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Biden Ahead In Texas, Sanders Leads In California; Biden Wins 8 States; Sanders Wins 3 States; 3 Too Close To Call; Super Tuesday Coverage. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired March 04, 2020 - 01:00   ET

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

[01:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the Democrats now have a real election on their hands. Here is the state of play. This is one of those nights that only makes sense after it happens. Joe Biden ahead in eight states, Bernie Sanders in three tonight.

Remember, just two weeks ago, people were talking about Joe Biden as if it was almost over. We're watching three states two of them huge. They are really the stories of the night, Texas and California. You see the ones that have been won, this we know. Here's what we don't know Maine 91 percent and Biden with a very small lead. Interesting regional play, obviously New England, the home for both of these men, Delaware and Vermont. But California and Texas is the story of the night, OK.

For Joe Biden to be where he is in Texas right now would have been unthinkable just days ago, let alone what we're dealing with, 32,000 votes ahead. Right now, you see on the bottom of the screen 70 percent in, still a long way to go. Things could change. Certainly, that's the story in California, notoriously takes a long time for the votes have come in. Obviously, you got an extra hour and a time change issue as well, but 32 percent only in. We're going to be watching that all night long.

Why? It's going to tell you different stories of the themes of the night. How does the Latino vote come in? What areas of concentration matter between Sanders and Biden? And also what is this state tell us about the other two people in the race? Michael Bloomberg has a big decision to make. Elizabeth Warren, sobering night.

Now, this is what we see. We'll be watching it all night, but let's get inside the metric. Let's go over to Phil Mattingly at the wall and talk Texas. From (INAUDIBLE) in Iowa, right, where Biden was fourth to now, this is something you couldn't have seen. Anybody who says they saw this coming, you know, is talking with makeup on their face. Why is this race as close as it is in Texas?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, not only is it close, not only is Joe Biden now up by almost 33,000 votes, we've seen a dramatic shift over the course of the last hour, hour and a half, and then try to explain that to the extent that I can.

It's in large part based on early vote versus Election Day vote. And what we're seeing is early vote, when you go into some of the biggest most populous counties, you're talking about, perhaps Dallas County or maybe down in the Houston area, you're seeing Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden largely even, maybe a point or two separating them.

Now Joe Biden is starting to show some margin here. He's starting to grow his vote, leading in Dallas County, second largest county in the state of Texas by now more than 10,000 votes. It says 99 percent reporting down here. Wait on that. We think more votes coming in from Dallas County. And the same also goes when you move down into Harris County where Houston is the largest county in the state, a county that has grown a tremendous amount over the course of the last couple of years.

Look, they were pretty much at 26, 26, 27, 26 throughout the course of the night to some degree. Now Joe Biden opening up a 10,000-vote lead here too. So you see --

CUOMO: So, how much of a factor do you think it is that this galvanizing effect of we've been seeing throughout the night somewhere between 30 close to 40 percent in some states of voters were like, I made my decision in the last few days? That's a huge metric for Biden.

MATTINGLY: It's exactly why I pointed out why things have been even for so long in these major counties and now they're starting to shift. It's the early vote versus the Election Day vote. The early vote was coming in. It was the first thing we were seeing in these large areas, kind of suburban areas, big urban areas. They were tied for a large part of that -- part of the evening.

Now Joe Biden is starting to stretch his lead as you're getting the Election Day vote in. And obviously, in the largest counties, the more vote you're getting in, if Joe Biden is keeping margins and look like this, that means he's got room to run, room to actually grow a lead right now.

Now, you look -- and one thing is there still vote outstanding in Sanders counties too. Let's go down to Bexar county, home to San Antonio. Obviously, Bernie Sanders is about a 9,000-vote margin here. Really kind of waiting to see how much vote comes in here as well. You can even move up to Travis County. This is obviously college town, University, Texas, Austin. This is Sanders country. This is kind of a liberal Bastion in the state. You see the margin. Obviously, Bernie Sanders doing very well here compared to Joe Biden.

But again, when you talk about these major counties, when you talk about Harris County, when you talk about Dallas County, you know that Joe Biden's got a lot more vote coming in. You saw the lines in Harris County that we've been talking about throughout the course the night. People are still waiting in line to vote. Those votes largely are breaking towards Biden or at least to a degree right now that's separating him from Bernie Sanders.

(CROSSTALK) CUOMO: Go ahead, make you point.

MATTINGLY: Yes, I want to make one more point too because we talked about the major population centers, but look at all this blue throughout here. These are not large counties, these are hundreds of votes, maybe that's separate Bernie Sanders, but what they are is they're places where Joe Biden is adding to his lead.

Again, I'll pick a couple of them out. This is a very small county. We're talking 10, 15 votes here. This isn't kind of making or breaking the election for Joe Biden, but when you look at these margins, and you start to scroll across, you see that Joe Biden is running up in several more rural areas. Areas where there's not huge amounts of vote, but Joe Biden is dominating these areas.

[01:05:29]

CUOMO: Not an unusual analysis that we see on the National map when we look at the Republican strong points of what they used to call flyover country. Now, it's must win country.

MATTINGLY: No question about it. That's exactly what -- you combine this, you combine these smaller areas with these large population centers that are really starting to come in now and the vote, and you understand why Joe Biden is going from tied or to some degree tonight, seven, eight, nine points down, to 38,000, 39,000 votes ahead.

CUOMO: All right, so that's Texas. Texas, and California, obviously, the two big prizes of the night, also are going to be very, very interesting demonstrations of the strengths and weaknesses for each of these top two, and also what we'll get into the other candidates and what it means for them. What are we seeing in California?

MATTINGLY: So let's pull up California. And again, you caveated it properly at the beginning. California comes in slow. There's the opportunity for the next couple of days for people to still send in ballots, so we're not going to have a full understanding of things. But when you look at what's at stake here, 415 delegates at stake here. This is obviously a huge haul.

And look at this map right now. You're seeing Bernie Sanders, light blue 180,000, 181,000 votes ahead, 29 percent to 19 percent for Joe Biden. But I would note, Joe Biden starting to tick up. He was below Michael Bloomberg for a period of time, now starting to tick up very clearly uncomfortable into the viability territory, above 15 percent where he'll be able to get delegates.

CUOMO: For people who just joining us, which I think people have been watching all night, to be honest.

MATTINGLY: How could you not?

CUOMO: Bloomberg theory of the case was, Bernie can't win, Biden can't do it, so I'm going to enter. So what do you believe or do we have any way of assessing how Bunch of Bloomberg vote that we see in these big states that we're watching? Certainly, Texas and California should be with Biden, if he were to leave. Is there any way to know?

MATTINGLY: It's tough to say. And actually, I had pulled out of California to actually show this to some degree, maybe flip into a state like Tennessee. Look, you see all the blue here in Tennessee, right. Obviously, Joe Biden won this state, won it very handily. But take a look at this. Pull up right now, where is Michael Bloomberg? You see one purple county here in Tennessee. Where is he?

In first, you see the one county, where is he in second? Look at all the counties --

CUOMO: All Biden's.

MATTINGLY: Those are all dark blue and those are Joe Biden County. So the question is, is he eating into Joe Biden's vote? It would appear at least if he's coming in second place in a lot of counties that Joe Biden is winning. Even in a state that Joe Biden's winning handily, they're at least competing for the same types of voters.

CUOMO: Can we do that yet in Texas and California or no, not yet?

MATTINGLY: Yes. So pull up Texas. You see all the blue here.

CUOMO: All right, so there's purple, not a lot of purple.

MATTINGLY: You see -- you see what, four counties right now for purple. Let me scoot this over so we can kind of center it up.

CUOMO: So Bloomberg's second would be the key metric?

MATTINGLY: Bloomberg second. You see, wherever you see purple right now, these are counties that --

CUOMO: Where he won.

MATTINGLY: So let's pull up where Michael Bloomberg --

CUOMO: We're leading, right, right.

MATTINGLY: Where Michael Bloomberg is in first. There you see the purple counties. Where is he in second? There you see. You see a little bit of light blue here, but you see in some --

CUOMO: Mostly him again.

MATTINGLY: Mostly Joe Biden counties or counties where Joe Biden is leading right now.

CUOMO: Is the worst the one in California or no?

MATTINGLY: We can give it a try. It's early, but why not? You know, we're here all night.

CUOMO: It's true.

MATTINGLY: We'll hook California. And again, I think the difficulty here is you only see a couple of counties where Joe Biden is actually leading. Really the same number of counties, three, where Michael Bloomberg is leading too. But let's take a look at where Michael Bloomberg isn't first, second, or third.

Michael Bloomberg in first right up in here in the northern California area, San Francisco outskirts. And second, you know, cutting into some Bernie counties as Bernie Sanders -- Senator Bernie Sanders --

CUOMO: That's going to be the tough case for him to make. Today, he was very brusque, right? Hey, if you asked Biden if he's dropping out, when you ask him, come talk to me. I'm not going anywhere. We're in for the long haul. This campaign is built for the long haul. Everybody's on message.

MATTINGLY: Right.

CUOMO: But if his theory of the case was what he's been saying all along, which is Joe Biden can't beat Trump, it can't be Bernie otherwise Trump wins. That is not sounding like a great case right now.

MATTINGLY: Not sounding like a great case necessarily. And obviously, I think if you look at the early part of the night, the mid-Atlantic into the south, not exactly the results that Michael Bloomberg wanted. But I would -- I want to say something a little bit counterintuitive here.

CUOMO: Go ahead.

MATTINGLY: And that is this. Michael Bloomberg sitting right here at 17 percent. Again, very early. We don't know what that's going to --

CUOMO: Very early. About a third reporting.

MATTINGLY: About a third reporting, but if that holds, he's above the 15 percent viability threshold. In this sense in this state, he will actually help Joe Biden if he hangs there. The more people that are viable in the state where Bernie Sanders is doing well. And look, Bernie Sanders based on money, Bernie Sanders based on organization, Bernie Sanders, based on demographics, California was going to be a good state for Bernie Sanders. And right now, it looks like that's actually proving out.

The more people that are viable, the more people that are splitting delegates, the more Joe Biden can decrease how many delegates Bernie Sanders ends up netting out from the states. So Joe Biden right now may not appreciate Michael Bloomberg's presence all over the country, but in California, if he's able to stay viable, if he's able to stay over 15 percent, cuts into how many delegates Bernie Sanders can take away. Joe Biden is probably not mad about that.

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CUOMO: It is that a theory of the case that holds to the next sets of Super Tuesdays that you may want Bloomberg in some of those are no, is that mainly specific to a massive state like California and dividing a big pie?

MATTINGLY: I think it depends. It depends on states where Bernie Sanders was definitely going to do well. And then remember, going into a night like tonight, I want to pull it. We've already called Minnesota for Joe Biden. But one of the big questions going into the night was, was Joe Biden going to be viable in some of these?

And not only is he viable, he won Minnesota, crushed Minnesota, I think one of the biggest surprises of the night. And in that case, again, it goes back to what I was saying about California. If Joe Biden is able to just barely crossed 15 percent or maybe isn't viable in a state that Bernie Sanders is going to win, the more people you have that are viable, it's helpful to him.

But I think when you look at some of these states down here, when you look at Tennessee, when you look at Arkansas, when you look at Oklahoma, and you see Michael Bloomberg in there largely cutting into where Michael Bloomberg -- where Joe Biden was winning counties, probably would prefer him out of those.

CUOMO: Now, look, just to get this straight. We're going to go to Maine right now. We haven't spoken about it a lot tonight. But you know, it's an interesting head to head between the two men -- the two men, the two main candidates. You know, Massachusetts also would have been an interesting story had Elizabeth Warren perform better there. I mean, her finishing a distant third in her own state, not a good message. But it's interesting here because of what you see in the pockets of display. Why -- explain the big purple?

MATTINGLY: So the big purple --

CUOMO: Is this -- why this county is he doing so well?

MATTINGLY: It's a great question. I can't exactly tell you exactly why he's doing well. Here's what I'll tell you that I think is the most important thing about the state. Look, Mike Bloomberg, again, under 15 percent. So not viable statewide.

CUOMO: So you have to be to 15 before you can collect any delegates for the --

MATTINGLY: Statewide. And then you'll see changes based on congressional district as well or state senate district down in -- down in Texas. But here's the most important part about Maine and why this is stunning to a lot of people that I'm talking to right now going into right now. Joe Biden, ahead by about 3,000 votes.

Let's go back to 2016. 2016, Bernie Sanders, won Maine by 30 points, almost 30 points over Hillary Clinton. When you were talking to people going into Super Tuesday, and there's a lot of states around right now that you could say, didn't expect Joe Biden to be at that number in that state on this night. This is one of those states.

Four years ago, Bernie Sanders blew out Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in this state. Right now, again, let's talk about where the state is, 91 percent reporting, Joe Biden about 3,000 votes ahead. And again, it's one of those situations not unlike perhaps -- not directly analogous, but not unlike perhaps what you saw -- what you're seeing down in Texas.

Joe Biden kind of ticking through not necessarily hitting well a major population centers, Lewiston, Augusta, but also a smaller areas starting to rack up vote.

CUOMO: It's so interesting. Look, it's a very different race. And obviously, Bernie has his own strengths that we're seeing in big ways. Now, Texas is the surprise. Again, you're going to -- remember the context. Bernie Sanders was supposed to do well in Texas, if not win with the even money bet.

Obviously in California, also, Bernie was supposed to be sure money. So Texas is a big surprise to see what is now a fairly significant lead with 73 percent reporting.

MATTINGLY: Fairly -- 39,000 votes at this point in time, 73 percent. Again, one of the things to pay attention to demographically, we expected Bernie Sanders to do well in this.

CUOMO: Right.

MATTINGLY: This is a very heavily Latino area. This is an area where if you want to compare and contrast to say, Nevada, where he did extremely well with Latino voters, perhaps this is a corollary to some degree. I think what we weren't necessarily expecting is that Joe Biden would do so well in the population centers. And the reason why is these are the suburban voters.

I want to pull up Dallas County again. If you move up into this area right in here, this is a congressional district that was Republican for a long time that was flipped in 2018 by Colin Allred. Where was Colin Allred last night? He was standing right next to Joe Biden at that big event in Dallas County where he was rolling out his endorsements of Beto O'Rourke, of Amy Klobuchar as well.

Those are the types of districts that Joe Biden said he can flip. Those are the types of members that he was campaigning for in 2018. And right now it's bearing out that Joe Biden is doing well with suburban white voters. Not just black voters, African American voters that we knew he was doing well in the south, that he's crushed tonight state by state by state, but also in the suburban voters as well, which up to this point, he was in large part splitting to some degree with people like Elizabeth Warren.

Tonight, he's not splitting them anymore. And we thought perhaps these were the types of areas where Michael Bloomberg would come in and make headway take vote away from him, at least in Texas, at least in Dallas County in particular. That hasn't been the case.

CUOMO: On the surprisal meter, look, Bernie Sanders is running strong. Again, you still have to own the reality that he is the only one of these four candidates who has a legitimate movement behind him. And as we learned in 2016, you sleep on a movement at your own peril. So he's doing well where we thought he would specifically with the Latino vote. Pretty much everywhere, he's doing very well with them. That's something that Biden is going to have to contend with If he wants to be really going head to head with them as they go across the country.

Younger voters -- now, the problem with younger voters versus older voters, you have more younger voters, but they don't vote. What are they somewhere between a 13 to 17 percent.

[01:15:11]

MATTINGLY: In that --

CUOMO: And voters over 50, usually you get somewhere between 50 to 60 percent voter turnout depending on where you are and why they're voting. How does that play out?

MATTINGLY: Well, I think the big question, who are the high propensity voters? They're older voters, they're African American voters to some degree, and they're suburban voters, they're suburban white voters. And you're seeing that play out right here. Now you talk about college-aged kids who are obviously very big --

CUOMO: Austin would be ground zero.

MATTINGLY: Austin University of Texas. That explains to some degree why you're seeing Bernie Sanders crush in Austin. And Austin obviously is again a liberal bastion of the state to some degree. And you've seen that play out throughout the course of the primary. You've seen two real strengths for Bernie Sanders over the course of the primary, college-age voters and Latino voters, particularly in Nevada. I think we're seeing it to some part -- to some degree in the southwestern part of Texas, to some degree in California as well, but they're not a monolith. But that's what you're seeing.

What you're seeing with Joe Biden here -- and I think why the Biden campaign has to be thrilled with this night besides the fact that they're doing well and winning states that maybe they didn't even think they were in plan, is the fact that the coalition that's coming together is not just one kind of subset of what people were looking for as a group.

CUOMO: Right.

MATTINGLY: It's not just African American voters, it's also the suburban voters. It's also those older voters as well. Now, Bernie Sanders throughout the course of this primary up to now was doing well with rural voters, was doing well was college-age voters and younger voters. But this coalition that Joe Biden is putting together in a state like Texas, that's a winning coalition, at least for this part.

CUOMO: The numbers just changed next to me. So let's go to Dallas County and see what changed if that tells us something about it.

MATTINGLY: So pretty much sticking around. Again --

CUOMO: So here's what we're getting. They've given us some new numbers. Biden has got 68,000 votes in Dallas County. And what other information do we have? Sanders has -- it's all about dramatic pause -- 49,000. So 68-49, so these numbers will be difference, 68 and 49.

MATTINGLY: So give our friend the magic wall. He's had a very busy night, a little time to update here, but I want to always be tender loving care here. But I want to underscore what I was talking about when we first started here, and that is early vote for election day vote. And you're seeing in those latest numbers that you just read off, you're seeing the margins start to spread even wider here.

We went from Bernie Sanders being neck and neck with Joe Biden in Dallas county to data dump after data dump after data dump, Joe Biden growing and growing and growing and growing. And I think there's no expectation right now particularly in Dallas County. I think the same for Harris County as well in Houston that that's going to change.

And that leads you to wonder what's outstanding still for Bernie Sanders. Obviously, El Paso is a strength for Bernie Sanders. Not a huge amount of vote in El Paso. So you maybe you can make up --

CUOMO: Now we're 88. So we're somewhere between 74 and 88 depending on which part you're in. We'll be watching it. Let's go to a quick break and we're going to have all night to do this. But look, the headline of the night is, this is something you would have never seen happening until it happened.

The Democrats have an entirely new race on their hands. We're going to pick up the coverage. We're looking at California. Sanders is up. What can Biden do there? Texas, we're telling you this story, big surprise for Biden. And Maine isn't done either yet, an important region to monitor especially because it's so different than four years ago, so stay with CNN.

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm with my church with your CNN NEWS NOW. The coronavirus could be more deadly than originally thought. The World Health Organization says the global mortality rate has risen to about 3.4 percent. That means it's 34 times deadlier than the seasonal flu.

But the WHO is stressing the coronavirus outbreak can be contained. There are now more than 92,000 cases worldwide and 3,200 people have died. China is still seeing a fall in new cases while hundreds of new infections were reported across South Korea Tuesday, bringing that country's total to more than 5,000 cases, the most outside of mainland China.

It's been a mixed day for stock markets in Asia. The Nikkei has just closed slightly high. You can see there it's pretty flat, in fact, 0.08 percent. The Chinese indexes have been going back and forth all day, and the Seoul KOSPI has seen the biggest gains trading about two percent higher there, just over their two percent mark.

And in the U.S. stock markets tanked on Tuesday, even after the Federal Reserve made emergency interest rate counts to ease the impact of the coronavirus. The Dow plummeted nearly 800 points just one day after its biggest point gain in history. The S&P and the Nasdaq also fell nearly three percent. Well, the Tokyo Olympics are four months away, but the deadly coronavirus is throwing the games into question. Japan's Minister for the Tokyo Olympics says it could be postponed

until later this year. CNN's Will Ripley has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The fact that we're even having this conversation here in Tokyo about the possibility of postponing the Summer Olympics has to be devastating for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic organizers, but also the Japanese people themselves.

Remember, this was supposed to be Japan's comeback after the devastation in 2011, the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown at Fukushima. This was Japan's reintroduction to the world. This was sold to the Japanese people as an opportunity to bring in tourists from all over, athletes from all over, and showcase just how far Japan has come.

And yet now with this coronavirus outbreak and still a lot of questions about whether Japan is equipped to handle things based on what happened on the Diamond Princess cruise ship. There, there were just 3,700 people. Imagine hundreds of thousands of people from 200 plus countries coming here to Tokyo staying in close quarters and what that could potentially mean if this outbreak is in under control when they leave Japan and go back to their home countries. It can be an absolutely devastating public health crisis.

And yet, obviously Japan which has invested tens of billions of dollars in posting these games, they want this to go forward. So they've been looking at their contract and according to the Tokyo 2020 organizers, as long as they hold the games this year, at some point, even if they have to push them back from the late July start time, at least they say the games could be held in Tokyo.

But of course, the world, the International Olympic Committee all have to feel safe, that this is actually a place where people can go and safely compete and then go home without getting sick or bringing that illness back to their communities. Will Ripley, CNN Tokyo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And I'm Rosemary Church. Our special coverage of Super Tuesday continues right now.

DON LEMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: What a night it has been for Joe Biden. What a race. It's been unbelievable. I took a nap because I knew that I would be up late. And I woke up and I thought I was still dreaming. Joe Biden, you can only say is over-performing what everyone thought he would do. Let's join the experts now.

Joining me now is Mark Preston, Laura Barron-Lopez, Ron Brownstein, Andrew Gillum, Jen Psaki, and Scott Jennings. Did you guys think the same thing?

ANDREW GILLUM (D), FORMER GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE, FLORIDA: It's good to know you dream about Joe Biden.

LEMON: No. Listen, I knew -- I tried to sleep during the day and I knew that, you know, that we would all be up here until like at least 5:00 in the morning. And I said, what is going on? Joe Biden kept winning state after state after state after state. And if you had asked, I think any of us 72 hours ago at least would, you know, we obviously thought he would win some states. But if you had asked, Mark Preston, would you have said that Joe Biden would be performing at least the way he performed tonight?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Not by these margins. But I mean, look at certainly in politics, success begets success, right? And we saw Joe Biden really take control of South Carolina and really went overwhelmingly. And if you look at that placement so close to Super Tuesday, that was a big, big, big thing for Joe Biden because he was able to carry that momentum into the south where we saw a lot of African American voters who clearly were behind Joe Biden.

LEMON: Let's talk about Texas. Let's talk about Texas. You know, Laura, Bernie Sanders has big support when it comes to Latino voters, but Joe Biden performing not only with African Americans, but with white voters, not only in Texas, but across the board, but specifically Texas. If you would have -- if you would have told anyone again that Joe Biden would be ahead in Texas or at least neck and neck with Bernie Sanders, no one would have believed you.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, POLITICO: I believe he wouldn't have. But actually, Politico, I wrote that story this morning saying that Texas -- that Biden was actually had a good chance of winning Texas. His campaign in the few days leading up since South Carolina had started saying we're going to win Texas.

LEMON: Standby one second. I just want to look at -- look at -- look, these are new totals coming in from Texas. Biden 32.2 percent. It's 76 percent in now. Joe Biden 32.2 percent, Sanders at 29.3 percent. Everyone well behind them. I'm sorry. Go ahead, Laura.

LOPEZ: No -- yes, and so, his campaign that started saying after the turn in South Carolina, they were feeling really good about Texas, even though they spent only about $500,000 on T.V. ad vice. They did not spend on Spanish language in the final days leading up to Texas. But they were confident because it was a different demographic makeup than a state like California.

And so they felt as though and they kept saying, look, if there's one of the big two delegate-rich states that we're going to blunt Sanders, it's going to be in Texas. And we're seeing some of that tonight with 76 reporting. So Sanders' team was privately admitting that maybe Biden could catch them. Publicly, they were expressing confidence in their ground game. They did have far more offices than Biden did there.

They also though felt as though maybe that Bloomberg hurt them with Latinos to a certain degree because he spent a ton of money in that state trying to win over --

(CROSSTALK)

[01:25:12]

GILLUM: We talked what, weeks ago, we were all here talking after Iowa.

PRESTON: Even hours ago.

GILLUM: Yes, well, because I was ago. But after we were talking about and debating the order in which the states go. South Carolina reset the table, period.

LEMON: How do you know that? I was going to ask you.

GILLUM: But to be more specific about how it reset the table, black voters, in and of themselves gave this candidate the lifeline of his life.

LEMON: OK, give me a moment here. Let me just ask you this because I was talking to Hilary Rosen who -- Hilary texted me and she said, thank you for -- in sense, I'm paraphrasing here -- to James Clyburn, and to black voters in South Carolina who gave momentum. That win really gave momentum to Joe Biden.

GILLUM: Without a doubt.

LEMON: Right? Across the country. And you are seeing now with a slingshot.

GILLUM: Without a doubt. And the truth is that we all kept saying early on in spite of Joe Biden's loss after disappointment after disappointment, all of us kept saying, well, let's see what happens when it comes to South Carolina. And we said that for a reason, because today Super Tuesday, you had a slate of states all across the southern the -- Sun Belt of this country where black voters showed up, they showed out, and they delivered decisively.

LEMON: James Carville is saying the same thing.

GILLUM: Is that what he's saying?

LEMON: Yes, James Carville is saying the same thing.

JEN PSAKI, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: And beyond black voters, I think white voters are also looking at how black voters have come out for Joe Biden, and it's making them think, well, this guy can actually win. And this is an important demographic and important electorate that we need to defeat Donald Trump. So it's also been encouraging to white voters.

And you've seen Joe Biden start to do better in South Carolina. We'll see more as we see more about tonight among college-educated white women and suburbs that Democrats need to win in November and he's starting to do better. And I bet you that part of that is because they're seeing how well Joe Biden is doing among African Americans.

LEMON: Voters are still in line in Texas, by the way.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes -- no, I mean, it's -- that's a whole separate issue. But the length of the lines today and what that meant for November when turnout could be 15 to 20 million higher than it was even in 2016. It's kind of an ominous note.

But look, there are a lot of different things that happen in a lot of different places tonight, but I feel like the caption on the whole picture can be pretty concise, which is that Bernie Sanders coalition is too narrow to win. And he is not doing anything to expand that coalition. And in fact, in many ways, maybe contracting.

And I mean, just think about the contrast with Bernie Sanders after he won New Hampshire, he talked -- he said he was running against the Democratic establishment, as well as the Republican establishment. When Joe Biden won South Carolina, what happened in the next 48 hours, he unified the party. Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg, Beto O'Rourke, three opponents came together.

We saw it tonight one thing in the polling that really jumped out at me in the exit polling is a problem resurface for Sanders that wasn't there in the first three-stage but was there in 2016, and that is he got crushed in almost every state among self-identified Democrats.

He does well among independents who voted Democratic primary, but if you're wanting to be the Democratic nominee, at some point, you got to win some Democrats. And in many of these states tonight, he was losing self-identified Democrats by 20 and 25 points. It's not only African Americans, that's those college white voters, many of them would park with Buttigieg, Klobuchar, and Warren. They were kind of freed up, they move more toward Biden, then toward Bernie.

And also, I think maybe the most important of all, looking forward to the middle of March and all these Rust Belt States, Sanders won whites without a college degree in the first four states. That didn't hold tonight.

LEMON: Scott, before you poop on all of this -- I'm just kidding. I was just joking. Hold on. Are you encouraged by the turnout?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Well, I think yes. I think it's -- I think it's a strong -- you know, it was a strong turnout. I mean, the youth turnout was not what Sanders had hoped. The share of the vote cast by young people went down, compared to 16 in some of these states.

Look, I don't think there's any question that a lot of Democrats are going to come out and vote in 2020 against Donald Trump, and a lot of Republicans are going to come vote for Donald Trump. I mean, like I said, there are serious estimates that as many as 15 to 20 million more people will vote. And in 2016, if that happens, it'll be the highest voter turnout as a share of eligible voters since 1908 which was before women had the right to vote.

LEMON: I just have to say. As much as I argue with you, you have to respect the Bernie Sanders coalition, right? He has an army behind them. But as much as I argue with young people that the Democratic -- the electorate, in general, is not Twitter.

BROWNSTEIN: And the question --

LEMON: It's not -- and people don't understand it. Those people are echo -- an echo chamber who argue among --

BROWNSTEIN: This is what others think. But I think you come out of this tonight and you say, the person who has to change the dynamic in this race is much more Bernie Sanders than Joe Biden. And Bernie Sanders is kind of like a straight-ahead, doesn't have a lot of lateral movement. He needs a second act, because I think what this shows tonight is that while he has enormous depth of support, he doesn't have enough breath of support to be the party's nominee. And in some ways, the things he has done is narrowing rather than broadening his --

LEMON: Go ahead, Scott. Sorry.

[01:29:40]

SCOTT JENNINGS, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: Well, first of all, the Democrats did what the Republicans failed to do in 2016. They did their consolidating early.

LEMON: Right.

JENNINGS: The Republican fragmentation lasted well after Super Tuesday and it allowed to Donald Trump and that iteration to continue to win -- also the winner take all rules helped as well. But the fragmentation lasted a long-time.

Also, in that case, even when there was consolidation it was Trump and then Cruz I guess, who wasn't exactly establishment-friendly either.

In this particular iteration, you have an outsider candidate Sanders and a very much, you know, real Democrat establishment candidate in Biden, which I think changes the dynamic.

Look, I'll wear the pundit cone of shame because I came out here and thought after the first three contests it felt like somebody who's been campaigns including some losing ones, that Biden's campaign had that stink of death that campaigns get.

And watching him pop up out of the coffin tonight like The Undertaker at a WWE match has been really, really amazing.

And look, I don't think it's over. By the way, Bernie raised $46.5 million. He has money to keep going, but obviously there has been a momentum shift. But I don't think we should make the same mistake that we made before.

We all wrote Biden off. And then he came back, and now we're all tipping to write Bernie Sanders off.

JEN PSAKI, FORMER OBAMA WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: I don't think we should write Bernie Sanders off at all. But to Ron's point, I think one of the things his campaign is discussing or they should be is, you know, they have raised a lot of money, they have so many people come to these rallies that are like rock star events. They have so many volunteers.

They have not translated that to expanding the electorate. And in addition to that they also are hurting their chances of bringing other Democrats into their fold.

So even when Bernie Sanders went out there on South Carolina the other night and gave hi speech, I was struck by what he says when he's trying to unify people is, you're welcome to join our revolution, you know.

And the fact is, a lot of Democrats out there -- they're not looking to join a revolution or join our movement, they're not looking to join Bernie Sanders' movement. They're looking to beat Donald Trump.

And even shifting some of his language and really thinking about how they translate it to getting people to actually vote, getting this big base of excitement to vote are two big things they need to focus on.

ANDREW GILLUM, FORMER TALLAHASSEE MAYOR: Bernie is not the only one however that has to learn that lesson -- Don. I would suggest that Bernie absolutely has to grow his tent out, but I said this in an earlier segment. What got them here won't get them there. What may get you the nomination won't get you the presidency.

So for Bernie, it is he has to grow his base out if he intends to be the Democratic nominee and bring more of us into the tent and not declare war against Democrats.

But for Joe Biden, if young people are supporting him at 5 percent or in California -- that is a huge problem because the people who don't Trump are going to show up anyway. The way we win is probably --

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: I've got to get to the break. But it looks like you want to get it.

JENNINGS: Well, I do. Just one quick point, I'm sure everybody has seen the video of these protesters jumping up on the stage tonight. And with our old colleagues, Simone Sanders tackling one of the protesters, hats off to Simone for taking down the dairy queen tonight there on the stage.

These candidates need protection, ok? The Secret Service needs to be engaged right now. Somebody's going to get hurt. These protesters are getting too close to these candidates.

LEMON: -- former vice president --

JENNINGS: Former -- any of them -- Sanders, Biden. If you are in this race, you need protection -- the Homeland Security director, the congressional leadership and ultimately the President need to order it tomorrow. LEMON: Ok, I think that is what -- people said the same thing that you

said. They said the same thing about Trump in 2016 that he needs to expand his base. He still won -- right?

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: So a cautionary tale.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Ok. All right. We have a lot more ahead, a lot more ahead.

Listen, the polls are still open in Texas and look, it's 1:30 in the morning here on the East Coast, in the central time zone, obviously 12:30 in the morning.

Listen, Biden is still building his lead in Texas and California. You can see Bernie Sanders still in the lead there by a big margin.

We're going to continue our coverage here on CNN. Super Tuesday into Wednesday.

We will be right back.

[01:33:55]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to our continuing coverage. This is history being made. The Democrats have a whole new race on their hands. Just days ago, you would have never seen this coming.

Joe Biden in the lead over Bernie Sanders in Texas. Sanders running very strong tonight where he was expected to, as he is expected to. Biden is the surprise.

Now there are also going to be big implications for Michael Bloomberg and Elizabeth Warren. We're going to get to that. Warren is having a tough time qualifying with 15 percent in a majority of the 14 states tonight.

But at the top -- 50,000 ahead right now, you see 77 percent in vote wise. That has moved up a bit recently. We have seen some vote total bumps in Dallas County and in Harris County.

So now we have an evolving story in Harris County, ok, which is part of this. They have been waiting in line for up to and over five hours to vote in this important populous county in Texas.

That is where we have Ed Lavandera. Ed -- what are you seeing there in terms of the story of how long, how they are feeling, why it's happening?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we are on the campus of Texas Southern University. This is the library, which is one of the voting locations here on this campus. And what we are told is that this is a -- kind of a new concept. A number of precincts consolidated their voting locations here at this particular library.

We have spoken with many people here tonight who have spent well over five hours -- now approaching six hours to vote, just behind these doors and around the corner. It has been a series of problems. Problems with the number of ballots on site, machines that were not working properly. In fact at midnight the machines shut down.

We were told these few people here starting to come out once again, these are the last about 50 or so people that are still left inside trying to vote nearly six hours after the polls officially closed here in the state of Texas.

[01:39:53]

LAVANDERA: So one of the reasons why we are seeing the slow result of Texas votes trickling is in part because of the long lines we have seen throughout Harris County, as we have talked about throughout much of the day.

This is one of the most fast-changing communities across all of Texas. The voter turnout has been huge, but I spoke with Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee who has represented this area for some time. She has been here throughout the night.

She told me that this precinct simply did not have enough voting machines. There were about 12 voting machines on site. They are very old machines. Haven't worked properly. And in her opinion they should have had at least 30 machines out here to handle the vast numbers of people that were coming to vote here at this particular polling location.

But the bottom line here Chris is that it is nearly 1:00 in the morning Central time and there are still just under 50 people who are still waiting to vote nearly six hours after the polls closed -- Chris.

CUOMO: Well, you know, there's two ways to look at it. First of all, talk about dedication. You know, a long night for you also, but this is our job. These people have families. They have jobs. All this time they have had to spend in polls.

This story like never goes away. Every election -- Ed, you and I are doing something like this where it's left to the states and they can't get it right. The most important operation of our democracy.

Ed -- thank you very much. Update us if there is any new information about further problems there. Appreciate it -- brother.

So David Chalian -- you know, with this story about whether or not they can get voting straight or not is going to go on as long as you and I are in the business.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes.

CUOMO: Let's start from the beginning. We keep mentioning this number -- 15 percent. Will Warren get to 15 percent? Only in a couple -- why 15 percent?

CHALIAN: Because you need to head 15 percent. It's like a magic number in this process to be eligible for delegates. And in two ways. You need to hit 15 percent statewide if you are going to accumulate delegates. And another way to do it is 15 percent in a given district -- a congressional district or in Texas, state senate districts.

Either way, it's roughly about 40 percent of the delegates total across the primary season awarded based on the statewide vote and about 60 percent, almost two-thirds of the delegates awarded based on the district level votes.

So that number, 15 percent, is what makes you able to collect delegates.

CUOMO: All right. So now let me get your head on the shock-o-meter here, ok.

Literally a few days ago, I was saying to you, how hard will it be for Biden to get to 15 percent in all 14 states. Everything changed much more radically. It would be impossible for someone to have seen what we're living right now.

CHALIAN: No way. We have seen a complete collapse of his direction of support. I mean -- by collapse I mean on him. It is -- I have never seen a 72-hour period like this, where you just see the momentum shift. We see it in the exit polls with late deciders. Everyone that decided late went for Biden.

We see it in this electability notion. We know Chris -- this entire electoral season has been about Democrats telling us I don't care about anything but defeating Donald Trump. That's why people waited late to make a decision, and it is to Joe Biden's benefit because Michael Bloomberg a few weeks ago when Joe Biden lost Iowa and New Hampshire Michael Bloomberg was coming on and saying I am the alternative. I am the electability alternative. I have the money and I am moderate enough. Like I can defeat Donald Trump.

Except, he then showed up on the debate stage and completely fell apart at the hand of Elizabeth Warren. And Joe Biden waited his time to get to South Carolina, the African American vote. Bloomberg was no longer a factor or on the decline.

And I think we all forgot, what do Democrats want more than anything? The person that can defeat Trump. And that has always been a Joe Biden strong suit.

CUOMO: So in terms of delegates and the delegate count tonight and what we've seen evolve -- take us through that.

CHALIAN: So let's look at the two big delate prices. Let's start in Texas -- 228 delegates at stake tonight. You see it's a really close race, Biden edging ahead of Sanders a little bit. But close races -- that means you split delegates pretty closely.

Look, we can't. Right now, we have assigned 30 delegates to Joe Biden out of Texas tonight, 29 to Sanders. So that kind of close race, he is not going to be able to amass a big delegate lead over Sanders out of Texas alone.

We still have 169 delegates to assign out of Texas. Lots of vote counting to do. That will look at it, state district by state district.

Look in California, the biggest prize -- 415 delegates at stake, you know they count very poorly in California. We've got to look at it -- congressional district by congressional district.

But right now, 48 delegates to Bernie Sanders, 27 to Biden. 340 still unallocated. We have a lot -- that will be days before we get all those delegates allocated.

But look at this. That is a net gain of 21 delegates for Bernie Sanders so far right at the beginning just out of California. Compare that to Biden's big surprise potential victory in Texas if he keeps where he is at? He is only netting one delegate right now.

The bigger the win, you get a big margin, and if Sanders can get a big margin in the biggest state, he could accumulate a bunch of delegates.

[01:45:00]

CUOMO: A huge number -- now, 340 unassigned. You say there are 169 unassigned in Texas. And again, you have to be surprised by what Biden is doing because it was unexpected.

Bernie is literally a movement. And we expect these strong finishes. So in terms of looking how many numbers are where, we are going to be about 38 percent through all available delegates at the end of this month, right?

CHALIAN: Right.

CUOMO: So where are we right now?

CHALIAN: Roughly at the end of Super Tuesday -- it is like 37 percent, 38 percent -- exactly.

And I think by the end of this month, we are in the 60.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: 60 percent.

CHALIAN: By the end of April, we are at 90 percent.

CUOMO: Right.

CHALIAN: I mean this thing is moving.

CUOMO: And that is why this first Super Tuesday really deserves the name.

CHALIAN: So critical -- exactly. So 1,344 delegates at stake tonight --

CUOMO: Right.

CHALIAN: -- on Super Tuesday.

This is what we've been able to reward tonight. Delegates tonight. Biden obviously having a good night so far. Still lots to come in California -- 245 delegates so far tonight. Sanders -- 170 delegates tonight. Seven delegates for Elizabeth Warren. Four for Michael Bloomberg and one for Tulsi Gabbard. That is delegates tonight.

CUOMO: So that's just tonight. What is the overall in the races up to date?

CHALIAN: And this is the whole thing. This is how you win the Democratic nomination, right -- Chris? 1,991 delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination.

This is the scoreboard. Biden in the lead with 298 delegates. He has 68 more delegates than Bernie Sanders, 230. Buttigieg had gotten 26, but he dropped out obviously. 15 for Warren. Seven for Klobuchar -- she is no longer a candidate. Four for Bloomberg, and one for Gabbard. Both of that from the night.

But that 68 -- you have to watch that 68 lead right now for Biden. At the end of all this, when Texas is fully counted, when California is fully in, does Sanders overtake him? And if so, by how much? Because of how well he is doing in California? Or does Joe Biden emerge from Super Tuesday, not just reviving his campaign but the actual front runner for the nomination --

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: Do you think that there's a chance that Joe Biden could be in the lead after California is all in?

CHALIAN: I have a hard time seeing them. Looking at the vote board behind you, right now Bernie Sanders is winning by ten points --

CUOMO: Right.

CHALIAN: -- 10 percentage points. he's going to get a big delegate haul out of California. I would imagine he will be ahead of Joe Biden.

CUOMO: Right.

CHALIAN: The question that every political operative in both of those campaigns will be asking is how much ahead? Is it impenetrable or can Joe Biden actually overtake him?

CUOMO: And the idea of coming out of Super Tuesday with this now being a bona fide two-person race was unthinkable -- literally days ago.

Let's take a break. When we come back we now have 77 percent of the vote in in Texas. what are we still waiting on? What will it mean? And then remember, we haven't even started to talk about what it means for Bloomberg or Warren yet.

Long night ahead. Stay with CNN.

[01:47:46]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: All right. we have a key race alert for you. You don't get more key than this.

We're watching Texas and California -- now 82 percent of the vote in Texas. So we are starting to get there. We just showed you Ed Lavandera though down in Harris County. They've been waiting for five hours to vote. The votes still trickling in there.

Look at this. Arguably, the story of the night for Joe Biden. Bernie Sanders being strong, no surprise to anybody. But for him to be in the lead in Texas when people are contemplating whether he'd be able to stay in the race just days ago -- big story for Joe Biden.

Big story for Bernie Sanders -- California. Look at what's going on here. Now remember, historically California is going to take time to have the vote come in. What do I mean by time? Not tonight, ok.

Maybe a little bit better tomorrow, maybe by the end of the week. That's what I'm talking about -- 36 percent reporting. Sanders up by ten -- this could be huge for him and it could be -- wind up being the tale of the tape of the night because of the delegates at stake -- 415. That's the big prize.

He was supposed to do well. Bernie is the only person with a machine of momentum behind him of a movement. Biden didn't even spend money in this state. He barely had money for Texas. He barely had money for Super Tuesday. That is why it is such an interesting surprise tonight.

So what are we going to be watching for? The top line story is can Biden hold on in Texas, probably. What is the margin? What does that mean for delegates? How well can he do in California?

Second to your story is, what does it mean for Bloomberg and Warren? Warren went from being on the heels of Bernie Sanders and now trying to qualify with 15 percent in some of the states.

Now, for some context of what it means for Bernie Sanders let's go to Jeff Zeleny.

Bernie Sanders, huge machine, huge movement behind him, tons of energy, tons of money. There was a narrative about him that had gone away.

Now after tonight it may come back which is Jeff Zeleny -- do you believe the ceiling argument comes back about Bernie Sanders after tonight?

ZELENY: Chris -- there's no question that one central argument Bernie Sanders has made again and again, he said if turnout is high, I win. I can expand this coalition to defeat the President.

That has been proven not true on most election nights and tonight as well particularly look at Virginia. Look at North Carolina, the turnout was up dramatically for 2016 but it helped Joe Biden.

We're looking in the suburbs, that was not something that benefited Bernie Sanders. So one of the biggest takeaway questions of the night, one of the biggest challenges facing Bernie Sanders going forward-- is there a ceiling on his coalition of supporters?

Yes he has young voters, no question. But talking to some of his advisers and supporters tonight, they know that they do need to expand even more for him to go forward.

Yes they are pointing to a big win in California. He could come out of this evening with almost as many delegates or perhaps more than Joe Biden. But there are some questions about his coalition here and is there is a ceiling on his support. He's shown very little indication of moving or growing.

[01:54:56]

ZELENY: So the takeaway of this evening, certainly one of them, which is big for him going forward as this race goes into Missouri and Michigan, into Florida, into Illinois -- those other states where he struggled with four years ago, can he expand his coalition? Tonight, he didn't show that he can -- Chris.

CUOMO: But on the flipside, he did show tonight or is in the process of showing he does have a coalition. He's got a movement behind him --

ZELENY: Sure.

CUOMO: -- he's got a massive machine, amazing representation of his vote within the Latino community which is going to be relevant in a lot of different states to come.

And he's running up against Joe Biden, assuming it does become a two person race. You know, Elizabeth Warren is going to have to figure out where she is. Bloomberg has got big decisions to make. But Biden has got no dough right now.

He didn't even have money to spend --

ZELENY: Well he will be by tomorrow.

CUOMO: -- for Super Tuesday.

ZELENY: He'll definitely have dough by tomorrow. And that's the question here. I mean momentum, if money was everything, Michael Bloomberg would be running away with this evening. He's not, he's flying back to New York City, reassessing his campaign.

So the reality is this race has been reset overnight. But this is going to be one where we're going to have to take it week by week, patiently see if it has other twists or turns in it but it is quickly becoming a two person race here.

But a question facing Sanders, again -- can he grow his coalition? We will see.

CUOMO: You've got the right question but you've got the wrong time interval. We are doing it hour by hour -- Jeff.

We're going to wait on what's happening with Texas, California is still just coming in. That's the big prize of the night.

Let's take a quick break. When we come back we will have more votes coming in, more of the story -- next.

[01:56:25]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END