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Results from Super Tuesday; Explanation on How Delegates are Chosen; Tornado Damage in Tennessee; Legacy of a Department Store
Aired March 05, 2020 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Election results from Fairhaven, Vermont, Lincoln the goat has been defeated. There`s a new mayor in town and he`s a
therapy dog named Murphy. Welcome to CNN 10. I`m Carl Azuz and surprise, surprise that`s not the only political story we have today. Results are
coming in from Super Tuesday when more delegates are awarded than any other day in the U.S. presidential nomination process.
And former Vice-President Joe Biden and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont are now the two clear frontrunners for the Democratic party.
Analysts say they can have a long battle for delegates in the months ahead. Republicans will not. Incumbent President Donald Trump won all of the
states that held primaries on Tuesday so it`s a forgone conclusion that he`ll defeat his Republican challenger former Massachusetts governor Bill
Weld.
But we`re focusing on the Democrats today because their race is less certain. When we produced this show, former Vice-President Biden had won
in 10 of the 14 states holding Democratic primaries on Super Tuesday. Senator Sanders won in at least three states and in the one caucus held on
Tuesday in the territory of American Samoa, the victory went to former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Despite that though, he dropped out of
the race on Wednesday leaving four Democrats still in it. Bloomberg said the delegate math just didn`t add up for him to get his party`s nomination.
The math we had last night was incomplete. Biden was leading with 435 delegates to Sanders 381. But California is the biggest prize from Super
Tuesday with the most delegates and Sanders was leading there though final results may not be known for weeks. So it`s possible he could catch or
even pass Biden in the Super Tuesday delegate count. The process of counting delegates is a complicated one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the Democratic presidential primaries, voters go to the polls to pick their party`s nominee for president. Their votes matter
but not in the way you might think. What they`re really deciding is how many delegates each candidate is awarded from their state and the nominee
doesn`t become official until those delegates meet at the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in July. Delegates represent
the choice of voters from around the country. Think of a delegate like a spokesperson for a group of voters whether the group is an individual
district or an entire state.
So how does this all work? Convention delegates are awarded to candidates proportionally. If a candidate is able to win at least 15 percent of the
votes. Let`s say candidate A gets 56 percent of the vote in a state. Candidate B gets 24 percent and candidate C and D get 10 percent each.
Candidates C and D don`t receive any statewide delegates because they did not get at least 15 percent of the vote. The total vote is now
recalculated with the candidates who met that 15 percent requirement A and B. The number of votes candidate A received is 70 percent of the total
votes that are viable. That means candidate A gets 70 percent of the state delegates and candidate B gets the other 30 percent.
Here`s where it gets a bit complicated. Only about a third of all pledged delegates are awarded by statewide results. A majority are awarded based
on the results in Congressional or local districts. That means each state has a mix of statewide and district delegates. So while the two remaining
candidates D and C won`t get any statewide delegates, they could be awarded other delegates if they get at least 15 percent of the votes in a local
district. Once all the statewide and district delegates are awarded across the country, it`s convention time.
A candidate must have a majority of these delegates to win the official nomination. That magic number this year is 1,991. You also may be
wondering what happens to the delegates allocated to candidates who dropped out before the convention. Well, it`s up to the campaigns that are
remaining to lobby those delegates and win them over to their candidate. There`s one more twist to the delegate story. In addition to all the
pledged delegates from states and local districts, there are also about 770 super delegates. Delegates made up of elected officials, activists and
party officials. They can pledge their vote to whichever candidate they want at the convention but under new Democratic party rules, super
delegates won`t be able to vote on the first ballot for the nominee unless it`s mathematically impossible for their votes to change the outcome.
If no candidate wins a majority of delegates, meaning no candidate gets to 1,991 delegates on the first ballot, that`s when a convention becomes
contested or brokered. In that scenario, meaning a second ballot at the convention, super delegates are now free to vote and all the previously
pledged delegates are also free to choose among the remaining candidates. Voting at the convention continues until one candidate wins a majority of
all voting delegates and then the Democratic party has its nominee.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: There`s a state of emergency in the state of Tennessee. The National Weather Service says it doesn`t know how many tornadoes touched
down there earlier this week but they left hundreds of buildings in shambles and killed at least 24 people. The middle part of the state,
including some areas east of Nashville the capital, were hit by tornado winds as high as 165 miles per hour. Tens of thousands of homes and
businesses had no electricity yesterday. Schools around Nashville were closed. The tornadoes that struck on Tuesday morning were America`s
deadliest since one hit central Oklahoma in 2013.
10 Second Trivia. Which of these landmarks was completed the most recently? Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty, Washington Monument or London
Underground. The Eiffel Tower opened in 1889 making it the youngest landmark on this list.
Gustave Eiffel, a bridge builder who designed the tower also had in the creation of another Parisian landmark, what`s known as the world`s first
department store. And while Le Bon Marche isn`t the biggest store in Europe, that title goes to Harrod`s of London. The French building has a
unique history and allure all its own.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thankfully Paris is synonymous with shopping as it is elegance and the city`s vast monuments to shopping, it`s department stores
are destinations unto themselves. No less alluring than the Eiffel Tower or Notre Dame, the oldest and perhaps most famous of all of these is Le Bon
Marche or in English, the Good Deal.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (UNTRANSLATED)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Aristeed (ph) and his wife Margret (ph) slowly acquired several of the buildings around their shop to form one huge store framed by
these four streets.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s located in Paris in the left bank and it`s really linked to all the art and literature. It`s like the world of
fashion and beauty and (inaudible) all together.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (UNTRANSLATED)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes the same Eiffel who created this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (UNTRANSLATED)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This metallic architecture allowed to the creation of huge glass canopies to let lots of natural light in. Back in the mid-
1800`s, this was especially important as many buildings used gas lighting and tending to be quite gloomy. There are 13 of these canopies and there
are a signature feature of the store.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We like to have this kind of coup au coeur.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Coup au coeur, it`s a like a hit or blow to the heart. A crush or strong attraction, even love at first sight.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And if we had this coup au coeur, we hope our customer will have them - - will have it as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: One resident of Hamburg, New York said it looked fake. It looked unreal and many of those who woke up to this last weekend wished it had
been. Their homes were incased in ice. The temperatures were in the low 20`s and gale force winds were buffeting large waves across Lake Erie.
When they crashed to the shore, the mist coated the houses creating a frozen, winter wonderland that some were worried would damage their homes.
We`ve heard of water damage but that`s "Ice Ice Baby". And though it looked "Erie" it`s probably "lakely" throughout the region. Icy conditions
there are just "Superior". Our friends near Petoskey might see it in Michigan. Folks in Canada might be "Heron" about it and some upstate New
Yorkers may see it one day and think "Ontariono". We`ve got some Bears watching today from Wingate High School. It`s in Fort Wingate, New Mexico.
We`re grateful to be part of your day. I`m Carl Azuz. CNN 10 is back with more news and puns tomorrow.
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