New CNN/WMUR Poll: Trump 20 Points Ahead in Key State; Trump & Palin Slam GOP Establishment; Jeb Bush Weighs in on Campaign; 50 Million Brace for Weekend Blizzard
JAKE TAPPER, CNN: Rene Marsh, thank you so much. That's it for THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. I turn you over to Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM. He's got some hot new poll numbers from New Hampshire. Thanks for watching.</s>WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, stumping with Trump. Sarah Palin hits the trail with the GOP frontrunner. But they seem to be attacking the Republican establishment nearly as much as the Democrats. Is that a smart move? Pulling ahead. Breaking news, our brand-new poll shows Donald Trump way ahead, but Jeb Bush is moving up in New Hampshire. Can he revive his campaign? I'll speak to Jeb Bush live this hour. ISIS jihadis. ISIS fighters are aggressively recruiting young Muslim women online with promises of romance and an idyllic life, promises that are soon shattered. How many western women have been lured from their homes to join the terror group? And snow escape. 50 million Americans are bracing for a major winter storm, and Washington could be facing a blizzard of historic proportions. Airlines already preparing for a travel nightmare. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in</s>THE SITUATION ROOM. ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news. The breaking news: our latest poll shows Donald Trump stretching his big lead in New Hampshire, but it's getting crowded in the middle of the pack. And Jeb Bush is pushing his way into a tie for third place. My interview of the Republican candidate just moments away. Fifty million Americans could soon be buried in snow, and many of them may have more than two feet to shovel. Parts of the East Coast could face a blizzard of epic scale. There could be widespread power outages. Plows are on standby, airlines already scrambling to get ready for a travel mess. Our correspondents, analysts and guests, they will have full coverage of the day's top stories. Let's get to the breaking political news in New Hampshire. Our just- released CNN/WMUR poll of people who plan to vote in the state's Republican primary, that poll shows Donald Trump with a commanding lead. He has 34 percent. That's 20 points ahead of his closest rival, who's now Senator Ted Cruz. Senator Marco Rubio, who is second to Trump in our last poll in New Hampshire, he has fallen into a third-place tie with Jeb Bush, who's now on the rise. CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is in Hollis, New Hampshire, where Ted Cruz is about to hold a rally. Sunlen, what's the latest there?</s>SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, Ted Cruz here in New Hampshire trying to recover from a rough 24 hours for his campaign. But again today, the center of attention out on the campaign trail was not with him but focused squarely on Donald Trump and Sarah Palin. Donald Trump and Sarah Palin with an encore performance today.</s>DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Everybody wanted her endorsement. She said, "What you're doing, Donald, is amazing."</s>SERFATY: The duo hitting the campaign trail together in Oklahoma.</s>TRUMP: We have a movement going on, folks. We have a movement. This is not -- this is not a normal situation. People are sick and tired and fed up. And, yes, we're angry. We are angry.</s>SERFATY: Rallying supporters at the conservative Christian university, Oral Roberts.</s>SARAH PALIN, FORMER GOVERNOR OF ALASKA: And here we got a redhead from the big Red Apple running for president. And yet the GOP machine, all of a sudden, they're saying we're not red enough. We're not conservative enough. And I say what in the world do they know about conservatism?</s>SERFATY: Palin's support a boost to Trump's conservative credentials and a potential momentum killer for Ted Cruz, threatening to undercut his main argument against Trump, that Trump is a closet liberal. Trump is flying solo this morning in Iowa, despite a campaign announcement that Palin would travel with the GOP frontrunner to both of today's events.</s>TRUMP: How can you be running with a cloud over your head?</s>SERFATY: Giving Trump the spotlight to himself to unload on Ted Cruz...</s>TRUMP: With being a Canadian citizen, he said, "Oh, I didn't know that." How did he not know that? Then he said with the loans, "Oh, I didn't know that." Smart guy. He doesn't know that? That's worse than Hillary when you think about it.</s>SERFATY: ... and twist the knife a bit.</s>TRUMP: You have a great governor in this state. Terry Branstad came out yesterday, and he said, "You can't have -- you can't have Cruz." And I think it has to do with more than ethanol.</s>SERFATY: Cruz today in New Hampshire launching a fresh attack at Trump for favoring big government when it comes to energy policy.</s>SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald Trump promised not only to protect the ethanol mandate, but to expand it to have the federal government do even more picking winners and losers by mandating ethanol be a larger part of the marketplace.</s>SERFATY: Amid this battle there are no signs of wear for Trump. A new national poll showing Trump way out in front, with more than twice as much support as his closest rival. And in a CNN/WMUR New Hampshire poll, Trump tops the pack 20 points ahead of everyone else. Facing these headwinds, Ted Cruz making a big point today to show he's trying to keep his spirits up.</s>CRUZ: Style matters. Look, would it kill Republicans to crack a joke? Actually, some of them, I think it might. You know, have a little fun, for Pete's sake.</s>SERFATY: And Ted Cruz today here in New Hampshire was forced to cancel two campaign events to return to Washington for votes in the Senate. This is the kind of deviation that really knocks him off his message at exactly the time, Wolf, that he needs to be focused on using each and every moment out here on the campaign trail to recapture the momentum.</s>BLITZER: Sunlen Serfaty in New Hampshire for us. Thank you. Let's go to our senior White House correspondent, Jim Acosta. Today he's on the campaign trail with Donald Trump and Sarah Palin. Jim, they're attacking the Republican establishment almost as much with a passion as they're going after the Democrats. Tell us what happened today.</s>JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they're attacking everybody, Wolf. And this tthihis seems to be a match made in Tea Party heaven. Donald Trump and Sarah Palin, they were dishing out the conservative red meat and wooing evangelical voters at the same time at the Christian conservative-founded Oral Roberts University here in Oklahoma State. Palin touted Trump as the only candidate, quote, "ballsy enough" -- her words -- to take on the Washington establishment like Trump. The former Alaska governor tore into the news media and said the GOP frontrunner, meaning Trump, is strong enough to go rogue, no matter the consequences. Here's what she had to say.</s>PALIN: His candidate, Trump's candidacy, this movement, this force, this strategy proves that, shoot, as long as that establishment, as long as they get to keep their titles and their perks in D.C., and their media ratings, they don't really care who wins elections. Believe me on this. I've kind of been there, and I see how they treat those who go rogue, like Mr. Trump does, in order to do the right thing. You want to know proof of that? Even today the GOP machine, they're attacking their own frontrunner and his base of dynamic, diverse, very patriotic supporters. They're attacking you, because they can't afford for the status quo to go. Otherwise the gravy train, it stops, and they can't keep slurping from it. Not if things change the way that Mr. Trump and all of we know needs to change.</s>ACOSTA: As for Trump here in Oklahoma, he slammed Democrats, as well, went after Bernie Sanders as a, quote, "wacko" and a communist. And the billionaire tycoon said he is determined to win Iowa, adding it won't mean much if his supporters don't turn out on caucus night. Here's more of what Donald Trump had to say.</s>TRUMP: We are going to win so much we're going to have win after win after win. You people are going to get sick and tired of winning. You're going to say, "Please, please President Trump, we can't take this much victory. Please stop. We don't want any more wins." And I'm going to say to you, "We're going to win. I don't care what you say. We're going to make our country great again. We're going to win. We're going to win. And we're going to win!"</s>ACOSTA: Now, it's worth noting when Palin was not at Trump's side earlier today, he ripped into Ted Cruz. But when she was at this event here in Oklahoma, Donald Trump declined to go after his arch rival in Iowa. But, Wolf, as for this chemistry between Donald Trump and Sarah Palin, it is clearly there. He sees a lot of himself in her. And I think vice versa. I think that's why they perform so well out on the stump, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: All right. Jim Acosta reporting from Oklahoma for us. Thanks very much. As we reported our new poll shows Jeb Bush on the rise in New Hampshire. He's now tied with Marco Rubio in third place. Still, though, far behind Donald Trump. Jeb Bush is joining us now live from Manchester. Governor, thanks very much for joining us.</s>JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: You've been calling yourself the anti-Trump. But some -- some of the pundits out there think it's too late for a comeback. What do you say to them?</s>BUSH: Well, we're making good progress, because my message of hope that we can change the things in Washington, rather than just describing how bad things are, seems to be working. I have a proven record as a governor of the state to disrupt the old order in Tallahassee, Florida. And I can do the same in Washington, D.C. And I have proven ideas to lead our country going forward. And so it's a tangible result that people are looking for. I have the leadership skills to do this. Donald Trump is neither a conservative nor a leader. And while he's a great entertainer -- and I respect Sarah Palin, as well -- he is not a conservative. And we need to have a conservative be nominated to defeat Hillary Clinton. I don't think that Donald Trump can beat Hillary Clinton. I believe I can.</s>BLITZER: Listen to what Donald Trump said about you today at one of his rallies.</s>TRUMP: How about Bush? Look, the guy spends -- now he's up to $79 million. Now, I wouldn't even mention this, but a lot of it's ads against me. He does these negative ads against me. Otherwise I wouldn't mention it. Maybe I would. But $79 million. And he's bing, down in the basement, right? The first thing he should do is he should get rid of the Jeb stuff, get rid of all of the nonsense that he's going through with, "I can fix it." You know, his new slogan, "I can fix it." He can't fix anything. He's a low-energy person. Low-energy people don't get things fixed. But if he were a real politician, he'd be careful when he says, "I can fix it." Because where I come from, that's dishonest. When you fix it, you're dishonest. He shouldn't say, "I can fix it." Now, I think he's probably an honest guy, but a stiff. There's no question about it.</s>BLITZER: I want to get your reaction to that. But it seems those kinds of attacks in almost every speech he refers to you, they seem to be having an impact.</s>BUSH: Well, Wolf, look, he's not going to win the presidency by tearing me down or tearing women down or tearing the disabled down, more importantly, or calling John McCain a loser because he was a POW, or tearing Hispanics down. That's not how you win. That's how you lose. We need to have an uplifting message, applying conservative ideas in the right way. And that's what I'm prepared to do. Look, Trump's an entertainer. He's not going to be commander in chief or leader of the free world. He's not -- he's not going to lead us to a safer and securer and freer America. And so I'm going to stay the course. The reason why he attacks me is he's scared of me. He's insecure. He doesn't believe that -- that he can take me on. And while I'm doing worse than him in the polls, the simple fact is why would he spend his time tearing down someone who's so low compared to him? This is -- this is because we're moving up. And I believe that he believes that we're the real challenge for his winning the nomination. And the tragedy of this is we have a Democratic nominee, likely nominee who's under investigation by the FBI. The only chance that she could become president is if we nominate a guy like Trump.</s>BLITZER: You've said that Donald Trump -- and I'm quoting you know -- "He's a junkyard dog, that's for sure. I seem to be the focus of most of his attacks." Then you said at one point, "Just one thing I need to get off my chest, Donald Trump is a jerk." So you've said Donald Trump is insulting his way to the presidency, but it sounds like you're insulting him, as well.</s>BUSH: Yes. Hey, did you just hear the -- in our interview he just went through about a minute-long diatribe? Is that a junkyard dog or what? Look, this is politics. It's not bean bag. I totally get it. And the simple fact is people are hurting in this country. The main reason why I believe that he's the wrong candidate isn't that he attacks me. It's that he attacks women, Hispanics, the disabled. Across the board, he finds ways to tear people down to make himself look like the strong man. And that's a sign of weakness. That's not a sign of strength. We need a president that has a steady hand, that has a servant's heart, that has conservative principles and a proven record to lead this country forward out of the mess that we're in.</s>BLITZER: Why is he doing so well in all of these polls?</s>BUSH: Because people are angry about Washington, D.C. And what I'm saying is I'm angry, too. This system is not working right now. Our democracy is imperiled. We need a president that stops pushing people down to make himself look better. And to have the ability to work with Congress to fix how we tax and regulate, fix the mess that exists in Washington, change the culture so that we could have rising income again for the middle class for people to be lifted out of poverty. And as important, we need a president who will be a commander in chief that will have the back of the military to keep us safe. And that's my advocacy to turn this angst and frustration into a force that will change the culture in Washington so we can move forward.</s>BLITZER: Sarah Palin, as you know, endorsed Donald Trump. You call that laughable.</s>BUSH: Yes.</s>BLITZER: That was your word. But she's saying Donald Trump is conservative enough. Your response?</s>BUSH: Look, I didn't say that her endorsement of Trump was laughable. I have -- I have a lot of respect for Sarah Palin, particularly her commitment to the life issues and to protecting the disabled. We share a passion about that. I respect her. But for her to say that Donald Trump's a conservative when he was pro- abortion in the most recent past, he believed in higher taxes, he thought Hillary Clinton would be a great negotiator in Iran, he's been all over the map in foreign policy, certainly not a conservative. Rush Limbaugh and others are now questioning his conservative credentials, and I think they're right.</s>BLITZER: Governor, we have a lot more to discuss. I want to take a quick break. Much more with the Republican presidential candidate, Jeb Bush, right after this.