Bernie Sanders Hold News Conference in South Carolina.
COSTELLO: All right. We want to head back to Columbia, South Carolina, and Bernie Sanders who's selling his economic plan to help lift working families out of poverty. Let's listen.</s>SANDERS: Andrea, Andrea.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Senator, we're only a few days before the primary here. You are leaving for Super Tuesday. I know you're going to be back for the election.</s>SANDERS: Yes.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But there is a feeling among some in South Carolina that you are writing off --</s>SANDERS: No, no, no, no. No, let me just say, and I say that with these two guys by my side, and I thank them so much for their support and I think media does this a whole lot, Andrea. We came to South Carolina. And if you look at the polls we were like 7 percent, 8 percent, 9 percent in the polls. We were 50, 60, 70 points behind. We have waged a very, very vigorous campaign. We have picked up a lot of support. And we have closed the gap very, very significantly. But this from day one was going to be a very difficult stay for us. We're not writing off South Carolina. You all know that an March 1st, there are a dozen states that are holding elections. And the nature of the world is we got to go out to other states. I think I'm leaving for Oklahoma in a little while, where we think we have a shot to win. We have a shot to win in Massachusetts, Colorado, Minnesota, and in other states. My own state, I think we're 80 percent in the polls so I think we're going to win there as well. But we are fighting here in South Carolina as hard as we can. But within the context, you know, I think Secretary Clinton was in California the other day. I don't mean she's writing off the state. That's the real world that we live in. And let me just say something else. I was asked a funny story. And mostly I want to stay on poverty today. I know because this is -- we got off on this. When I was in Iowa there was some bad poll came out. I was 40 points behind. Somebody, well in you lose Iowa you're going to drop out of the race. So let me remind my friends in the media, Iowa is one state. New Hampshire is another state. Nevada is another state. Great state of South Carolina is another state. And do you know what? There are dozens and dozens and dozens of states that follow. In some of those states I expect we are going do very well and win, maybe by large amounts. In some states we're going to lose. We won New Hampshire by 20 votes. Not the end of the world for Secretary Clinton. There are states we're going to lose. But the race goes on. And this is a race. We got to get 2400 delegates. 2400 delegates. So we are in this race to win it. And I think we are going to pull off one of the great political upsets. Yes, Andrea.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why do you think Democratic turnout is down?</s>SANDERS: Let me say that. All right.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Donald Trump seems has enormously expanded.</s>SANDERS: Let me say this.</s>SANDERS: Tell me about -- turn around. What we are being compared to is the phenomenon which I have said for a long, long time, of Barack Obama in 2008. Barack Obama broke the mold. The turnouts that he brought out were beyond belief. In states they ran out of ballots. All right? The truth is the Democratic turnout in Iowa was very, very good. Not as good as 2008. Compare it I think it was the second largest turnout in history. Turnout in New Hampshire was actually very, very, very good. Not quite where Obama was in -- and remember also when you compare just 2008 you have not only Obama and Clinton, you had John Edwards and other candidates. Each one bringing out their own campaign. So if you want to compare turnout just to 2008 I don't think that that's fully fair. Go back to 2004, go back to 2005, we're doing pretty well. Now in Nevada did we have the kind of turnout that we wanted? Absolutely not. Yes, Nancy.</s>COSTELLO: OK. We're going to jump out of this press conference now. That's Bernie Sanders and he's talking about voter turnout which is very important in his mind because the bigger the voter turnout, the better Bernie Sanders supposedly does. I want to bring in Errol Louis, our political anchor for New York One News, and also a political analyst for CNN, and Hilary Rosen, an adviser to the Democratic National Committee. Welcome to both of you. So, Errol, why is Bernie Sanders saying turnout is great but it's not as great as 2008 because that was historic. Why is he making such a big deal of that, Errol?</s>ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, it's true for one thing. I mean, if you get peppered with questions about well, gee, turnout seems to be down, there is not so much enthusiasm for you, you know, you've got really sort of recalibrate it and sort of make clear that what happened in 2008 really was unusual on a lot of different levels. It also points, by the way, down the road to a larger problem for the Democrats, which is that you've got this Republican romp that is going on. And it is really stirring up record turnouts getting people really energized. A lot of times that can come back to haunt the other party. The Democrats, you know, by trying to sort of get the nomination into Clinton's hands without much fuss or fight or a lot of debates they really risk putting a lot of the electorate to sleep. It's a concern not just in the primary for Bernie Sanders but for the Democratic Party as a whole.</s>COSTELLO: Well, here's the thing with that, Hilary. So let's say we get to the general election and it's between either Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton and of course Trump wins the nomination. Won't that energize Democratic voters to come out just because Trump is in the race?</s>HILARY ROSEN, ADVISER TO THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Trump will definitely energize Democratic voters. You know, the challenge with Trump is going to be where does this broad swath of independent voters go in the general election? Where, you know, historically -- well, at least for the last two elections they helped carry Barack Obama into the White House. And I think that, you know, we are going to see Barack Obama play an important role here in the Democratic -- in the general election because there are very few people who can kind of take on Donald Trump. And I think it is going to be hard -- you know, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders don't have sort of magic fairy dust to diminish Trump's supporters. He's got a lot of vulnerabilities that the Republicans haven't gone after at this point. And I think Barack Obama is going to help people go after those.</s>COSTELLO: OK. I want to dip back into Bernie Sanders' newser here because he was talking about his complete support of President Obama and I want to talk about that next. Let's listen to what he's saying now.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You began a pilot program where they can track officer-involved death, something that previously only being done media outlets like</s>SANDERS: Yes.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- to the federal government when they kill Americans --</s>SANDERS: Well, let's -- let's rephrase it. When -- you have made a judgment, they kill. But when individuals die under police apprehension or police custody, should that be mandatory? Yes, I do believe that.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And would you support any legislation?</s>SANDERS: Pardon me?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Would you support legislation?</s>SANDERS: Yes. Yes. OK. Yes.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Senator, in the event that this math does not eventually add up for you and you do continue to --</s>SANDERS: And your concern is about poverty in South Carolina? Was that your question? Is that where you're going? [09:25:0]</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm going follow up with the poverty question. But first, I just want to say -- well, and you can answer it this way. What would your priorities be? You're going to have significant delegate support walking into the Democratic convention --</s>SANDERS: My priorities are to win the Democratic --</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- Democratic Party at the convention.</s>SANDERS: To nominate Bernie Sanders as president. You know, look, look, look. Let me rephrase it again. OK. When we began this campaign essentially it was almost believed by most that Secretary Clinton was the inevitable candidate. She is not the inevitable candidate now. I think we've got a real shot to win it. And what I would ask of the media is not to look at it state by state. You know, we're going to win some states. We're going to lose some states. There are -- it is necessary to get 2400 delegates. We are going to have good days. We're going to have bad days. Secretary Clinton will have good days and bad days. But let's kind of look at the long-term thing. We have momentum. And if you want -- again I don't want to stress polls too much. I'm not a great believer in them. But short look at the polls and state by state, do you know what you are seeing? The gaps are narrowing. Clinton is still in the lead, her lead is narrower. We think we have momentum and momentum is very important. So I think we are on a path toward victory. It is a tough fight. And let me tell you something, if we win this it will probably be the biggest upset in the history of America. Gentlemen in the back, yes, sir.</s>JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Senator, two questions. Just to fact check real quick. Mrs. Clinton, Secretary Clinton was first lady back in 1996. So is there substantiation for the notion that she actually rounded up votes?</s>SANDERS: Yes.</s>JOHNS: And second question I think --</s>SANDERS: I'm saying she was active on this issue. You're right. She was first lady.</s>JOHNS: All right. And to this issue of economics in South Carolina. Just sort of directly. This has come up many times but could you just sort of directly address your view of racism as a byproduct of economics? Or do you see racism as an issue that is cultural and needs to be dealt with in a cultural way?</s>SANDERS: Let me talk about South Carolina and just say one thing. I'm on the committee that wrote the Affordable Care Act. OK? And I can tell you to the best of my memory, there was not any discussion on that committee -- and we had dozens of meetings about states not taking advantage of their ability to expand Medicaid that we gave them. And it was shocking to me, not just in South Carolina, but other states. How many folks? Hundreds of thousands of people now who could get healthcare? Who are not getting healthcare in South Carolina simply because of ideological reasons. They are black and they are white. Who are not getting healthcare. Some of them will certainly die and be much sicker than they would have been. And let me just answer your question by saying this. I was, I know I always get nervous because I date myself when saying this. I was there with -- to march in Washington in 1963 with Dr. King. And do you remember what the title -- the full title of that march was? It was called the March for Jobs and Freedom. Jobs and freedom. In other words, what Dr. King understood is that to be fully human, you have to have a decent income. You have to have employment. Not to mention that we have to break down the barriers of racism and bigotry. Both. All right. Thank you all so much. Thank you.</s>COSTELLO: All right. That was Bernie Sanders holding a news conference in Columbia, South Carolina. He wants of course to get as many votes as possible before the big primary between the Democrats heats up later this week. Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the race is on for the big one. That would be Super Tuesday. We'll talk with Trump's campaign spokeswoman about his big win last night and a million dollars worth of attack ads set to begin today against Donald Trump.