Moderate Democrats Not Sure How to Stop Sanders Surge; Bloomberg under Scrutiny
CAMEROTA: Senator Bernie Sanders heading into next week's Nevada caucuses with momentum from his win in New Hampshire, while centrist Democrats struggle to unite around a single, moderate alternative. The candidates are fanning out across the country on the campaign trail this week. As you can see from their heads on that map. Joining us now we have CNN senior political analyst John Avlon and CNN political commentator Jess McIntosh, who was the director of communications outreach for the Hillary Clinton campaign.</s>CAMEROTA: OK, Jess, give us a snapshot of where you think we are today with the Democratic candidates.</s>JESS MCINTOSH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think we have a new frontrunner. I think Bernie Sanders is -- is -- has taken over Joe Biden as the de facto frontrunner for the race. Obviously, there are a ton of caveats to that. Pete Buttigieg is actually slightly ahead in the delegate count. But the most important thing that's about to happen is that black and brown voters are about to get a say. They have not had one yet. And they are the most vibrant enthusiastic part of our base. So it is impossible to say who's ahead until we know who our base is really excited about. And that starts in Nevada, then moves on to South Carolina. So the race is about to change dramatically.</s>BERMAN: You know what's interesting, and it tees up to what I'm about to get into here, is that African-American and Latino voters can be more moderate and centrist than other parts of the party. And that's often misinterpreted.</s>MCINTOSH: It's true.</s>BERMAN: Which brings me to what I think is the other big storyline here, which is Bernie Sanders versus the centrists or the centrists or everyone else versus Bernie Sanders. And this is encapsulated in a back and forth with none other than James Carville that has happened over various airwaves in the last few hours. So listen to this back and forth.</s>JAMES CARVILLE, DEMOCRATIC POLITICAL STRATEGIST: Some people in this country want a revolution. They want disruption. You know, I don't know what -- you know, they scream at people. They go and bully people. And, I don't know how you want to elect that 78 years old standing up and screaming in a microphone about the revolution.</s>SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: James, in all due respect, is a political hack who said very terrible things when he was working for Clinton against Barack Obama. I think he said some of the same things.</s>BERMAN: OK.</s>CAMEROTA: Touche.</s>JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: No.</s>BERMAN: Colorful, but this is what the discussion is in the Democratic Party this morning.</s>AVLON: Yes. And, look, there are deep divides in the Democratic Party. I think what's significant is while the far left has had a lot of energy behind it, and Bernie Sanders deserves credit for moving the debate inside the Democratic Party to the left. Let's take a look at what actually happened in New Hampshire. Compared to four years before, the percent of folks who could describe themselves as very liberal declined to around a fifth. The folks who describe themselves as moderate, increased. So while he is ahead, he's the lowest percentage of a total win in, like, New Hampshire history. And we've got three candidates who are all around 20 percent, Klobuchar at the bottom, Buttigieg and Sanders. So, yes, the centrists are getting concerned because of socialists. Most polls show -- Gallup poll in particular -- that the socialists have a really hard time winning in America. Sometimes hard to understand that outside the echo chamber. That's what -- that's what James Carville is trying to get at. He's got the energy. The center is currently split. My guess is, this is going to shake out a lot, particularly when Bloomberg starts getting involved in</s>MCINTOSH: To be fair, yes, it was a lower vote total in New Hampshire, certainly than he got in 2016.</s>AVLON: Absolutely.</s>MCINTOSH: But in 2016 he was running against a single candidate. This year there were five more or less viable candidates splitting that vote. And it looks like we're in for a record turnout in New Hampshire.</s>AVLON: Yes.</s>MCINTOSH: We don't have those numbers in yet.</s>AVLON: It appears that way.</s>MCINTOSH: But it appears like we are -- we're going to be close to or breaking 2008 levels, which is a very exciting thing for Democrats right now.</s>AVLON: That's great news for Democrats, but Bernie Sanders got fewer votes. So, meaning, he didn't hold on to all of his votes. And, actually, first-time voters who people thought Bernie would bring in actually seemed to have gone for Pete Buttigieg.</s>CAMEROTA: OK, enter Michael Bloomberg. And so now after New Hampshire --</s>BERMAN: What's his walk in music? What do you think, enter Michael Bloomberg.</s>CAMEROTA: It has to be some -- oh, um, back in the New York groove.</s>BERMAN: It's whatever he wants it to be.</s>CAMEROTA: It's -- really.</s>MCINTOSH: Yes, it is.</s>BERMAN: It's whatever he wants it to be.</s>BERMAN: Because he can afford --</s>CAMEROTA: Yes, exactly. So people are talking about him now after New Hampshire because he is apparently blanketing the country with ads. And so, inevitably, past comments of his are being scrutinized.</s>MCINTOSH: Yes.</s>CAMEROTA: So I think we should just play for everybody something that he said in 2015 that's getting a lot of attention and his reaction. Listen to this.</s>MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We put all the cops in minority neighborhoods. Yes, that's true. Why do we do it? Because that's where all the crime is. And the way you get the guns out of the kids' hands is to throw them up against the wall and frisk them.</s>CAMEROTA: OK, in case you couldn't hear that, he was basically saying all the crime is in minority neighborhoods. That's why we do stop and frisk. He was confronted about that yesterday. Here's what he says now.</s>BLOOMBERG: I don't think those words reflect what -- how I led the most diverse city in the nation. And I apologized for the practice and the pain that it caused.</s>QUESTION: But why did you say it?</s>BLOOMBERG: It was five years ago. And, you know, it's just not the way that I think.</s>CAMEROTA: Jess, is that good enough? And will Democrats forgive him for that? Or at least overlook it because in the age of Donald Trump, the president says worse things, let -- more insensitive hurtful things akin to that.</s>MCINTOSH: Of course.</s>CAMEROTA: And so is it time for Democrats to overlook that?</s>MCINTOSH: I don't think it's time for that yet. I think ultimately Democrats are going to -- we want Donald Trump to not be president for the next four years. I think that's an existential crisis to our country and most Democrats agree with me. I think New York has a problem sometimes where we assume that the rest of the country is as in our business as we are. We thought that everybody knew who Rudy Giuliani was. We thought that everybody knew who Donald Trump was. But the rest of the country saw America's mayor and "The Apprentice." So Mike Bloomberg has this issue now where the rest of the country is seeing his campaign ads, which are really great and they are presenting a different version of Michael Bloomberg than I think New Yorkers might realize are -- is in there.</s>AVLON: He was a highly successful three term mayor. These comments are not good. It's not credible for him to say I'm a different guy than I was then. But that said, it's compared to what proposition with Donald Trump and he just got three notable African-American endorsements after that came out, including Lucy McBath. And his work on guns and the environment I think will carry a lot of weight.</s>BERMAN: According to "Politico," Ted Deutch from Florida, not African- American but another significant congressional endorsement. They just keep on coming for Michael Bloomberg.</s>CAMEROTA: A huge fighter on gun violence. OK, Jess, John, thank you, both, very much. Anyone surprised that President Trump is exacting revenge on people he thinks have wronged him has not been paying attention. The long history behind Donald Trump's enemies list. A must-see "Reality Check" is next, John Avlon, so I'm told.