Trump Stumps in Iowa, Announces Second Phase of Campaign; Clinton Polls Up in Swing States, Losing to Sanders in New Hampshire
BROWN: New polling out today shows Hillary Clinton leading the Democratic field in three important swing states. But it's in New Hampshire where she seems to be struggling. With just months to go before the first in the nation primary, a new report in "Politico" says there is a growing rift between the official Clinton campaign and some of her informal but influential advisers. Those advisers are ready for her to cut her losses and focus her attention elsewhere. But her campaign apparently isn't ready to give up on New Hampshire. Despite this latest CNN/WMUR poll here. It shows Clinton trailing her chief rival, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, by 16 percentage points there. Even Clinton admits victory won't come easy in Sanders' neighboring state. Here's what she told the "Today" show at a town hall in New Hampshire this week.</s>HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: I've got work to do in New Hampshire. I'm very excited to be leading everywhere else and I'm going to keep working hard everywhere else. But I always thought this would be a great contest. It's important. We're trying to elect the next president of the United States.</s>BROWN: And I'm joined now by the man who wrote the article, Gabriel Debenedetti; and also joining me, "Boston Globe" reporter, political reporter, James Pindell. Thanks for coming an. Gabriel, first to you. The two Clinton sides at odds according to your article. Who do you think has the bigger advantage here?</s>GABRIEL DEBENEDETTI, POLITICAL REPORTER, POLITICO: Well, the campaign has the advantage, and there's no sense that she's going to drop out of New Hampshire anytime soon. But the fact remain that's there are people who speak with her or who have been involved with her previous campaign that's are saying, well, maybe it's time to reevaluate, maybe it's time to plenty Bernie have his run in New Hampshire.</s>BROWN: They're I saying that based on her poll number there's. James, you say hold on a second, Clinton still has a chance in New Hampshire. Based on what?</s>JAMES PINDELL, POLITICAL REPORTER, BOSTON GLOBE: Well, based on history. I mean, this is the most ridiculous idea. I'm not attacking Gabriel or his sources. They're anonymous. It makes sense because I wouldn't put my name on this. If you look at primary history, nearly every single winner of the New Hampshire primary in recent decades has been down in many cases really down before they came back. And no one knows this story better than the Clintons. When Bill Clinton was nose-diving in 1992, he was able to come back in New Hampshire. He was able to do it. The same way with, I don't know, Hillary Clinton in 2008 when she was down 12 points before she pulled off a surprising victory. You know, Hillary has the largest campaign staff in New Hampshire, the deepest experienced campaign staff in New Hampshire. She's opening her tenth office. These are people who are on the sidelines as is mentioned in the politico report. This is not the campaign. And by the way, we're five months away, and this makes absolutely no sense for her to drop out in one state. It's one state. There are 49. If you want to counter Bernie Sanders, you know what you do? Take the lead back in New Hampshire.</s>BROWN: To your point, James -- Gabriel, there was a quote in your article that sort of speaks to that coming from one of your sources saying that the only thing worse than being second on primary day in New Hampshire is being first right now, basically because New Hampshire voters are known to change their minds at the last minute. Is that right?</s>DEBENEDETTI: Yeah, that's right. You look at the example of every recent primary, at least in the Democratic side. The person who's winning at the end of the day is not the person who was winning at this point. That's the point that was made to me over and over and over by the actual Clinton team. The Clinton team is full of pros in New Hampshire. They really know this. The argument to pull away is a little bit tough for them to understand, especially when you consider that New Hampshire might be a competitive state in the general election, too. Assuming Hillary Clinton gets that far for them, you wouldn't want her to have pulled out already.</s>BROWN: Gabriel, bottom line here, how important is New Hampshire to the Clinton camp, to winning?</s>DEBENEDETTI: Very important. I mean, they think that they could certainly win this without New Hampshire. They have an organization beyond New Hampshire. They have a great organization in Iowa as well. But the reality is if you're not competing in New Hampshire, it's tough to see a decent path forward for any candidate. New Hampshire is an extremely important state. And they know that.</s>BROWN: James, I see you nodding your head. Would there be, just looking at the other side, do you think any advantages if Clinton focused less on New Hampshire and poured more resources into other early primary states?</s>PINDELL: Well, I do think one thing that has happened which we can say is that the fire wall for Hillary used to be New Hampshire. Clintons never had a deep relationship in Iowa largely because her husband skipped the '92 caucuses there. But that firewall is no longer New Hampshire. It's the southern firewall where Bernie Sanders doesn't have much support among African-Americans and others. That is absolutely true. But again, if you want to stub the momentum a little bit, all you've got to do is reclaim the lead in New Hampshire, which is not going to be easy. She is losing, but it is not lost. And remember, the moment Joe Biden decides he's not going to run, this race is within single digits in New Hampshire alone.</s>BROWN: And as you pointed out in your article, James, it's not just about polling. It also has to do with organization and money as well. Gabriel Debenedetti, James Pindell, thank you so much.</s>PINDELL: Thank you.</s>BROWN: And we are one week away from the first Democratic debate Tuesday night, October 13th. That's the CNN Facebook Democratic debate only on CNN. Up next, a tragic story. Police say an 11-year-old boy shot and killed a little girl in her own yard over puppies. You'll hear from her mother, up next. Plus, in moments, the Coast Guard expected to make an announcement about the missing ship that sailed into the eye of a hurricane. The families are already telling us they're bracing for bad news. We'll be back.