Polls Show Tightening Race for Democrats; Clinton: Feel About Good Organization in Iowa.
COSTELLO: Just weeks to go until the first votes are cast in the Iowa caucuses, and it looks like Democrats are in for a major fight, among themselves. A new poll from Quinnipiac University showing a stunning reversal. Bernie Sanders now leading Hillary Clinton and the sentiment in Iowa seeming to echo across the nation. A CBS/"New York Times" poll shows Sanders closing the gap with Clinton, now down by just seven points. That's compared to a 20-point gap just last month. So, what does Hillary Clinton make of it numbers? She talked with my colleague Alisyn Camerota about that and more. Alisyn joins me now. Good morning.</s>ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. And also she used her sort of usual line of "polls go up, polls go down".</s>COSTELLO: I'm not even paying attention.</s>CAMEROTA: I'm not paying attention to that. And then, she explained her plan.</s>CAMEROTA: Secretary Clinton, thanks so much for sitting down with us here in Iowa.</s>CLINTON: Thank you, Alisyn.</s>CAMEROTA: We are in Ames, Iowa --</s>CLINTON: Yes.</s>CAMEROTA: -- where the temperature as we speak is one degree.</s>CLINTON: Uh-hmm.</s>CAMEROTA: And I know that you have been going to countless campaign events here. And I'm wondering when you get up in the morning in Iowa if there are ever times you question your life choices?</s>CLINTON: Actually, no. You know, I grew up in Chicago. I'm used to cold weather. It doesn't bother me. In fact, I'm somewhat reassured that there is a real winter, that we are actually seeing snow and lower temperatures. But I get up every day, whether I'm in Iowa, in New Hampshire, wherever I am in the country, and I really look forward to the day because I find the opportunity to go out and listen to people, hear their stories, give them my views about what I think the next president should do. Very energizing and very, you know, reinvigorating all the time.</s>CAMEROTA: So, let's talk about the tightening race between you and Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders is speaking to reporters on Monday night here in Iowa. And he said that your campaign is in, quote, "serious trouble". Is that how you feel?</s>CLINTON: Not at all. In fact, I have always known that if you are going to run to be president, particularly in the Democratic Party, it's a long, hard, challenging road. And so, I've been in these elections before. They always tighten up as people begin to make up their minds, as they look at the candidates, totally predictable. I feel really, really good about the campaign organization that I have. A caucus is different from a primary. It takes a lot of intensive work to convince people to come out on a cold Monday night, spend a couple of hours in order to stand up for your candidate. But I'm asking Iowans if they'll stand up for me on caucus night, I will be standing up for them all through my presidency.</s>CAMEROTA: There is a new Quinnipiac poll in which Bernie Sanders is now beating you in Iowa. It is 49 percent to 44 percent. It's the first time that this has happened that he's been beating you in Iowa since September. We are 20 days out. Does he have more momentum than you?</s>CLINTON: Well, the funny thing, Alisyn, is, after that poll came out, about an hour later there was a PPP poll where I was leading him by the same margin about six points up. I don't pay any attention to this. I don't feel that it's a good reflection about who will actually come out on caucus night. I can only tell you that the energy, the enthusiasm, the excitement of my volunteers, my organizers, the voters who come, who sign up on commit to caucus cards is just building. That's my experience. So, I'll let people poll and try to figure out who is going to show up. I'm looking at people who are showing up, making up their minds and trying to, you know, convince them to come out and caucus for me.</s>CAMEROTA: Why don't you feel that the polls are good reflection of what's going to happen in the caucus?</s>CLINTON: Because they are so unpredictable. And it's gotten increasingly difficult to poll. And I think you would have to add a degree of difficulty to polling for a caucus. So, that's been my experience. I've watched this a long time. I've had a prior election where I campaigned in Iowa. So, I just put that aside. I'll let pundits and others worry about who's up and who's down. I just get up every day like we were saying, going out there, making my case, drawing the contrast because I have the highest regard for my two opponents, but there are real differences. And we need a spirited debate, because after the first of the year, a lot more people start paying attention. And now I know it's, you know, the make or break time. People make up their minds.</s>CAMEROTA: Bernie Sanders is also winning in New Hampshire. Not surprising. He is from a neighboring state. Have you considered what would happen if he wins in Iowa and New Hampshire, what your plan is?</s>CLINTON: I don't think about that. I'm going to do everything I can to win as bigger margin as possible in the caucus and then go to the primary. But this is a national campaign. We've been organizing in South Carolina, in Nevada, a lot of the March 1st states, the March 15th states. Remember, I campaigned all the way into June last time. And I have always thought that given the unpredictability and the, you know, changes in people's concerns going into this election, that we wouldn't know exactly how the outcome would be for, you know, a couple of cycles of these primaries and caucuses. So, I'm going to do my best to convince more Iowans to come out and caucus for me. And even though as you say, Senator Sanders as a neighbor and a neighbor never lost in New Hampshire, I'm going to take that challenge on and do the best I can to get people in New Hampshire to support me, as well.</s>COSTELLO: One of the things I really notice about that interview is Hillary Clinton seems much more energized in your interview than she has in interviews in the past.</s>CAMEROTA: You know, Carol, as you know people are different. Politicians are different in real life than they sometimes seem on television and that's why the Iowa voters know and the New Hampshire voters, that's why they go see them in real life. And I thought that way too. She came out. She did seem energetic. She just had a morning campaign event. She seemed comfortable. She seemed confident. Now, behind the scenes, her campaign may be nervous at the poll numbers and they certainly didn't seem as comfortable as she was yesterday, but nationally, she's still doing well. So, maybe she has reason but that was my read on her yesterday.</s>COSTELLO: It is interesting, you know, because a lot of people are confused about the polls this time around, right? Nobody knows which poll to believe. So, does she have a point? Or is she just like, you know, painting a rosy picture?</s>CAMEROTA: They do fluctuate. That's true. She's right about that. The polls fluctuate. However, the momentum seems to be with Bernie Sanders. Her poll numbers are declining, while his are ascending and that's not a good sign.</s>COSTELLO: And exactly the right time, right?</s>CAMEROTA: Yes, it's true.</s>COSTELLO: The caucuses are just around the corner right now.</s>CAMEROTA: Right.</s>COSTELLO: Alisyn Camerota, thanks for stopping by.</s>CAMEROTA: Thanks so much.</s>COSTELLO: All right. With me now to talk more about this, Ron Brownstein, CNN senior political analyst and editorial director of "The National Journal", and Donna Brazile, CNN political analyst and Democratic strategist. Welcome to both of you.</s>RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning.</s>DONNA BRAZILE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.</s>COSTELLO: Good morning. So, Ron, why is Bernie Sanders resonating and Clinton kind of fading?</s>BROWNSTEIN: Yes, it's good question. I mean, I think, look, there are reasons for concern for the Clinton campaign, but not yet panic. The reasons for concern is that Bernie Sanders is clearly expanding his base. When he started, he was very much what I could call a wine track candidate, almost entirely dependent on support from white upper middle class liberals. If you look at this new polling from Quinnipiac in Iowa, also from Marist/NBC/"Wall Street Journal" in New Hampshire, he is now competitive and even ahead in some of the polls among blue collar whites as well. In addition, Hillary Clinton is facing a significant gender gap in the wrong direction in the Democratic Party. She's looking at big deficits among men in both Iowa and New Hampshire. Those are both reasons for concern, Carol. The reason it isn't at the point of panic is because Bernie Sanders has not yet shown he can crack Bernie Sanders' domination among minorities, African Americans and Hispanics, who probably be about 40 percent of all the voters in the Democratic primaries. Iowa and New Hampshire are virtually all white states but if Bernie Sanders does as well as he's doing there in the biggest diverse states later, she'll lose them. So, until he shows that he can break into that minority stronghold for Hillary Clinton, I think she still has the upper hand clearly in this race, even though it could get very bumpy if she loses Iowa and New Hampshire.</s>COSTELLO: Well, Donna, it is clear the Clinton camp is a little worried because it's on the attack against Bernie Sanders. Take a look at the latest Clinton ad. (</s>BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, HILLARY FOR AMERICA) CLINTON: An average of 90 people are killed by guns in this country every single day. It has to stop. President Obama wants to make universal background checks the law of the land and he wants to make sure gun manufacturers can finally be held accountable when their guns are used to kill our children. It's time to pick a side. Either we stand with the gun lobby or we join the president and stand up to them. I'm with him. Please join us. I'm Hillary Clinton and I approve this message.</s>COSTELLO: Donna, not only is Clinton attacking Sanders on guns, but she says Sanders wants to dismantle Medicare, Obamacare, Medicaid, and the CHIP program. All not exactly true, but will that sort of thing work?</s>BRAZILE: Look, I think you have to have a really strong closing argument in order to motivate people who might not be so incline to go to the caucuses to come out and vote for you. I do believe although she came into a close third place finish in 2008, she has a tremendous organization, she has lots of volunteers and she has resources. So, that will help her in the end. Look, if you have a strategy to win these caucuses to come in first place I they think that strategy should continue to hold although those polls go back and forth. As to the policy differences, there are some major ones and there are some minor ones. I think we'll hear this weekend in the debate in South Carolina just -- if Bernie Sanders has moved on the gun lobby -- on the gun liability issue and we'll find out if Hillary Clinton has a better answer for Wall Street. So, these are issues that animate Democrats, progressives and others, and I think we're having a very competitive debate within the Democratic Party. And it's good thing for the country as well.</s>COSTELLO: Yes. OK, so going back to South Carolina and the minority vote you were talking about, Ron, Sanders seems to be setting his sight on South Carolina and those important minority voters. He's launched a Feel the Bern campaign to woo minority voters within South Carolina. So, he's on to what you said, Ron.</s>BROWNSTEIN: Oh, right. Well, there is no avoiding it. Iowa and New Hampshire are anomalous in the Democratic context because they are basically states where over 90 percent of the voters will be white. And as a result, they have also often been very receptive to these kind of outsider and surging candidates. But to ultimately win the nomination, very quickly, you move to South Carolina with a large African-American population. Nevada with a large Hispanic population, and then as you move into the big states New York, California, Illinois, New Jersey, there is no way to win the Democratic nomination without appealing significantly to minorities. And so far in the polling in most places, Hillary Clinton has been up six, even seven to one, for example, among African-Americans in South Carolina. So, until Bernie Sanders shows he can make the cultural connection that goes beyond his class-based economic argument, which is really is more comfortable, I think it is still an uphill climb for him. But again, if he does win both of these first contests, there will be a lot of disruption in this race.</s>COSTELLO: Donna, is it possible that Bernie Sanders could take the minority vote away from Hillary Clinton?