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CNN Live Event/Special
CNN America's Choice 2020, Super Tuesday; Joe Biden Leading in Primary Votes; Coronavirus is Deadlier than Seasonal Flu; Japan to Postpone Tokyo Olympics; Storm Ripped Through Tennessee. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired March 04, 2020 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: Super Tuesday, still happening even though it is Wednesday here in the United States. Safe to say it is Wednesday across the country even on the west coast.
The clear winner is the former vice president of the United States and Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden winning a lot of states tonight really against all odds.
Many people had counted him out but he's won a lot of states including Texas which CNN just projected not long ago. The former vice president winning Alabama, Arkansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.
The other person in this race is Bernie Sanders winning Colorado, Utah, and Vermont.
There you go. By the way, polls are still open in California and Texas. Also, Maine has not been called yet. So, we shall see if we get the numbers in Maine. But it has really been interesting to watch here.
Also, I just want to get to the folks we have. We've got a panel of experts here to join me to talk about all this going on.
Mr. David Swerdlick is here. We've got a bunch of people. A bunch of very smart people. And Jackie Kucinich is here, Karen Finney, Patti Solis Doyle, and Amanda Carpenter. Thank you so much for joining us.
DAVID SWERDLICK, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes.
LEMON: Tell me this has not been fascinating to watch?
JACKIE KUCINICH, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, THE DAILY BEAST: Truly. I mean, if I don't -- if I didn't have to be here, I'd be up anyway because it has been a really exciting election day or night that we didn't. I mean, Texas in particular, we didn't think it was going to fall this way.
LEMON: Yes.
KUCINICH: So, the fact how many election nights other than Iowa not getting any results. Do you have -- do you have real surprises, the voters really taking a different turn.
LEMON: Yes.
KUCINICH: It's just been -- it's been really fascinating to watch particularly when you look at the people who made up their minds at the last minute.
LEMON: Yes.
KUCINICH: The age, the racial demographics it's just really been a fascinating night in the American electorate.
LEMON: yes. I have to correct something because the polls were open a little bit ago. They're now closed but the votes are still being --
KUCINICH: All right.
LEMON: -- being counted. But people are waiting in line in Texas six hours after the polls close.
KUCINICH: It's amazing.
LEMON: I know. It is really unbelievable. But I said earlier that I, you know, I knew that I would be working late or early whatever you want to call it. And I took a nap today but then I had CNN on the background and I was listening to Wolf and I said wait a minute, Joe Biden is winning in all of these states? What is -- and I couldn't sleep. I had to wake up to watch this. What do you think about this, Patti?
PATTI SOLIS DOYLE, FORMER MANAGER, HILLARY CLINTON CAMPAIGN: I mean holy shamoley. I mean, yes. Look, we knew he was going to have a good night, you know, the blow out win in South Carolina, these pivotal endorsements, the coalescing of the moderate.
LEMON: That gave him confidence but not only that, it also gave Democrats confidence. Go on.
DOYLE: Correct. But Texas for sure like holy shamoley, but also states like Minnesota and Massachusetts and Maine where Bernie Sanders won by 30 points in 2016. That Biden was able to beat Bernie Sanders in those states is really saying something.
KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I was not surprise.
LEMON: You were not.
FINNEY: I'm just going to put that out there. This is word like I'm having back and forth about this for some time.
SWERDLICK: Indeed.
FINNEY: Look, I keep saying this. We have to reorient our thinking about how this all works.
LEMON: Why is that?
FINNEY: There is no you win Iowa, you win New Hampshire, boom, you're off to the races. It doesn't work like that anymore. You cannot win the Democratic nomination without showing very intentionally, I was with the DNC when we did this.
You can win in the west, you can win in the south, you can win in the northeast, you can win in the Midwest because we want our candidate to be tested. We want to know that our candidate can win different demographics. There are different issues that people are dealing with in different parts of the country.
We need -- you know, after John Kerry's loss there was a huge sort of, you know, re-envisioning of how do we get out of being an 18-state party, how do we make sure that we are making inroads back into the south again? How do we make sure we're not taking any voters for granted in any part of the country for granted?
So, what was surprising to me was that, Biden pulled it out in terms of his emotional energy going into South Carolina. Because that's what we're all really talking about, right?
[03:05:01]
Can he bring it, where is that guy, where's that energy? And he did it. And I think that is the question going forward.
Clearly, they did a good job of planning a good few days coming out of South Carolina with the big endorsements that was clearly, but now he's going to show and I think a lot of people in these other states that's what they were looking for, that's what they are waiting to see. Let me see if he can do it.
And I think they felt the felt the confidence to what you were saying, OK, maybe he's got, he's got to keep doing it, though.
LEMON: Right.
FINNEY: And as Jim Clyburn said we've got to keep retooling this thing because now that people are believing, you've got to show them that they were right to believe you, they are right to put your faith in you, and that you can deliver.
LEMON: All right. So, Bernie Sanders, obviously, after all, you know, when --
FINNEY: Yes.
LEMON: -- when he saw what was happening, he took to Prime Time. He said, well, I better get out there.
SWERDLICK: Yes.
LEMON: It's Prime Time, I need to say something. He came out really firing on all cylinders attacking Joe Biden's record. Let's watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: One of us in this race led the opposition to the war in Iraq. You're looking at him.
(CROWD CHEERING)
SANDERS: Another candidate voted for the war in Iraq.
(CROWD BOOING)
SANDERS: One of us has spent his entire life fighting against cuts in social security and wanting to expand social security.
(CROWD CHEERING)
SANDERS: Another candidate has been on the floor of the Senate calling for cuts to social security, Medicare, Medicaid, and veteran's programs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: David Swerdlick, two things here.
SWERDLICK: Yes.
LEMON: Number one how is this going to land with Democrats who have yet to vote? And this is, I shouldn't say a signal. It's a two-man race now.
SWERDLICK: I think it's a two-man race with two wild cards still Warren and Bloomberg. I agree with Karen that to a lot of degree the old rule books are out of windows, this has to go state by state primary by primary.
And I certainly agree that Vice President Biden is on a roll. The last two weeks have transformed his campaign. His energy is different. Had the big win in South Carolina. You were right. Don't count him out. I give full credit. Here's the thing about Senator Sanders --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Wait, I said the same thing.
FINNEY: No, no. When we have Beto --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: I said you don't count anybody out and I brought up the John McCain example.
SWERDLICK: Yes.
LEMON: Remember John McCain was carrying his own luggage --
(CROSSTALK)
FINNEY: Yes, thank you.
LEMON: -- in (Inaudible) coach.
FINNEY: Yes, that's right.
LEMON: -- and after he had been on his private plane and then became the nominee, but go on anyway.
SWERDLICK: Karen was right. OK. Here's the point.
FINNEY: The black woman was right.
SWERDLICK: Senator Sanders --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: That was man's -- but go on.
SWERDLICK: -- he is still in front but he's been caught. But he's not out of it by any stretch.
FINNEY: No.
SWERDLICK: He's just been caught.
LEMON: Right.
SWERDLICK: He has the passion; he still has the movement. He has a couple of states that are coming up in front that are looking better for him than some of these southern states.
And here's the thing. That clip you played, Don, where he was hammering Biden on his Iraq war vote. I talked about that on Twitter earlier tonight. A lot of people gave me Twitter eye rolls. This was two decades ago.
But people should realize, one, this is an issue there's a clear difference between them and Biden has no comeback for it, so of course Sanders is going to go for it.
And the other problem for Vice President Biden is if he is the nominee President Trump is going to hammer this over and over and over again. Doesn't matter what President Trump's fluctuating opinions on --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: He was wrong on Iraq war. He didn't know he says he was
SWERDLICK: Have you met President Trump? He doesn't care. He will hammer Vice President Biden on this. So, it's better for him to get this now.
LEMON: Yes. What did you say? Were you -- counted him out? SWERDLICK: I thought -- I thought he would win South Carolina. I
thought he would do well tonight. I didn't think he would do anywhere near this well.
(CROSSTALK)
FINNEY: I think the phrase was he's going to be dead.
LEMON: All right.
FINNEY: He's going to be dead in the water.
(CROSSTALK)
DOYLE: That's the phrase I use.
SWERDLICK: No. He has no southern states.
DOYLE: He had no money. He had no resources. He had no ground game --
FINNEY: Yes.
DOYLE: -- in 14 states.
LEMON: But don't you guys know that's why the --
(CROSSTALK)
DOYLE: I counted him out. And I'm wrong.
FINNEY: Hold on.
DOYE: I'm wrong.
LEMON: All right.
FINNEY: Remember in 2008 when every week --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Well, let's -- the guy that Patti and David counted out let's listen -- let's hear from him.
FINNEY: Yes.
LEMON: This is his new mantra.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Things are looking all for good.
(CROWD CHEERING)
BIDEN: For those -- for those who have been knocked down, counted out, left behind, this is your campaign. (CROWD CHEERING)
BIDEN: Just a few days ago, the press and the pundits have declared the campaign dead.
(CROWD CHEERING)
BIDEN: And then came South Carolina, they had something to say about it.
(CROWD CHEERING)
BIDEN: And we're told when it got to Super Tuesday it would be over. Well, it may be over for the other guy.
(CROWD CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[03:10:00]
LEMON: It seems like that message has broader appeal than just to the Democratic base. I mean, is he talking about maybe some cross over voters, Amanda? What do you think?
AMANDA CARPENTER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I got to tell you --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: I know he's talking to these guys.
CARPENTER: Yes. As a long-time Republican I never thought I'd be so thankful for Joe Biden because tonight he made the prospect of a Trump-Sanders election much more unlikely. It still could happen but I think there's widespread agreement that that would be a very polarizing election, it would be a very tough choice for many people who are in the middle.
And I think it's worth noting that many of the Super Tuesday states today were open primaries where Republicans could vote. Virginia, Texas, I'm very curious to see the numbers if any of that in large turnout had to do with Republicans who chose to participate in the Democratic primary. Maybe because they felt spurned by the current Republican Party.
But when you look at the losses that the Republican Party has suffered with suburban voters particularly in Virginia which is now completely under Democratic control, you have to wonder if they are drifting towards the Democratic Party for the 2020 election. And that has led to the Biden surge.
SWERDLICK: The one thing that I was -- I see the wave of relief across your face, Amanda. The non-Trump Republican --
(CROSSTALK)
CARPENTER: We're not there yet but there's a chance.
SWERDLICK: The Biden we saw in that clip is the guy everybody has been waiting for.
DOYLE: Right.
SWERDLICK: In the CNN town hall he talked about the nuns and unions, and you know, America we can do this. Tonight, he said I wrote it down, he said my lord, this is still United States of America. He'd been waiting for that.
Here's the problem, though, if he is the nominee, Karen, Democrats will go into the general election with their worst debater. I'm sorry. That's just the reality of the situation. He's been coming on strong but he is someone who's going to have a tough time if he winds up debating President Trump.
FINNEY: Hillary Clinton won every single debate and how did that work out?
SWERDLICK: She was -- and she performed --
(CROSSTALK)
FINNEY: I'm just saying, and so the debates --
(CROSSTALK)
SWERDLICK: She performed well in the --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: OK. Listen.
FINNEY: No, no.
LEMON: Do you think people really care about -- I just wonder if people really care about debates all that much? Do they want a debater or do they want who they want?
SWERDLICK: I think they want who they want.
LEMON: Yes.
SWERDLICK: Biden won people who self-described as Democrats, won African-Americans. Sanders won young voters, Latinos and people who self-describe as independents. It, like you said, Don, it's a two- person race.
LEMON: Yes.
SWERDLICK: But I just think that each candidate has strengths.
LEMON: So, listen, a number of us are here in 2012. Remember in 2012 when Republicans had their postmortem about how to have a broader tent, I'm just wondering if Democrats are going to do that because they have such a diverse party but now, they have, you know, two white men in their 70s who are now --
FINNEY: Right.
LEMON: -- sort of the standard bearers for the party. What happens?
CARPENTER: Well, Joe Biden owes a thank you to James Clyburn for delivering --
(CROSSTALK)
FINNEY: I got it.
CARPENTER: I mean, the story of this race to me isn't really, and I look to Democrat speak, but it's just, I'm having my two sense, is not Joe Biden making a comeback, it's the Democratic Party surrounding around him and saying we want to win. We're not going in this with Sanders. I mean, hey made a tough choice.
LEMON: Here's what -- here's what no one is saying. And these are the texts that I'm getting. And I don't mean from black folks. I'm getting this from white Democrats who are saying, Don, thank God for James Clyburn and black voters in South Carolina who propelled Joe Biden to this moment.
FINNEY: So just remember that when you're giving your campaign --
(CROSSTALK)
DOYLE: Absolutely.
LEMON: Disgust.
FINNEY: And just remember that. Don't take us for granted, particularly black women. We're so sick of it. I think that was definitely part of the message of South Carolina.
The other -- but you know, look, I think we have to take a look, I've said this before, culturally. Why is it that we all decided, the voters are deciding that it's about an old white man to defeat Donald Trump? Right?
I mean, I've seen this in many focus groups across the country with African-Americans, older, younger, low information voters, middle class voters who say they're nervous about what white people are going to do. That was a big part of it.
They did not think that white voters would vote for as our colleague van Jones talked about the white lash of 2016 that they would vote for a black woman, that they would vote for a Latino, that they would vote for a man of color. So, part of this is, you know, I think we felt, it's almost like we have to go back to go forward.
LEMON: Listen, that is a legitimate discussion. That is, I mean, I think African-American voters in general are very pragmatic.
FINNEY: Yes. LEMON: And to have -- that is part of the consideration. In this moment, this Trump moment who is the person that can beat Trump, and is that a white man? I think people take that into consideration at this point.
FINNEY: Absolutely.
LEMON: Maybe? Is it? I don't know.
FINNEY: No, I think that's true.
LEMON: Is that a smart choice or not? I don't know.
FINNEY: We'll find out.
LEMON: I don't know. We shall find out.
DOYLE: I want to say a little bit about my people.
LEMON: Quickly, please.
DOYLE: Absolutely. Joe Biden owes his come back and his candidacy to African-American voters, but I think he's got some work to do with Latino voters for sure.
LEMON: Yes.
DOYLE: He's got to -- he's got to reach out to them, he's got to connect with them, he's got to talk to them.
LEMON: Right.
DOYLE: He cannot take them for granted.
KUCINICH: And Bernie Sanders did.
FINNEY: Yes.
KUCINICH: Bernie Sanders spent a lot of time in California.
(CROSSTALK)
DOYLE: He spent four years --
LEMON: You can see that in the results tonight in this --
(CROSSTALK)
[03:15:01]
SWERDLICK: Radio ads.
LEMON: -- the Super Tuesday results.
OK, we're going to talk about the races that have not been called, Maine and California, when we come back. Don't go anywhere. It's early, it's late depending on how you look at it.
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Rosemary 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 is 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 seeing a full 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.
In Iran, the holy city of Qom will quarantine anyone trying to leave who has a fever and shows symptoms of the virus. Qom is believed to be Iran's ground zero for the outbreak.
A field hospital is being built by the city's university to handle the spread of the virus. Iran still has the largest outbreak in the Middle East, with the death toll near 80 and over 2,300 infections.
Well, stock markets in Asia have traded mostly higher for a third straight day. The Nikkei and the Shanghai Composite closed with small gains, while the Seoul KOSPI surged above 2 percent. The Hang Seng was the only major index to close lower.
In the U.S., futures are up well over 1 percent right now. Stocks have plummeted on Tuesday, even though the Federal Reserve made an emergency interest cut is the impact of the coronavirus.
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 that report.
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The fact that we're even having this discussion 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 of 2011. The earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown at Fukushima. This was Japan's re-introduction 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 was only 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 isn't under control when they leave Japan and go back to their home countries.
It could be an absolutely devastating public health crisis. And yet, obviously Japan, which has invested tens of millions of dollars in hosting these games, they want this to go forward.
So, they have 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 pushed them back from the late July start time, at least they say the games could be held in Tokyo.
But of course, the world and 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.
CHURCH: At least 24 people are dead in the U.S. State of Tennessee after severe storms and at least one tornado ripped through the Nashville area. Thousands across the state are without electricity, while others have been left homeless.
One local TV station was broadcasting while the tornado touched down just outside.
And that's your CNN News now. I'm Rosemary Church. Now it's back to our special Super Tuesday election coverage.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: All right. The big one to watch. I'm here with Phil Mattingly. We have to watch California. It's the big prize of the night. It is historically slow. So, there is nothing odd going on tonight. As we see the state at play, where are we?
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, Bernie Sanders with a pretty significant lead. Forty-two percent reporting. But as you noted, and I think it's an important caveat, we are going to be waiting for days to get the final results.
Keep in mind in 2016, California primary by the end of the night, Hillary Clinton was up by 21 points on Bernie Sanders. By the time everything was said and done, Hillary Clinton was up by seven points.
So, things will move, but if you look at the map right now you see a lot of light blue. And that light blue is Bernie Sanders, currently up by about 215,000 votes, 31 percent to 21 percent.
[03:20:02]
Here's the interesting thing. You want to take a look at these counties. Because they're all light blue, where is Joe Biden? How is Joe Biden doing?
Keep -- so let's pull upward Joe Biden is in first and second. So, first, obviously you see three counties right now. He is not dominating anywhere. But when you pull up second, pretty much throughout the course of the state. So, he's running one, two. He pulled third too. It is all of the state. He is running one, two, and three with Bernie Sanders throughout the state.
Now why does that matter? Because when you start to click on these counties, let's go to Los Angeles County, largest county in the state, Joe Biden down 50,000 votes to Bernie Sanders. But he is at 22 percent. He is over 15 percent. He is over 15 percent statewide. He's over 15 percent in a lot of the congressional delegations -- or congressional districts as well. That means he's going to be getting delegates.
What you are trying to do if you are Joe Biden, given the fact that Bernie Sanders had money, given the fact that Bernie Sanders had organization, is as you tick through the different congressional districts -- we're focused on counties here -- but as you tick through the congressional district, stay above 15 percent, you start to take away delegates from Bernie Sanders or at least minimize how many he can pull out of the state.
The other thing to keep in mind here? This individual right here, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Right now, over 15 percent, over the delegate threshold. We talked about this earlier. Every delegate that Michael Bloomberg gets is one last delegate that Bernie Sanders can get and Joe Biden is not mad about that.
CUOMO: So, this is there are two different scenarios. One is, the main question for Bloomberg is, are you doing what you want to do, which is to not have Bernie get the nomination because you don't think he can beat Trump. Or are you just hurting Biden? California is a state where you are helping Biden against Bernie by dividing the pie.
MATTINGLY: I think it's a possible scenario. It's different than what we are seeing throughout the south. If we are going to Tennessee or Arkansas.
CUOMO: Where he was taking Biden --
(CROSSTALK)
MATTINGLY: Where there was a sense where you could go through and we did the first, second, and third where Michael Bloomberg was.
CUOMO: Right.
MATTINGLY: And you could see that he was concentrated heavily on Joe Biden districts. Now let's see where Michael Bloomberg is on first, second, or third here. You see Michael Bloomberg not leading in any counties, and second in a couple of counties, and third, and a lot more countries.
And I think the big question is he is sitting in a lot of these counties somewhere between 13 and 16 percent. When you move that into congressional districts side of things, whether or not he is in 15 percent to start polling delegates there. CUOMO: So, two things to watch. One is, Bloomberg just over the 15
percent threshold here. In Texas, he is right on the 15 percent threshold. If he doesn't make it in either place, you know, once they do the readjustments obviously it's very close here.
MATTINGLY: Yes.
CUOMO: Ninety-two percent, but you know, they are going to have to make some adjustments. If he is below here and doesn't make it in California, he's got a tough sell going forward, even with all his money because he doesn't seem to be practical. So, that's something to watch.
The other thing is, Bernie Sanders has the movement behind him, has the machine, has the money, he was supposed to do well tonight. The argument is, is he underperforming expectations versus looking at how he did four years ago? What is your take?
MATTINGLY: So, it's an interesting thing. And we were talking about Maine earlier. And I think this is, it's a key point to make because --
CUOMO: We can't call Maine yet.
MATTINGLY: We can't call Maine yet.
CUOMO: Too close.
MATTINGLY: Still outstanding. Now --
(CROSSTALK)
CUOMO: Even with 91 percent reporting.
MATTINGLY: However, Joe Biden with about a 2,500-vote lead. Look, going in into tonight, it's a northeastern senator and Bernie Sanders, obviously, he did well in New Hampshire. He did well in his home state of Vermont, expected to do well in Maine as well.
CUOMO: Except for Michael Bloomberg owns this house which is three quarters this size.
MATTINGLY: Where he is doing very, very well. So, I think the Biden campaign right now is thrilled by the fact that he has a very real opportunity to win the state. Obviously, we haven't projected it.
Now there's one thing to keep in mind. I flip back to 2016 earlier. Bernie Sanders won by 29 points. The difference here and it is an importance difference is that it was a caucus state back in 2016.
However, Bernie Sanders who does well in caucuses. We obviously saw that in Nevada. Bernie Sanders had a very large well of support back in 2016 in the state, and again, northeastern senator there's a lot of carryover there.
Joe Biden competing in the state, competing well in the state with an opportunity to win in the state based on what we are looking at right now with 91 percent reporting up by about 2,500 votes. That was one of those things we were not expecting going into the night and one of the surprises.
CUOMO: So, all right. If we are going to chew on this point, you could write it off to one, he's got a bigger field, and two, it was a caucus, that structure, that's organizing, that's passion and penetration. It's no longer apples to apples.
He still has to deal though with the metric of he is not getting as many people out to vote as were expected this time if it is in fact a revolution. And that's what he is betting on, right? People stayed on the sidelines last time, especially young voters coming in. We don't really see a lot of evidence of that tonight.
MATTINGLY: We haven't seen it. And I think one of the interesting -- and I don't have turnout count appear right now. But when you go into some of the southern states, what we saw in South Carolina, what we saw in South Carolina, what we saw in Virginia tonight, what we've seen kind of across the board to some degree, is there's been a boost in turnout on a lot of these states. But the boost hasn't necessarily been coming from younger voters.
CUOMO: Right.
MATTINGLY: It's been coming from the suburban voters. It's been coming from the African-American voters. That bodes well for Joe Biden based on what we have seen tonight.
[03:25:03]
And so, I think the big question we've all been talking about and we've been talking about on primary nights, caucus nights up to this point, is can -- does Bernie Sanders have a ceiling? Can he expand behind -- beyond the coalition that he had in 2016 that left him just short of the nomination?
And at least at this point, it doesn't seem clear that that's going to be the case. Now again, I will caveat it with, Bernie Sanders is going to do very well in the state of California.
(CROSSTALK)
CUOMO: Yes, he can clean up in the state of California. I do think one of the things we're paying attention to and with the acknowledgment that this might take several days, is what are his margins going to be? Will he be able to out of the 415 delegates that are up, can he pull 250?
CUOMO: Yes.
MATTINGLY: Can he pull 300? Or can Joe Biden maybe with some help of Mayor Mike Bloomberg keep things at least within a reasonable state to wear this night ends up as a wash when going in maybe four, five, six days ago.
CUOMO: Yes.
MATTINGLY: We thought this was going to be a huge night for Bernie Sanders.
CUOMO: And the caveat that you gave us before that Hillary Clinton had a massive number before they did the readjustment in California four years ago, and it wound up I think a seven-point stretch.
So, let's take a break, Phil, you're the man.
Two things that are worth staying up for going forward. One, Texas is an amazing metaphor for the state of play across the country in terms of populations that Biden and Bernie are both have to win and are challenged by. And what about Michigan? It's coming up. It could be the fault line between the two campaigns if it stays a two-person race. We're going to take you deep inside that. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:30:00]
LEMON: All right, Super Tuesday coverage and Joe Biden -- sorry -- we came back from the break -- Joe Biden winning Texas, winning a lot of states really. Joe Biden winning Alabama, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Minnesota, Massachusetts, and Texas. As I said, Bernie Sanders winning Vermont, Colorado, and Utah.
So here we go let's talk about something that I find very interesting, though. The women and their influence or really sort of the lack of influence in this election. I want to talk about the delegate count in this election. Elizabeth Warren not even winning her own home state of Massachusetts. She obviously campaigned there, but Joe Biden winning that state.
It's very interesting to me. He didn't even campaign there, he didn't really spend lots of money there. But let's look at the delegate count there. So the delegate count at least in this race -- put the delegate count up for me if you will. So, in the delegates to date, you have Amy Klobuchar who has seven delegates, right? You have Elizabeth Warren who has 20 delegates and you have Tulsi Gabbard who has one delegate.
And then you have Bernie Sanders who has 245, Joe Biden 321, Pete Buttigieg 26, and then you have Mayor Michael Bloomberg who has four delegates. I want to bring it now to the women who are here to talk about that. You have these women, these very strong, very powerful, very smart women in this race.
You had Hillary Clinton, who is defeated despite winning the popular vote. You have Elizabeth Warren who didn't do well, Amy Klobuchar who has dropped out of this race. You had this very diverse Democratic Party and then you have the women, you have all the white guys who have the delegates. What's going on here?
KUCINICH: You know, Klobuchar had just really small amount of time to really use that debate an amazing debate -- that amazing debate performance she had where everyone kind of took notice and allowed her to, you know, plow through and finish third in New Hampshire, and then she really wasn't able to make the most of it.
She really wasn't able to catch fire and that really isn't her fault. I mean, she didn't have the money to spend in some of these states. Now, Elizabeth Warren it's fascinating, because she had the ground game that everybody envied in Iowa, in New Hampshire, in several of these states. She had been working on this forever and if you look at the spending in some of the states.
LEMON: She still has money now. She still have money.
KUCINICH: She still has money, but she also has a high burn rate. So, and she's already planning to go to places like Michigan, like Arizona and she already has those on the calendar. We know that it doesn't really matter, but in theory she's planning on going forward. The fact that this ground game did not turn out votes for her, did not get people to the polls for Elizabeth Warren is really -- there's really a lot of digging as to why that didn't happen, whether it's sexism, whether it's the fact someone did just changed their mind.
I heard women when I was in Iowa tell me we're Warren fans, were worried that people -- they liked Warren, they heard her speak. They went to the polls and then they were worried that a woman couldn't beat Donald Trump.
LEMON: But you're reading my mind. I'm wanting -- does it say something about the candidate or about the electorate?
FINNEY: It's a little bit of both. So much of the research show, this is something that, you know, Patty dealt with in the White House with Hillary in 2008, seen it with women candidates again and again and again. When it comes to executive office our country is still very uncomfortable with women in power, and that's part of why women have to over credential again and again. In 16, we said, she would -- Hillary Clinton would have been the most qualified, right?
You've heard -- and you also have heard both Klobuchar and Warren and certainly Kamala when she was still talking about their electability. And remember that for women what goes into electability is do I think she - I like her? We don't care if we like male candidates or not. Men come into a race with the expectation that they're qualified. Women have to prove themselves.
So, all of that goes into how voters are analyzing the candidate, and certainly we also know that women -- I think this is what we saw with Kamala. When a woman takes a hit -- particularly at a male candidate she takes a hit in her likability. And I think with Kamala part of what happened when she didn't have enough time to get it back up. So, for all of these women, I think all --
[22:35:04]
LEMON: You meant between her and Joe Biden.
FINNEY: And Joe Biden. Sorry, yes. That first debate I think people were, you know, initially people like it and then they sort of --
LEMON: The same thing happened with Elizabeth Warren and Mike Bloomberg.
FINNEY: Yes, that's right.
LEMON: The first time they were like, OK, it's great, and the second time I think they were it's too much.
FINNEY: It's always that fine line for women, right. It was always you know, I was talking about this that the first part of her hit on Mike Bloomberg at that second debate was solid. She kind of went the next part of it to talk about the pregnancy discrimination and from what I, you know, in the room --
LEMON: Booed.
FINNEY: Audibly shocked and booed.
LEMON: I got to tell you when I got back to New York and I got into the car at the airport the first thing the driver said was -- Latino driver, he said you've got to tell Elizabeth Warren, because I did the town hall, you got to tell Elizabeth Warren to back off of Mike Bloomberg. Too much it seems personal like she has a vendetta.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, she does. She doesn't like billionaires. That's what made it so enjoyable to watch.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because I don't know actually she's coming from -- she was made for that.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: But also, I have to tell you then and the women I spoke to said that they thought that -- they knew and they worked in corporate America that NDA's are standard part of corporate America especially with severance packages and that they knew that. And many of them knew that if you've got a great severance package you don't want people knowing how much money you have -- and they that knew most of it have nit -- didn't have to do with, you know, allegations of sexual harassment or whatever. There are some but those are few and far between. A lot of it -- most of them had to do with severance packages and they thought it was just way too much. But anyway, go on.
SOLIS DOYLE: I have to say this whole dynamic really upsets me. The fact that we're even still talking about, well, she can't go too far, she can't hit too hard. You know, in 2018 more women than ever before in our history ran for public office. More women than ever ran for public office. Women are going to be pivotal in this election. We started this presidential election with six women running.
More than ever before in an election cycle. We're down to two, and it really upsets me that someone like Elizabeth Warren who was stellar on the debate stage, had a great organization, smart, tough, had resources, somehow just seemed to -- has been like shoved aside and we don't know why.
FINNEY: But we also saw in the coverage, I mean --
SOLIS DOYLE: Right.
FINNEY: -- why are we talking about whether Amy Klobuchar was nice to her staff? Do you think Michael Bloomberg --
(CROSSTALK)
OK, but -- this is what I'm talking about.
LEMON: Yes, but Michael Bloomberg got hit -- Michael Bloomberg do get hit about being nice to his staff. That was part of the whole bit from --
FINNEY: No, that was like oh, I like that dress on you, girl. That's not the same thing. To patty's point, I think it's really important we acknowledge this. They won for Congressional seats. Most voters believe that, you know, women tend to be -- we are collaborative leaders. We are good at that. So sending us to Congress to help clean up the mess, that's a smart thing. It's executive leadership that becomes a problem.
LEMON: I want to get to something else that's very important. I want you to jump in, but I want to get something that is really important. Go on.
DAVID SWERDLICK, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, I was just going to say I'm an honorary woman on this panel. But let me just (inaudible) really quick. I don't think sexism explains the whole thing. I think one of the reasons that the two front runners are the front runners is because they've both run for president before, but Senator Warren was hammered on her Medicare for all plan and her tax plans in a way that none of the men were the entire last year. To me that was a sexist double standard.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's exactly right.
LEMON: But I have to get -- the reason I started this whole conversation is because the success of all this has to do with Democratic women this party is driven by mostly women of color and suburban women, right, college educated women, many of them white who hate Donald Trump and -- right?
(CROSSTALK)
And who hate the disparities that are happening in this country. That is really the heart and soul of the Democratic Party, and so that's why I started this conversation. And we all really -- the country doesn't do that well.
We're going to continue talking about this. The votes are still coming in in California, also Maine. And also CNN projects that Joe Biden wins Texas. We'll be right back.
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[03:40:00]
CUOMO: All right, let's take a look at the couple of things that developed tonight and what they mean going forward. Rebecca, let me ask you something. The idea of Bernie Sanders has the movement, has the momentum, did that bear out tonight, or is the proof that we didn't see the young voters and now we have to question how much the movement manifests in votes?
REBECCA BUCK, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Exactly, the young voters didn't turn out but I think possibly the more consequential thing that we saw tonight, Chris, is the pragmatic voters turned out in the Democratic Party. What we saw in the exit polls and what we saw in Biden winning many of these states is that Democrats were less concerned with ideology, less concerned with does the candidate believe everything I believe, more concerned with pragmatism and more concern with this question that we've been asking and hearing from voters for months, who can beat Donald Trump, and tonight many of them decided that's Joe Biden.
CUOMO: And what we're calling strategic voters. Those who were late breaking, seeing what their best chances. All right, so, here we have Super Tuesday. Let's move forward to Super Tuesday, too, for a second. Michigan, Professor Brownstein you have great concerns about Michigan as a fault line, why?
[03:45:08]
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, AND SENIOR EDITOR OF THE ATLANTIC: I think that's a big state that's up next. It was the biggest -- probably the biggest state that Sanders won as I recall in 2016. It was of his most emphatic victory. He beat Hillary Clinton. He beat her there precisely because he won working class white voters by 15 points. And in the first four states, the first three states on the calendar this year, actually first four, including South Carolina, Sanders won those non-college white voters in each of the first four contests.
Tonight very different story. In most states Biden won. Middle class Joe, who was supposed to be the candidate for working class whites and struggled early, but he won then in more states than Sanders tonight. Sanders in his speech, I think was targeting Michigan tonight when he talked about trade deals and that was the way he kind of pounded Hillary Clinton on NAFTA.
Here's an interesting twist that's been discussed very little. In Sanders version of a green new deal, he would ban the sale of an internal combustion engine as of 2030. OK, you could not sell a car with an internal combustion engine after 2030. This has been discussed almost not at all, I mean, no one's really raised it, but I do wonder in the next week in Michigan if workers at Ford and G.M. believe that their future can turn on that kind of time frame. I mean, most people understand that this transition is coming eventually, but anyway --
CUOMO: The combustion engine in Michigan may be what Castro talk is about in south Florida.
BROWNSTEIN: Exactly. And -- but Michigan I think of all the states that are voting, I mean, if Sanders has a way back -- Washington should be a good state for him next week, but if he has a way back, it has to be re-claiming an advantage among blue collar white voters, in those rustbelt states, because it's not only Michigan next week but the week after if you have that on your calendar, you know, you've got Illinois and Ohio.
CUOMO: Yes. Right.
BROWNSTEIN: So, if there is a past -- he thinks, you know, he is the candidate of kind of working class America across racial lines.
CUOMO: And south Florida.
BROWNSTEIN: And Florida is going to be very tough for him, you know.
CUOMO: All right. So that's interesting. So what do we know in terms of what these few days and tonight means for those two next steps especially Super Tuesday, too? We'll keep it up there for Michigan. You saw Rebecca that jump in the polls from Michigan. Biden was getting trounced in Michigan but not now.
BUCK: Right.
CUOMO: And again these numbers can go up and down, but how real does the axiom of winning creates winning mean after tonight?
BUCK: So I think one of the central questions that we still haven't answered is, how quickly do Democratic voters want to wrap up this primary contest? And one sort of a conventional wisdom and assumption we might be able to make is that in seeing this coalescence around Joe Biden is that a sign that Democratic voters want to get this over with, wrap up this primary fight and move onto the main attraction this fight against Donald Trump in the fall.
There's also been a concern among many Democratic voters, you know, the longer we drag this out is it damaging to the Party, does it hurt our chances in the fall, so if this pragmatism is winning out in the Democratic Party you could see a party that just wants to get this over with and find a nominee and move on.
CUOMO: All right, let's take a break. The big x factor is going to be Bloomberg. If Michael Bloomberg decides after tonight or in the next few days, he's out and he puts his organization behind Biden that's a very different look for the convention than where we stand right now. We have more continuing coverage, races to call, and expectations to be met. Stay with us.
[03:50:00]
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CUOMO: All right. Interesting part of the analysis on nights like this is what you think you know but you don't know for sure yet. The top line on that is California. All right. If you look, you are about 44 percent of the vote in. Yes, it takes days, but you are going to see some people calling the race already. We are not. Let's go to Harry Enten. The idea wizard of odds, that you can see California change, how so?
HARRY ENTEN, CNN POLITICS SENIOR WRITER AND ANALYST: I mean, flip back to four years ago, right, I mean, look. At 2:00 a.m. Eastern, we are now a little bit past that, I don't know what time it is anymore. What year I don't know, but at any event. Thank you. Look, Clinton was up by 21 points at 2:00 a.m. Eastern Time, back in 2016. She ended up only winning by seven percentage points. So this is why I think we are being so cautious in California. The fact is the vote will fluctuate greatly as we have different types of counts coming in, Election Day votes, late mail in votes, so things can really, really shift in that state.
CUOMO: Even if they don't, and Bernie wins, is it fair to say that the Bernie Boroughs let him down tonight?
ENTEN: I don't know if the Bernie Boroughs let him down, but I think, you know, Ron has been hitting on it so often and that is -- Bernie was not able to expand the electorate. He wasn't able to expand his support among the existing voters, right. You see that he did very well with Latinos in California. That is for sure. That's different from 2016, when he basically broke even with them in California against Clinton. But overall, white suburban women especially, Joe Biden dominated with them. That was a question going into the evening, and that has led in part to a large Joe Biden victory.
CUOMO: Bernie Boroughs has larger the suggestion of the movement that he would have a huge influx of young voters, people who stay on the sidelines, we don't know that that happened tonight. But we do see that there was a coalescing around Biden. What do you see in the numbers about those who learned about Buttigieg and Klobuchar stepping out and deciding late?
ENTEN: Yes, I think, this is the key statistic. It just go over and over again. Decided in the last few days, Joe Biden won 49 percent of those voters. Bernie Sanders won just 20 percent of those voters. I even checked in Vermont. In Vermont, Bernie Sanders home state, Joe Biden won the late deciders there. So, it is very clear that there was late movement towards Biden after South Carolina, and he capitalized on it across the states this evening.
CUOMO: Let me skip ahead to a couple of things. The idea of what we are talking earlier, how much longer is left in this contest?
[03:55:03]
I'm going to stand by this. Look, Bernie's momentum wasn't what it was supposed to be tonight, but you don't sleep on a movement. If you don't think there's a movement behind him, you don't understand the state of the race. We will see how it manifests. But in terms of time left before they decide, how does this stack up to what we have seen in the past? ENTEN: I mean, usually, if you look back to the first Super Tuesday
back in 1988, it often takes time on the Democratic side, right. It took 58 days after Super Tuesday in 88 to really understand who the nominee would be. In 1992, Bill Clinton took 48 days. Remember even last time around after Super Tuesday, took 49 days. It wasn't until New York voted in late April that we really knew that Hillary Clinton really was going to be the nominee. So, I would not be surprised if we have to wait considerably longer this year, even though I think at this point most of us would acknowledge it's a two person race between Sanders and Biden.
CUOMO: Still a long way to go. The x-factor is going to be Bloomberg. Wizard of odds, thank you very much.
ENTEN: Shalom, my friend.
CUOMO: Let's take a break. When we come, back Maine is still too close to call. Just a couple thousand votes separating the two. There's a lot of unfinished business, even in the states that are over. There are so many delegates yet to be apportioned. Next.
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[04:00:00]
