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CNN Live Event/Special

Biden Wins 9 States, Sanders Win 3 States, 2 Too Close to Call. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired March 04, 2020 - 04:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:31:22]

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: The big winner of Super Tuesday is no doubt Joe Biden. But is Joe Biden the man to beat the man in the White House right now, Donald Trump?

Let's take it down with the folks sitting around this desk.

So the conventional wisdom at least now, at least for the Democratic Party is that Joe Biden is the man to beat Donald Trump. But is that real? Is that right? Could they be wrong?

Because, listen, Bernie Sanders, like Donald Trump, has an army of people behind him who are ride or die. Bernie Sanders can do no wrong.

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENATOR: Well, Joe Biden's got Joe Biden.

LEMON: Yes.

FINNEY: Just saying. In a scrum, that's who you want on your side.

LEMON: But could they wrong? Could the Democratic Party be wrong?

FINNEY: Here's what I don't like the groupthink about this. If we all decide you're our candidate and we want to beat Donald Trump, we have to get out and vote for that person.

LEMON: Even if it's Bernie Sanders?

FINNEY: Yes, absolutely 1,000 percent. You know, in 2016, people who voted for Jill Stein or a protest vote, we can't do that this time.

AMANDA CARPENTER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think we should be realistic about Joe Biden's deficiencies now. He's not a great public speaker. All of the fake news scandals Donald Trump tried drumming up last year are going to come roaring back.

Joe Biden will have to be confronted with that again. He hasn't handled it well. So, he's going to have another chance probably to address that in the public stage. And voters are going to have to weight whether he can handle that incoming fire from Trump. LEMON: Yes, who are build a coalition to beat Donald Trump now given

tonight's results? Who do you think that -- who do you think is best to do that?

DAVID SWERDLICK, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think Karen's right that any of them can in theory. None of the Democrats had all of President Obama's attributes. They each have a little piece of Obama's skill set.

In the case of Senator Sanders, he has that sort of upstart enthusiasm among his supporters. He's been building toward this. In the case of Senator Biden, a lot of people's hearts are with him. Vice President Biden, thank you -- Vice President Biden, thank you. A lot of hearts are with him. In the case of Senator Sanders, he's not flexible. In the case of Vice President Biden, like Amanda said, his debating skills are lacking. He's got a lot of things, Iraq war vote, Anita Hill, that President Trump is going to bring up whether hypothetical or not. Hunter Biden, et cetera.

And Democrats should --

LEMON: Hold on. Hold on. As Amanda mentioned, Hunter Biden, Burisma. And it --

JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. And if you think that's just coming from Trump, it's not. It's going to come from the Hill.

SWERDLICK: Right.

LEMON: Subpoenas all that, should he have a better answer when it comes to hunters? He keeps saying there's nothing there.

SWERDLICK: Yes, I don't claim to know the exact answer. He knows it's coming. No, having answered a question --

CARPENTER: I mean, his son used bad judgment. The father can't agree with the son on that.

FINNEY: But I can just say, having been up against Trump in 2016, it was like nothing you have ever felt or seen before, and what 2016 was like kindergarten compared to the machine they've built for 2020.

And that's why I keep saying, everybody's got to be on board with that. It is going to be a barrage from their ground game to on line resources to attacking. I mean, anybody, whoever the nominee is is going to be viciously, brutally attacked. And I --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Personally attacked.

FINNEY: Absolutely. Their family, you name it. You know, one thing with senator Sanders, he's only started to really feel some of the heat as the front-runner of some -- there are still plenty of things out there that they could have a lot more of a field day with.

So this is, again, why I like having a primary got longer. The longer it goes, you're tested. [04:35:02]

And more voters get to decide how much -- how important do I think that is.

SWERDLICK: Can I just piggyback on that point real quick? Yes, Democrats, a lot of Democrats from all the camps want this to be over with. As soon as it's over with, the Trump campaign has one person they can focus all their energy on.

It's not that bad of a thing for core people in the race right now.

CARPENTER: A good thing in the end?

SWERDLICK: Yes.

PATTI SOLIS DOYLE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Do I project after Biden's performance tonight, Donald Trump is going to go after him first thing tomorrow morning, in an hour or so from now.

LEMON: Probably. But I mean, it's clear that he is -- he is concerned about it, but he's trying to sow division in the party --

KUCINICH: I feel bad for Senator Sanders.

LEMON: You're picking up what I'm putting down, because he's saying it's rigged against Senator Sanders in the Democratic establishment is going against him, they're going to take the nomination from him yet again. Go on.

KUCINICH: And that's exactly what he did in 2016, too, trying to sow the divisions. A little bit of crocodile tears.

I think one of the difference that's hasn't been cleared up on the Sanders side than from Biden is the coattails and how this will affect down ball on. When you talk to Democrats from districts, congressional Democrats or people who have tough Senate races, they're worried.

From states that might be a little bit more Republican, from districts that might be a little bit more purple, they're worried about a Sanders candidacy as the top of the ticket, because their voters might not align with that. So, they would effectively having to run against the top of the ticket.

It's not impossible, but I don't think the Sanders campaign has addressed that. It's like, it will be all right. And I think if he does end up being the nominee, that is something that's going to have to be addressed.

LEMON: But didn't that happen in 2016 with Donald Trump, that Republicans, Amanda, were concerned that Donald Trump would ruin down- ballot races? Then, all of a sudden, they all said, Trump's our guy.

CARPENTER: Yes, they all got on board.

You know, what's different this time around is it seems that there is a concentrated effort by the Democrats to huddle around and bear hug Joe Biden early. The difference in the Republican primary is that everyone was so divided, when there's a chance for unity, whether it be around, say, Marco Rubio, my former boss Ted Cruz, people said, you know, Donald Trump's not going to win. Hillary's going to be president. And we'll pick up the pieces later. Look what happened.

LEMON: They're seeing -- aren't Democrats saying the same thing about Sanders that Republicans said about Trump?

CARPENTER: Yes. That he can't win. He's not electable. Yes, definitely agree.

Listen, one of the reasons I as a Republican vehemently opposed to Bernie Sanders getting the nominations because I think there's a chance he could win, right? I don't want a socialist to be president.

That's why you do see a number of Republicans operatives coming out and saying, you know, if you're a Republican that votes in an early primary state that has open primaries, go vote for a moderate Democrat.

LEMON: Quickly, last word.

FINNEY: So, I've lost my train of thought. No, in is part of why for Senator Sanders, he's got to learn to be the front-runner which means you can't keep trashing the establishment, right? Because really the establishment -- these are people who do walk lists, these are people who run for city council and school board.

And you're going to need those people if you want to bring together coalition to beat Donald Trump. Yes --

LEMON: You are very smart. Seriously, who are the establishment? The people that we talked about -- black women --

FINNEY: That's right --

LEMON: -- college educated white suburban women.

FINNEY: Can I show you that black women in the Democratic Party, we are not the establishment. We are still fighting for -- for some power.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: People who show up --

FINNEY: We are. That's right.

LEMON: The heart of the Democratic party.

FINNEY: That's right. If you keep trashing us, it feels like -- come on, man.

LEMON: We're going to go behind the numbers, ear the people who caused this great night or this great day, this great Super Tuesday for Joe Biden right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:43:34]

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: All right. You have a very interesting dynamic here. Bernie Sanders, what was he about? The machine, the movement, where was it today? Did it show up? Is this just a one-time thing?

What does it mean for Joe Biden? Does he have a strength we didn't see, or was this a onetime thing? Let's take it to the pros.

Ron, what do we know about who voted? What matters?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I think one of the most striking things was that the youth share of the vote went down in most of the states that we have comparisons between this election and 2016. Virginia, voters under 30 were 16 percent of the electorate and 13 percent this time. North Carolina, 18 percent last time, 13 percent this time. Tennessee, 15 last night, 11 this time. Texas, 20 last nighttime, 11 this time. Mass, 19 last time, 16 this time.

Voters older than 45 were a bigger share of the electorate in all of those states this time than they were in 2016. Bernie Sanders did not transform the electorate which meant that he had to compete within the existing Democratic coalition. And within that universe, his coalition I think was clearly tonight shown to be deep but too narrow to win.

And we have to say, as a candidate who prides himself on the pile- driver consistency, always going forward, same message, same argument. He now needs to find a second act and quickly, because if Michigan does not go well, he's going to face questions about his candidacy.

LEMON: Tonight, if there was a movement it was "must beat Trump," and there are question if Bernie could do it, that inured to Biden's favor, at least on this big Super Tuesday.

[04:45:07]

Michigan, do you believe that that's a state that if Bernie can't convince those people he's their guy, he's got trouble?

REBECCA BUCK, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: It's so important. It's not necessarily the end of the road for Bernie if he can't win there. I mean, we have a debate coming up on CNN after that -- shameless plug -- but it is important in terms of the demographics and the message that he has been promoting in this primary.

If he can't win there, it's a really bad sign. And, look, I mean, the significance of tonight is that we've seen the result over the past week of the moderate lane of the Democratic party coming together, coalescing around Joe Biden. This is going to be a tough puzzle for Bernie to solve. I don't think his campaign believed it was going to happen this fast with so many people coming out and endorsing Biden this week, dropping out of the race. He's going to have to figure out how to get his mojo back. CUOMO: One thing is for sure, it happened.

Harry Enten, two big takeaways?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL WRITER AND ANALYST: All right, Chris. Here are the two big ones, first off, Joe Biden is the comeback kid as far as I'm concerned. He lost in Iowa and New Hampshire. It took him 26 days until the first win which came in the Deep South, South Carolina, by 19 points. You know who that reminds me of?

CUOMO: Who?

ENTEN: That reminds me of William Jefferson Clinton.

CUOMO: Really?

ENTEN: Because he lost Iowa and New Hampshire. It took him also over 20 days until his first primary win and that, of course, occurred in the Deep South, the great state of Georgia, when he won by a similar margin that Biden won in South Carolina, he won Georgia by 33 points.

I want to jump to the time of decision chart here. This I think is so key because what happened to those voters who decided in the last few days, who they were going to vote for, they voted for, get this, they voted for overwhelmingly, they voted for Joe Biden. And I think that that is so important because what essentially we know is that Joe Biden won this election because those -- those won tonight big league, because those who decided in the last few days went overwhelmingly for him.

CUOMO: Now, it certainly happened here, it was kind of the perfect storm of events for him on Super Tuesday. What will it mean between now and the next big set of contests? What will it mean for the debate? Very different challenges for these two men.

Harry, thank you very much. I appreciate it.

All right. So , here's what we know -- we're still following California because they take a long time. But even if the numbers go the way they're going now, Bernie Sanders will get the big win in California.

But the big win doesn't mean what he wanted it to win. They were looking at getting over half of the delegates. It doesn't look like they will now. So again, the question is going to be the ceiling questions are back. How big the movement is is back.

This galvanizing, does Joe Biden have to come up for a nickname for the movement behind him now?

We'll take those on things on. CNN's coverage will continue. Stay with us.

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[04:52:16] LEMON: So, it is Super Tuesday. And we those to talk about why it's important for us to be on air doing this.

I want to bring back the group.

It's important for us to be reporting, but it's important because we're talking about the right to vote in this country. This is -- let's show the lines. This is Texas. And Houston, Texas, to be specific.

Some people waited almost seven hours to vote here. And specifically this man, his name is Hervis Rogers (ph).

Our Ed Lavandera caught up with him. He waited almost seven hours. Ed said the last voter at Texas Southern University walked out of the voting booth. It took Hervis Rogers nearly seven hours to vote.

Ed caught up with him. He told our Ed Lavandera why was it so important for him to vote and why he waited so long in line to vote. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HERVIS ROGERS, TEXAS VOTER: We wanted for about six hours. About six hours. A little bit over six hours.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, you got here just before the polls closed.

ROGERS: Right.

LAVANDERA: It is well after 1:00 in the morning.

ROGERS: Right.

LAVANDERA: Why did you wait this long to vote?

ROGERS: I feel like it was my duty to vote. I want to give my vote in to voice my opinion. And I wasn't going to let nothing stop me. I waited it out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(APPLAUSE)

LEMON: Amen. Big round of applause for him. Saving the republic.

DOYLE: Yes, saving the republic --

LEMON: The man you called super voter.

CARPENTER: Yes, super voter. Give the keys to the city. I don't know who you voted for. If you wanted to go out with the candidates to talk about the right to vote, he should be welcomed.

LEMON: No one should have to wait that long in this country to vote. KUCINICH: That's a disgrace. The fact that man had to wait as long as he did, there is no other word for it.

FINNEY: But it's not surprising that he is in Texas, right, and I would guess he probably lives in a primarily African-American neighborhood. I mean, the systemic --

LEMON: Most of the people in line, according to Ed Lavandera, you are right, African-American, go on.

FINNEY: So, the systemic targeting of black and brown voters, whether it is vote caging, whether it is the -- you know, taking care of the rolls. Whether it is, you know, all the tactics, voter ID tactics. It's shameful.

It should be on a Saturday. It should be a holiday. It should be easy. But I have to tell you, that's the thing that worries me most for Election Day.

LEMON: There are complaints of robocalls in Texas that were an attempt to spread disinformation about the primary today. But go on.

DOYLE: I totally agree with everything Karen said. But watching him just gives me such hope because they will not be deterred. People -- this is the most important election of our lifetime.

SWERDLICK: Yes, whether you're voting for one of the Democrats, or whether you're voting for Governor Weld or President Trump, it's your most important way as a citizen to impact the process.

And these people -- Mr. -- what's his name?

[04:55:00]

Harris.

LEMON: Yes.

SWERDLICK: He showed tonight that he was invested in the process as a citizen.

LEMON: I am so Mr. -- his name is Rogers. Hervis Rogers.

I am so proud of you. Thank you so much for doing what you do. It makes me want do my job and do it even better. So thank you so much.

They are still counting votes in California and Maine. More Super Tuesday coverage just ahead on "NEW DAY."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's a good night and it seems to be getting even better. They don't call it Super Tuesday for nothing. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is increasingly a race between two

candidates, Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is this so much about people suddenly discovering Joe Biden? Or is this voters facing a Bernie Sanders saying, I don't think we can beat Donald Trump with that?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I tell you, with absolute confidence, we are going to win the Democratic nomination.

END