to the first black President in American history, right, that's going to earn you some trust.
And if you look at the interval change, which I'm really interested in looking at, you go from where Bernie was in 2016 to where he is today. That's a level of trust he has been able to pick it up off of his message.
SELLERS: But I think that's a narrative and a theme we have to pay attention to as the night goes on, because while we're talking about how well Bernie -- I mean, it is do or die for Joe Biden. So that's A, right.
But I do think along the line, even before we get to the Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar registering, you know, zero to two percent black, we still have to look at whether or not Bernie Sanders is able to improve on this.
I don't think that Bernie Sanders can come out of this night not going well, and we say, oh, well, you know --
MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, yes, but look, I think as we look ahead, and we look at the playing field as we move forward, let's assume that Bernie Sanders comes in second tonight, okay, and you know, does well enough with the delegates. Joe Biden wins by 15, okay, so you know, so we split that.
Once we hit Super Tuesday and we get the results from Super Tuesday and I don't want to say the race is over because it's not over. But in some ways it is over.
If Bernie Sanders does well enough that he can -- only has to do is to keep pace with everybody else. There's no way the way that the system is set up. The delegate race, the way the system is set up means that if you get an early lead, it's almost impossible to be overcome.
And I think -- but I do think that that's a problem for the Democratic Party, because there's going to be decisions that have to be made in the Democratic Party about whether they try to hold on to those delegates and try to take Bernie Sanders out at the knees before the convention or they get behind him if he wins the nomination.
POWERS: Which is why when I was saying the 20 points, I was just had been thinking towards Super Tuesday. Like Biden needs -- he doesn't need to just win, he needs to reshape the race. Right? So he has -- that's one thing he has to do. He has to be so decisive and big to show that he has enough strength moving into Super Tuesday because he doesn't really have the money. Right?
I mean, he's really going to be going off of how well he wins in this race.
[18:25:19]
CILLIZZA: And then I would point people to -- I showed Brianna this off cam, but I do think there was an interview earlier today, Jim Clyburn and our colleague, Ana Cabrera, where Clyburn basically says, look, I endorsed Joe Biden, and there's a lot not good about this campaign.
The fundraising has been bad -- he uses the words, we need to retool, which is to your point, this is not, oh, okay, well, Joe Biden is fine now. This is can Joe Biden use South Carolina as sort of a -- I hate to use it -- press the reset button because you know, but that's sort of the vibe that okay, well now this is now a different race than it was these last three weeks and no joke, but that means money.
I mean, look, we talked about this, but Joe Biden spent $880,000.00 in South Carolina. I mean, he did spend what he had there in his time there. But compared to Bernie or Bloomberg, who we don't really talk about. It's not even close.
KEILAR: And it will be smart of them to heed this advice from Jim Clyburn. So the polls right now we're going to close very soon, just 34 minutes away.
The first results will be coming in as our special primary coverage continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:30:00]
BLITZER: All right. Polls close in South Carolina about a half an hour from now. That will be our first chance potentially to project a winner. We'll see if we can, that's coming up soon. In the meantime, some of the candidates they've moved on from South Carolina. They're already thinking about Tuesday, Super Tuesday and they're thinking about the North Carolina, Texas, for example.
Kyung Lah is in Charlotte, North Carolina for us right now. What are you seeing over there, Kyung? You're covering the Klobuchar campaign.
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR U.S. CORRESPONDENT: Well, Amy Klobuchar is looking beyond this last hour of voting in the South Carolina primary even as the clock ticks down to those polls closing. She is in the middle of a mad dash of these Super Tuesday states. Starting today all the way until Tuesday night, her plan is to hit 11 states. That is an enormous geographic footprint.
The campaign has spent heavily an advertising in Super Tuesday states. They are only exceeded by Mike Bloomberg, Tom Steyer and Bernie Sanders. So the campaign is truly looking to Super Tuesday.
As far as what's happening in South Carolina, Klobuchar herself is lowering expectations. She told reporters, "I don't pretend to think I'm going to be number one in South Carolina. I think we see that in the polls." Her campaign maintains that they have had volunteers canvassing in the state that they continue to have people in the state, but Klobuchar and her entire campaign, looking to states like this one, Wolf, North Carolina, with its moderates hoping to do well here. Wolf.
BLITZER: A lot of delegates in North Carolina. A lot of delegates also in Texas. Leyla Santiago is in Houston, Texas. She's covering the Warren campaign for us. What are you seeing over there, Leyla?
LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, we're expecting Senator Warren to take the stage in just a few hours. Her campaign continuing to insist that that Vegas debate really shook up the campaign for her. But now the attention will turn to Super Tuesday.
She visited Arkansas today for the first time. That's a Super Tuesday state. She was asked today if her home State of Massachusetts was a must-win. She didn't necessarily say yes to that but really it's clear that Texas is where she's putting a lot of time. She was in San Antonio earlier in the week. She is in Houston today. Our latest CNN poll shows that she's at 15 percent here roughly even with where she was in December.
And when you talk to her supporters, they say, look, the fight isn't over. In fact, one person close to the campaign I talked to you in just the last few hours said that tonight is about blunting the momentum for Bernie Sanders. That is what they are paying attention to.
There's also a lot of attention from the campaign on fundraising. They announced today that the goal is to raise $29 million this month by midnight tonight.
BLITZER: We'll see what happens, Leyla. I'm sure she's looking beyond South Carolina to Super Tuesday as well.
Abby Phillip is joining us as well. Abby, you're in Raleigh, North Carolina. You're covering the Buttigieg campaign. It looks pretty empty right there now. I assume they'll be a bunch of people soon.
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. There are already quite a few people lined up outside of this high school gym here in Raleigh. Pete Buttigieg is expected to come here in a few hours to give his second event of the day. He was actually earlier today in Nashville where his campaign said they drew about 3,000 people to an event there.
But one of the things that we should note here is obviously he is not in South Carolina tonight and as we wait for the results to come in from that state. It is going to be a reflection of the struggles that he has had over the last many months trying to woo black voters.
And as we were on the ground with him in South Carolina for the last several days, we saw that really in full effect. The campaign continuing to struggle to get black voters into chairs at his event to even hear what he had to say in this final week. It really just reflects a long running struggle for that campaign. That in an interview with Buttigieg this week, he told me that he believes that it's going to take a long time.
But the problem here is that now time is quickly running short. At the same time, his campaign is looking forward to Super Tuesday. That's why we are here in Raleigh, North Carolina. And in a call with reporters, aide said that they are looking at the delegate picture. They are not necessarily looking at wins and losses. They are looking at how many delegates he's able to pick up.
Now, that is both strategy but also a little bit of expectation setting as we head into Super Tuesday. His aids also would not say where the campaign expected to actually pull out wins at any other those states that are voting on that day, Wolf.
[18:35:03]
Again, delegates in South Carolina need 15 percent. We'll see how that works out. Abby, we'll get back to you. We're watching all of this unfold. Just minutes from now, polls will close in South Carolina. Will the state change the dynamic in the Democratic presidential race? The first results, that's just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:39:44]
KEILAR: Welcome back to CNN special live coverage of the South Carolina primary and you see it here just 20 minutes until the polls close there and we start getting a flood of results in for what is such an important night in this race for the Democratic nomination.
[18:40:00]
So let's talk about what we are expecting to see really, what we need to see if Joe Biden is to continue to be a viable candidate. He is ahead of in the polls. He seems to have opened up maybe a lead again. But it's interesting to take off in your last point about what Congressman Clyburn said now that he's endorsed Joe Biden.
He said, "I think we have to sit down and get serious about how we retool this campaign, how we retool the fundraising." And then he said, "I did not feel free to speak about it or to even deal with it inside," meaning, inside the campaign, "because I had not committed to his candidacy. I have now and I'm all-in and I'm not going to sit back idly and watch people miss handle this campaign."
MCINTOSH: I feel like there has been a bar set for Joe Biden, but I have never seen set for any other candidate running for president. This man was the vice president for eight years. He came in as the front runner. We're now saying, OK, if he comes in first in the fourth contest, then we can give him the opportunity to completely overhaul his campaign because he's not raising any money and he's not building the infrastructure that he needs to win. But if he wins here, let's give him a chance to try again and then he can be our safe electable candidate.
SELLERS: Well, that's not totally fair. I do think, first of all, that if Joe Biden wins tonight, which everybody thinks he will win, this will be the first primary caucus that Joe Biden has ever won. Ever.
MCINTOSH: Because he's never been the safe electable candidate.
SELLERS: For one second, he's run for president three times and this will be the first one. But again, this has always been where people thought Joe Biden would actually show strength. It wasn't in Iowa. It wasn't in New Hampshire. They thought he would do better in Nevada. But I mean, in Nevada you had 105,000 people vote in that caucus, 6
percent to 10 percent were African-American. That's 6,000 or 10,000. Tonight you're going to have 200,000, 240,000 African-Americans' vote. I mean, that is a robust number, so now you get to springboard, that's what he's hoping for, to springboard into Tennessee, et cetera.
In the south, we had the saying, you got to get people their flowers while they're living and we have to value the strength of not just the CBC. And I think a lot of times the Congressional Black Caucus doesn't get the respect they deserve and we don't give them their flowers. A lot of them are rallying behind Joe Biden. A lot of them will come onboard and this victory if it's sizable was on the shoulders of Jim Clyburn.
EL-SAYED: One of the points here that I think has to be considered is that we do keep grading him on a curve, A. B, the reason he's run three times and this would be potentially the first time he's ever won a primary is because he's one of those gaffe prone politicians we've ever seen. And I don't know that he actually handles the increased scrutiny that comes with actually having the cameras on him again, because he's kind of faded in this race.
GRANHOLM: Let's just say though, I mean, people criticize him all of the time because of his debate performances. How many times do you think the skill of being a debater is really relevant to being a president? I mean, just because you can answer in 60 seconds, and pivot, and do an attack and do it all very good crisply, so he may not be as great at that as some other people. But what he can bring is a heck of a lot more which is experienced, et cetera.
Let me just quickly say one thing about the next 72 hours, because this last primary, if this primary had been first, of course, our conversation will be entirely different back to our grand home sellers plan on putting all four of these states on the first day.
SELLERS: On first day, correct.
GRANHOLM: But --
MCINTOSH: I love it.
(CROSSTALK)
GRANHOLM: But now we have 72 hours. If I were going to say which primary would you want to win before Super Tuesday, it would be this primary, given how quickly these news cycles churn, there's very little time. In the next 48 hours, if he wins and if he wins big, there will be a lot of positive press.
In the past four days he has raised or right before this, not today, he raised 2 million from his supporters, 2.5 million from the Super PAC, 4.5 million which is, obviously, a big infusion because people felt like there was momentum. It will bring money. It will bring press and we'll see what happens to Super Tuesday.
CILLIZZA: And I think with Biden this was a have to have and now it's and dot dot dot, because the truth of the matter is we don't know. Look, I do think Tennessee should be pretty good for him, Alabama - but this in and of itself is not enough. This is not, oh, OK, Joe Biden. This is he had to have this and now what's next.
Now, the Governor's point is well taken though. I think you're better off winning this one with two days of Super Tuesday than if he won Nevada and then finished in South Carolina because Joe Biden more than anyone needs a bounce. He doesn't have Mike Bloomberg's money. He doesn't have Bernie Sanders' delegates currently or Bernie Sanders' energy or Bernie Sanders' money.
He needs something and this has to be that. It's possible that we look back on Super Tuesday and say, South Carolina helped them but he too far down here. He bumped up but not enough.
KEILAR: I want to ask you, I covered 2016 and I covered Bernie and Hillary Clinton and I can tell you there were different energies.
[18:45:06]
I mean, there was energy for Hillary Clinton, but at the Bernie Sanders' event, you could feel the difference. He wasn't obviously hitting some of the demographics that he needed to, but there was a lot of energy that you could just sort of feel. And I wonder what you think, Kirsten, looking at this and seeing a lot of folks who are hanging their hopes on Joe Biden.
They want him to retool his campaign, but Bernie Sanders is making this case about energy. And I guess my question is, might he have a point?
POWERS: Yes. Well, I mean, obviously, you want to have a candidate that energizes the people who support him and who will ultimately energize all of the voters when you're up against Trump. So I think it is a factor.
I don't know that you can necessarily always draw correlation between crowds and that kind of stuff and whether we're going to win or not.
CILLIZZA: (Inaudible) Rand Paul would be president, honestly.
POWERS: Yes.
CILLIZZA: I mean, Rand Paul, you go to a Rand Paul rally and be like, oh, my gosh (inaudible) a president.
KEILAR: Look, one of the most exciting for Hillary rallies that I went to was in Washington state were Bernie just danced all over her there.
POWERS: I think the issue for Biden is it's not as though he's coming in second in all of the other states and he's really a contender. I mean, really it's been a lackluster performance at least in the first two states for a person who came in as the vice president.
KEILAR: All right. Polls are going to close very soon. Check this out, 13 or so minutes. In South Carolina, we'll have our first chance to potentially project a winner. So will Joe Biden get the victory that he needs. We'll be watching. We'll have results ahead.
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[18:51:33]
BLITZER: We're just minutes away from the end of voting in South Carolina and our first chance to project the early leaders or possibly a winner. South Carolina is considered a must-win for Joe Biden. He's hoping to jumpstart his campaign and bolster his chances against frontrunner Bernie Sanders on Super Tuesday. That's only three days from now.
Dana will start getting the first results very soon.
BASH: And we're minutes away from that, Wolf. And the candidates are watching the clock. They are waiting for the votes to come in. We have a team of correspondents covering the campaigns on this very important primary night.
Let's start with Jessica Dean who is covering Joe Biden's campaign. Jessica.
DEAN: Well, Dana, the doors have opened here at the Biden headquarters. People coming in, the music playing. They are ready for good news. They want a victory tonight.
South Carolina has long been the state that Biden campaign advisers have pointed to, to say this is where Joe Biden can really show his strength as a candidate, that he can show how strong he is with African-American voters. They make up the majority of the Democratic electorate here. Of course, he had the endorsement from Jim Clyburn this week.
We saw in our exit polls nearly half of voters saying that that played in, that was a factor in their decision when they went to vote today. So incredible sway there from Congressman Clyburn.
The Biden campaign, their objective tonight to not only win but to win with a big enough margin that it bounces them into Super Tuesday with a ton of momentum, with money, with a message that is going to resonate all across these different states that will be voting and help him collect as many delegates as possible as he tries to really consolidate this moderate lane of the Democratic Party to go up against the front runner right now for the nomination, Bernie Sanders.
So Dana, we're keeping an eye on will he win and if he wins by how much.
BASH: That's right, Jessica. Thank you so much. Let's go now to Ryan Nobles who is covering Bernie Sanders campaign. And Ryan, yes, he is looking ahead, obviously, by being in Virginia, a Super Tuesday state to that, but that doesn't mean that he didn't put a lot of work and effort into South Carolina, right? NOBLES: That's right, Dana. And this is kind of an odd place for the
Bernie Sanders campaign to be in this Democratic primary process. Basically, at every contest up until now, they've been planning for a victory party on a night like tonight and that's not the posture that they have at this point.
You can bet that when Bernie Sanders appears here behind me in about two hours or so that they're going to be looking toward the future, not necessarily looking back at what happened in South Carolina. Their goal from the very beginning in South Carolina was to try and minimize the momentum of Joe Biden as much as possible. And as a result, they didn't pour a lot of resources into the state. They spent close to a million dollars on ads.
Sanders spent quite a bit of time in South Carolina, especially in the closing days of the campaign. When you saw those polls start to tighten, Sanders responded by sprinkling in visits to South Carolina, in addition to visiting the Super Tuesday states of Virginia, North Carolina, Massachusetts and beyond.
So it'll be interesting to see how the Sanders campaign responds to whatever the results are tonight. They knew that it was going to be an uphill climb in South Carolina from the very beginning. He was trounced there four years ago to Hillary Clinton, but they've worked hard to make his stance in that state much better, particularly with African-American voters.
So the Sanders campaign feels resilient. They know that they have strong footing in many of these Super Tuesday states no matter what, but there's no doubt they're keeping a close eye on just how big the margins are when the vote finally comes in, in South Carolina tonight, Dana.
[18:55:11]
BASH: Ryan, thank you so much. And Wolf, just look at where we are as we close out the month, in the very first month of voting. Obviously, there were four contests. This is South Carolina. Tomorrow, actually, already tonight, including Bernie Sanders, a lot of the candidates already looking ahead to what happens on Super Tuesday. This is the money day.
Over a third of the delegates are going to be counted on March 3 and that is a tremendous hall. That is why Bernie Sanders and others, even though they're hoping to do well in South Carolina, they're looking at the numbers there.
BLITZER: Fourteen states including California and Texas. Lots of delegates on Super Tuesday. David Chalian, you're taking a look at the exit poll numbers. We're getting more information.
CHALIAN: That's right, Wolf. The racial breakdown is going to be a huge component of the story tonight in South Carolina, 56 percent of the electorate today according to our exit poll in South Carolina is black. That is unlike any other state we've seen to date, 40 percent white, 2 percent Hispanic, that black vote is going to be all important tonight and it's going to be a hugely important factor looking at it, projecting forward in these contest.
It's hugely consequential in the Democratic nominating race and we want to take a look at the party breakdown in South Carolina today. This is really interesting, 68 percent of those voting in the primary today are Democrats, 27 percent are independents. That's 11 points higher than just four years ago, because four years ago, there was a competitive contest on both sides.
But without a really republican competitive contest, because of the President's reelection campaign dominating on the Republican side, a lot of independents who may have played in the Republican primary last time are playing in the Democratic primary this time. And by the way, these independents by a two to one margin are white.
So that's why you see the overall African-American turnout maybe a little bit lower. It's because these independents largely a white group are now playing in the Democratic primary tonight. But this racial breakdown is going to be a key part of the story tonight when we look at the results come in, Wolf.
BLITZER: It certainly will be. All right. David, we'll get back to you. John King, within a few moments, the polls will all be closed in South Carolina and maybe we'll be able to make a projection.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Maybe we will and the big question is can Joe Biden get a win. We have Pete Buttigieg in Iowa, Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire and then Nevada. Can Joe Biden get some of this Biden blue on the board as we get to contest number four? And then if he can, can he move up? This is the delegate count right now.
Remember, third of the delegates get picked Tuesday night. This is the last of the one of the time contest, if you will. And so can Joe Biden move up in the delegate count heading into Super Tuesday and can he get momentum.
So the challenge is for him right here in South Carolina. We'll get votes in just a few moments. In South Carolina, a pretty good history. I don't want to curse it or jinx it here, but a pretty good history of (inaudible). So what do we look for?
This is Columbia. This is right here Richland County in the middle of the state, about 8 percent of the population. One of the population centers. You're going to watch here, this is where David Chalian was just talking about the African-American vote, the political establishment vote, it comes to the state capitol. We'll watch that come in.
The largest population center up here, Greenville County, about 10 percent of the state population, also a key for the African-American vote. And you watch, right next door to it is Spartanburg. So between Richland, Spartanburg, Greenville big population centers there. And they're spread throughout the state. You're up here in the northwest part of the state, the center part of the state, then you come over Horry County, along the coast here of Myrtle Beach. A lot of you are familiar maybe from a tourist perspective here. This
is important, it's 6 percent of the conversation. To the point David was making earlier, I just want to show you, if you look at this, the African-American population is critical. This is the first primary. This is where Joe Biden said he would have his springboard, the darker the shading in the state here, the higher the percentage of African- Americans in those counties. So this is absolutely critical to Joe Biden.
What Joe Biden is hoping for is a win here in South Carolina. And you pop this out then you start thinking about the Super Tuesday states as you come on from here and you look at the African-American population, you see, again, the darker the shading, the higher the African- American population in these areas.
Well, Super Tuesday states include California. You see the African- American population there. Super Tuesday states include Alabama, you see a high African-American population here.
So one of the things Joe Biden is hoping for is a win in South Carolina, credibility, credentials in the African-American community that he hopes carries on into other Super Tuesday states, including North Carolina is another Super Tuesday states. So is its neighboring Tennessee, so is Virginia just above it.
So what Joe Biden is hoping for, especially because time is so short to change the electorate, to do advertisements between now and South Carolina. Wolf, what he's hoping for is a win in South Carolina tonight to put him back in this race, to move him up in the delegate chase and to give him a springboard as we move on one state tonight, 14 states Tuesday.
[19:00:01]
BLITZER: Tuesday is going to be huge. Polls are about to close in South Carolina. This is a make-or-break moment for Joe Biden's presidential campaign.
