Poll: Clinton, Sanders in Virtual Tie in Iowa
BURNETT: Tonight, more trouble for Hillary Clinton with the Iowa caucuses about two weeks away, the once presumptive nominee is now in a dead heat with Bernie Sanders. A new poll out of Iowa finding Clinton's edge over Sanders' dropping from nine percent to two percentage points in just a month. And that is obviously within the margin of error, that is a statistical tie. Is this 2008 all over again? Jeff Zeleny is OUTFRONT.</s>JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): She has been here before.</s>HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I wish that we could elect a democratic president who could wave a magic wand and say we shall do this and we shall do that. That ain't the real world we're living in.</s>ZELENY: Hillary Clinton urging voters to be skeptical of promises made by her rival. This time it's Bernie Sanders. But it sounds similar to this moment eight years ago.</s>CLINTON: You are not going to wave a magic wand and have the special interests disappear.</s>ZELENY: The magic want is back, a sign Clinton is no longer the inevitable front-runner. Tonight, a new Iowa poll from the Des Moines Register shows Clinton and Sanders effectively deadlocked. But it's a troubling trend for Clinton. As her support has dipped, Sanders has surged month by month. He is heading into the final two weeks with real momentum.</s>SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There are two democratic visions for regulating Wall Street.</s>ZELENY: But his populous message is facing new scrutiny. He is under pressure to get specific on issues like healthcare.</s>CLINTON: As Senator Sanders has some very big ideas, but he hasn't yet told anybody how he would pay for them.</s>ZELENY: The question is how Sanders' plan will affect middle class taxes.</s>CLINTON: And a lot of what he has talked about in his campaign would be very expensive.</s>ZELENY: Sanders' supporters are unfazed. He is building a coalition that looks like Barack Obama's in 2008. He is leading Clinton decisively among Independents, voters under 45 and first time caucus goers. Something else sounds familiar, an argument about electability. Now Clinton is saying this.</s>CLINTON: Think hard about the people who are presenting themselves to you. Their experience. And particularly for those of us who are Democrats, their electability.</s>ZELENY: A flashback to 2008.</s>CLINTON: I believe that I have a very good argument that I know more about beating Republicans than anybody else running.</s>ZELENY: Now, of course, voters will have the final answer who is the most electable candidate not Hillary Clinton. But a few moments ago, Senator Sanders told me that he will indeed disclose how much his healthcare plan will cost and explain more of the fine print of that before the Iowa caucuses, Erin. So, that's something that he is responding to. And he says he is not engaged in negative campaigning. The Clinton campaign convened a conference call tonight with its campaign manager saying that Bernie Sanders is negative campaigning. Senator Sanders as he's not, he is simply trying to draw contrast. I can tell you this big crowd behind me tonight in New Hampshire is supportive of Bernie Sanders.</s>BURNETT: All right. Jeff, thank you very much. And OUTFRONT now, Jonathan Tasini travels on behalf of the Bernie Sanders campaign. He's a surrogate for the Senator. And David Brock, founder of Correct the Record which is a pro-Hillary Clinton Super Pac. David, let me start with you. Because you just heard in Jeff's piece, it's the same kind of voters who gave then-Senator Obama his first win in Iowa. That win that turned an entire election. That group now backing Bernie Sanders. I was talking about people who are caucusing for the first time, people who categorize themselves as independent and people who are young, under the age of 45. Is this 2008 all over again?</s>DAVID BROCK, FOUNDER, CORRECT THE RECORD, A PRO-CLINTON SUPER PAC: No. Look, I don't think anybody thinks that Senator Sanders is Barack Obama. And let me tell you something. The reality is, it's Senator Sanders who has said he is going to Iowa and New Hampshire. And the polls today and in the last few days show Hillary is still slightly ahead in Iowa. New Hampshire is close. But that's why the Sanders campaign is feeling pressed. That's why they are running a negative campaign. They switched strategies totally today after Senator Sanders promised not to run negative ad. They went up with a negative ad. Of course, they were the first to go negative back in the fall when Senator Sanders attacked Hillary at the JJ Dinner when his staff stole millions of dollars' worth of data from the Clinton campaign and misled the press. Then Senator Sanders went out with the outrageous baseless innuendo that the Clinton people had done it, too. So, he is feeling pressed. And here's why, the gun issue -- hold on. On the gun issue he is really out of touch not only with democratic primary voters, but he's on the wrong side of it. What 82 percent of millennials wants our guns --</s>JONATHAN TASINI, AUTHOR, "THE ESSENTIAL BERNIE SANDERS AND HIS VISION FOR AMERICA": I think you see --</s>BROCK: Hold on.</s>BURNETT: I get your point.</s>BROCK: Can I finish?</s>TASINI: I think you see the panic flowing out of his pores.</s>BROCK: If I can just finish. Because one of the biggest priorities of the NRA was this issue of immunity for gun manufacturers that he supported. He supported the Charleston loophole that got the shooter, enable that shooter to get that gun before his background check. And he has got this --</s>TASINI: So, Erin -- he has got this half-baked -- he got a half-baked --</s>BURNETT: Hold on, David. David, you make the point about Donald. Let Jonathan get in. Go ahead, Jonathan.</s>TASINI: Thank you. So, I will say right now, we will win Iowa and New Hampshire. And I will not be surprised when that happens. I predicted that months ago. And it's really a fact that this is a political revolution. And it's a political revolution versus the status quo. I think that's why millions of people, young people -- I met some Republicans just now in Florida who said they are former Republicans who are going to vote for Bernie in the Florida primary. In Iowa and New Hampshire, people are saying, we don't want to support candidates of the status quo. We don't want to support candidates who voted for more wars like the Iraq war. That was what Hillary Clinton did. We don't want people who are close to the drug and insurance companies who are close to Wall Street. We want a fundamentally different political economy. And they are surging to Bernie. I had no doubt that Bernie could win these two. The only question I had was raising money. And we have proven over the last several months that we can raise money. And I don't want to say -- I want to compliment the Clinton campaign. Let me just be very clear. I hope they continue to engage in these false attacks around healthcare.</s>BROCK: Oh, no, we're not the ones doing the false attacks.</s>TASINI: Every single time we do we raise money.</s>BROCK: We're not the ones doing the false attacks.</s>TASINI: In the last 48 hours, the campaign has raised $1.4 million because people see that these are false attacks.</s>BURNETT: OK.</s>TASINI: I want to compliment --</s>BROCK: Why doesn't Senator Sanders --</s>TASINI: I really want to thank the Clinton campaign.</s>BURNETT: Okay. Jonathan. Go ahead, David.</s>BROCK: Well, let's talk about this. Why doesn't Senator Sanders keep his promises? And why doesn't he tell the truth about his record?</s>TASINI: OK. So let's talk about healthcare.</s>BROCK: So, he denied, he denied --</s>TASINI: Let's talk about --</s>BROCK: Hold on! You want to interrupt me again?</s>TASINI: No, let's talk about healthcare.</s>BROCK: Can I finish? He denied --</s>TASINI: Let's talk about healthcare.</s>BURNETT: Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Both of you stop for one second. Because I do actually want to go to healthcare, David.</s>BROCK: Yes.</s>BURNETT: I think we're going to guns. But I want to go to healthcare because Jeff Zeleny brought that up.</s>TASINI: I think too.</s>BURNETT: And you just Heard Bernie Sanders who told Jeff Zeleny earlier tonight Jonathan that he is going to give more details. The campaign had earlier indicated that he wasn't going to give more details. This is a plan that some people say could cost $15 trillion. Now the words he used to Jeff Zeleny were is that he is going to give an outline -- an outline of the numbers. Doesn't he need to do more than that? I mean, give real numbers about what the cost is going to be here. Or is he avoiding the issue?</s>TASINI: No, not at all. So, we already spend $3 trillion a year in healthcare. Bernie Sanders' campaign does not cost more money. He wants to reallocate the money and actually what happens just like in Australia and other industrial --</s>BURNETT: So, you're saying that 15 trillion is a bunch of ball.</s>TASINI: Well, I'm saying, it's $15 trillion over the course of a number of years. But it doesn't cost more money. What he is doing is he is killing the insurance companies. His plan would save the average person making $50,000 a year, it would save them about $5,000 a year. And yes, in their paycheck just like they pay Social Security, they would see a little number which would be about 2.3 percent of their income just as they do in Australia where they have essentially Medicare for all. But at bottom line, when you go to your bank account, every single person would save if you are making $50,000 a year $5,000. The Clinton plan, because as --</s>BURNETT: OK. Hit pause there for one moment.</s>TASINI: Yes.</s>BURNETT: Because I want to give David a chance here to respond.</s>BROCK: Look, I'm glad we're starting to get some details.</s>TASINI: Those details have been out there, David.</s>BROCK: Hold on. Senator Sanders was asked if he wanted to dismantle ObamaCare. He said no. That wasn't true. He said he didn't support the exception the Charleston loophole when he did.</s>TASINI: But --</s>BROCK: He got Pinocchios from none bias fact checkers.</s>TASINI: Let's stick with --</s>BROCK: So, he needs to start telling people about the truth about his record. And the thing about these polls. A quarter of the people in these polls don't know who Senator Sanders is.</s>TASINI: Well, actually the opposite has happened.</s>BROCK: As we start to have -- he has had no scrutiny.</s>TASINI: Erin, here are the --</s>BROCK: That has been vetted. And as that starts, his members are going to go down.</s>TASINI: Erin, here are the two false --</s>BURNETT: Very quick final word, Jonathan.</s>TASINI: Here are two falses.</s>BURNETT: Very quick.</s>TASINI: First of all, the more people learn about Bernie Sanders, the more they are flowing to him.</s>BURNETT: That's not true.</s>TASINI: And that's why he is going to win.</s>BURNETT: That's not true. We are finding out --</s>TASINI: Excuse me. On the healthcare question, he has been very clear that his plan would save Americans money.</s>BROCK: That's not true. Absolutely not true. What do you think the Republicans --</s>BURNETT: All right. I am going to have to hit pause. I'm not finding an easy moment to end this. So, I will hit pause. But I will say we are eagerly awaiting --</s>BROCK: Wait until the Republicans get ahold --</s>BURNETT: -- on the healthcare plan. Thank you very much.</s>TASINI: You will continue to hear this fraudulent stuff from the Clinton campaign. It will get worse. That's the way they work.</s>BURNETT: I'm looking forward to having both of you on to reprice this debate. Thank you very much. OUTFRONT next, just weeks before those Iowa caucuses, Republicans are back on the debate stage tonight. It's the main event. Can anyone catch Donald Trump in the latest poll breaking at this hour with now a massive lead over the next closest competitor? One of his rivals, Mike Huckabee is my guest OUTFRONT tonight, next. And multiple attackers armed with guns, grenades, home-made bombs and a deadly ISIS-inspired assault at Starbucks. We are live on the scene tonight.