Clinton Says Her Coal Comments Were A "Misstatement"
BANFIELD: Indiana primary day. Democrats locked in a tight race for that state's 83 precious Democratic delegates. Senator Bernie Sanders in Indianapolis and discussing jobs with a local business owner there, Hillary Clinton on the other side, she's in West Virginia where she held a panel on substance abuse this morning. So she's not in Indiana, interesting. Chris Frates is also interesting, keeping a close eye on this Democratic race and joins me live from Indianapolis. So she's not even bothering to campaign in Indiana today and really bringing down the expectations there even though the last I checked, she was slightly ahead in the poll. So give me the rest of the story.</s>CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'll tell you, Ashleigh, when you talk to the Clinton campaign, they are, in fact, managing the expectations here and saying that they wouldn't be surprised if Bernie Sanders wins today. And they give you a couple reasons for that, number one, he spent $2 million here over the last few weeks in Indiana advertising. The Hillary Clinton campaign hasn't spent any money. Also if you look at the Democratic here, it is a predominantly white state. And Bernie Sanders does better with white voters than Hillary Clinton does. And then lastly, it's an open primary. That means that the independent voters get to vote in the Democratic primary. That's huge for Bernie Sanders and it has been good for him going forward. Now the Sanders people, they're not saying they're going to win here but they feel pretty good. They have been touting the U.S. steel workers endorsement. That's big here in the manufacturing state. And Hillary Clinton, as you point out, hasn't been campaigning here for the last few days. But in fact, she was in West Virginia yesterday where she apologized for something she said during a CNN town hall back in March. She said that the coal companies and coal workers, her administration would put them out of business. Now, just yesterday she said that was remark was taken out of context. Let's take a listen to what she had to say.</s>HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm the only candidate which has a policy about how to bring economic opportunity using clean renewable energy as the key into coal country. Because we're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business. I don't know how to explain it other than what I said was totally out of context from what I meant because I have been talking about helping coal country for a very long time.</s>FRATES: So there you have it, a pretty big mea culpa from Hillary Clinton in coal country ahead of the big primary next week in West Virginia. But the Clinton folks saying, even if Bernie Sanders does eke out an upset here today in Indiana, they aren't so worried about it, Ashleigh that's because remember, it's a proportional system. So Hillary Clinton would have to lose by a huge margin here in order for Bernie Sanders to eat into her delegate lead. They don't think that will happen and they're already looking ahead to coal country. West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, some of the states that are next up. So we'll keep an eye on all of that throughout the day because it's all going to make a difference as we come to convention time, Ashleigh.</s>BANFIELD: Words matter. They certainly come back over and over again as many candidates will tell you. Chris Frates, thank you very much from Indianapolis, standing by live. So much more to talk about in the tight, tight Democratic race, even if Bernie Sanders wins, would that be enough to keep him from going. And maybe most importantly, to keep that all important money flowing in because guess what, Clinton is bringing in tons. We'll show you how much and why this one little card made all the difference. Next.