Snowstorm Shuts Down DC as NYC Snaps Back; Democrats to Face Iowa Voters in Town Hall; Clinton, Sanders Trade Blows as Iowa Tightens
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, battle ground Iowa.</s>HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You stand up for me on caucus night, I will be back here in Iowa.</s>SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are locked in a very, very close race right here in Iowa.</s>COSTELLO: One week to the first of the nation votes, hours to CNN's Democratic presidential town hall.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Whoever the nominee is, is going to need the other person supportive hand.</s>COSTELLO: The future of the party could hang in the balance. Also, Trump spends Sunday at church.</s>DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We talk about humility at church today.</s>COSTELLO: And he spends the night at a Holiday Inn Express. Normal guy stuff for the billionaire GOP frontrunner. Plus buried by the blizzard.</s>MAYOR STEPHANIE RAWLINGS-BLAKE, BALTIMORE, MARYLAND: This is a complicated snow removal effort.</s>COSTELLO: D.C. shut down trying to dig out after a storm for the record books. Let's talk. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.</s>COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. Millions of Americans are buried under snow this morning after a record-breaking storm slammed the East Coast. New York seems to be getting back to normal, but Washington, D.C. is another story. It is still shut down today. People there working to dig out from almost two feet of snow. The D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser expected to speak at any moment now. In her city the federal government is closed. Schools are closed. And only five Metro trains and buses are running. Five. So we will monitor the mayor's comments and bring you any developments when she begins speaking. Of course the danger from the storm is far from over. Roads refreezing overnight and officials warning drivers of icy patches. Side streets still impassable. In Arlington, Virginia, the National Guard was called in to help the stranded EMT truck. More than 1200 flights cancelled. A look at the snow totals. And it's not hard to see why. More than 30 inches falling at JFK. 29.3 at Dulles. Baltimore, LaGuardia and Philly all above or near two feet of snow. Nick Valencia is in Washington, D.C. He kicks off our coverage this morning. Good evening, Nick.</s>NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. We are right smack in the middle of the cleanup here in the nation's capital, Washington, D.C. Just crippled by that brutal storm over the weekend. Three days of nonstop snowfall. More than 34 straight hours. More than 20 inches here measured in the district. And we're going to show you something we haven't actually seen in the last three days. Look at that. There's traffic. Despite the shutdown, people are still trying to test the limits of these roads, probably not recommended. Of course government officials would rather prefer that you stay home. Many government officials are staying home. Federal government, local government, as you mentioned, Carol, shut down today. Schools also closed. Let's introduce you to some of those folks that are making sure that these roads stay clean. James, my man, how are you doing?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you doing, sir?</s>VALENCIA: Good. Good. So tell me about -- what did you guys been through the last couple of days.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Been through everything. We've been through basically a lot of salt, a lot of snow, a lot of shovels and a lot of socks.</s>VALENCIA: Walk me with here. We want to show our viewers exactly what kind of conditions you're dealing with. So when we showed up here at this live shot location, you were trying to dig out this car here. What's going on?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's basically just a government vehicle basically for the agencies that's just been parked there. Just got to move so we can effectively plow all the snow the right way. That's all.</s>VALENCIA: So you are from the area. You've been through this before. You're a resident of Virginia. I mean, what kind of storm is this? How does it compare to the storms that you've been through growing up as a kid?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This takes it, right here.</s>VALENCIA: This one is it?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Next to 2010, this takes it.</s>VALENCIA: Wow.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.</s>VALENCIA: Well, we've been hearing a lot of comparison to 2010. Thank you so much for taking the time and all the work that you're doing out there. James Mills, taking the time with CNN this morning. Carol, this is a deadly storm after all. We just heard last hour from the Virginia State Police, six people now confirmed across the river at the Potomac, five from hypothermia, one from a fatal car accident. We are reaching out to the Maryland medical examiner as well to try to see if any of these figures here, fatalities, have gone up. Already one confirmed dead. The sun is shining but tomorrow the forecast looks bleak. Rain is in the forecast. The snow is everywhere. Tons and tons of snow. Really nowhere for it to go. This thing is far from over -- Carol.</s>COSTELLO: Those are government cars parked on the sidewalk there? Interesting.</s>VALENCIA: Yes. You'd think that they would have moved it. You'd think that they would have known to get out of here, but this is what James is having to deal with this morning trying to find the owner of that car so they can get back to work here -- Carol.</s>COSTELLO: Kind of what I was thinking, Nick Valencia. Thanks so much. All right. In New York City, a very different story from D.C. Practically back to business as usual. The recovery process seemingly much smoother and New York saw even more snow than D.C. 26.8 inches. Train spotters reporting 22.4 in Washington. Jason Carroll is outside of Penn Station this morning. Hi, Jason.</s>JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And hello to you, Carol. And here's one sign that things are getting back to normal here at Penn Station. That is the iconic spot right outside Penn Station where you see folks lined up, getting into their cabs between huge mounds of snow on this particular morning. But earlier this morning, it was empty, and that's because, as you know, Carol, Long Island railroad really struggled to get back online this morning. They expected to have full service sometime around 5:00 a.m. That was pushed back to around 7:00 a.m. Then pushed back again simply because some of the lines refroze overnight. They had to get out there, fix those lines so they could get things back up and running again. So as you can here now, folks are getting back in line, getting back out into the streets. And when you consider how much snow fell here, that's pretty incredible that New York City is doing as well as it's doing so far today. 26.8 inches fell at Central Park. Putting that into perspective, Anchorage, Alaska, so far this season has received 25.8 inches. So that gives you some perspective for those watching how much snow actually fell here in the city. And considering that schools are open, government offices open, city seems to be faring pretty well.</s>COSTELLO: Good news. Jason Carroll, thanks so much. All right. Let's talk about politics now. One week from the Iowa caucuses, and now just hours from the last faceoff of the three Democrats. Tonight only on CNN, they'll field questions from Iowa voters at a town hall meeting. Bernie Sanders is about to host his own town hall in Iowa Falls. With only seven days left candidates are racing to win over Iowans. And Sanders seems to be riding some momentum into tonight's showdown. Our senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny live in Des Moines with more for you. Good morning, Jeff.</s>JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. It is a deadlock contest as this race enters the final week here. Spending the weekend with both candidates, you can tell by the urgency in their voices there, they're trying to move from persuading voters to mobilizing their supporters out to those caucus sites a week from tonight. But our CNN poll of polls is showing just how close this race is in Iowa. Let's take a look at these numbers. Bernie Sanders, 46 percent, and Hillary Clinton 44 percent. This is a poll of polls of the latest four top polls so it gives you a sense of the -- how tight and urgent this campaign is for both sides here. But let's take a listen to the closing arguments from each candidate as Bernie Sanders is addressing his supporters across the state and Hillary Clinton is doing the same.</s>SANDERS: We are locked in a very, very close race right here in Iowa. And if we have the kind of turnout that I hope we can, we're going to win here in Iowa.</s>SANDERS: And if we win here in Iowa, I think we're going to do very, very well in New Hampshire.</s>CLINTON: Why? The stakes in this election are so high and we have to start to move toward nominating and electing a president and commander-in-chief who will continue the progress we've made, make sure it is not ripped away, forcing us to once again be disappointed.</s>ZELENY: So Secretary Clinton there clearly making the argument that she is the candidate to continue the legacy of this president. She is the candidate with the experience here. She had a big crowd last night in West Des Moines, Iowa, a lot of enthusiasm on her side. And, Carol, this is a -- as close of a race as we've seen in recent cycles here. So the town hall forum tonight which also includes Martin O'Malley, the former governor of Maryland, he has some supporters here as well, will be the last good shot for Iowa voters to see exactly what these candidates have in mind. And from there, seven more days until the Iowa caucuses -- Carol.</s>COSTELLO: All right. Jeff Zeleny, thanks so much. As Jeff alluded to, the fight for Iowa is intense. Clinton and Sanders locked in a statistical tie. And with that the Sanders campaign has turned negative. Bernie Sanders came out swinging and resurrected Clinton's devastating loss in Iowa in 2008.</s>SANDERS: Eight years ago, Obama was being attacked by everything. He was unrealistic. His ideas were pie in the sky. He did not have the experience that was needed. But you know what? People of Iowa saw through those attacks then, and they're going to see through those attacks again.</s>COSTELLO: Sanders also pointed to a "Wall Street Journal"-NBC News poll showing he would beat Donald Trump in a president run by 15 points to Clinton's 10. With me now to talk about this is Brian Fallon. He's the press secretary for Hillary for America. Welcome, sir.</s>BRIAN FALLON, PRESS SECRETARY, HILLARY FOR AMERICA: Hi, Carol. Thanks for having me.</s>COSTELLO: Hi. Thanks for being here. So Hillary Clinton is running on experience. But Democratic voters seem to want passion. Did the Clinton campaign miscalculate?</s>FALLON: Oh, Carol, I think Hillary Clinton has, over the course of her career, poured her heart from the progressive causes that you hear her talking about throughout this campaign. If you look at the first job she took after law school, she went to work for the Children's Defense Fund. She knocked on doors in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and exposed how children with disabilities were being shut out from public schools. She went door-to=door in Alabama and exposed how local authorities there were thumbing their nose at court order desegregation in the schools there. She went across Texas and enrolled Latino voters that had been disenfranchised across that state. And ever since then she has made these progressive ideals the cause of her life. She has actually lived them in practice not just in principle. And I think that Iowa caucus=goers are increasingly finding that if you want somebody in your foxhole, if you want a proven fighter that will get results in your day-to-day life, Hillary Clinton is the candidate for you.</s>COSTELLO: But -- but Bernie Sanders seems to be saying, look, he has progressive ideals, too, and he's willing to give it a go. Hillary Clinton is talking about practicality. She's calling his ideas fairytales and he says that's backfiring on her.</s>FALLON: I don't think so, Carol. I think that what Hillary -- the point that Hillary Clinton is making is a very apt one, which is that both Senator Sanders and Secretary Clinton share many of the same progressive values. But as President Clinton -- President Obama, I should say, himself said today in an interview with Politico, Hillary Clinton has proven throughout the course of her career that she knows how to translate those progressive values into the hard work of governing. And with the high stakes that we're looking at today where you have Republicans threatening to rip away the gains we've made over the last seven years under President Obama, we need someone who can protect those gains and go further. We need someone like Hillary Clinton that knows that progress often comes through the three yards and a cloud of dust, rather than a hail Mary pass.</s>COSTELLO: Well, well, oddly enough, you mentioned that Politico interview with President Obama, and he was very complimentary of Hillary Clinton. He talked about her experience. So let's listen to a short bit of that interview now.</s>OBAMA: Look, I've gotten to know Hillary really well, and she is a good, smart, tough person who cares deeply about this country. And she has been in the public eye for a long time and in a culture in which new is always better.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.</s>OBAMA: And, you know, you're always looking at the bright shiny object that people don't -- haven't seen before. That's a disadvantage to her.</s>COSTELLO: The president went on to say -- you know, he was talking about Clinton's weaknesses as well. He said she's better in small groups. That she appeared rusty at the start of her campaign, that she's been way too cautious. Is he right?</s>FALLON: I think I saw the comments that the president made. And there were a lot of gracious compliments that he paid to Hillary Clinton which I think is a testimony to the fact that they have a deep running, mutual respect and admiration for each other that dates back to that spirited 2008 contest that they ran. Look, I think that in actuality Senator Sanders has been in Washington longer than Hillary Clinton. But like I said, Hillary Clinton has devoted her career to these causes. She has the calluses to show for her work to put these progressive ideals into action dating back to her work at the Children's Defense Fund, as first lady of Arkansas where she led a legal aid clinic that helped represent poor people in Arkansas. And in 1993, as first lady of the United States of America, when there was an effort made to achieve universal health care and Republicans in Congress blocked it, she dusted herself off, picked herself up and helped pass the CHIP measure which insured eight million kids.</s>COSTELLO: Right.</s>FALLON: I think that's a testament to the fact that she has overcome adversity before. She's been through the ringer. With Senator Sanders, he's just starting to encounter some scrutiny over the last couple of weeks, and as a result we've seen him shifts some positions and walk some comments back.</s>COSTELLO: OK. Last --</s>FALLON: Hillary Clinton is the tested candidate in this race for the Democratic Party.</s>COSTELLO: Last question for you. Do you expect President Obama will endorse Hillary Clinton soon?</s>FALLON: Well, actually, I think that the White House has said that he wants to let the primary process play out. So I'm taking them at their word that that's their intention there. But I think as those comments that you saw said, there is a deep admiration and respect between senator -- President Obama and Secretary Clinton, and she was very honored to serve under him as secretary of state. And she frequently goes around in campaign trail events and evokes the fact that under President Obama we've made great progress improving the economy. He doesn't get the credit he deserves. I think voters are increasingly recognizing that she's the one to help protect against the Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, repeal Dodd- Frank, repeal his executive actions on immigration, and go further on each of those issues.</s>COSTELLO: All right. I have to leave it there. Brian Fallon, thanks for stopping by.</s>FALLON: Thank you, Carol.</s>COSTELLO: You're welcome.</s>FALLON: All right. Appreciate it.</s>COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, they say everything is bigger in Texas. But what about endorsements? Ted Cruz just picked up one in his state.