Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Event/Special
Joe Biden Way Ahead Than Bernie Sanders; Candidates Postpone Rallies In Fear Of Coronavirus; America's Choice 2020; Andrew Yang Endorses Joe Biden For President; Soon, Polls Close In Idaho And Washington; Joe Biden Speaks After Winning Three States So Far Tonight. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired March 10, 2020 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[22:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ABDUL EL-SAYED, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: The message reflects that, right, and engages that. Because, you know, when you call, you point to Kamala Harris and Cory Booker and say you're the future?
JENNIFER GRANHOLM, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes.
EL-SAYED: Those folks are both in their 50s. Right? There is a very different future that's many years younger, and if you're not engaging them and saying, hey, look, you need to see that they're stable too because you're experience is fundamentally different than even those who are 20 years older than you, I just feel like it's an incomplete. And so there is an opportunity here, I think.
GRANHOLM: Yes.
EL-SAYED: To be grand in a message and to be embracing of those folks.
GRANHOLM: And there's an opportunity for both Sanders --
(CROSSTALK)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go back to Wolf. Wolf?
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Anderson, thanks. All right. Let's recap with a key race alert. Right now, very good night so far for the former Vice President Joe Biden. He is the winner, major win in Michigan right now. One hundred twenty-five delegates at stake. He is the winner in Missouri. Joe Biden wins in Missouri, 66 delegates at stake. He also won Mississippi, 36 delegates at stake.
North Dakota, too early to call between Biden and Sanders. No projection yet. Coming up at the top of the hour, two more states, Washington State and Idaho. We'll be able to potentially make projections there as well. Washington State, a very important contest right now.
Let's go over to john king who is watching all of this unfold. Missouri very important, but Michigan even more important given the fact that Biden spent a lot of time there. He was trying to win the state, and Bernie Sanders was trying desperately. Didn't work.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A Super Tuesday to thumping at the moment. You're right, we're waiting for North Dakota, Idaho and Washington State. Bernie Sanders has the chance to rebound. But smaller delegate totals out there.
If you look at where we are right now, especially in the signature race of the night, the largest prize of delegates, the battle for the industrial Midwest, if you will, 125 delegates at stake. Look at this lead. A 13-point lead for Joe Biden, 137,000 votes and change.
And a lot of Biden blue in a map. If we go back four years ago this was a big moment for Bernie Sanders four years ago. Look at all that Bernie blue four years ago. This is a Biden thumping in the state that both candidates said the most important prize tonight.
Sixty-two percent, 13-point lead. Again, you come into Wayne County in Detroit, your inner city, we're up to 77 percent now. Thirteen points right there for Joe Biden. Big win in the city with what he's been doing. Came out here to Macomb County, signature studied county in American politics going back to the Reagan days, the so-called Reagan Democrats the blue-collar workers would switch over.
Trump Democrat you might call them now. Trump won Macomb County four years ago. Joe Biden making a statement again. Blue collar workers here 10-point plus win, 11-point win there.
And then again, you move over into other suburban areas, this has been Joe Biden's success since the big win in South Carolina. Go across the states he won last Super Tuesday, go across to where he's winning tonight, get out to the suburbs, you start to see big leads like that.
Just pop it out again and look at Michigan. Look at all that Biden blue. Look at all that Biden blue. You have Bernie Sanders winning in some of the smaller cities, Kalamazoo, for example, but look, a very narrow marge.
In the places he won four years ago, Grand Rapids as well, Kent County, four points there, a little less than four points there, three points. So, as you just see in the places where Sanders is winning, they're narrow, in the places where Biden is winning, he's running it up. That's the big prize in Michigan.
Then you get into delegate map, right? So, if you just start here with 53 percent. Number one, you're going to get your share of the statewide delegates at 53 percent. Number two, look at all the Biden blue. When you lay a congressional map over that later you're doing the congressional delegates, it tells you Biden is going to get the bulk of the delegates there as well because of all that blue.
It gets even more pronounced when it comes to the delegates in the congressional districts when you move into these other states tonight. You cannot find Bernie Sanders blue on the state of Missouri right now. Only a third of the vote counted, we'll see if it changes, but Joe Biden close 60 percent, Sanders at 32.5. Round that up to 33. That again 68 delegates at stake. In Missouri, a big chunk of those are going to go to Joe Biden. In a
state, look at that margin, 17 points. Again, go back in time four years ago. Hillary Clinton just barely, just barely won Missouri then. So, Joe Biden over performing in Michigan compared to four years ago to Clinton, beating her performance in Missouri, and look at this in Mississippi.
One of the questions here is can Senator Sanders stay above 15 percent? That's your basic violability. You need to be above 15 percent statewide to get delegates. Again, then you go through the congressional districts. But just look. There is no -- there is no Bernie Sanders blue in the state of Mississippi. It looks very much like neighboring Alabama.
Last week Joe Biden's march across the south based on the overwhelming support of African-Americans, and Wolf, as you just looked so far, Mississippi, Missouri, Michigan, the map filling in. This is a turning point in the race.
Sanders can try to reclaim some of the night, some momentum as we go west, but both candidates conceded coming in. That was the biggest prize. Then you look at the delegates for Mississippi and Missouri, Biden. That was the question. Will this lead stretch or shrink? It is stretching.
BLITZER: I want to go to Arlette Saenz. She's in Philadelphia right now. That's where the Biden campaign is, they wound up in Philadelphia. No campaign rallies tonight either from Biden, Arlette, or from Bernie Sanders because of fears of the coronavirus.
[22:05:04]
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes, that's right, Wolf, but the Biden campaign is certainly celebrating tonight after those so far three wins in this round of contests tonight.
A Biden adviser that I spoke with said that looking at the primary calendar, they always thought this was going to be their toughest night in March. But now they are three for three, and they believe that they are doing well in quite a few among -- a few constituencies.
They pointed to his performance among African-American voters, among suburban voters, among college-educated voters. And that adviser told me that that performance is a recipe for success for a Democrat in the fall. They specifically said, that is how a Democrat wins in the fall.
So, they think his performance tonight is also giving a strong showing of how he might perform and compete against President Trump if he becomes the Democratic nominee.
Now, Biden is expected to speak here in Philadelphia in just a short while. He canceled that campaign rally in Cleveland due to concerns over coronavirus, and tonight we've seen several dozen staffers from headquarters file in. This is a rather opportunity for a lot of those staffers to see the man that they are trying to elect president.
BLITZER: And we expect, Arlette, fairly soon, is that right, for the -- for Biden to speak?
SAENZ: They haven't given us an exact timing, but we are hoping that it will be in the next hour.
BLITZER: All right. We'll watch it very closely together with you. You know, John, as we look at the Biden wins tonight, let's assume he's the Democratic nominee. The wins tonight that we're seeing, what is that bode for him going into the fall, November, against President Trump?
KING: All right. The Biden campaign has every right to say what they have done tonight and what they did last Tuesday gives them confidence. Let's also be careful, we're in the primary campaign and things are often different.
One of the arguments that Senator Sanders made about Secretary Clinton four years ago, Senator Sanders making it about the Biden campaign now, Hillary Clinton made it about Barack Obama. As long as a Democratic candidate is winning all these states in south, well guess what, you know, South Carolina is not going to be a battleground state in the general election. If it is, it's game over. Right?
And we don't expect the Alabama or Mississippi or Arkansas to be battleground. Those will be Trump states in the general election. But, but to the Biden campaign's point, let's just take case in point, Michigan. This was a state, remember, Sanders won it narrowly last time.
When he did so, when Bernie Sanders won this state four years ago, one of the things we probably didn't spend enough attention on is understanding the weakness. Hillary Clinton won Macomb County, but just barely.
It was a big warning flashing sign. If Hillary Clinton has problems with blue-collar workers in the industrial Midwest, how did Trump become president? Trump became president by flipping. By flipping Michigan, number one. Just 10,000 votes, but a win is a win. Flipped Michigan, flipped Wisconsin of 22,000, just shy of 23,000 votes and flipped Pennsylvania, right, by 44,000 votes.
That's why Donald Trump is president of the United States. So, what Joe Biden wants to argue is, I was born in Scranton, I just won the Michigan primary. He won Minnesota, Trump -- Hilary Clinton won that but just barely. And Wisconsin is on -- we'll get to Wisconsin later in the campaign.
So, if you look at 2020, what Joe Biden wants to say is, I'm competitive. I proved I'm competitive and these are still to come as we go forward. It's a perfectly rational argument to make, especially if you look at the suburbs.
One of the things that's been really interesting, as we look. Texas was a surprise last week. Let me pop this out here and show you. Texas was a surprise last week, right? Right here in the Dallas area, one of those congressional seats that flipped. A Republican held seat in 2016 that became a Democrat held seat in
2018. There is another one right here just outside of Oklahoma City. it was a Republican held seat became a Democratic seat in 2018.
Joe Biden is winning in almost all of those districts. California would be the one exception where you see Senator Sanders doing some of that. But in the places that flipped from red to blue, helped make Nancy Pelosi speaker, they're in the suburbs. They're in suburbs like northern Virginia. There was a seat right here that flipped.
Look at all that Biden blue. This was a Republican House seat a few years ago, it's a Democratic seat now. So, Joe Biden's campaign can make the case that in the suburbs, African-Americans turnout they are proving that they have a coalition that shapes up well for a general election.
They can make that argument, Wolf. It does not make the case that it's a guarantee, but again, Senator Sanders, especially if Sanders argues, I'm the blue-collar guy, if you look at the state of Michigan tonight, Biden has those bragging rights. Does it necessarily carry over to November? Absolutely not. Does it give his campaign some steam when you look at the cities and the suburbs and the blue-collar areas? Absolutely.
BLITZER: Good point, indeed. You know, David Chalian, we take a look, and let's do a delegate track right now. As we take a look at the delegates so far tonight, let's start off with Michigan.
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes. One hundred twenty-five delegates at stake. Take a look at what we've been able to allocate already. Thirty-four delegates for Joe Biden, 19 delegates in Michigan for Bernie Sanders. What you see there is a 15-net delegate lead so far out of Michigan for Joe Biden.
So, taking the lead, now he's adding a 15-net though yet lead. We still have 72 delegates to allocate out of Michigan.
[22:09:59]
In Missouri we've allocated more than half the delegates already. Sixty-eight delegates at stake. Twenty-six of them went to Joe Biden. Twelve of them went to Bernie Sanders. There you have a 14-delegate lead for Joe Biden again as a net lead. So, he's just adding and adding to his already existing lead. We still have 30 delegates to assign in Missouri.
BLITZER: So, delegates to date right now given all the contests that have happened so far.
CHALIAN: All the contests. You need 1,991 delegates to win the nomination. Look at this, Wolf. Joe Biden has 713 delegates to date. Bernie Sanders has 589. This is significantly - he has -- Joe Biden has more than a 100-delegate lead now. That is 122, 124-delegate lead that Joe Biden has over Bernie Sanders.
He's building such a substantial delegate lead this evening that as it continues along this pace, it is going to be extraordinarily difficult for Bernie Sanders to catch up in the delegate race.
BLITZER: Very important point, indeed. Jake and Dana, it looks like it's going to be incredibly difficult based on the lead that Biden has right now with all the important delegate count for Bernie Sanders to come back.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: And the primary is in a week.
BLITZER: With four more states.
TAPPER: Or four states that Bernie Sanders did not win in 2016, if you want to look at what those are. While I do that, let me just also say that the Sanders campaign is obviously going to have a hard decision to make. I don't think they're going to drop out any time in the immediate future.
And certainly, there is a debate on Sunday, and I think that it will be something that the Sanders team wants to do, is have the head-to- head debate, just two major candidates, Tulsi Gabbard is still running but has not met the threshold for the debate.
I think Sanders is potentially a strong debater, and I think that they will make at least one last attempt to try to convince Democratic voters that he would be a stronger nominee against Donald Trump.
Because to be completely frank, I'm getting real 2004 vibes tonight, which is the Democrats want to beat an incumbent Republican so badly, Democratic voters, I mean, that they decide which one is electable and they decide which one is electable and they decide, OK, it's John Kerry, or in this case it's Joe Biden. There is a huge coalescing around that person, they want to end the primary process as soon as possible. And then and basically, they coronate this person.
Now what did we learned in the last few weeks, Mark McKinnon, former George W. Bush adviser told me that actually they feared Howard Dean more. Because Howard Dean, even though he was less predictable, there was a starker difference between Howard Dean and George W. Bush.
And he was drawing much bigger crowds than John Kerry was able to, and Howard Dean, we had him on the Sunday show, and Howard Dean said, now you tell me. But the point is that when you have the Democratic electorate deciding that they are all a bunch of Rachel Maddows and Chris Hayes' and the like, that they're jus, you know, progressive pundits and they're going to pick who is the best one, maybe they don't necessarily know what they're doing.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, first of all, I think the states you're talking about are now in the wall there that we're going to see voting -- voting --
(CROSSTALK)
TAPEPR: Here we go. So, these are the contest --
BASH: -- voting next week. Right. Florida.
TAPPER: Florida --
BASH: Ohio, Illinois --
TAPPER: And Arizona.
BASH: -- and Arizona. So those are the states you were referring to.
BLITZER: A lot of delegates at stake.
BASH: A lot of delegates at stake.
TAPPER: And the four states that Sanders lost last time.
BASH: Exactly. Exactly, which is why just communicating with people who are big supporters of Bernie Sanders tonight, they're not sugarcoating it. I mean, they can't. Tonight, is a very, very big disappointment. We still have Washington State, a place where they're hoping maybe he can eke out a surprise, but they're certainly not counting on it. And that's sort of one dynamic that's going on.
The other thing is, just to kind of bounce off of the conversation that was happening with our friends on the panel, as they were talking about if Bernie Sanders, you know, doesn't get the nomination and how Joe Biden can get the Sanders people on board in a way that Hillary Clinton could not in the general election, I got a series of texts from a Bernie Sanders delegate who I met at the convention in 2016 going off --
TAPPER: Yes.
BASH: -- saying, you are not going to get -- he is not going to get people like me to vote for him, and people in the, quote, unquote, "establishment don't understand what we want and what we are for and that we are not gettable if they support the kind of policies that they do."
[22:14:55]
Now, is this person alone? Probably not. Is he representative of all Bernie Sanders voters? No. But it just is a reminder of where the Democratic Party is.
The Republican party, you know, was in a similar place, although they ended up coalescing a lot more around Donald Trump than they did around Hillary Clinton, but that dynamic is very real, it is very raw, and it is not going to go away any time soon.
TAPPER: Now just to give the converse argument that I was just giving, Bernie Sanders had the theory of the case. And the theory of the case, as you noted earlier tonight was, I can bring all these new people out to vote. Look at what I did in 2016. Look at the crowds. And those people are not turning out to vote. They're not. They're not coming out.
BLITZER: All right. We're waiting to hear from Joe Biden who won these first three states. Polls will be closing. More polls close at the top of the hour.
Much more of our special coverage coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: I want to show you the scene in Philadelphia, we're expecting to see former Vice President Biden speaking there any moment. We'll obviously bring that to you. Also obviously waiting for any remarks by Senator Sanders as well.
back now with the team. Governor, what are you expecting to hear from Biden tonight?
GRANHOLM: Which governor?
COOPER: Excuse me. Governor McAuliffe.
TERRY MCAULIFFE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Listen, I think tonight is going to be -- it's all about unity now, how do you unity this party and bring us together.
[22:20:01]
I bet he talks about the coronavirus, because everything that's going on in this country today, the lack of leadership. We have a president of the United States that is incapable of telling the truth during a national crisis.
So, I think if I were Biden, I would talk about the coronavirus, but talk about unifying the party, how we need to go forward. We need to go strong and give tremendous respect to Bernie Sanders. That would be my advice.
GRANHOLM: Yes, I think he's absolutely got to begin the process of reaching out and saying, I hear you, I see you, even though Bernie Sanders, you have to respect the fact that Bernie Sanders is not out yet, obviously.
VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, but mathematically.
GRANHOLM: But you can -- you can have language that is sort of a bridge to the Sanders people starting tonight, and I think that process has to begin right now.
COOPER: So, what is, I mean, what does the next couple weeks look like, David? I mean, what --
(CROSSTALK)
DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, it really depends on -- it really depends on Bernie Sanders. You have a debate on Sunday, and whether he decides -- Jake suggests that he might want to take one more shot at this on Sunday.
The math isn't very inviting. And so, one of the strategic questions is what are you trying to accomplish on Sunday? Do you think you can actually topple Biden in a way that could have this galvanic effect that completely changes the physics of this race in a way that seems impossible, or do you try and burnish some themes and train your guns on Trump as a prelude to what you probably are going to have to do after next Tuesday.
But I do think that you're going to see enormous pressure from all elements of the party. Andrew spoke to it just a few minutes ago, to yield to the results that we now can see and start getting about the business of trying to deal with defeating Donald Trump.
COOPER: Gloria, you heard Jake Tapper talk about just kind of echoes of 2004 where John Kerry gets kind of anointed early on and --
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Boom, yes, then destroyed. I think that was a very good point. And I think Democrats ought to be thinking about that. We were just trying to count the number of days that it's been since South Carolina. When you think that it's been 10 --
JONES: Wow, so quick.
BORGER: -- 10 or 11 days since South Carolina, and the waters parted for Joe Biden like no other candidate has ever seen. It's almost as if he's standing there saying, what? I'm here? Because he did everything wrong. You know, he lost a couple of times. He came in second or third. This should not have happened, but it did happen to him and so --
(CROSSTALK)
JONES: Can I talk about why I think that is, though?
BORGER: Yes.
JONES: What's so interesting is that I think a lot of people thought they were going to have a repeat of 2016 with the Republicans, where you have this kind of steamroller candidate --
BORGER: Yes.
JONES: -- Donald Trump, in this case it's going to be Bernie Sanders. And people just kind of stay divided and fighting each other and just let Sanders march to the -- to the victory.
But what happens is the difference with what our party versus Republican party. After Iowa, Trump never lost again. He was always in the lead so nobody had a reason to get out. The minute that somebody a normal establishment candidate won. In this case, it was Biden. The entire establishment just swung around.
And so, in some ways the Democratic Party got lucky that a moderate was able to break out, and then there was some wisdom, there was some intelligence. There was -- you didn't have people saying, I still want my turn. Pete got out, Yang got out, a lot of people got out. But I think that what threw us off was there was this model in 2016 where everybody stays in until the bitter end. And in this time, we weren't able to --
COOPER: Well, each of the establishment -- I mean, wasn't these voters in South Carolina who just decided, you know what, I like Joe Biden, I'm going to vote for Joe Biden.
JONES: Elections are complicated things, and there are voters and there are also interests and there are also donors and there's also the media. And there is an establishment, I'm sorry, there is, and in this case the establishment swung around behind --
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: But I thought everybody was saying Biden didn't have donors until he won in South Carolina.
JONES: Listen, once he won, they swung around.
COOPER: OK.
BORGER: Now he has the -- now he has the establishment.
(CROSSTALK)
JONES: He does have the establishment. That's all --
BORGER: The difference, Van, this time is that the specter of Donald Trump is not there.
JONES: Yes.
BORGER: And so, there is a reason that candidates decided to get out of the way and leave because they felt there was a greater good in the sense that they needed to unify to beat Donald Trump. A And I think that's very different.
JONES: Yes.
BORGER: You know, very different from 2016. And Joe Biden is the beneficiary of that.
ANDREW YANG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I got in to defeat Donald Trump. I got out because I thought my being there would not help to defeat Donald Trump.
And if you look at voters whose number one priority is to beat Donald Trump, and both Bernie and Joe have been making the argument I'm the best candidate to defeat Donald Trump in the fall. Most voters who have chosen on that basis have agreed with (Inaudible).
AXELROD: Yes.
YANG: And that's a very, very tough thing to counter, because obviously they've both been making that argument, but I agree that that's one reason why so many people swung to Joe over the last number of days, because they're laser focused on defeating Donald Trump and they believe Joe Biden is the better one. [22:25:01]
GRANHOLM: I would --
(CROSSTALK)
AXELROD: Well, tonight -- go ahead, Governor.
GRANHOLM: I would just briefly, to pick up on something you said, David, I think that we cannot underestimate as a party the power of heart. You know, we've nominated in the past a lot of head-centered candidates, but it's really -- the reason why people like Joe Biden is because they see in him somebody who has cracked open his chest and has made it available for people.
And where he's somebody who can see you, can see your pain and has been there himself and doesn't come from wealth himself. He's somebody who people can relate to and who feel that it's the feeling side of things. We really do vote with our hearts and our guts and not necessarily our heads.
AXELROD: So --
GRANHOLM: And I don't think you can underestimate that.
AXELROD: On the point that Andrew made, the thing that's sort of devastating about these numbers tonight is Bernie's counter to Biden's argument that he's the one who can beat Trump was I'm the one who can win with blue collar workers. You know, I'm the one who can get young people to come out in unprecedented numbers.
Well, he didn't. I mean, the verdict is in. He hasn't been able to do that. And that, I think, is very, very difficult. What Biden has been able to do, his theory of the case was, I can also make inroads with blue collar workers that's because of where I'm from, Scranton, Pennsylvania, my values and so on, and I can -- I can bring those same suburban voters out who were so important in 2018.
Well, you look at these results and he's definitely doing it. So, he is proving his case here.
EL-SAYED: David, we both agree, though, that if we want to win in the general, we've to get those young people out.
AXELROD: Yes, I agree.
EL-SAYED: And we've got to get those blue-collar workers out.
I do want to speak -- we know where Donald Trump is headed in the general. He is going to try and use any division between any of the lanes in this party against us. And he's already been hinting. Right? The fix is in. The fix wasn't it, right?
I will say there is such thing called the establishment. It is a group of people who have a lot of power in the party and they were -- there were decisions made that swung votes. That being said, this was a much fairer primary process than we saw before. And both sides put in a great fight.
Wherever we come out from, I just want to say that we cannot be in a position where we're being divided --
JONES: That's right.
EL-SAYED: -- by these arguments of tit for tat. They did this, so we have the right to do that. This is a moment right now where I just want to say Donald Trump is an existential threat to a lot of communities. And for a lot of folks there is a privilege in saying, you know what, I'm going to sit this one out because my person didn't win.
GRANHOLM: Yes.
EL-SAYED: And for communities like mine, right, that's not a privilege that we have. This is existential for a lot of folks, that their families are literally banned from coming to this country, people being forced into detention, kids in cages.
And if we're serious about those who are affected by Donald Trump, then I don't think we can allow this kind of division to sow itself. And so, this moment of unity really is critical. I do hope that the winning campaign is able to really have open arms, and if that empathy is real, then the ability to see someone's pain and say, look, I could be a part of that.
JONES: For both sides.
(CROSSTALK)
MCAULIFFE: Everybody keeps saying the same thing here. I mean, goodness gracious. Of course, Joe Biden wants to unify the party. He has just gone through a long primary process. Of course, he wants to bring in all the voters he can.
But this idea is not going to get up tomorrow and that reach out to every person he possibly can, and the campaign is going to do that. He has had a big -- I'll say this again. He reached across broad lines. He won rural, urban, suburban by huge numbers. He's put a coalition together. We've got to make it bigger.
I can promise you, Jennifer Granholm can promise you, this campaign is going to be open and welcoming to everybody. Let us keep our aim at defeating Donald Trump. He is an existential threat to this nation, and we as Democrats have got to be united in independence.
(CROSSTALK)
EL-SAYED: Governor, if I may, I just think there is a space here where there is this sort of attitude -- I don't know -- I don't know Joe Biden, I've never talked to him, but there is sometimes an attitude around the people around him where there is a level of entitlement around folks who have held power and are comfortable with power.
And when many of us will try to run against that and say, look, this process needs to be Democratized, there is this assessment of say, well, look, you didn't deserve this anyway, we've been around. We put in our time. And I think it's not just Joe Biden. It's the people around Joe Biden who has to open up that space up and say, we've wanted you here all along, we're here to solve your problems and our problems, too, and yes, that starts with beating Donald Trump.
(CROSSTALK)
MCAULIFFE: Of course, he has to bring new people in and be -- who are all in agreement --
(CROSSTALK)
YANG: (Inaudible) Donald Trump needs to be defeated. Forty-two percent of my supporters said they would not support the Democratic nominee in the general, in large part because when I ran, I ran for the problems that predated Trump.
Like, Donald Trump would never be our president today if things were going well for a lot of people around the country.
MCAULIFFE: Yes.
EL-SAYED: You bet.
[22:30:01]
YANG: Bernie Sanders would not have almost been the nominee last time if things were going well for people around the country. So, even as Joe Biden in saying, hey, we needed to defeat Donald Trump, he also say -- has to say, look, things have not been working for millions of Americans, and after we defeat Donald Trump, we need to get deep into these problems, get our hands dirty and solve them. And so, this can't be like a, hey, I'm better than Trump race. It has to be, hey, I understand how Trump became our president.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you think that (inaudible) the primaries?
YANG: You know, I think he's been talking in a lot of moral language about restoring a culture and tone in the soul of the country. I was talking about trying to put money in to Americans' hands because I saw that we decimated entire ways of life in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and because I was talking in those terms about the real problems that these people have experienced, again, 42 percent of my supporters, were not going to support the Democratic nominee.
I'm hoping that we can get some of those people to support Joe, but it would be helpful if Joe acknowledged it. Because one of the weaknesses of saying, hey, return to Obama years, is that there are many Americans who are going to be left behind in those years, too, and they're pissed off. And so if you to say, I'm going to revert, that loses to at least, among that group of people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I agree with you.
YANG: There are so many Americans who just don't think their institutions are working for them at all, and Joe Biden's big weakness is that he represents those institutions. You know, I'm endorsing Joe, like, we need Joe to beat Trump. But we'll have a much better chance of that if Joe recognizes that our institutions have been failing many Americans for a long time.
COOPER: I have to take a break and we'll comeback, we'll take a short break waiting to hear from Joe Biden, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:35:00]
COOPER: We are expecting to hear from Joe Biden in a couple of minutes. We are going to bring that to you live. I want to quickly check in with Ryan Nobles who is in Burlington, Vermont. Ryan, are we going to be hearing from Senator Sanders tonight?
RYAN NOBLES, CNN WASHINGON CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, we are not, the Sanders campaign telling us just a few minutes ago, that we should not expect to hear from Senator Sanders tonight. This is a pretty remarkable that we are not going to hear from him on the night where votes were cast. (Inaudible) no matter the results we usually here from Senator Sanders.
Now usually it does comes in a form of some sort of a big rally, and his plans were forced to be changed today, because of the threat of the coronavirus. They cancelled was expected to be a pretty large rally in Cleveland, Ohio. That forced him to revert and come here to Burlington, Vermont, where he plan to come to rest tomorrow, looking ahead to the debate on Sunday and then the net round of contests on Tuesday night.
Now, we're not getting a lot of guidance to the thinking right now in Sanders' world as to what the next step for he and in his campaign. They had said consistently that regardless of how things turnout tonight that they did planned to participate in the debate and that they had no plans in dropping out any time soon. But of course, it has been a very difficult night for Sanders and his team.
They specifically withhold that the results in Michigan would be more encouraging than they turned out to be. Even though the polls had showed a wide gap between he and Biden, they thought that much like 2016, that they would close that gap and it would be a much closer margin. That just did not turn out to be the case.
Now they are still holding out and hope for some of these sates in the western portion of the country particular with Washington, places where they can at least pick up delegates, but right now Anderson, the picture is very bleak for Bernie Sanders and his campaign, and there is doubt some soul searching going on right now as to what his future holds and what role he's going to play in this Democratic primary process going forward. Unfortunately though, at this point we just do not have any insight into that thinking. Anderson?
COOPER: Ryan Nobles, Ryan thanks very much. And I said a couple of minutes there from now we're expecting Vice President Biden to speak in Philadelphia. Laura, I wanted to hear from you earlier.
LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, POLITICO: Yes, the topic that we are on before the break is just to what's led Biden to this moment, what's helped him get here. I go back to my encounters with voters on the trail, following all the candidates across the state is that again and again they were agonizing over who to pick, and that agony was about who could ultimately beat Trump.
Who -- there was this risk aversion among so many voters, not just at Biden events, at Warren events, at Buttigieg events, at Klobuchar events, even at Sanders events. And so, I think that dominated so many voters and its benefitted Biden partially because we saw that the other moderates that could have maybe inserted themselves did not do well with voters of color.
Biden has dominated that lane. And so because of that, you see that these voters, when their potential other candidates finally dropped out, they just flocked to him. Because there is this desire, you can sense it among the voters, to just get to the general, to be able to cast their ballot.
COOPER: I wonder -- I mean, do debates matter anymore? I mean, obviously, you know, people watch, there's large viewership, but you can't really make the argument that Joe Biden won a lot of the debates. Bernie Sanders --
AXELROD: Yes, but he won one debate, and that was the debate in Nevada when Elizabeth Warren took Michael Bloomberg out of the race.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: But he didn't -- he didn't have to say anything, she was --
AXELROD: No, he was a beneficiary.
COOPER: Right.
AXELROD: He did not --
COOPER: Winning by default is not the same as winning.
AXELROD: No, but I think there is a difference between whether the debates helped him because of his own performance and whether debates had an impact in this race. I think its several junctures. Amy Klobuchar did very well in New Hampshire. Had she not? Pete Buttigieg probably would have beaten Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire. That could have changed the dynamic a little bit. Elizabeth Warren was soaring until a debate in which she got challenged on Medicare for all.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kamala Harris, remember, at the outset she had a great moment against Joe Biden.
YANG: Yes, in some ways it's easier to lose a debate than it is to win. You saw Bloomberg come in as the potential white knight and then he got brought down to earth very, very quickly. I think that there were many strong debate performances that did not have huge impact for that candidate or campaign. I think Elizabeth Warren was a strong debater throughout, particularly when she took it to Mike Bloomberg. And you didn't see her poll numbers surge except for fundraising spike after that particular debate.
GRANHOLM: I think many Democrats heeded the debates because they felt like its Democrat on Democrat, family on family.
[22:40:00]
COOPER: But it really wasn't, I mean, people -- Democrats always say that and it gets a big applause line during the debate, and you attack the moderators by saying that. It's, you know --
GRANHOLM: It don't' effect on you.
COOPER: Well, no, but, I mean, it's a big applause line for the crowds, but the first couple debates, I mean, that was part of the issue. Nobody challenged Sanders, nobody challenged anybody.
GRANHOLM: I think it's such an artificial way of expressing yourself. You have one minute. You have to answer some question that may not be relevant to people, or maybe it is, and then you have to put forward your position and then you have to pivot to an attack in 60 seconds. It's just -- it's so structured, and there's such an artifice about it that I think Democrats look at that and say, you know, why are we doing all of this? I'd rather see town halls, for example, which are a much more, you know, fulsome way of getting to know a candidate.
COOPER: But debating does make you a better candidate. I mean, you see a difference between a Mike Bloomberg who walks into this thing with these candidates who have been debating each other ferociously.
GRANHOLM: They get better at debating, but the skill of debating is not something that you use in governing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, it is, kind of.
COOPER: Doesn't the race for president make you a better president, so debating is part of it?
(CROSSTALK)
MCAULIFFE: You have to force yourself on issues. You have to look at issues outside now, which is very, very difficult.
AXELROD: And you have to learn how to answer questions in a relatively efficient way.
(CROSSTALK)
MCAULIFFE: The other candidates with exposure in front of millions of people, this is the only way they raise money. For a lot of the candidates, the debate were an opportunity to go online and raise all this money, but you spend hours and hours reading briefing (inaudible). COOPER: You also read about all the other candidates -- I mean, I
would just think from a policy standpoint, you learn about the other candidate's policies and maybe come to ideas that you hadn't come to previously.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would say for this debate, the one thing that this debate could do, I mean, the best thing they do is their momentum changers. And if there's a shock, right, to change this momentum, it may be at the debate. That would be the calculus going into a debate like this, is that you've got, you know, one candidate really has taken the momentum by storm. The question is, can you use this moment to really show this for what it is and change the momentum. That's the use of this.
MCAULIFFE: Trump is fully a great debater. This was a test for people to say, how would they look up on the stage at this hour? That's a big piece.
JONES: I mean, if you're Bernie Sanders tonight and you're looking at these numbers and the math now is so tough, the math is so tough, you know you're going into probably more defeats coming up, and you say, I'm still going on to debate. I think he's got to make a decision. He's got to look in his heart and say, do I want to be the divider or the uniter?
There are two different theories that separate Biden from Bernie. Biden sees Trump as a disruptor of the status quo. I think Bernie sees Trump as a result of the status quo, that the status quo was broken before Trump got there. That's how we got -- so there is a principle difference there. But how you handle that difference?
Do you just take a blow torch to someone like Joe who is beloved and try to, you know, remind people of all his great weaknesses even though he's probably going to be your nominee, or do you say, you know what, I've made my point on that. Let me speak to the heart of the American people, and why we got to get rid of Donald Trump. And that's a big -- and that's a character question for Bernie Sanders. Not just political. It's a character question.
BORGER: Well, and neither of these men are full of nuance, so I think --
AXELROD: That's nicely said.
BORGER: Thank you. So, I think it's a decision both of them have to make because they have to distinguish, you know, themselves from each other, but on the other hand, they can't argue so much that they're turning off voters who would support the other person.
YANG: I think Joe is going to be pivoting to the general all night long. Whatever Bernie says, he's just going to be like, and Trump. Like, this is where were going.
(CROSSTALK)
And Joe is an underrated debater, in my opinion. I mean, having been on the stage with Joe any number of times, like you can clearly say it's like, look, there was this turner phrase that he like jumbled a little bit or there's an issue, but generally speaking, he stays poised, confident, going in a direction. Like, I don't see Bernie upending the dynamic next week having been on stage with both of them any number of times, because Joe is very, very steady.
He's super experienced. He's been through it. Like, he's certainly not winning in terms of style points sometimes, and he mocked his own tendency to cut himself off at time and whatnot. But he's very, very experienced and I think Americans have seen that over time.
AXELROD: One of the things about preparing for a debate with Bernie Sanders is he throws nothing but fastballs, OK? He doesn't throw curveballs, he doesn't throw sliders. You're not going to be fooled. He's basically previewed all the attacks that Biden might get in this debate, and that actually makes it easier to prepare because --
COOPER: You know exactly what he's going to say.
AXELROD: -- you know what he's going to say. On the positive side, it's things that he's been saying for a long time which is the strength, but in also leaves little in terms of surprises and the attacks he's now laid out in the last 10 days. So, for Biden, the task of preparing is not going to be that difficult. Executing is a different story.
[22:45:18]
COOPER: That's what they said to Mike Bloomberg though. Like you know, knowing where the attacks are going to come from doesn't necessarily mean you going to be able to deliver.
AXELROD: Well, there may not have been good answers to those attacks. I mean, but Andrew is right, Biden has been debating now, this will be his 11th debate, and he's debated many times in the past. I saw Governor Granholm prepared him for one of those debates back in 2008 --
GRANHOLM: Playing Sarah Palin.
AXELROD: -- playing Sarah Palin. Expertly, by the way. Fantastic job. But you know, whatever his deficiencies, he has not -- he has some strengths on that stage, including just sheer determination.
BORGER: Also, I think he's baked in a little bit. People have seen him debate, and so if he flubs, they kind of know --
COOPER: It's also interesting because its two-person debate is a whole other thing. I mean, there's not -- you know, if you name check somebody, it can take the debate in a whole different direction as people ping-pong between each other. This is can be more of a conversation.
BORGER: Right.
GRANHOLM: There is an interesting potential about this. I'm not sure that this will happen in the debate, but there is an interesting potential for Bernie Sanders to do what Andrew Yang was raising and what Abdul was raising. I mean, if he's still in it, he may not do this.
But, I mean, there is a moment to be able to use this debate if, in fact, you know you're not going to be in there until the end to try to reach out to your own supporters a bit and say -- and be more -- really clear about the importance of the general election and getting everybody to vote.
And that, in fact to me, what you said about it being a privilege, essentially, to decide not to vote, given the existential crisis that communities feel, there is no better spokesperson for that for the folks that we want to bring into the tent than him. And whether he does it at the debate or some other point, I think there's a moment.
MCAULIFFE: Bernie has the opportunity to be a real hero.
GRANHOLM: Yes, totally.
MCAULIFFE: I mean, he really bringing the Party together. I mean, think about it. That debate if he does what we're saying here, he has the opportunity of bringing everybody together, getting everybody unified. Bernie Sanders would be an absolute hero.
COOPER: He's already a hero to a lot of people.
EL-SAYED: I know him well, he is an exceedingly pragmatic man. And I know folks don't see that but just look at the way he combs his hair, very pragmatic. But the point that I'm making here is that he recognizes the existential threat of Donald Trump.
He won't do anything that would limit our ability to take Donald Trump out of office. I think there is a moment of asking, is there a way to talk about these issues, to recognize and make the case for why it is that we have to reach forward rather than back if we want to win in this general election? I think this is a great opportunity to do that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right. Exactly.
AXELROD: By the way, I admire the way he combs his hair.
(LAUGHTER)
BORGER: Can I say one thing about the debates overall? Which is that I think they've been incredibly useful and revealing, and I remember once not too long ago, I was interviewing Robbie Mook who ran Hillary Clinton's campaign and I said, well, you've got so many candidates on the stage and how can you differentiate, and he said to me, what we've discovered are the primary debates are much more important than the general election debates. Because by the general election, people have decided who they're going to vote for and they're reaffirming. But the primary debates, people don't know who they're going to vote for, and so you can differentiate yourself and you can pick a winner there.
COOPER: And let's watch Joe Biden. (BEGIN LIVE VIDEO)
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERS)
JOE BIDEN, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 2020 U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: By the way, we weren't planning a rally, but our headquarters is just around the corner, and these are all people that have been working like the devil to try to get us elected.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, thank you.
BIDEN: I want to thank my sister Valerie and my son-in-law Dr. Howard Klein who are here. Folks, look, we were planning a big rally in Cleveland tonight. But the governor of Ohio asked the presidential campaigns to cancel their indoor public events in Cleveland where there are large, large crowds of people, and that's what we did, due to the coronavirus and he was concerned about that.
And as I said all along that we would follow the guidance of the CDC, state and local officials and public health officials with respect to our campaign events. We'll continue to do that. This is a matter, this whole coronavirus issue is a matter of presidential leadership. And later this week, I'll be speaking to you on what I believe the nation should be doing to address this virus.
[22:50:03]
But tonight I want to speak to you from Philadelphia where we announced our campaign at the front end when we did our final announcement to all those who had been knocked down, to all those who had been counted out, left behind, this is your campaign. Just over a week ago, many of the pundits declared that this candidacy was dead. Now we're very much alive.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERS)
And although there's a way to go and it looks like we are going to have another good night.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERS)
With victories in Mississippi, Missouri, Michigan, and we're waiting to hear from North Dakota, Idaho and Washington State. As I said from the beginning, this election is the one that has character on the ballot. Character of the candidates and the character of the nation is on the ballot. It's more than a comeback in my view, our campaign. It's a comeback for the soul of this nation. This campaign is taking off and I believe we're going to do well from this point on. Take nothing for granted. I want to earn every single vote in every single state. But if you are willing, if you want to join us, go to Joe Biden.com.
Sign up, volunteer and contribute if you can. We need you, we want you, there's a place in our campaign for each of you. And I want to thank Bernie Sanders and the supporters for their tireless energy and their passion. We share a common goal. And together we'll defeat Donald Trump. We'll defeat him together.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERS)
We are going to bring this nation together. We're regenerating a Democratic base. The Democratic Party. The African-American community. High school educated folks like the ones I grew up with in Claymont, not far from here. In my old neighborhood. Labor, suburban women. Veterans, firefighters, union members and so many more. People of every economic station. The poor who are struggling and they are struggling in this environment. The middle class worries about whether or not they are going to be able to hang on and stay there. Maintain their economic security.
They're the reason Jill and I got involved in this campaign in the first place. And they are the reason why I became a Democrat so long ago. I can't tell you, I really mean this, from the bottom of my heart, I can't tell you how much I appreciate the confidence they have shown in me thus far. And the way they turned out the vote for me. My first campaign when I was a kid, long time ago, I had a billboard that said one thing on it. A picture of my wife and children. And it said for all our families. That's all it was. For all our families.
That included Democratic families, families of independent voters, Republican families. Every one of every stripe. For all our families. And look, that's what we were able to accomplish in South Carolina. That's what we did on Super Tuesday. And it appears almost a little premature. It appears that we are able to do tonight.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERS)
Just the past week, so many of my incredibly capable competitors have endorsed me. Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Beto O'Rourke, Mike Bloomberg, Cory Booker and Kamala Harris. Together we're bringing this party together. That's what we have to do. Tonight we are a step closer to restoring decency, dignity and honor to the White House. That's our ultimate goal.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERS)
And at this moment when there's so much fear in the country and so much fear across the world, we need American leadership. We need presidential leadership. That's honest, trusted, truthful, and steady. Reassuring leadership. If I'm given the honor of becoming your president and I promise you, I'll strive to give the nation that very leadership.
[22:55:00]
Every day. Every day. I have a privilege to hold office, that's the reason why I'm running for president. I believe we're an incredible moment in American history. A phenomenal opportunity to deliver a bold progressive vision to the American people. Guaranteeing that every American has healthcare, affordable healthcare. Total healthcare. Not a privilege but a right.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERS)
Building on Obamacare. Providing every child access to good education. Regardless of their zip code. To deal with the moral depravity of our children who have to learn as they go to school. Little children to duck and cover, zigzag down a hall way, because they fear someone with a semiautomatic weapon maybe coming in. We have to stand up to the gun manufacturers and the NRA. And I will do it.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERS)
We have to rebuild the middle class. We have to rebuild the middle class and this time bring everybody along. Everybody along.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERS)
And my fellow Americans, we have to once again lead the world. Donald Trump's America first policy made America alone. You know, the fight against climate change, we have to rally the rest of the world to act and act now. Rejoin the Paris Climate Accord on day one. Make it clear to allies that we'll honor our commitments, that our word can be trusted.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERS)
And make clear to adversaries that we will stand fast in restoring world order. That's the American responsibility. Tonight I'm speaking from the National Constitution Center. Not far from where two of the most important documents in all history were written. The Declaration of Independence. We hold these truths to be self-evident. Those words became the American creed known around the world. U.S. Constitution. We, the people. These words literally changed the world. We have never fully lived up to the promise of either those documents.
But we have never ever before walked away from them. They are a reminder of what the stake in this election. Our very democracy is at stake in this election. They said from the moment I announced not far from here that I believe we're in the battle for the soul of this nation, when Donald Trump is president, our core values, our standing in the world, our very democracy, everything that has made America - America is truly at stake.
I believe this nation can overcome four years of Donald Trump than given eight, four more years, and forever and fundamentally change the very character of this nation. We can't let that happen. But winning means -- winning means uniting America. Not sowing more division and anger. It means having the president that not only knows how to fight. But knows how to heal.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERS)
It means replacing a president who demeans and demonizes people. With a president who believes in empathy, compassion and respect for everyone. As my hope that today's divisiveness will soon be over. We're a decent, brave, resilient people. We are better than this moment we're in. We just we have to do -- we just need -- we just need to remember who we are. This is the United States of America. There's not a single thing we cannot do if we do it together.
We are now on close to the eve of St. Patrick's Day, I'm thought of a quote. Some of you heard me quote many times. A fellow that I admire very much who passed away not long ago. A poet name Seamus Heaney. He wrote a poem called the Cure of Troy.
And here's what he said, in one stance he said, history teaches us not to hope on this side of the grave, but then once in a lifetime that long for title wave of justice rises up. And hope and history rimes. I truly believe it's in our power for the first time in a long time because of what's happened in the past three years, the power to make hope and history rhyme. That's what we are going to do. God bless you all.
