[Sciutto:] Happening soon, Joe Biden, speaking in Washington, but will he make any announcement about a possible presidential run. A lot of people waiting for that. Right now, his wife Jill, you can see her there, speaking at this event for the International Firefighters Associations.
[Harlow:] You can't see it, but the firefighters have signs in the audience. Some of them many of them read, Run Joe, Run and firefighters for Biden. We, of course, will monitor this all morning. But for now, the 2020 watch and wait continues.
[Sciutto:] Joining us now to discuss, political anchor for Spectrum News, Errol Louis and National Political Correspondent for Time Magazine, Molly Ball. So, Errol Louis, I wonder about the pressure on Joe Biden, because there's a lot in the party who want him to run, frankly want him to make a decision here and the latest numbers we saw coming out of Iowa give him a big advantage, 27 percent of voters there support him, 25 for Sanders and a big drop-off, back to single digits for the other candidates. I imagine those numbers influential for him.
[Errol Louis, Cnn Political Commentator:] Those numbers have got to be weighing on his mind, because it sort of paints the picture of somebody who really needs to run because the party is indicating in at in this early way, at this early stage that he's the frontrunner. On the other hand, he's too much of a pro not to realize that those numbers will change immediately, if he were to announce, say in the next few minutes, I think you're going to see those numbers change quite a bit. So, he knows that he's got name recognition and that's really what those big numbers suggest right now, but that once he gets a hard look, he's going to be in a heck of a fight with 18 or 20 other people who are also very talented.
[Harlow:] Molly, there was an interesting piece a few day ago by Julie Pace and Steve Peoples at A.P. that points out that Biden, if he jumps in, would actually start off at a fundraising disadvantage because we've seen such huge fundraising from a lot of folks, from Bernie Sanders to Kamala Harris to even what we saw from Pete Buttigieg after a CNN Town Hall and it talks about the fact that Biden doesn't really like raising money. He raised less than half of what he had set as a goal in the 2008 campaign before he dropped out. Biden, for his part, has said that he'd raise a good amount of money from, quote, some major Republican folks. Fundraising, any sort of issue for Biden if he gets in? It's hard to imagine with such a big name, but I don't know.
[Holly Ball, Cnn National Political Correspondent:] Well, you have to think that in addition to those disadvantages Biden has a lot of advantages, right? He has he's extremely well connected in the Democratic establishment. He's just been around a lot longer than all of the his potential opponents and he's got a lot of connections to people with money, people with influence, people who just have a lot of affection for him. So, I do think that those things are obstacles for him relative to some imaginary other candidate who has also been a two-term vice president but likes raising money, but given all of the built in advantages that Biden has, I don't think this is a campaign that is going to run out of steam and die because if a lack of money, which is a real danger for a lot of these other candidates who are in single digits, and even if they got a big burst early on, are going to have to show that they remain viable, are going to have to raise enough money to get two Iowa, which becomes progressively harder if you don't start to inch up in the polls after the debates have started by the fall or so.
[Sciutto:] Errol, you know you speak to people close to Biden in his camp and they raise the personal demands of another presidential run and how those weigh on Joe Biden. I mean, he's the patriarch of a family, they've had the loss of his son, a lot of personal issues and he's concerned about the demands placed on them. What do you hear about how essential that is to his final decision on whether to get in?
[Louis:] Well, that's always front of mind. I mean, these are people. These are not just figures, these are not just sort of pictures on a screen. These are people who have to sort of get up there and get ready to run the hardest campaign of your life under unbelievably grueling conditions with a sitting president who's not going to wait on the sidelines until the Democrats select their candidate. Donald Trump is going to be involved at every step of the way and he can pick up his Blackberry and upend your life. So, I don't know that we're going to see Joe Biden to actually get in to tell you the truth. I mean, there are a lot people who think it's inevitable, because he's ahead in the polls, he's got name recognition, he's he could put together an organization fairly quickly. I don't know if that's the final word. He's made clear, even the last time, that what goes on his families life means quite a lot to him.
[Sciutto:] Wow, that's interesting. That would be a surprise.
[Harlow:] Yes, really interesting. And it would be a surprise. All right, Molly, let's talk about Stacey Abrams here, I think surprising everyone with this tweet yesterday saying, I never thought I would be ready to run for president until 2028 but, quote, "life comes at you fast." Two questions for you. One, what sort of hole would she fill with a candidacy if she ops in that isn't filled by a candidate so far? And is there any risk here of going too fast?
[Ball:] Sure, that's always a risk for up-and-coming candidates, but I think if you're a politician you also want to be seizing your moment if you have one. And, you know, Stacey Abrams is ambitious and talented. I think what you see in these polls where no candidate besides the known quantities of Bernie and Biden has managed to sort of break out of the pack. What you see is, these candidates don't have well-defined lanes yet and when you talk about the potential lanes for candidates, there are ideological lanes, who's the most progressive, who's the most moderate to conservative Democrat? There are generational lanes, who is a fresh face for the party? Who represents a new and compelling voice who could appeal to younger voters or voters who have been turned off by the previous pillars of the Democratic establishment, such as the last nominee? And then there are also demographic lanes in a party that it think is more conscious than ever of diversity and who's base is more diverse than ever. There are a lot of Democrats who would like to see an African American woman or just something other than the same old white men on top of the ticket. And so, I think there's there are a lot of potential openings for Stacey Abrams, but I think the most the biggest opening for her is just that she's a very compelling candidate.
[Sciutto:] Errol, before we go, just quickly, you see what the way the president is going to approach this race. I mean, dismissing Democrats as socialists, et cetera, are Democrats giving them an open to do that by some of the candidates, but also some of the standard barriers in the party setting out some far left positions, whether it be on taxes, Green New Deal, et cetera. Are they giving him an opening to follow that attack line?
[Louis:] Sure. They've got a real challenge the Democrats, we saw this in the Town Hall meeting just the other night on CNN, they have to play to the activist Democratic base that's going to really determine who wins the primaries and the caucuses and those folks want to hear a lot of stuff. They want to hear about a guaranteed income, they want hear about a Green New Deal, which is defined five or six different ways. They want to hear about withdrawing all troops from all kinds of theaters overseas where the United States has longstanding military and diplomatic commitments. It's not going to be so easy if you decide to sort of say yes to a bunch of those different ideas to then dial it back when it's time for the general election. It's a tight rope that every Democratic candidate is going to have to walk.
[Sciutto:] Errol Louis, Molly Ball, thanks very much. Coming up next week, Senator Elizabeth Warren, another candidate taking part in another CNN Town Hall, this time with Jake Tapper live from Jackson, Mississippi. It will air Monday night, 9:00 o'clock Eastern time, only here on CNN. These are must watch events.
[Harlow:] Yes. All right, looking forward to that. Meantime, back to the tragic news about that downed airline, pilots and flight attendants now voicing publically their concerns about the safety of Boeing 737 MAX 8 jet after these two deadly crashes in just five months. Will U.S. airlines ground those planes until they have more answers?
[Sciutto:] Yes, you've got to wonder what you and I should do....
[Harlow:] Right.
[Sciutto:] ... if we're flying on one of these planes. And we are moments away from the opening bell on Wall Street. Dow expected to rise when trading begins there. Investors will be paying attention to a key Brexit vote set for later this afternoon. We're going to be watching that as well.