Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 02292020 20240713

First appearance on the ballot. They will spend the day in charleston, South Carolina as we talk to you about what you think will happen in the South Carolina primary and camping 2020. Republicans, we want to hear from you. Democrats, it your number today ents, your voice matters. We want to hear from you. There is a special line for you. You can also text us your opinions to the same number and we are always on social media, on twitter, on cspan wj or on facebook. As we start the show, but us get some basic information out about the South Carolina primary polls. Polls opened this morning at in south eastern carolina, voters do not register by party. Anyone can vote in todays president ial primary and we will talk about that later on in the show. Also, there is no republican president ial primary in South Carolina today. Willoters who vote today be voting in the democratic primary. The Washington Post has a story that sums up the details about todays president ial primary. Let us read a little from that story today. State officials are also contending with other dynamics. Be imaries of first to are first to be held in the wake of revelations regarding russia helping the trump campaign. In part by bolstering the campaign of senator Bernie Sanders who now leads the delegate count. Actions russians have taken to support sanders remain unclear. Voters can participate whether or not they are registered democrats. Activists haveve said they are encouraging republicans to vote for sanders. An effort that donald trump appeared to support in a rally on friday. Operation chaos would undermine Vice President joe biden who has needed a boost to his flagging campaign. South carolina is the first in the democratic time. Where africanamericans make up a substantial part of the population. Primary,16 democratic black voters made up 61 of the electorate. Up from 55 in 2008. Saturdays contest is only a president ial reference primary for democrats. No republican candidates will be on the ballot. Voters will choose between seven candidate. Biden, senator sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Amy Klobuchar. Notably missing is former new york mayor Michael Bloomberg, a late entry to the primary. Polls have most former Vice President joe biden coming off the victor in the campaign in South Carolina for the democratic emanation. Southhimself has called carolina his firewall. And the expectation is that either he will win by decisive margin or he will win by. Without a win in South Carolina, many experts say this may be joe bidens last amp. Story about biden, and heres with the New York Times had to say. For most of the past year, mr. Biden had been the front runner who couldnt hold his leak, clear the field of moderates, couldnt keep himself from exaggerating and meandering into culdesacs, weaknesses that continue. After three campaigns worth of losing, failures in the 1988 and 2000 primaries are included, mr. Has said many setbacks, little discipline, no quade. South carolina is the trajectory he told North Carolina, to winning the democratic nomination. Biden is a biography the origin story of a stuttering boy of common perseverance finding his way through the bluebloods of the capital. In these last essential days effectivelyt would end his campaign, mr. Biden seemed to arrive at the convergence of it all, summoning the contacts and political muscle memory from his decades in public life or a final push and they say then maybe finally loves him back. We want to know what you things. Think about todays president ial primary. We want to mention we will have live results. Cspan will have live results and candidates reaches starting tonight at 8 00 p. M. From the South Carolina president ial primary. Well start live at 8 00 p. M. Tonight on cspan, cspan. Org, and always on the free cspan radio app. Lets see what people are talking about on the South Carolina primary. Ed, good morning. Im a supporter of Elizabeth Warren in texas, and will be voting for her on tuesday. Since she is not really putting much effort into South Carolina, or unsuccessfully, i would urge warren supporters to vote for because South Carolina, thats the one that President Trump doesnt want. He would rather have sanders, and sanders would be the easiest one to beat, and of course the russians are behind him. Dont you think urging warned voters to vote for trump wont help hurt Trumps Campaign though . Caller you are missing. It trump doesnt have a primary in South Carolina. I dont know why you guys give him much coverage. He doesnt have a campaign. There is no primary down there. He is at a rally last night, and you guys covered him every step of the way, right before your Program Starts at 7 00 or 6 00 here, and give him all kinds of coverage. Host i want to make sure i heard you correctly, you said you are urging Elizabeth Warren supporters in South Carolina to vote for joe biden. My question, jack, are you saying that correctly . Caller let me put it this way, i would rather have joe biden winning that state instead of sanders, because sanders is a sure loser. If sanders wins the primary in South Carolina, hes going to get the nomination. Host so you are more antisanders than provide an. Caller in the long pro biden. Caller i think in the long run, warren will lose it to biden. Its called strategic voting. You dont vote for necessarily the one you think will help you now but in the long run. Host lets go to michael calling from winstonsalem, South Carolina, on the democratic line. Michael, good morning. Caller North Carolina. Host my fault, i knew that and said South Carolina anyway. I have South Carolina on the brain today. Caller thats no problem. Democrat andered im going to vote for biden. Ive never voted for trump. I like some of the things he stands for, but, for some reason, trump just rubs me the wrong way. I cant put my finger on it. I dont know what it is about him. Host who do you think should triumph in South Carolina today . Caller joe biden. I need to ask you something. Carolina,s in south who are they saying will be next coming behind him to try to, in the long run, try to get trump out . Did he think about that . , itsaid it biden loses could be over for him, correct . Host that is what a lot of the political strategist are saying. Joe biden says South Carolina is his firewall. He needs to win here. Caller it will be interesting to see how things turn out. Becomei woman would president , but i do not see that happening. Host lets listen to a little bit of what joe biden himself had to say about his chances in South Carolina, and how important that state will be for him. Ive worked like the devil to earn the vote of the Africanamerican Community, not just here, but across the country. Ive been coming here for years and years, creating jobs, making the port, that employs 111 people, that puts 500 million million inthis this county. I dont expect anything. I plan to earn the vote. Im here to ask. Im here to earn the vote. [applause] i intend to win South Carolina, and i will win the africanamerican vote here in South Carolina. Mr. Biden, will you continue if you not win South Carolina . He said South Carolina will determine the outcome of this president ial race. If you dont win carolina will you i will win South Carolina. Host lets go back to the phone lines and lets talk to steve, calling from robbers filled missouri roberts ville, missouri on the independent line. I totally disagree with the one guy that said biden will get the black vote but sanders will get the white vote and the black vote. Biden will lose the white vote, and he will lose the election. We dont want to go back to obama. We have had enough obama. Sanders has a lot better chance isbeating trump, and that the thing most important. Everybody has to realize that sanders aint can get everything he want, and even if he just balances the budget, and stops the tax cut, thats enough for me. Thats better than what we got with trump, so that is the only thing i am hoping for. I appreciate you taking my call. Host steve, are you saying, if you are in South Carolina, you would be voting for Bernie Sanders today . Caller its not so much i liked we dont really have much of a choice. Buters is a little radical, hes not going to get everything he wants. Hes going to make the rich pay their fair share of taxes, and that is the biggest problem. The midges richest man in the world pays 1 or 2 taxes. Something is to pursue something is very percent wrong something is very wrong. Trumpalways ready already said he wants more tax cuts. Something has got to give. Thanks. Host joe biden picked up a powerful endorsement in South Carolina. Whatlyburn, here is clyburn had to say. We dont need to make this country great again. This country is great. Thats not what our challenges. Our challenge is making the greatness of this country accessible and affordable for all. Is its health care, accessible, is it affordable . Education, is it accessible, is it affordable . Housing . Energy . Make it assessable and with whom, and nobody ive ever worked in public life is anymore committed to that have, that pledge that i to my constituents, then joe biden. Joe biden and i used to spend a lot of time doing tv stuff together. Because we knew each other. I know joe. We know joe. Knowsost importantly, joe us. Host once again, we want to know what you think about whats going to happen in todays president ial primary. Republicans you, your number is 202 7488000, democrats, 202 7488001, independence, 202 7488002 and a South Carolina, we want to hear from you, 202 7488003. We want to go to South Carolina, shirley, good morning. How are you . Caller im fine. Host are you voting or have you already voted . Caller i voted already. Host if you dont mind, tell us who you picked in todays primary . Caller joe biden. Host why did you pick joe biden today, shirley . Caller im 85 years old, ive been knowing about joe biden for a long time area i think he is the best trump, and that is why i voted for him. Host shirley, you think joe biden has a lot of support on the ground in South Carolina . Do see a lot of support for joe biden in your area . Caller yes. Host when you went to the polls, did you see many people there this morning . What was the turn out like . Caller i did early voting. Host got you, shirley. How long ago did you vote . Caller on monday. Host have you seen anything in the past week that would have possibly made you change your if you voted today would you still be voting for joe biden . Caller i would. Host thank you, shirley. Fromle is calling loganville georgia on the democratic line. Neville, good morning. Caller morning. Supporting Vice President biden. Is the Bernie Sanders greatest threat to the Democratic Party. We need the next selection. Host what makes you think thats, neville . Caller no socialist that, neville . Caller no socialist can win in america. Democrats will pay a serious price for electing bernie to run as a democrat. He is not a democrat and has remained an independent. Socialist wins in the caribbean, and south america. If they tried to in south america. If they tried to, as a socialist, the hammer comes down on them from the cia. We can remember the gentleman talking about democratic socialism. He is dead. The cia took over the Opposition Party and ran the election. Host lets go to steve calling from clarkston, washington on the independent line. Steve, good morning. Caller its really hard to followup that call. I just want to say, from one of your previous colors, they say how cspan, you showed the trump, how i watched it, it was or trump the whole tanned with his audience and pander with his audience, and i disagree with that. Ike as far as a South Carolina thing went, as much as i would like to say buttigieg is trying to make a point, trying to get across, i think it will be bernie. I think bernie, for now, its looks like it is looking like its going that way. Host we have had a lot of calls mentioning President Trump. President trump held a rally in South Carolina yesterday. Once again, some republicans are suggesting republican voters, who can vote in todays president ial primary, go out and support sanders and President Trump seems to endorse this. Here is what President Trump said in South Carolina. Pres. Trump the rogue blood bookends the republicans are allowed to vote anyway they want. [cheering] pres. Trump are you ready . Lets do it together. I assume this is ok from a Campaign Finance standpoint, i assume. Lindsay, tim, our great congressman, am i allowed to request first we have to figure out who would be the weakest candidate against President Trump. [crowd shouting names] pres. Trump if its permissible by law, because they have so many little boobytraps but they only like a thing like you getting the republicans, but we will see what happens about that, the democrats, but let me ask you this, lindsay, tim, two of the greatest guys i know. [cheering] pres. Trump let me ask you this. I dont know what the record attendance is in this arena, but i was told we broke it by a lots. [cheering] pres. Trump and you got the people outside, are we allowed to tell them who we would like them to vote for . Poll, we do it for the fake news back there. Who would be the best candidate for us, not for them . Host we would like to point out we will have President Trump on today as she speaks at the american conservative unions annual political conference. You can watch that live today at 3 00 p. M. On cspan, on cspan. Org, or listen in on the free cspan radio app. Social media our followers and see what they have to say about todays South Carolina president ial primary. Ifre is one tweet that says biden doesnt dominate in South Carolina, his campaign will continue to fumble along. Then, the question becomes, who will come out on top in a contested convention . Another tweet says i believe the fixes in for a by denomination, but i hope im wrong. Im feeling the bern. Heres one more tweet that says so the day of reckoning arrives in South Carolina and South Carolina mus decide. I hope a woman emerges. Mason open primary. The polls are off. Speaking of the polls, lets see with the current polls are saying about South Carolina. The rbc average poll says joe biden has 36. 8 , leading in the South Carolina primary polls. Bernie sanders comes in second at 24. 3 prevent 24. 3 percent. Tom steyer comes in at 12. 8 . Pete buttigieg is coming in fourth at 11. 3 . Elizabeth warren comes in at seven point 5 , and Amy Klobuchar rounds out the top five seven point 5 , and Amy Klobuchar rounds out the top five at 5. 3 . Lets talk to johnny calling from South Carolina. Johnny, good morning. Caller good morning. Host did you vote in todays president ial primary . Caller i will in a little while, and i will vote for tom steyer. Host what makes you pick tom steyer out of the Democratic Candidates . Caller we need wage increases in South Carolina desperately. Host and you think tom steyer is the candidate to bring that to South Carolina . Caller he has mentioned it every time ive seen him, and i have not seen him every poll, but every time i have, he has mentioned it. Host tom steyer did not do well in the previous caucus polls, how do you think he is going to do and South Carolina . Do you hear a lot of people talking about him . Caller well i know four other people that are going to vote for him based on the wage increase. He will make a showing. He willknow if win, but you will make a showing. Host do you see support across all South Carolina for tom steyer or do you think it is only showing up in some regions like the midlands or the low countries . Or do you think it is showing up all around South Carolina . In the everybody i know low country has mentioned him. Im not somebody who knows hundreds of thousands of people, but everyone i low in the everyone i know in the low country has mentioned him. Even what biden said this morning, he saved our poor, that andt put people here there. We have a lot of people who go to johnston county. Host lets talk to arthur calling from memphis, tennessee on the democratic line. Arthur, good morning. Caller good morning. Im for Elizabeth Warren. Will send nk she packing. I think she would make a good president. It is time for a woman, anyway. Thank you. Host lets talk to donald calling from hickory, North Carolina on the republican line. Donald, good morning. Caller good morning, jesse. How are you today . Host im good. Go ahead, donald. Caller good luck to all of them, but biden may pull off South Carolina, but bernie will take it, and us republicans are going to crossover in South Carolina. We have family down there, and we will crossover. Because wee bern want him against trump in 2020. November, because we will take capitalism over socialism any day of the week, and that is what we are doing on facebook, and social media is flooded, flooded with all kinds of sites saying capitalism over socialism , and there are thousands and thousands of people that are going on them websites and putting their remarks, and you are only getting a portion of what this country says, all of your networks, and you pick and choose your little tweets and stuff. The majority of the country dont want socialism, and bernie will have it coming out of South Carolina. Hes not even going to be there today. Hes going to massachusetts to try to knock off Elizabeth Warren. Then, it is super tuesday. He is already strong in california and a stronger in texas. It, if the democrats dont take it away from him again in 16 like they did in 2016. Host do you think it is fair republicans are allowed to vote to help democrats figure out who their candidate will be . Do you think that is fair in South Carolina that republicans can get into that boat . Caller yeah, it is legal, so we can do it. It is exactly what were going to do. Biden hasnt a chance. When he leaves South Carolina, his money is dried up unless he gets his super pacs to start pouring money into him. Hes not running ads in california and texas. He has put all of his stock in the South Carolina, and like people are tired of him. He has delivered nothing black people are tired of him. He has delivered nothing while in the white house. Host lets talk to linda calling from columbia, South Carolina. Good morning. Caller good morning. Host have you voted yet in todays primary . Caller im on my that way to go vote. Host who will you vote for today . Caller im voting for Bernie Sanders. Host i dont know if you just heard the previous republican caller who says republicans are also pushing their voters to vote first Bernie Sanders vote for Bernie Sanders. Is that something that concerns you . Caller no, it dont. Im tired of the republicans talking about burning is the socialist. Do they understand what socialist means . Bernie is for the people. Thats what i like about him. Host linda, you are in the midlands, in columbia, the capital of South Carolina. What kind of support are you seeing for Bernie Sanders in the midlands and columbia . Getting a lot of support, and a lot of the black support. Host in the last president ial democratic primary, Bernie Sanders was not able to overtake Hillary Clinton, some say behind the power of the africanamerican vote. What has senator sanders done to change that since the last president ial primary . Caller he has talking more about the people. What you can do for the people. Of, like everybody socialism,ll and say socialism, socialism. Its not socialism. ,our Social Security check people work all their life to receive their Social Security check. Theyre talking about medicaid. When you are looking at your that is being, taken out of your paycheck. You paid for that. You are not getting anything for free. You pay for it. Wish the republicans would stop saying socialism, socialism, because nothing in this world is free. You pay for your needs. Down to thego college of charleston, where we will talk to give knox, a Political Science professor at college of charleston, and author. Gib, good morning. How are you . Guest good, jesse. How are you . Caller looks like a beautiful host looks like a Beautiful Day there. Day for very exciting South Carolina. A polls open at 7 00 and close at 7 00 p. M. Host i want to talk about the weather because i know weather can affect turnout. What does the weather look like for todays president ial primary. Guest i think it is clear, a little chilly, but it is supposed to turn into a nice day, probably a little colder than we are used to, but no reason the weather will prevent anyone from coming to the polls. Gibb, you have this great book out, so lets talk about the history of the president ial primary. How did South Carolinas president ial primary become the first in the south . Guest the original primary was in 1980, and we had all of this discussion of the democratic primary, because that is what people are voting on. The republicans decided not to have a primary this time around. In the late 1970s, it was the republicans. Folks, thered werent a lot of republicans in South Carolina. This was a safer democrats dominated. Of the 46 members of the South Carolina saving senate, there were a few republicans. The state republican chair decided to say how can we get on the map . What are things we can do to get more attention to republican candidates . They came up with the idea of having a president ial primary. Republicans and democrats were using caucuses and they ended up having a primary and thought, if we wanted to have a big impact, we should schedule it before some of the other and states the other Southern States. That would force candidates to come to South Carolina and Pay Attention to the state. Ronald reagan won the first primary and it catapulted him to the presidency, catapulted him to two successful terms as president , and really the rest is history. Democrats did not join the primary game until 1992, and didnt become first in the south until 2004, but really it was the republicans trying to make a name for themselves that started this primary. Host you are missing Ronald Reagan and how it catapulted him to the top of the republican side. Carolina atsouth predicting who is going to win and orpective democrat, republican nomination . Guest jesse is really good. In seven of eight cases, republicans got it right. Theyre so messed was in 2012 where republicans went for newt gingrich, former speaker of the house from georgia, and mitt romney became the official nominee. There hasnt been as many democratic primaries, but still a good average. Three of four, the only time South Carolina democrats have gotten it wrong, in south wrong, john edwards won the primary but did not get the nomination. That went to john kerry. John edwards got the vp nomination in 2004, so i think the South Carolina had an impact on the election, ultimately propelling john edwards onto the national spotlight. We heard a lot of talk in iowa and New Hampshire and how those states are not representative of the American Population, and specifically not representative of the democratic already. Doesnt South Carolina more fairly represent the American Population as a whole, and the Democratic Party . Guest it is a really important consideration for people. South carolina is a primary, unlike isla, which is a caucus. That was one of the big motivations for us writing the book. There was so much attention paid to iowa and New Hampshire, and it struck us as may a little strange, given how unrepresented these states are. On the republican side for South Carolina, it is extremely representative. According to the analysis in our book, South Carolina is the thirdmost represented republican state. That is why we think it does such a good job of predicting the eventual nominee. On the democratic nominee, it is not as representative. Or 13thbably like 12th least representative, but South Carolina is more representative than South Carolina and New Hampshire. Extremely wide. Over 90 of the population is in New Hampshire is white, and South Carolina, it is africanamerican. What South Carolina brings to the table is an important level of diversity to these important primary states to counterbalance iowa and New Hampshire. South carolina voters tend to be more moderate. We looked at people who typically vote in South Carolina primaries on the democratic side, and they were more moderate than voters nationally in the Democratic Party, so it is a different test. Its a place where someone like a Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren would have more trouble. It might be more favorable to a more moderate candidate like joe biden or Amy Klobuchar, or Pete Buttigieg. Host let me take this time to remind our viewers they can to some paid in this conversation as well. We will open up our regular lines, meaning republicans, your lines are 202 7488001. Democrats, your line is 202 7488000. Independence can at 202 7488002. We want to remind can call in at 202 7488002. We want to remind our South Carolina viewers can participate in this conversation. Your voter lines will be 202 7488003. You can also text us at that same number, 202 7488003. We are always reading on social media, and twitter, and on facebook at facebook. Com cspan. Take for a does it democratic candidate to win in South Carolina . I know a lot of people from outside of South Carolina think it is one state but has a specific geographical region. You have the upstate around greenville, midlands, columbia, going all the way from charlston to myrtle beach. What does it take for a candidate to win South Carolina . Was one of our major questions we try to answer in the book and we were able to go back and look at the previous people who had run in South Carolina and look at a number of their characteristics, and try to figure out what really is the secret sauce in South Carolina. A few things stood out. Candidates from neighboring states did tend to do better. We found, on the democratic side, africanamerican candidates got a big. No remaininge are africanamerican candidates on the democratic side. We found Media Attention was good, so certainly the Media Attention that biden got after his strong debate performance earlier this week in the charlestons importance, and endorsements. We found endorsements matter in the South Carolina primary. In a general election, you have a democrat or republican by your name. That is a clue to voters about what your policies will be like. In a primary, everyone is a democrat or republican. If influential political candidates came in and endorsed you, that could send an important signal to voters. Joe biden sent got the ultimate suggestion endorsement in South Carolina. That was jim clyburn, the House Majority whip, and someone who people pay a lot of attention to in our state. Next you prefaced my question, how important is the clyburn endorsement for biden . Has a story times today about the changing influences of the black church in South Carolina. Before we get to that, lets talk about how important was that clyburn endorsement for joe biden . Super important. Think about this. Every statewide elected official in South Carolina is a republican. All but two of the members of congress are republicans. The main person on the democratic side, and there is not a lot of other folks. He has been in South Carolina for so long. He is near universally respected, and he is just someone who is extremely influential. He was active in the civil rights movement, and he has been involved in South Carolina politics in the long time for a long time. For him to say he is backing joe biden was a big boost to the biden campaign. People probably look at it and say if this is where jim clyburn is headed, he knows more about South Carolina politics than probably anybody. Maybe i should take a look at the Vice President. I cant undersell how important that was for joe biden this week. Host lets let some of our viewers take part in this conversation as well. Lets start with yvonne whos calling from South San Francisco california on the independent line. Yvonne, good morning. Caller good morning, jesse. How are you today . Host im good, go ahead. Caller i would like to see Bernie Sanders do it. I know a lot of them call him a socialist, but at the end of the day, donald trump is a socialist for the rich. I would rather have hope for the people than 1 . , what does it look like today for Bernie Sanders in South Carolina . Basicallynie ended up getting blown out by Hillary Clinton, roughly 75 for Hillary Clinton and 25 for Bernie Sanders. To bernies credit and his teams credit, he has maintained good relationships with a lot of his supporters in South Carolina. I think he is expected to get somewhere in the high teens are low 20s, which is extremely impressive in this field that has six or seven competitive candidates. For a while, it looks like biden was slipping and sanders was surging. Perhaps Bernie Sanders would win a decent deep south state. That would never be something i thought would happen but it would be a tribute to the coalition he has been able to put together. He has support from young people in the state and is also chipping away at some of joe bidens support among africanamerican voters. There is definitely a generational split, like in many areas of the country, among different groups of the country. In South Carolina, younger folks will support Bernie Sanders and maybe older folks will stick with biden. Congressman clyburn, he has decided to back joe biden, but his grandson works for Pete Buttigieg. Voters in split among the South Carolina, a generational split. I think sanders will do well. He doesnt need to win here. I think he will do better than a lot of people would have thought. Host one of the things we have talked about earlier in the show and we show president talking about is the fact that South Carolina has an open primary. Tell us the history behind that. Why does South Carolina have an open primary . Guest South Carolina has an open primary because republicans started the primary to begin with. If they would have only basted on partner Registration Party registration, it would have been a sad primary. No one would have shown up, because not many people registered as republicans. It has always been open to anyone who wants to participate. When you register to vote in South Carolina, you dont select a party. You register to vote, and you show up on election day and participate in the primary. It is a little more unique in 2020 because there is not a republican primary. You are not allowed to vote in both. In 2016, you could not cast a republican and democratic primary votes, but this time, it opens up the possibility for people to participate who have participated in republican parties to participate. Republican leaders, including donald trump, avenue said to go in and support sanders, figuring he is the weakest candidate to go against trump. I think that is really dangerous. I think it is hard to predict who will be a better candidate for donald trump to run against area a lot of people thought donald trump was the weakest candidate in the 2016 phil and now hes the president. It was also an open primary. I think there is a good likelihood people who participated in the 2016 republican contest might have voted for jeb bush or marco rubio. Since there is not a republican contest this time, they might for joe biden or Amy Klobuchar, one of the folks a little more moderate. I guess i think it is undemocratic to try to go in and cast those just to cause mischief, but i it but it is certainly not illegal. There are pros and cons to open closed opening primaries. I like the open because it gives people in the middle to weigh in and does not lock them into one particular party. That is where i come done on the issue. Host do you think crossover votes from possible republicans and independents will make a difference in todays race . Remember back into the conference last race, democrats crossed party lines to help him win his primary. Do you think that is possible in South Carolina . Guest i think it could be very possible. I think joe biden could benefit from that. Poohpoohed buttigieg could is well. Pete buttigieg could as well. In the firstat Congressional Congress that flipped from red to blue in 2018, so Joe Cunningham, a democrat, is in congress right now. Donald trump won that district in 2016 by 13 percentage points. There will be people who have voted for trump. Cunningham will vote on this particular primary. Back in 2016, on the democratic side, 61 of voters, based on exit polls, were africanamerican. I think there will be some there was some discussion and i think it could be around the same percentage. Some of the white republicans might come in and vote in this particular contest, so im excited to see the exit polls released this evening to see whats the breakdown of South Carolina voters and is it under 60 or over 60 africanamerican . Africanamerican vote will be critical in South Carolina, but im curious to see how many white folks who wade into both the democratic and the without as primaries republican contest. Ont lets hear from derek the democratic line. Good morning. Caller good morning, jesse. Host go ahead, derek. Caller bloomberg is really pouring in in virginia. We recently in virginia i dont know if the democratic nominees that are currently campaigning in South Carolina are putting as much emphasis in the state of virginia, because maybe there is a level of will take that they this state, but i obviously think bloomberg is making a strong push. Individuals i have been associating with, it seems as though, there seems to be more of a push toward him not showing up in the South Carolina primary. Would makender if he a strong showing in the state of would thisnd if so, catapult him out into the front, or towards the top as a strong candidate or potential for the democratic nomination . , Mike Bloomberg is not on the polls in South Carolina, but he is the big spender hanging over everyones endorsement for tuesday. What is his popularity from . Guest such a good point. Its important for folks to remember bloomberg is not on the ballot in South Carolina. He decided to sit all four early primary states out, isla, New Hampshire, nevada, South Carolina. I traveled a couple weeks on president ial day weekend up to virginia, and we were inundated with Mike Bloomberg ads. It is all tom steyer in South Carolina for a while, and going to virginia and North Carolina, it is all Mike Bloomberg. Mike bloomberg is doing Something Different than he has typically done. Im not sure if it will work are not. Theink Bernie Sanders is in final two, given how well he has performed in the three states voters have voted in so far. The real question for me, will there be one Single Person that is going to go up against Bernie Sanders in the end . Joe biden hopes he has a big victory in South Carolina. Carolina that catapult him into super tuesday. People in various states, other Southern States, vote just like South Carolina does, but this bloomberg factor darrell talked about it so critical because he is spending a ton of money. His operation is extremely sophisticated. If he is able to turn out the vote and muddies the water, maybe he becomes the alternative to Bernie Sanders . Maybe the moderates continue to split the vote and go to a brokered convention this summer, and the democrats fight it out on the floor, but there is a lot to look at. Southolina, today carolina is today, but super tuesday takes place on tuesday. Joe biden, i have seen numbers where he is making a big play in South Carolina but its barely on the air in super tuesday. He doesnt have a lot of money so he will have to count on a balance from South Carolina and all of the positive news stories out of South Carolina to get voters because he does not have time to get the ads on the air and is not have the time to get the money from the ads on the air. Ast the New York Times has that they are crossing ethical lines by state lawmakers endorsing him putting him on his payroll. Lawmakers say it is nothing inappropriate about the arrangement, saying their expertise is valuable. We know tom steyer is spending a lot of money in South Carolina. Is it going to help him . Guest while everybody else was campaigning in iowa, new answer, nevada, it seemed like tom steyer was camped out in South Carolina. You could not click on a Youtube Video and not see tom steyer. People told me every 10yearold in the state of South Carolina can tell you all about tom steyer because a lot of those are big youtube watchers, but in addition to spending tons of money on media, he spent a lot of money on direct mail, but he has also been in the state and had meaningful conversations. When you look at his proposals for different initiatives, it will help rule South Carolina he rural southe carolinians. I think his proposals are legit and he has been thoughtful in that process. He has put some states lawmakers and influential people on the payroll. As community organizers, organizers for the stier campaign, but he is taking away votes from biden and a lot of pulling. There seems to be a bidens surgeon last week, since nevada. I think stier is likely to get into double digits, but i do not think he is doing as well it looked for a while that he would biden or bernie standards sanders. I dont know that sires is putting as much effort into the super tuesday state and he does not have the name recognition of joe biden. It has been oppressive. I think the conversations have been real, but i dont know what his longterm plan is. Host lets see if we can get one more call her in. Lets talk to brad from lily, kentucky on the independent line. Brad, good morning. Caller good morning, gentlemen. That this is clear bernies year, and it is time to run his time to run. Im curious as to whether the democrats will circle the wagons thwart histh him, or candidacy as they did in 2016. I dont think the Democratic Party realizes what an issue the wound from the unforged error from the massive subversion and corruption of the Democratic Committee and the campaign of 2016 bernie and hilary. Its the powers that be in the Democratic Party offices would realize that the only chance they have at trump, and i dont they wont succeed i dont believe, but they have a chance if they will go with boaters re the voters have pointed them clearly. I would also like to say that trump is working to bring our troops home from afghanistan, and that is in the works as we speak. I would like to point out what a wonderful thing that is. It is sad the democratic already is a place where the candidates running cannot be peace candidates. Host go ahead and respond, gibbs. Guest i think he is exactly right. The democrats need the bernie fulks in the general election folks in the general election. Emerge anddoes ultimately pull the nomination away from sanders, it will be critical to see those sanders folks come out in support of the general election. It is a really important part of the voting block for the democrats, and the party definitely needs to unite. I think there are some arguments sanders can draw and bring a lot of new voters. There is also the perspective sanders may alienate suburban voters. Many of the people who helped democrats take over the House Majority, again, we dont know for sure and we dont have a crystal ball, but Bernie Sanders has definitely run a very good campaign. He is the clear frontrunner and has performed extremely well in these first few contests. Host one of the things we know about primaries is that turn out counts. What do you expect the turn out to be in the South Carolina primary . Do we expect a high turnout, low turnout, normal turnout . What do we expect . Guest i am going to think it is an above average turnout. The biggest turnout in the Democratic Party so far was 2008 where barack obama was in the ballot. Keep in mind, Hillary Clinton, and john edwards who wanted 2004, that is the record and the high watermark. There was a big turnout in 2016 on the democratic side. I think it will be somewhere in between. It depends on how many of those moderate independent, sometimes republican voters, if they come and vote and participate in this primary, i think it could be closer to the 2000 eight numbers. We will see. Im looking forward to seeing. It is different by not having a republican contest as well. In 2016, we had democratic and republican primaries. This time, just a democratic primary. Joe biden has called South Carolina his firewall. In his book, you talk about other candidate to call South Carolina make or break and they see South Carolina as they either cant succeed there, they will not succeed. Win southen does not carolina, or he just barely wins South Carolina, what does that mean for his campaign . Guest i think its really bad news for joe biden. If he were to lose South Carolina, i dont see what his path forward is. South carolina is important because all of the Southern States go right after him. You think about iowa and New Hampshire, and New Hampshire is the first primary. There is not a big group of new england or northeastern states a few days later, but in South Carolina, it is the first of the orderprimary, in short after South Carolina, you have this clump of super tuesday states. Perspective,aphic a lot of these states share common characteristics and have a similar political culture. If people are feeling and really connecting with joe biden, particularly africanamerican voters connecting with joe biden in South Carolina, alabama also has an africanamerican percentage, over 30 . Solid, is a strong, consistent voting platform for biden in South Carolina, it is likely to be the same in a place like alabama, virginia, North Carolina. That is the reason the South Carolina primary has been so important is that it is the first diverse state on the democratic side and is also a really important springboard to the is other states taking place soon afterwards. Host gibbs, we saw the chaos out of iowa from their caucuses and the Washington Post story i read earlier says they are using new machines in South Carolina. Do we expect to get results tonight from scalf carolinas president ial primary, and are you expecting any problem when i am very optimistic for a couple of reasons. It is a primary and not a caucus. It is less complicated. In 2008, the state Election Commission decided in the state legislature and the state legislature got the Election Commission to run the primary. When they started in 1980, the Political Parties random and they got volunteers in each of the counties and opened up precincts and it was a more momandpop organization. The fact that it is run by the state Election Commission, they are pros, all local county boards of elections. I think we will get some results start to trickle in starting to trickle in after the polls close. I am waiting to see if they have an early call, if biden has a doubledigit lead, networks can look at where the votes are coming in and look at the exit polls. We could potentially get an early call tonight. I dont anticipate any problems. I think it will be a good night for joe biden. Host you also know that sometimes dirty tricks show up for president ial primaries. Is there anything in particular that you have your eyes on for todays primary, anywhere in the state . Guest i am happy that there has not been too many dirty tricks. The biggest thing is this operation chaos, this sense that republicans are going to go in and try to vote for Bernie Sanders to help advantage donald trump. There is a history of dirty tricks. Probably the biggest example is back in 2000, where folks from the george w. Bush campaign did a push poll and they asked would you still sort still support john mccain if he fathered an illegitimate like child. He had a doctor that they a daughter that they adopted from bangladesh. I dont think there is anything in the water in South Carolina that makes our politics particularly dirty. Highlighter of a dirty politics back in the day. I think it is such a critical primary. Candidates last stand for many of them. They feel like they have to take a lot of chances. People who lot of may not drop out of the polls after tonight but they will not survive past super tuesday. It causes candidates to punch below the belt. Like to thank gibbs knotts, author of first in the south, why the South Carolina president ial primary matters, for being with us this morning. Gibbs, thank you so much. Guest thank you, jesse. Bet coming up next, we will joined by mary and kim singh, who has endorsed joe biden. Pson, who has endorsed joe biden. Caller how are you doing . Host i am doing just fine. Go ahead. Is thatmy concern everyone who could possibly be registered to vote should vote. Even though i am a democrat, i hope that everyone in south. Arolina votes for the country i hope that christians or believers in god consider that this vote may destroy our freedom and our democracy. So, i pray, given the conditions , world conditions and local conditions that are going on , that people will vote with god in their mind in terms of voting for what is right. Ist lets go to bill who calling from maryland on the republican line, good morning. Caller good morning. It is a good time for me to come in. I want to say a verse that if every christian is listening, you need to listen to it. If you are voting for somebody go with Climate Change, listen to this verse. While the earth summer and winter, day and night shall not cease. That is god talking. Tos put Climate Change rest, where it belongs. That is just another part of socialism trying to take over the world, trying to. Lets not let it enter into this country. Host lets talk to joe, who is calling from michigan, on the independent line. Joe, good morning. Caller it is john, not joe. Host go ahead, john. I voted for bernie in our primary election because we had to vote early. Is only popular among younger people. I am 40. Most of the people my age and younger do not have retirements and do not have pensions. , youu make too much money are not offered insurance through your employer. Your deductible is really big. I dont know. The election will be entertaining because we will see two real visions of what we want for america. Do we want a society that has an often ohmic an economic floor . We should have an economic ceiling we shouldnt have an economic ceiling. But, we need a floor. We need to retire. There is reach higher. There will be a whole generation that will have nothing when they get there. Of generationlast x because i was born in 1979. It will be interesting. That is my comment. Host lets go to charlotte, who is calling from wilmington, North Carolina, on the republican line. Charlotte, good morning. Caller good morning. I voted early in North Carolina and i cannot go and vote for anyone that is socialist. That lady that called earlier, she does not know what socialism is. The young guy that just called said he was not going to have anything you have to get out and work for what youve got. That is what is wrong with this generation. I will not so support anybody. The democrats have tried every way to go against trump. This is the best president we have ever had. He is doing everything he can do right for this country. It is time the Democrat Party and trying to get him out appreciate what he has done. Host charlotte, you said you voted early, what did you go in . Vote in . Caller we will have a primary so we can do early voting. Host you are talking about super tuesday. Got it. Caller i went and voted early. Host i assume you voted for President Trump. Caller i voted straight republican. I will not support any democrat that believes in killing babies, socialism, it is time these kids get off their behind, go to work, pay for your own. That is the way you get in these country this country. The handouts that bernie is promising them and the rest of them are, it is a joke. Howakes me sick to see these kids are being taught in school. Host lets go to tucson, democratic line, raymond, good morning. Like towhat i would comment on is that i am constantly amazed at how few medicare andtand how it currently works. Medicare is a completely voluntary program. Into medicare. D becomeears of age, you eligible for retirement if you want. The second thing people dont understand is it is not free. With medicare, you do a premium. While i am paying is 144 per month. To a privatego Insurance Company and pay premium and say to heck with medicare. Thatthey will find out is my 144 a month is a heck of a and 700 than the 600 and 800 a month that most vate insurance and that is my comment. To theets go back down college of charleston in South Carolina. Lets talk to Marlon Kimpson, supporting joe biden in todays president ial primary. Good morning. Caller good morning. It is so good to be with you on this day. Host you have endorsed former Vice President , joe biden, and in your endorsement, you said this. I firmly believe that Vice President biden gives us our best chance to win and return the country back to some sense of normalcy, so that we can plan our trajectory for progressive ideals in the future. Beliefs, the revolution can wait for a moment. We need to win the election and that is the main focus. Are you saying that joe biden has the best chance out of all of the Democratic Candidates to beat President Trump in this coming election . Correct. I think the National Data has consistently borne out that joe biden is the most electable democratic candidate. His primary season has gone on for some time. Polls in thet the key states that matter, the swing states, joe biden consistently beats donald trump by the largest margin of any democratic president ial candidate. The main goal of this whole process is to elect a new president. Yes, we do need to return to a sense of normalcy. I have witnessed the president , donald trump, last night, speak to a large audience in north charleston, South Carolina. It was really a circus. We are having devastating illnesses come into our borders. Disease no snowboarder. But, he chose to focus his time on attacking kratz. Democrats. No substance to the discussion about the coronavirus. It is time that we return to a president with a skill set. With the competency and who surrounds himself or herself with people with credentials, believes in science, and i just think that joe biden is the candidate to do it. Host now, as a biden supporter, do you think that South Carolina is a must win state for joe biden and what happens if he does not win or, he only barely wins South Carolina . Does that mean he should step out of the race . Win. a win is a yes, it would be good if he has a significant win in south some point,cause at we need the moderates to coalesce the hind the most electable candidate. ,oming out of South Carolina where South Carolina has been a launching pad for many president ial candidates, the reasons are obvious. South carolina has a demographic more reflective of the Democratic Party and the nation. So, a South Carolina victory could be really a game changer for the biden campaign. We are counting on a big win tonight. That is why it is important for all south carolinians, when they go in to vote today, to ask themselves the question, where have the candidates then on the fundamental issues that face our state . Health care . Who delivers your health care delivered your health care . It was president barack obama and Vice President joseph biden. We had a difficult time getting the charleston loophole closed. The only candidate in this race who has beat the nra not once, but twice, is Vice President joseph biden. One of the most Popular Democratic president s in this country is barack obama. That is not an issue here in South Carolina. We love former president barack obama. One of the most critical decisions he had to make was the selection of a Vice President ial candidate and he chose Vice President joe biden. Joe biden has our president s back. Our president , barack obama. It is time for the voters in South Carolina to show a large volume of support for the man who had Barack Obamas back and that is joe biden. Host let me remind our viewers that you can take part of this conversation. Our phone lines are open. Republicans, 202 7488001. Democrats, 202 7488000. Ndependents, 202 7488002 South Carolina voters, whether you are going to the polls today or have already voted, we want to hear from you, 202 7488003. We have a call from lexington, South Carolina. Christian, good morning. Caller hi, it is christine. Good morning. Host good morning. Caller i want to address this business of when we go to conventions, if Bernie Sanders has the popular vote, and comes close but does not exceed the mandatory number for an thematic win, if we go into convention, i have a very suspicious concern that they are , with thery superdelegates, try to push somebody else into the ratherntial nominee, than the person winning the popular vote. If they do that, they are taking away the whole reason for anybody to vote. If we have special interests deciding who is the nominee, why do we bother voting . Host do you worry about a brokered Democratic Convention and what might happen if it goes all the way to the convention . Guest first of all, this is about delegates. The process and the rules were set pretty clear, all of the candidates agreed to participate and agreed to follow the rules. Going to change the rules. Anybody expecting anything different than what was agreed to, we can put the caller to rest that that will not happen. Superdelegates have been a part of the democratic process for a while. It will be up to those candidates who are in contention to persuade the superdelegates that they are the most electable candidates. One of the things the Democratic Party is looking at is can bring together a Broad Coalition of voters. This primary season, the sole purpose is to elect the most electable democratic candidate to beat donald trump. I have confidence in the system superdelegates will have that goal in mind when they make their selections, if there is a brokered convention. Host i have to ask, are you one of the democratic superdelegates . Caller i am not. Host i have to ask that. [laughter] before you made your endorsement, you held a series of events with a lot of the president ial candidates. Events with joe biden, cory booker and mayor Pete Buttigieg. What did you learn in those facetoface meetings . Did they help you decide on former Vice President , joe biden . Yes, i had a series of town halls with at least five or six of the president ial candidates. , whenthat in 2016 as well we had the democratic president ial primary. The town Hall Meetings were for have anituents to opportunity to engage in this process. I think it is very important that the average voter get a chance to ask his or her questions and see the candidates reactions. Was outstanding. She has a policy proposal for a lot of the issues that we face as a country and she is a very smart lawyer. ,he has done an outstanding job particularly in the area of finance. Holding the ceos accountable for the misdeeds of a financial collapse. I thought her interaction with the crowd was relatively good. I had an opportunity to have a Health Care Disparity conversation and in a smaller venue with mayor Pete Buttigieg. I remember that night, we were on the east side. He came out of his suv and he was ready to face tough questions. One of the significant questions about him was, during the time theas mayor, did he have africanamerican support . In this form, he was very knowledgeable about the disparities that exist in health care, particularly in South Carolina and he had a number of policy proposals to address those issues, if he were elected president. Of course, i hosted a town hall meeting for Vice President biden in the union hall. A venue in which he is very familiar. An excellent job. One of the reasons why i decided to endorse him, when you look at the broadest coalition or when you look at the makeup for the audiences of those town halls, by far, Vice President joe biden had the most diverse coalition. I am not just talking about africanamericans. Coalition beyond age. It was young people, old people, black, white, latino, brown. It was just simply a Broad Coalition. That is the type of diversity we are going to need. That is the type of coalition that we are going to need to win the white house. There were other candidates, i am pleased to say that our candidates are far beyond the discussion of than the republican side of the aisle. E are having a robust debate South Carolina is known for its politics. I think it is a good thing because we need to make sure we have a candidate who has been through this process and is thoroughly vetted. We cant afford any surprises. That is why the primary process is very important. I think joe biden offers our best chance to win the white house. That is why i am supporting him. Will have the South Carolina democratic primary results coming up live at 8 00 p. M. Tonight, with all of the candidate speeches. You can watch starting live at 8 00 p. M. Eastern time on cspan, cspan. Org and on your free cspan radio app. Thatare the main issues South Carolina voters care about right now for this president ial primary . What are your voters talking about . Guest i think you started off with it. We have to return to a sense of normalcy in this country. What we are witnessing across the country with this president is not normal. Partyhe people in his own except the right wing radicals will tell you that, privately. They are scared to disagree with him publicly because he is a very emotional person. He is vindictive. What we are and expecting is to return to a time where we had a president who comes out of the rose garden and offers substantive information to address the nation. Right now, we are having a very, very devastating illness coming to our borders, which could possibly be a pandemic. In fact, a lot of experts have called it that. Tos expert refuses acknowledge it. He calls it a hoax. What Vice President biden would d the cdcwould fun bullet funds, increase funding for the National Health institute of health, bring back u. S. Aid, that is an operation that studies Global Threats in terms of diseases. Thatd being a president understands science and having experts who have a series of credentials prepared to address an illness, he would be wonderful with our economy. Progresshat economic that americans are experiencing today is a result of president barack obama and Vice President joe biden. Office at a time where our economy was in the tank. They brought it out of the tank. Many americans are enjoying planement, being able to for their Young Children to go to college. Our things doing well for all . No. There is a lot of work to be done there. We were living in a pretty rough time until the Vice President took over. Im sorry, did you host no. Real quick, you keep bringing up barack obama. One of our social media followers wants to know why do you think that president obama has not yet endorsed joe biden, his former Vice President . Think that he has decided to stay out. President ,e a former you know, you dont want to get into picking and choosing winners or losers. He is a man with a great deal of character. He has a lot of friends in this race. I think it puts him in a position to get back on the campaign trail. Quite frankly, he is in another place and we respect that of him. I dont think he has endorsed anybody since he has been out of this race. In the most one of the most significant decisions that he had to make, he chose Vice President biden twice. Not once, but twice. He recently injected himself into the South Carolina primary. President barack obama called on stations, in television stations in South Carolina, to pull a misleading ad that was attacking Vice President biden. That is the first time i think he has ever engaged in any activity with respect to engaging in a race, since he has been out of office. He issued a letter calling for those television stations to pull that ad down because it was false and misleading and, quite frankly, it was confusing. It was paid for by our republican attack Political Action committee group, specifically designed to spread negative information about the Vice President. That joelicans know biden is the most electable candidate. Why President Trump spent more than two years spreading false allegations about the biden family. He did not do that with the other candidates. We right now have, and many callers have asked about this, this operation chaos movement. Ago iut two weeks set out two weeks ago to expose this conspiracy to hijack the Democratic Party process where the republicans are being encouraged to vote for, in their view, the weakest candidate and that is independent vermont senator, Bernie Sanders. They view him as the weakest candidate. Many democrats view him as the weakest candidate. They do not want to face joe biden in the general election. All of the swing state polls show him as the most electable democrat for some time. Who theetty obvious republicans want to run against and it is not joe biden. Host we have a call from another South Carolina voter. This is rake, who is calling from north agusta, in South Carolina ray, who is calling from north agusta, South Carolina. Good morning. Caller my question is this. What happens in november, if biden is lucky enough to win, which i dont think he has the energy to galvanize and bring a lot of democrats to the election to go against President Trump, in the way that Bernie Sanders does. Bernie sanders up chris to bring a lot of folks, especially a lot of young folks. We, as what do africanamericans and latino americans, what do we gain with biden, who is the establishment . You still have folks who dont have medical care. Least Bernie Sanders at least Bernie Sanders is coming forward with progressive ideas. I will take my answer off the air. Guest with all due respect, you cannot govern if you cannot win. A democraticsocialist at the top of the ticket is problematic not just for the top of the ticket but down ballot. We won huge numbers in congress. Pelosi, onlyaker, the moderate wing of the party and policies prevailed. We demonstrated this a few years ago when we took back the house. Let me say this. If Bernie Sanders were our nominee, we are duty bound to support him. But this whole primary process is so that we can elect the most electable candidate. I do believe the more electable candidates are from the moderate wing. Now, if we elect a moderate to head our party ticket, that moderate is going to have to spend time with disaffected democratic voters who may have supported senator sanders. If her mom senator Bernie Sanders winds if vermont senator Bernie Sanders wins, he will have to spend time with the moderate voters to get them to support him. We are a big tent at the Democratic Party. It is very important we let the , thaty process play out we dont beat each other up, and that is not to say that we do not have a robust discussion. I have some good friends supporting Bernie Sanders and other candidates in this race, but we remain friends. Ae key for us is to elect candidate who can bring the big tent together. I believe the Vice President joe to dois the best person that as we go forward. I want to ask you about the recent poll this week. A new survey of registered African American voters found a significant number are disillusioned with the Democratic Party. They found while democratic parties are largely supportive of the Democratic Party and align with most of its values, more than half feel the party is not paying close enough attention to the black community. Putting them out of touch with the key bloc whose support they have relied on for decades. 70 say they will vote for the partys president ial nominee in november. Of all black 1 3 voters surveyed expressed desire for someone else to run. Between trump any thirdparty candidate, each received 12 of support. About blackerned voters being unenthusiastic about this years race . Guest i do not know what could be a greater motivator for the African American community to turn out any larger than this current president we have who has a dismal record supporting civil rights, Voting Rights, and other issues that are concerning the African American community. , the information you read is concerning for me. We have to do a better job of speaking to the issues of the heart and soul of the most loyal voting bloc we have, and that is the African American community. Our Voting Rights are under siege. Racial profiling is a real issue. Disparities with respect to the criminal Justice System is a real issue. Candidates are going to have to address the issues. When is a huge wage gap you look at the economics between white and black and brown. We have to offer substantive policies. Vice President Biden just unveiled and over 600 billion for my senatem district in South Carolina. We are experiencing an enormous amount of gentrification. Home price in trusting county is 350,000. Who can afford that . I am a lawyer, but i did the math on the back of an envelope. And it almost takes 50 an hour to afford one of these homes. To 15 the minimum wage an hour will not be enough. We have to have significant economic policies that create homeownership, Small Business revitalization an opportunity for people of color, and address the criminal Justice Reform issues in our community. We need to heat that information you read, and we do not take that lightly. Host lets talk about more local politics still dealing with washington. Do you think democrats can defeat senator Lindsey Graham this fall . Guest i am so proud of Jamie Harrison because he is an american story. Mother up with a single in the home, and she worked extremely hard for him to matriculate at some of the best elite institutions in this country. If people are listening, Jamie Harrison has a story that is reflective of the American Dream and he is speaking to his heart. He is addressing South Carolina issues. We really have not seen senator graham in South Carolina for some time. He appears to be following this president around serving as a hype man when we have Critical Issues in our state. So Jamie Harrison is motivating people from all different backgrounds, and he is speaking to a lot of young people who want to have hope for a better future. It is very possible for him to be our next United States senator. We are counting on him to do well. And he can win if we have a big turnout and voters are listening to the substantive issues. Host lets see if we can get one more color in before we switch caller in before we switch. Lets go to larry calling from tennessee on the democratic line. Caller good morning. I am a democrat and have been a democrat pretty much all of my life. Listening to the senator speak made me think about how proud i am to be a democrat because we try to help people in general and work for the future. Wedont restrict people dont try to find ways to restrict people from voting like the republicans have. We dont support a president backed by russia to be president. Keep at work to because theypower are the same party as we are. Me that itd has startled me how much the Republican Party, and i am a democrat, how much the Republican Party has changed. It should frighten every person that believes in the constitution and tries to follow the constitution. Host go ahead and respond, senator kimpson. Guest larry is right. I dont know where he is calling from. There was a time in our country when we rallied behind our president. Whether we win or lives, we supported the president whether we win or lose, we supported the president because he is president. This president has done more to alienate americans. We are not living in a sense of normalcy. People in knowledge what he is doing is wrong. You have to turn the television off because he uses profane language. This is not normal. If we dont galvanize behind ,omeone who has competence experience, and the wisdom to build relationships regardless of partisan politics, it is going to be to our doom. This is a critical time. That is why i am so happy to be south senator bidens carolina surrogates. I believe he can bring all americans together. Lets be clear. We will have a different trajectory. We will focus on the middle class and people who have not gotten their fair shake in life. Those are the types of ideas and policies we need to focus on. And building unity in this country. We are stronger together. We are more united together. And we have a wonderful opportunity in South Carolina today to give a big victory to joe biden so we can put an end to this mess and returned to his sense of normalcy. Host we would like to thank South Carolina state senator Marlon Kimpson of charleston for taking time out of his day and being with us on washington journal. Senator kimpson, thank you so much. Guest it is cold out here. Thank you. Host coming up next, we will be joined by the bernie 2020 regional field director pictorial felder victoria felder. Until then, lets take more of your phone calls. Lets go to ruth calling from mississippi on the democratic line. Caller good morning. I am a democrat and plan on voting for joe biden. Ed to all the people who had their say and i listened to the people who said go to work when there is nowhere to go to work. I listened to people say it is a socialist person trying to do socialism in the United States. They dont remember christ was a socialist and they dont want to help the poor and feed the hungry, but that is ok. There will be a time when they will be hungry and will need somebody to feed them. That is ok. And they stole all the money from Social Security. Congress took all the money out of Social Security and refuse to put it back. They say it will not last. It will not last if they do not put the money back. They say medicare and Social Security is entitlement. Entitled to Social Security because i paid into Social Security. I paid into medicare. Yes, i am entitled to what i paid into. You think i am not entitled to that . And then they talking about host lets go to john calling from cleveland, ohio, on the independent line. Caller i am in a nursing home and i am a political junkie watching cspan since 1980. I want to know why South Carolina allows the democratic primary. A registeredu are voter, you can be democrat or republican to participate in the primary. Why in 2020 do we send observers to other countries and talk about democracy . I teach citizenship and had to take the citizenship test. Why do you allow South Carolina and other states in the primary as long as you are registered to vote in that state that you can vote and that is the into the story . It is the biggest hoax. I am a conservative, independent, Founding Fathers. I teachs constitution as a hobby because i believe in it. To cheryl calling from henderson, nevada, on the independent line. Good morning. Caller i have two quick points. I am for joe biden. I voted for him in the nevada caucus. Obama biden, they were for , butnt loan forgiveness you had to perform some sort of community service. My primary concern is about medicare for all. I was on tricare for life. I only paid whenever i went to the doctor. But now that i have become backled because i came from iraq with gulf war illness and have been sick ever since, so now i am on Social Security disability, and as of february, i have been forced to take medicare. Now instead of paying if i go to the doctor, now i have to pay 145 a month whether i go to the doctor or not. Whether i700 a year have a doctor take my temperature or not. I feel it is fundamentally unfair to force me to move from the Great Health Care insurance i had under tricare and now i am forced to take medicare. Host lets go back down to to theul South Carolina charleston campus and we will be talking with victoria felder, the regional field director for bernie 2020. Good morning. The case for Bernie Sanders in South Carolina today . Guest the energy is live. We are on the ground, boots on the ground at 7 00 this morning, and we are ready to get down with it. Polling hadeek, this race down to a one or two point margin between senator sanders and former Vice President joe biden. Over the last few days, some polls seemed to have opened up to see about 13 points between the candidates. What happened . Guest there has been a very well respected man in our community. Clyburn endorsed biden, and we saw a shift immediately following. As you can see, we are back on track to closing the gap again. I think we will eventually level out. I do see that happening. See what impact did you from tuesdays debate in charleston for senator sanders . Guest i think that mobilized us even more. Energized. Ited and after every debate, we see the momentum with our volunteers as they are constantly recruiting and ensuring we continue to grow the grassroots space. It is very important to take that momentum coming off of any debate and going out there and doing the work. Carolinaknow in south we have the largest bloc of African American voters to participate so far in a democratic president to contest. American voters are worried about the term socialist. What are you telling African American voters who are concerned about having someone who calls themselves a democraticsocialist on the ballot . Guest well, it is very important to ensure they understand that this is not about labels. This is about mobilizing classes. Our focus has been on the working class in South Carolina. The policies we are behind are directing them. Our focus point is to mobilize the workingclass base. There has not been a lot of energy and attention around that specific legal. Host what do you see as the key issues South Carolina voters are concerned about that would tilt them toward voting for senator sanders . Guest what we saw on the ground are two minutes amount people in our community most concerned about defeating trump are a tremendous amount of people in our community most concerned about feeding trump. We know senator sanders can absolutely do that. Lets look at iowa, New Hampshire, and nevada. We feel certain he is the guy take itl beat trump and all the way in South Carolina today as well. Host let me remind our viewers they can participate in this conversation as well. Democrats, independents. We have a special line for South Carolina voters. If you are on your way to the polls or you have already voted, we especially want to your from you. Victoria, one of the things we have been talking about on the show all morning is the fact that South Carolina has an open that republicans are advocating their voters go out and vote for senator sanders with him being the weaker candidate. Andhat something you sanders people are worried about in South Carolina . Guest not at all. Like i said, we have boots on the ground. We speak to everyone. We make it very clear as we come across any republican or anyone who wanted to get more information about bernie that we are going to encourage them to come out because we knew it was an open primary. We encourage them to come and vote for senator sanders. He is absolutely not the weakest candidate, we know that. No concern at all about that. Host lets let some viewers take part in the conversation. Lets go to gloria on the democratic line. Good morning. Caller good morning and God Bless America and god bless cspan. 82yearoldent you guyslind preacher cannot get rid of. There are a few things i would like to remind america of in all of the hype and excitement. Donald trump is so weak in character that he cannot even when in North Carolina without cheating. Think about it. He wants his people to disrupt theyampaign by pretending are for senator sanders. I am not voting for senator sanders because just like i am haverned about well, i a nickname for donald trump. You cannot believe anything that comes out of his mouth. Isont think senator sanders as deliberately misleading, but he knows start well darn well he is not going to get 3 4 of what he is promising people with a totally republican senate. Barack obama was forced to do. Xecutive things Mitch Mcconnell made a vow that he would make him a oneterm president. None of that has changed. The other problem i have with our revolution is the Prince George county chapter. Thoserather dismissive of of us with disabilities. I think if he is going to have a chance, it needs to include us, too. Host go ahead and respond, victoria. Guest gloria, i appreciate your response and good morning to you. I think we do have a shot to take it all the way. I think senator sanders and the entire movement, this Political Revolution we are speaking on and the Grassroots Movement we have been able to create, definitely is addressing an to allly inclusive persons from all walks of life. Ability. E the we have a starting base. We are working very hard for the nomination. To your point, there are some very big differences when you are talking about the energy we are getting from and underneath the trump administration. With thete different Bernie Sanders campaign currently. Farleft. Those specific things you are speaking on are definitely relevant. I am sorry that you are feeling or having those experiences where you currently are. But where we are standing right now with this particular campaign, it is very inclusive for our members of different ethnicities, and or disabilities. I feel quite differently about we can and are capable of being able to do in the event that opportunity forms itself if Bernie Sanders gets the nomination. Message tois your African American voters in South Carolina, many of whom have said they are going to be with senator biden behind jim clyburns endorsement . Is senator sanders message to voters that can bring them over to his side . Guest i think the message has been very simple. He has opened the doors for all aboutto hear that this is ensuring that we get some of the things that are impacting us disproportionately. , whiche for all definitely affects all of us. But when you are thinking about the high infant or tally rate among African American women, that definitely impacts us tremendously. You are talking about issues and policies disproportionately affecting the African American community. When we are out of the ground, we are speaking to those things specifically. It is very important to talk about how the policies we are fighting for impact that community. That is our angle. That is what we speak on when we are having conversations with African Americans. To barbara talk calling from oklahoma city, oklahoma, on the independent line. Good morning. Caller hi. I just want to make a couple of points please. Just let me finish. They will not be that big. I want to mention something about the border. It has all been about that border and everything. I dont understand why they trumpl about him hiring them from the border. He has been hiring them for 50 years. In court, he had to pay them finally but he keeps it in court for 20 years. That is just one point. And i wanted to say here in oklahoma when we go to vote, if we are voting for our mayor and n where the judges or the judges, they only put names down. We dont get to know if they are republican or democrat. It is just names. That started happening over and over. None of our precincts, they are all in churches. They have every one of them in a church. When you go to vote, you go to a church. You dont go to a school and things like it used to be. Im wondering what you think of that. I dont even know what to do or think. If they areow republican or democrat, and we dont get to know any of that. Host go ahead and respond to that, victoria. Guest i actually love that because i think that is what our campaign is all about. It is not about party. We are talking about people. We are talking about mobilizing people to fight for things they need in their daily lives. We are talking about people fighting for the right to get some Quality Health care without going bankrupt, the ability to just make 15 an hour, make that a minimum wage so if they are working fulltime they have an actual, livable wage. I agree with you 1000 . I think the focus on party is continuing to divide us. If we want to speak specifically on party, what i think the Sanders Campaign is currently doing is bringing the Democratic Party back to the people. Thank you very in sight. Thank you for your insight. Host are you in any way concerned about senator sander age in this race and senator sanders help in this race . Health in this race . Guest not at all. I have worked with senator sanders twice this week. First of the rally on wednesday in charleston and in my hometown, st. George, South Carolina, he was there for breakfast. Energy that it is contagious. As far as his age, i think any ofat movement is a balance the energy of the youth and the wisdom of our elders so i am not concerned at all about his age. I believe senator sanders has been a true messenger for the working class people and that is what has mobilized us to get it done. Host one of the knocks senator sanders part three opponents have been saying against him is if he is at the top of the democratic ballot, it will hurt the downballot candidates who are part of his race. Do you think senator sanders would bring more people out to vote for democrats or would i dont see him doing that guest i dont see him doing that. I think he will be able to mobilize a tremendous pace to vote. In South Carolina, we have over 125,000 students currently registering and getting out there that want to vote and be involved with this particular election on behalf of senator sanders. Host lets see if we can take one more color from South Carolina, robert, from columbia, South Carolina. Robert, good morning. , america. Od morning good morning, cspan. , was probably voting yesterday i voted yesterday, im a proud veteran. Its a Beautiful Day in South Carolina. Host robert, who did you vote for . Caller caller i voted for mr. Toers, so i would like encourage a compromising of everybody to consider voting for people based on character and qualification rather than party. Across the board. Host did tom steyers rise in the polls in South Carolina hurt senator sanders any . Guest not at all. I think, if anything, we have the respect. We are seeing that stier had the ability to do the work he did in South Carolina, had great dialogue with tons of stier have much respect for senator sanders and the actual campaign, so no, not at all. I think senator sanders and supporters of the senator Sanders Campaign will be diehard supporters all the way to the end. Not at all. Host you are on the ground as a regional field director, what will turn out look like . When we talk about young voters, will we see a lot of young voters in South Carolina, and voters overall show up for the democratic primary . Guest absolutely. Im all smiles because i think this will be an absolutely amazing turnout, and his coming . Everyone. Host we have heard a couple voters say they voted early, for the primary. How much will early votes affect this campaign when we start counting votes . Do we see a Large Population of early voters, or will it be just a trickle coming in . Guest i think we will see a tremendous amount of early voters in this particular go around for sure. Thats was what we last spoke on collectively as a group, so you will see a tremendous amount of counting toward this particular evs counting toward this particular day. Host super tuesday is coming up. Where will we see Bernie Sanders pushes campaign . Tuesday are there any states you are going to next or will you stick around South Carolina after the primary today . Guest i have to see this through. Ive done a lot of work since this past august so i wont be going anywhere until South Carolina is secure, which was today. He has been back and forth, flying in and out from South Carolina to North Carolina. He has been in texas, been everywhere. Much respect to senator sanders for the momentum and tenacity he has. You will see him represented in most everything of state that will be voted on on super tuesday. Host senator sanders has led all of the polling coming out of iowa, New Hampshire, so does senator sanders need to win or close seconde in a in South Carolina going into super tuesday . Guest i think South Carolina would be absolutely great to win. A lot of work has been put here with the small, compassionate group here that we started then. Now it is a tremendous amount of outofstate people who post help us carry this to the finish line. It would be a great win for us all. The necessity, South Carolina is absolutely important. This is literally the last of the four states, prior into twos prior to super tuesday. It would be great to have that super tuesday. Host we would like to thank victoria for being here with us today. She is the regional field director for bernie 2020. Victoria, thank you so much for being with us today. Guest thank you so much for having me. Thank you. Host next, we will be joined by South Carolina representative jay a moore who has endorsed mayor Pete Buttigieg in the democratic primary in South Carolina. Until then, we will take more of your phone calls, and once again, we want to remind you that, starting at 8 00 p. M. Eastern tonight, cspan will go live with the south the democratic primary results. We will have the candidate speeches and the vote counts as they come out. Starting live tonight at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan, cspan. Org, and on the free cspan radio app. Lets go back to our phone lines, and lets talk to philip calling from ohio on the republican line. Philip, good morning. Caller hello . Mr. I guess, but i want to ask, the free stuff all the socialists want to give everybody, i am one of 10 other brothers and sisters who never got to go to college, hello . Host keep talking, you are still here, philip. Caller never got to go to college and i never heard bernie or Elizabeth Warren say what are they going to do for the old people . I would like to go to college free as well. We get to go since we are older and paid the taxes . Host lets go to diane who is calling from illinois. That is on the independent line. Diane, can you pronounce your name of your town for me . Kiwani, keep wanting illinois. I wanted to make the point that i have never voted i shouldnt say that. I voted once when i was 18. Im 42. Well, i moved here, to illinois last year, from a state really irks me that tory time they kept having do recounts, and the numbers didnt add up. But now that i am in illinois, i have noticed that politics are really popular here. And, i want to experience what its like to vote and actually count. Does that make sense . Host lets go to ruth who is calling from gainesville, georgia on the democratic line. Ruth, good morning. I think i hit the lets try ruth in gainesville, georgia. Caller cant you hear me . Host we can hear you now, ruth. Go ahead. Caller thanks for taking my call. Called, whatat i was weighing on my mind, thats multiple parents are starting to listen to the children, or young adults and young voters, as to who to vote or. The parents have knowledge about things that children dont even know about, that about before they were even born. Instead of parents listening to their children, to vote for who they want, we dont want to drama in the white house. Bidend intelligence, like or the candidates should be next up. It should either be Mike Bloomberg and joe biden, because he is calm, he knows how to make calm decisions and intelligent decisions. And so does the Mike Bloomberg i. These other candidates are terrific candidates, but the need to have the intelligence enough to know, to do their math and know that all of them cannot be the top runner. Host we are going to go to South Carolina, to charlston, and we are going to talk to South Carolina state representative ja moore. Representative moore, good morning. Guest good morning. How are you, jesse . Host we are doing great. What is the case for Pete Buttigieg in South Carolina . Guest the case is very simple. , newed transformational generational leadership. We need someone that can bring grace and integrity back to the white house. I think your previous color was mentioning that. For me, it is a clear choice that Pete Buttigieg is that person. Not only that but beat has shown in iowa, New Hampshire, and nevada that he can bring together the coalition we need in november to defeat donald trump. America and more urban corridors, more young, experienced people, publicans, democrats, and and ands. And africanamericans, and that is a coalition we need to build to beats donald trump. Pete has shown he has the message and is the candidate that can do that in South Carolina and across the country. Host in the story about your endorsement of mayor buttigieg, it said you were first introduced to him last month. Talk about that meeting and what about that meeting decided to put you in his corner . Guest with all due respect, that is inaccurate information. I was first introduced to pete earlier last year, right before i endorsed Kamala Harris. Ago,nd then, almost a year to be the same person i talk about now, a man of high intellect and faith. He is the most thoughtful listener ive ever met throw my life. To the campaign trail, he has watched his maturity and growth. We have had a number of conversations prior to monks corner. That was an event where there was a really indepth conversation about economic impoverishment and i thought that was the best i had ever seen pete. It was that in the combination of his campaign, him listening to advice and constructive criticism that i had, along with the people in South Carolina, that early took me over the top for pete. Host this is what you said during your endorsement. Electability is top of mind for any South Carolina voter. If anyone has doubts, Pete Buttigieg has been he is the only viable candidate to build a cross racial, urban, suburban, in Rural Coalition to win november. Is that the argument for Pete Buttigieg for you . That he is electable as opposed to some of the other candidates . Guest definitely. A process, but we have to be looking forward to november. Just based on what we need in this country at this moment, i think pete is the best candidate. Last night, we had the 45th president of the United States pretty much denying the coronavirus, saying it is a democratic hoax, same thing as he talked about with the russia investigation. We need to get him out of office and i think put a judge is the best buttigieg is the best person to do that. Host one of the problems people have seen nationwide in the Buttigieg Campaign is a lack of support from minority voters. How do you get minority voters to notice and support Pete Buttigieg . Not just in South Carolina but around the nation . Guest he is earning peoples support. Last time i checked, i was a minority voter antiearned my support. Me, along with the number of National Endorsers he has, we must continue to spread his message, being the only person that we see that can to be donald trump defeat donald trump. He has the most conference of plan for africanamericans, to right the wrongs of institutional discrimination in this country. He will earn the support of other africanamericans and minorities, just like he earned the support of me. Host a lot of people are talking about South Carolina as being joe bidens firewall. What position does Pete Buttigieg need to come in and South Carolina . Does he need to win or place in the top three . Is there a particular place where Pete Buttigieg needs to show up when the results come in tonight . Guest i think what we will see here in South Carolina is what we saw in iowa and New Hampshire, and nevada. He will outperform expectations. You have to remember, a little over a year ago, no one could say his name correctly. Now, he won iowa, second in New Hampshire, third in nevada. As long as he continues to trend and outperform what expectations are, i think we can roll into super tuesday with the wind tower backs. Host lets remind viewers our backs. Viewers thatemind they can call in. We have a special line for South Carolina voters today, whether you have already voted or you are on your way to the polls, we want to hear from you at 202 7488003. ,emocrats are 202 7488000 republicans are 202 7488001 and independence are 202 7488002. Regardless of what happens in South Carolina, super tuesday is coming up. What is a path forward for Pete Buttigieg . Guest i think he has to continue to perform well. Right now, the most important thing is picking up delegates, targeting certain congressional districts throughout super tuesday that we can pick up delegates. We have to do everything i think we can to make sure we have the right person to be our nominee, come november. That is the strategy, pick up seats delegates where we can, and in these different states, and we have a really robust comprehensive plan to do that. I wont give away trade secrets today, but i think that is the plan. Host lets let our viewers take part in this conversation and started with kayla who is calling for madison, tennessee on the democratic line. Kayla, good morning. Caller hi. Host go ahead, kayla. You are on the air. Caller i would just like to say who has a 27yearold never actually voted, this election strikes a real close to home, personal motivation for me to actually get up and vote. It is something that i think victoria has pretty much been on point with. She mentioned it was not so much about the parties or labels. Ands more to the individual the 45th president right now is not someone who i would want to be my friend, or my husband, or my family, and i think, as a whole, republican or democratic, he is not somebody that i would like to represent our country. Notice, whatever it was on, it was not a debate earlier, because he was on South Carolina early on the channel, and everything he said didnt have anything to do with policies or issues. It was just dogging the other party. It wasnt anything with any depth or really that i think mattered. It was all negativity, and biden a whole,e sanders, as want things that are for everybody. Restrictions on the party or what you look like. It is better for the whole. I want to encourage all young people to get out and vote. Host go ahead and respond, representative moore. Guest kayla, i think you are exactly right. He was in my backyard yesterday, just really making a mockery of the presidency. I think he is the biggest threat to our democracy since the cold war. We have to do everything we can as younger people to do our part fellowurage our americans to get out and vote this november. This election is going to shape the next 20 years in this country. For me, i think the person best suited to lead this next generation is Pete Buttigieg. I think any of them would be a better choice than the 45th president , so im encouraged by your willingness to speak this morning, calling into cspan, and hopefully, you can encourage your friends, family, colleagues to vote in the primary in november. Host as a state lawmaker, we talked a little earlier in the show about the fact that there are new Voting Machines being used in this primary. In fact, we have one of our social media followers who wrote in about using the new machine this morning. This comes from karen on twitter, saying her precinct in South Carolina has new Voting Machines. We are handed a blank slip of paper to insert into the payee into the machine. A machine prince the ballot to verify our vote and the ballot is run through a scanner and drops into a locked box. Nice. It seems, for at least one voter, the machines are working well. Do you think any type of confusion, given there are new machines do you think there is any confusion, given there are new machines used in this primary . Guest i havent voted today, a special election happening a couple months ago, and it was the first time a couple in a couple months these machines were used. I found it relatively straightforward. I got a report for from one of my colleagues, and i think it was facebook, when she went, she had a little challenge. We have to be mindful, anytime you introduce new technology, to be kind of community, careful or mindful. It gives us a physical paper have a less way we likely chance of any this right that we have as a nation. Host there was a story on politico about Pete Buttigiegs campaign, saying he set a goal of raising 30 million by super tuesday. Financiala bit of pinch that he and other democrats face as they compete with Michael Bloomberg and Bernie Sanders. What do you do you know do you know what the financial situation of Pete Buttigiegs campaign is right now . Guest the last report is that he was over halfway to the goal within a short period of time. What i do know of the campaigns ability to raise the resources needed to compete is that dave did phenomenally dave is phenomenally successful at fundraising and is one of the things that have has allowed our mayor from a small town, where no one could say his name early in the process, to be in the top two or three as we stand today. I think there will be they will be able to do what they need to do in order to have the resources it needs to have. He is not a billionaire, so he cant write a 13 million check. This is a grassroots effort, so he is asking the people in the country, so you can go to peteforamerica and make the nation he needs. Host lets go to another caller, from newberry, South Carolina. Henry, good morning. Caller thank you for taking my call. I voted and i think the machines they got our good machines. Paper place, and i voted for the buttigieg i was wondering for the buttigieg guy, why is it they never say he is married to hes married to . They never bring that up but they always throw in bernie under the bus about being a socialist. I think bernie is really for the people. I think we need to get behind him because he is a motivator, and i think we need to join together. We all want stuff, and i think he has the one to get us there. We need to get behind bernie a little more and stop downing him so much. Like they said when he was talking about castro, people do good, and they could be better people, but that dont knock the good they have done. That is all i got to say. Host go ahead and respond to henry. Guest henry, thank you so much for exercising your civic duty today. I think its important in this election cycle to talk about contrast when it comes to peoples ideology, peoples vision for this country, and that is what we have done, on petes side, as compared to the comparison with Bernie Sanders and some of the policies he has proposed. I think any of the candidates would be a better choice than our 45th then number 45. As far as to answer your question about petes personal husband,e loves his has not shied away from that, and im not really sure what your question is as it relates to Bernie Sanders being a democraticsocialist and as a relates to who pete loves. Im not your how to answer that question. Host lets go to another caller, to alvin, calling from ridgeville, delaware on the independent line. Alvin, good morning. Caller good morning, cspan. I wanted to talk about joe biden, but i want to make one correction for representative moore. He said President Trump is calling the virus a hoax. That is not exactly what he said. Whats hes calling what he is calling the host is the democratic response to the virus. Real. Rus is very much he has mobilized his team, doctors, scientists, and even the Vice President. For you to say it was a hoax is disingenuous. My real topic today was joe biden. As long as he has been in politics, he has a track record. He was so popular in South Carolina why he is so popular in South Carolina boggles the mind. This is his first third run for the presidency. The first one, he dropped out because of plagiarism. He placed fifth in iowa, so he dropped out. The only reason joe biden isnt mentioned is because obama reached out and picked him up off of the scrap pile and resurrected his career. Coattails road the of president obama roade the coattails of president obama and now he is trying to win the nomination himself. The reason he is doing so badly is because he is not a politician. Host go ahead and respond, representative moore. Guest thank you for your correction on what donald trump said. As far as joe biden, im here to talk about Pete Buttigieg and how i think he is the generally should there generational leadership we need in this country, but if you want to compare Donald Trumps record that any of the folks running for president on the democratic side, you would be hardpressed offind the gaping holes inconsistency and damage to the American People as you see in donald trump. I think that is a response to that my response to that, but i am here to talk about Pete Buttigieg. Host one of the things we have not yet talked about today is a potential Vice President pick for any of the candidates who are seeking the democratic president ial primary when. You originally supported senator Kamala Harris in the president ial primary. Do you think she would make a good Vice President of anyone who wins thats nomination . Think kamalasly, i harris would have been a great president. As far as pete deciding who the eventual nominee he would pick as Vice President would be, i myt have that is not decision to make. I think, love is an incredible senator with a fantastic aesidential senator and fantastic president ial candidate. Whoever the events on nominee is, he will have to make that decision on his own. Host lets go to mike calling from seattle, washington on the republican line. Mike, good morning. Caller good morning. I would like to see mayor pete sound out his name. It doesnt really judge, i dont really see a judge in his name. Maybe he could give us a class on how to give his get his name straight, because he is well spoken. With bernie, he kind of has to have a Founding Fathers look. Maybe getld somehow some extensions or maybe wear a wig or something, that might help is host the one thing the color did say is something you mentioned earlier, a year ago, most of us did not know how to pronounce his name, but now, he democraticop of the candidates, going into super tuesday. What does Pete Buttigieg need to do coming out of South Carolina, going into super tuesday, to make sure he stays at the top . Top of the democratic race . What heo continue to do has already done, outperform. I think that is really where we are right now in this race. People get to know him, and as they get to know him, his message and vision for this country, he is doing better and better. Provetinues to need to and get in front of as many people as he possibly can. The great thing he did here in South Carolina that i think was impactful when we talk about not just the primary but going into the general election is meeting in small, intimate troops, listening to people and formulating good policy, based on these conversations with folks. If he continues to do that, he will be in good shape on super tuesday and beyond. Host what do you think turnout will be like in South Carolina . I hear it is cold in charlston, but it looks like a beautiful, sunny day across South Carolina. What can you expect for turnout . Guest im glad you mentioned it. Mention how cold it is. I just had on a sports jacket, so i have been doing my best to not shiver. Im hoping that turnout will be really high. I hope that turnout will be high , as high as in 2016. We have a Good Opportunity to exceed expectations as far as turnout which i think is great for the people of South Carolina. The fact it is on a saturday makes for the model, i think, moving forward we should be looking at, even for general elections. Having multiple access and to exercise rights in this country. Host lets see if we can take one more collar. Caller. Joni is on the democratic line, from pennsylvania. About i am calling caller i am calling about the primaries and and caucuses. Why doesnt everybody about the same day for a primary . Why do we have all these different states voting for different primaries on different days . So sick ofiden, i am hearing about joe biden in South Carolina, like that is the only state people are voting for, is joe biden. I do not like joe biden. And i think that they keep they just keep pushing him in South Carolina. Actually think that we should do away with caucuses. And i think everybody should vote the same day, not one vote one month, another vote another month. It is time we get it and all vote on the same day, tor two days. Not this tuesday, wednesday, then saturday. If you give people duties to but they justote, keep pushing joe biden in South Carolina and for me, he is not the man for president. Host go ahead and respond. Think thatree that i Pete Buttigieg is the better choice than joe biden. As far as the primaries and when, versus the caucuses, and when the primaries are held, she has a very compelling argument about consolidating. This is me talking, not the campaign. Consolidating the primaries. But i think that that is a conversation that we would have to have with the dnc and other folks getting involved, to see how we can give more access to people to vote. But that is a compelling argument and something we will have to strongly consider in the Democratic Party, because we have historically been the party party, to bring as many people as we can. I think revisiting, definitely revisiting iowa and New Hampshire, as far as the early states where they vote, i think the challenges iowa had, as far as the results, it is something we must look into. But that is another conversation for another day, but i think it is a compelling question. Host would you advocate for South Carolina keeping its first in the south primary . Guest of course. [laughter] host i had to ask. Guest look, i think South Carolina should be the first, because if you look at iowa and New Hampshire, i think there is mored for more a reflection of the nation. And i think South Carolina would be the blessed place for it and give people more opportunity to have shecrab soup and enjoy the beautiful state, so i would welcome the opportunity for South Carolina to be the first in the nation. Host we would like to thank j. A. Moore for being here, thank you so much for your time. Thank you for having me. Host coming up, we will talk to the charleston post and come back with more of your calls. And tomt, jim Mcgovern Cole discussed efforts to reassert congresss constitutional authorities from the congressional branch. They talk about the reality of the president ial veto. Keep in mind, you can see this cspan, cspine. Org cspan. Org and cspan radio app on sunday. A lot of these executive actions can be voted against in congress, but the veto is always there. That seems to be one of the main problems. Anything you guys might be able to come up with. Are we talking possibly a constitutional amendment . There were other things short of a constitutional amendment that we could explore. And i hope that that is what these hearings do. But i mean, i mentioned the powers issue earlier. To me, there is something wrong with the fact that it is easier to declare war, than actually get a piece get to peace. You need a simple majority to vote to authorize military force, but knowing the president could veto, an action by congress to end a war requires a super majority. So we need to have a discussion on whether that is the appropriate way we should approach the issues. We are looking to reestablish balance, so that when you read the constitution, article i, and when you read article ii, i think it was pretty clear with the responsibilities were of congress and of the executive branch. I think what we have seen is an erosion of the power of congress in a way that has undercut our ability to be better representatives. And i think it has resulted in diminishing the voice of the people of this country. Host we are back and talking about South Carolinas president ial primary today. We want to know what you think. Republicans, your number will be 202 7488001. Democrats, 202 7488000. Independents, 202 7488002. We want to remind you that we will have live results starting at 8 00 p. M. Tonight. We will have results from the South Carolina primary, you will hear campaign speeches, all starting at 8 00 p. M. Tonight on cspan, cspan. Org, and the free cspan radio app. Now to one of our callers. Will is calling from anderson, South Carolina. Good morning. Caller good morning. I hope you are having a great day. I am getting ready to go vote, shortly. And not sure who i will vote for , but i will decide when i get there. Im an independent. I wanted to vote in the republican primary for republican governor bill weld from massachusetts. But they are trying to get me to vote in the democratic primary for the democraticsocialist Bernie Sanders. So i do not know. But i will vote against the new york city conman, regardless, so we will see. Schuyler kropf let host let me ask, have you gotten a direct appeal from anybody who said, go vote in the Democratic Party and vote for Bernie Sanders . Or this is stuff you are hearing through the media . Or did somebody say, we want you to do this . Caller in the upstate, the all the Greenville County and upstate Republican Party apparatus are pushing it hard. They want people to do that because they think that bernie will handed over to donald trump. Im not sure of that. Ine i said, i want to devote the republican primary for republican bill weld. And i am a true independent. I vote based on the issues. But i am voting against donald trump. Host we will go back to charleston to the campus of the college of charleston, and talk with schuyler kropf, the Political Editor of the charleston post. Good morning. Guest good to see you. Host good to see you as well. What can we expect to see as a result for the results as they come in . What time would you expect to see any good information . What part of the state are the tonight . Ts guest guest the issue based on turnout is we have gone to paper ballots, the first time they have been used statewide. Everybody has been optimistic, but you are dealing with people new to a system. It is slower, people will look at the results before they run them through the machine. So i would count on a later count, rather than earlier. Host we are going live at 8 00 p. M. On cspan, what time will we start to see the results . 9 00, 10 00, on sunday . Guest later on. You have to realize that there are a lot of rural counties, even charleston has rural areas. All the machines have to be put the box and driven to warehouse to be counted. I do not think it will be an early night. Host ok guest for results. But i think there will be a lot of trends coming out. Especially as people come out with the bigger counties, greenville, charleston. Host for people who do not live in South Carolina, t here are major regions, different regions. You have the low country around charleston, the midlands around columbia, and the upstate in the greenville and spartanburg area. Four have the democrats been focusing their efforts . Any particular region or around the state . Guest i think it has been blanketing richmond county, the state capital area, charleston especially. Those will be the big turnout counties. You will see turning out in greenville. I was speaking with one of my friends last night who is a numbers counter, he said there has been a surge in absentee voting in the last week, particularly among white voters, which is interesting. I do not think it is necessarily the republicans, i think there are suburban areas looking to make an impact. That probably helps everybody. And it should be a concern for republicans come november if the suburbs turn out against President Trump, the way that they appear to be in South Carolina. Host joe biden has called South Carolina his firewall. What is the impact of jim clyburns endorsement of joe biden in South Carolina . Guest i think the pressure is even higher on jim clyburn now. He is considered the pope of South Carolina. Et aif he cannot g victory for joe biden, i think there is a problem and the party will show it is not unified how they want. Think it goes back to the issue that democrats have choices for the first time in many election years. Previously it was hillary and bernie, only two choices. Before that, hillary and obama, only two choices. Now there are seven or eight of them and the democrats are not unified. They will be looking all over the place. Host you have covered elections in South Carolina for years. I spent a couple years there myself. My question is, how many tickets out of South Carolina are there . If joe biden comes out on top, Bernie Sanders and second, how many other candidates have to do well in South Carolina to keep from having to drop out of the race before super tuesday . Guest i do not think anybody will drop out no matter the results before super tuesday, it is to close on the calendar. There are only a couple of only and steyer are the ones that will be here tonight after the polls close, so i think everybody is looking the other way. I think that dropouts will come after tuesday. I do not know where South Carolina stands after this in terms of the impact. It is the home of the black vote. The first significant vote like that, too. We will see what happens after that. There is a worker across the street. Host we have been dealing with it all morning. Does joe biden need a significant victory in South Carolina to continue, or can he so votes andwo or be ok . Guest a win, he wants the headline. Then people will pick it apart by the numbers in the next 24 hours. He has to have some sort of apparatus on super tuesday. He needs to be making phone calls, being there immediately tomorrow morning. Join lets let the callers in, especially those from South Carolina. Davis is calling from st. Helena island. Good morning. Caller i would like to know what he thinks about Pete Buttigieg as opposed to joe biden. Host simple question. What do think about Pete Buttigiegs chance in South Carolina . Guest he has run a good campaign. Yesterday, he was at the citadel speaking at a rally. He rented a hall near the campus. I think he wanted that military audience, so that was a good headline for him. I do not see him finishing near the top, but he has run a good campaign. Host another South Carolina caller, this is harrison. Good morning. Caller good morning. I am getting ready to go to the polls in 15 minutes and i turned on the tv. I live in the grand strands, the myrtle beach area. A couple days ago Bernie Sanders came through. And every time you turn on the tv, he would you will see the tom steyer commercial or lumbar commercial, but i will be voting for Pete Buttigieg, because of the issues. I know that joe biden is going all in here. And i think that what he offers is familiar. Familiarity is the only thing he has going for him, for me. And like i said, Bernie Sanders is way too far left for my views. And that is the point i want to are, is these candidates having to go so far from the base that when it comes time to get into the general election, they have positioned themselves aware they are dead on arrival with their policies for the general election. That is why i am voting for pete. And to bring us more toward the middle, to actually get something done. Host go ahead and respond. Guest i think that you are exposing the weakness of the primary system. The republicans experience the same thing. The people that are most active are those on the extremes of the they arethe extremes, not radical, but coming out. That is the interest you are getting now. It hails back to bernie and what if he is the nominee, we saw Joe Cunningham, whose political feature could be in the balance if Bernie Sanders does make the top of the ticket. We have talked about the down ballot. Republican leaning district and his future could be in jeopardy if there is not a moderate to save him. Host we were talking with gibbs knox earlier about dirty political tricks in the history of South Carolina. You had an article recently that said if you see nasty campaigning in the South Carolina primary, tell us about it. Have you gotten any response . Guest we have a Program Every four years called a Whisper Campaign where we ask voters to contact us, give us examples of dirty politicking that they have seen. It was very popular. During the race four years ago, there was phone banking where nasty things were said. It seems to have cooled off with the democrats. We did not see the phone messages. The biggest complaint were because by republicans to cross over. End i think that there ar people who consider that a dirty trick. And another complaint we saw, there was a landslide of mail ers done this year, especially by the steyer campaign. People were bombarded by it. That is what happens when you have a lot of money. But other than that, i think the technology has changed. There have been emails and texting. Host lets talk about tom steyer and what is happening with his campaign in South Carolina. He poured a lot of money and effort into South Carolina. Will he get a return for his investment . Not know, but to his credit he is one of the few candidates that will be staying in the state until after the polls close. He has something planned in columbia tonight. Joe biden will be in columbia. I am not sure about the others. He wants to stick around. He was very active in the last 48 hours with rallies, and even things today. He is probably going to be in the third finish area. Host does that help him when he goes into super tuesday . The polls show he will come in in the top five, maybe even in the top three, does that help them anywhere outside of South Carolina . Guest well, lets see what happens with the bowling and polling and continued to be on stages. When you have a Bottomless Pit of money, you can continue to run for president. He has no firewall. He can keep going. The results here, he could spin them anyway he wants. He can keep going even after super tuesday. Host speaking of having a lot of money, Michael Bloomberg is not on the ballot today, but he seems to be hovering over the race. What is the reaction, what is the response to Michael Bloomberg, even though he will not be on the ballot . Guest people saw their first exposure to him earlier this week in the debate. He is an unknown entity really until the debate. And the ratings were high during the debate, but if you are not shaking hands, if you are not at the game, you are kind of an oddity or is a liberty of some kind. Celebrity of some kind. And you cannot gauge what any support he would have here. The state is going to go republican in november anyways, so bloomberg is a nonfactor here. Host lets try to get a couple more callers. William is calling from connecticut on the democratic line. Good morning. Caller good morning. How are we doing . Host just fine. Go ahead. Caller this is my issue. Im a joe biden supporter, but have made a commitment to vote for whoever is nominated. So even if it is bloomberg, i will be voting for him. But what i want to know about in South Carolina, in the Democratic Party, will the parties come together, is it their plan for everybody to come together in South Carolina and take their feet away from the ground . Host that was going to be my oft question, about the fate Lindsey Graham come up for election this fall. Uphillit is very much an climb for jamie. But who knows what the world will look like in november. The democrats will not be crossing over to vote for donald trump, republicans could cross over to vote for Jamie Harrison. They may not like the connection between senator graham and President Trump. So there is a group of people that will move in that direction. But there is still a strong republican sense in the state. Host a lot of elections depend on turnout. What type of turnout do you see in the democratic primary today, a taiwan or a low one high one or a low one . Guest i think it will be high. Four years ago it was a mediocre year, hillary, you had 370,000 democrats come out. Todayk if the democrats hit 400,000, they will be ecstatic. They could even go higher. We will see. The difference here is democrats have choices now. So there are multiple people, different messages, the state has changed a lot in four years. There are a lot of people moving in coming from elsewhere. There will be a lot more interest now. I think you will see a pretty good turnout. Host we talked about Lindsey Graham. Save is Joe Cunningham in the First District . Guest it will be very telling. He is taking some centrist positions publicly. Did vote for the impeachment of President Trump. He spoke out against Bernie Sanders. He said that socialism is not something that the democrats can get behind. A lot is riding on that. His future is hanging on what november looks like. He is doing a lot of events. N politicking. You will have a five way race on the republican side. We will see. Whoever it is will get a visit from the president probably in september or november. Depends on the hurricane season. Host lets try to get robbie line,h on the democratic calling from gary, indiana. Good morning. You are on the air. Caller hi. Im a joe biden supporter. And i am supporting him because there is wisdom, knowledge, and experience. And i feel he is the best man for the job. Think he isers, i misleading the young generation. They think that they will get all of this money for school. But where is it coming from . Even with medicare, we have to pay and we will still be paying. I think he is misleading the people. Yeah, there is a generational divide with who is supporting who. The young people are supporting bernie, the older people provided. Joe biden has not offered a lot of new ideas. He is really going off his name and his association with obama. Nt host going back to iowa, New Hampshire, there is a lot of talk about shifting things around and moving iowa and New Hampshire out of first place in the caucuses and primaries. Should South Carolina continue to stay as the first primary in the south . You would have to talk to the republicans and democrats. I know if somebody starts moving that around, they will see another civil war, because i believe New Hampshire insists on being the first primary, so if another state was to go ahead of New Hampshire i think that New Hampshire would move again. Might see the process started in november rather than january. Host lets get one more person. Joe is calling from oakdale, louisiana, on the independent line. Good morning. Caller thank you for taking my call. I wanted to address the Africanamerican Community in South Carolina. Fdrink that bernie is the of this generation. And the Senior Citizens should support the future of their children and grandchildren. We already have socialism with Social Security, medicare, medicaid. And with the food stamps, public libraries, public schools, the police departments, we already have socialism, he will be expanding it for the benefit of the people instead of the rich corporations. Joe biden has tried to be president , this is his fourth time running on his own, and he will not make it. Host go ahead. Guest i think that you hit on what Bernie Sanders does. He does draw the most people no matter where he is. He will draw thousands. He is a rock star. And people just come to see him. It is not even close interns of in terms of turnout numbers. Host what time do the polls close . Guest they will close at 7 00. They open at 7 00. And we had a reporter on sullivan island, the closest pulling place to the ocean, so maybe you will have one hour before you start to see the decent trends. 7 00, you are in line at you can still vote, they will not shut the doors. Host one question i meant to earlyrlier, how will the will affect the primary in South Carolina, because there are people who voted early. We have seen a lot of votes already, could that swing things one way or another . Guest i was talking with folks last night and we did have a record of voting Record Number of early voting in additional huge in the white suburbs. So there is interest in what happens. It could also be people do not want to wait in line on saturday. But i do not think that will be the case. I think there is a lot of interest today. Host we would like to say thank or cominghuyler kropf f and explaining to us what is going on in South Carolina. It is great to see you. Thanks for being on. Guest good talking to you. Host the South Carolina democratic primary results we will go live at 8 00 p. M. Tonight on cspan, cspan. Org and cspan radio app app. You will see the live results. You will see the candidate speeches. And the wrap up the democratic primary. We also want to remind you that President Trump will be on live at 3 00 p. M. Today from the american conservative unions Political Action conference at national harbor, maryland. His us at 3 00 p. M. For speech at the cpac conference. We want to say thank you to all of our guests, callers and followers for being with us today. Join us again at 7 00 a. M. Tomorrow morning for another edition. Have a great saturday. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] announcer here is what is ahead. A hearing on voter suppression. After that, a forum on election security. Then a debate on antilynching association entailing legislation. Present trump speaks at the american conservative unions annual Political Action conference, live today at 3 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan, cspan. Org or listen on the free radio app. Announcer the South Carolina primary is tonight. Join us to hear the candidates reactions. 8 00ll start tonight at p. M. On cspan, on cspan. Org, or listen live on the free cspan radio app. There are a lot of ways to follow this highly competitive election season on the cspan network, but probably the fastest and easiest is on the web at cspan. Org. We have our campaign 2020 interactive calendar with the result maps over the upcoming primaries and caucuses, including super tuesday. There is the event tracker