Super Tuesday Winners & Losers
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Big breaking political news this morning. Donald Trump rules and a stunning upset for Bernie Sanders, so many people across the country casting their ballots on Super Tuesday, the sequel, and now, Wednesday, the morning after the sequel. The entire race shaken up. We'll break down the biggest winners and losers all morning long. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.</s>CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christine Romans. It is Wednesday, March 9th. It's 4:00 a.m. in the East. We welcome our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world. The breaking news overnight, a stunning upset victory in Michigan for Bernie Sanders, beating Hillary Clinton on the second of three Super Tuesdays. And it was a Super Tuesday for him. But Clinton wins overwhelmingly in Mississippi, a triumph that maintains her vast lead in the race for delegates. On the Republican side, Donald Trump -- Donald Trump picks up two strong wins in Michigan, Mississippi and then another in Hawaii, just breaking the last couple of hours. Ted Cruz wins in Idaho. It was a terrible night for Rubio with no wins on the board. The net result, Trump preserves his big lead in delegates, going into another week of big, important contests. Both Trump and Sanders already turning those -- towards those upcoming primaries.</s>DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So, we are going to do something, I think we're going to clean the slate. I think we're going to do really well in Florida. It's my second home, I love Florida. I love Florida, a special place. I think we're going to do really well. I think we're going to do really well in Ohio, now that I have Paul O'Neill's endorsement, I know I'm going to win Ohio. But I love Ohio. I have so many friends in Ohio. It's an amazing place.</s>SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What tonight means is that the Bernie Sanders campaign, the peoples revolution that we are talking about, the political revolution that we are talking about is strong in every part of the country. And, frankly, we believe that our strongest areas are yet to happen.</s>ROMANS: All right. Joining us now, CNN politics reporter Jeremy Diamond live from Florida, one of the next big battlegrounds for both parties. Good morning. Break it down for us, Jeremy.</s>JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Good morning, guys. Yes, last night, just as Hillary Clinton was going -- seeming to have her clearest path to victory so far, last night, a huge upset for her. Bernie Sanders last night taking the Michigan primary, just as Hillary Clinton had a huge polling lead in the state with just days to go. You know, she completely captured that win in Michigan, winning among working class voters -- sorry, sorry, with Bernie Sanders winning among working class voters and really completely against the tide of what was expected to happen last night. But, of course, it was Donald Trump's big night last night. The Republican front-runner winning across the board in Michigan and winning also in Mississippi. But, of course, Ted Cruz also having a great night last night. He came in a close second in several of these states. And it was truly an incredible night last night. Donald Trump, though, in his press conference sort of pivoting towards the general election. He was discussing his message and the way in which he hopes to unite the Republican Party and bring them together as he moves towards general.</s>ROMANS: All right. Jeremy Diamond, thank you very much. So, let's look at the winners and losers. Let's break it all down, what it all means in terms of those golden delegate numbers. Joining us now is our panel of experts, CNN political analyst and columnist for "Bloomberg View", Josh Rogin, CNN senior reporter for media and politics, Dylan Byers, and CNN politics digital reporter, Eric Bradner, CNN politics Jeremy Diamond sticks with us. Guys, what a night. I mean, you look at the Democratic side, really, Dylan, let's go back to that victory for Sanders. Independents broke for Sanders, young people, no surprise there, broke for Sanders. People who don't like the way U.S. trade policies have felt for the middle class broke for Sanders. This has got to be disappointing -- not devastating but a disappointing morning for the Clinton campaign.</s>DYLAN BYERS, CNN SENIOR REPORTER FOR MEDIA AND POLITICS: Yes. It's an immensely disappointing morning for the Clinton campaign. Look, they still believe, I think, that this is in their favor. That Hillary Clinton is still on course to become the Democratic nominee. That doesn't change the fact that Sanders' ability to continue winning these states, these states in the Rust Belt, to continue doing very well among young voters who are, of course, the future of the Democratic Party and his ability to make inroads with African- Americans in Michigan. All of this is setting off the alarm bells about the enthusiasm gap for Hillary Clinton, which is something that has dogged her entire political career. But, of course, the key issue here, it's the one that the Clinton campaign needs to focus on the most, how do you appeal to economic insecurity, job insecurity, that is something where Bernie Sanders has had a consistent and clear message. Hillary Clinton needs to focus not so much on taking on Bernie Sanders or pivoting to the general election, and taking on a Donald Trump or Ted Cruz, she needs to think about how show she can convey a more simple, focused, and energetic message about the economy and about people's jobs if she wants to be able to stop Bernie Sanders and really focus on the general.</s>BERMAN: That's the headline, sort of, from the Democratic race. Josh Rogin, the Republican race, Donald Trump takes three out of four. Some big delegate wins. This, just when a lot of people are saying Donald Trump, he's vulnerable.</s>JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. So, more about the delegates, it's about the shifts of momentum, even from two days ago. Remember, after Super Saturday, Ted Cruz looked to be on the upswing, everything was about Ted Cruz gaining ground. And now, that's been halted in its tracks. So, Donald Trump has momentum. Ted Cruz still has an argument for being the only anti-Trump candidate who has shown real results. And Marco Rubio, who had warned in fairness that these would be tough states for him in advance of March 15th, underperformed greatly.</s>BERMAN: Yes.</s>ROGIN: And there's just no doubt about it, that this hurts his chances in Florida. They know it. They're trying to bail water out of a --</s>BERMAN: He did not meet delegate thresholds in Mississippi. He did not meet delegate thresholds in Michigan, did not meet the delegate thresholds in Idaho, and he may just get one or two delegates in Hawaii. He made a trip to Idaho. He just went to Idaho to campaign. He's going to end up with no --</s>ROGIN: I mean, Idaho is a caucus state. It's a Ted Cruz state. It's not surprising that Ted Cruz won there. Michigan, he should have done better. The bottom line is they put all of their chips on Florida. They have no other strategy. They have no plan B. They think they know how to win in Florida. They won there before, but internally they admit the projections show their numbers going in the wrong direction. And what happened last night is only going to exacerbate that. And there's really no solution that they have for that.</s>ROMANS: Eric Bradner, for anybody that's tuning right now, I mean, it was a good night for Bernie Sanders last night, although Hillary Clinton did win Mississippi. For the Republicans, that stop Trump, that never Trump campaign just not -- that Trump train is just not chugging with enough coal in the engine to go much further. Is that an accurate assessment?</s>ERIC BRADNER, CNN POLITICS, DIGITAL REPORTER: Yes, it's not leaving the station, right? Marco Rubio was a big loser of the night, Mitt Romney was a big loser of the night. He had lone robocalls for both Rubio and John Kasich, didn't seem to give any sort of lift. So, yes, Donald Trump won three out of four and looks close to stoppable at this point. Kasich and Rubio are both betting everything on winning their home states. But after that, it's kind of like -- and then what? The race moves east at some point. And so, their theory is they could win in more moderate or left- leaning states. But right now, Ted Cruz is turning in a lot of strong second place showings, but the more establishment candidates just aren't getting any traction. Kasich bet a lot on Michigan. It looks like he came in third, couldn't get past Ted Cruz. And, yes. So, for Mitt Romney, who picked up this banner and everyone had been following him, it was a rough night.</s>BERMAN: You're sitting in Michigan, we'll give you the home field advantage right now, with the big story coming out of Michigan, which is the Bernie Sanders upset, Eric. You know, how on earth did it happen? Because the Sanders campaign I don't think really they thought they were going to win. They hope they were, but I don't think they would have bet on it. The Clinton campaign, they thought they were going to win.</s>BRADNER: That's right. The Clinton campaign focused a lot of effort and energy on Wayne County, that's where Detroit is. Bernie Sanders campaigned all over the state. And, you know, it turns out that Sanders' economic message is actually starting to resonate. He really hit trade hard here, which is something that is especially potent given that NAFTA has really hammered the Rust Belt, Midwestern states in terms of job losses. And he turned the entire Midwest into a battleground. We've got Ohio, Missouri and Illinois coming up next week. And now, all of a sudden, that March 15th election went from Hillary 5-0 and really put some distance between herself and Bernie Sanders to a shot for Sanders to go 2-3 or 3-2, as the race starts to move West to the states that he's poised do a lot better in.</s>ROMANS: That debate stage, just a few nights ago, in Flint, it sound like "I love the '90s", you know, the political version because they were talking about trade policies. And clearly, that turned out to be important and resonated with those voters. Guys, stick with us. March madness continues -- we're calling it March madness, it continues this week on CNN. Can Bernie Sanders capitalize on that Michigan win? He gets his first big opportunity tonight at the Univision Democratic debate simulcast here on</s>CNN 9: 00 Eastern Time. That will be followed by a special post-debate edition of "AC360" at 11:00 p.m. Eastern. Then, tomorrow, tomorrow, CNN will carry the Republican debate at the University of Miami starting at 8:30 Eastern. So, there's a lot of chances for these candidates to try to reset the table after the last couple of days. Bernie Sanders pulling out that surprise victory over Hillary Clinton, a big night in Michigan for Bernie. How did he do it? We're going to break down who voted for Sanders and why, next.