Obama Tells Donors to Back Clinton
BALDWIN: You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Behind the political scenes, a movement may be taking shape. President Obama reportedly getting candid with Democratic donors, telling them it's approaching time to back Hillary Clinton and leave Bernie Sanders behind. This is reporting specifically coming from "The New York Times." And if it's true, we could see this race change faster than anyone anticipated. So joining me now, Dan Pfeiffer, CNN political commentator and former adviser to President Obama, and Barry Bennett is back with us, senior adviser for the Trump campaign and former manager - former campaign manager to Dr. Carson's campaign and a Republican consultant. So, Dan Pfeiffer, first to you, you know, on this President Obama news. I mean so far the president has been careful not to explicitly endorse Secretary Clinton, but it appears now, if he's talking to donors like this, he's approaching that lane. Why do you think he's doing this now?</s>DAN PFEIFFER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, first, I'd be a little skeptical of why it gets read out like second and third hand from a fundraiser. And I've spent a lot of time over the years working for President Obama where what came out of the president's mouth and then what got read back to people is not exactly the same, but there are some truths here I think within this reporting that are important. One, the Democratic race, in terms of delegate math, is essentially over. There - I can't see a world in which Bernie Sanders can make up that deficit in time given the proportional rules Democrats have. Second, President Obama cares a lot about winning this election. It's very important to him. It's very - he knows it's very important for the country. And I think there's no question that Hillary Clinton, although not a perfect candidate, is a much more electable candidate than Bernie Sanders. So we're going to get to a point at some point where the party is going to have to decide the donors, the supporters, the Sanders campaign itself, at what point the primary starts to becomes hurtful to Hillary Clinton's general election chances or continues on.</s>BALDWIN: Let me just follow up with that because, to your point, if this is - you know, we don't know if it's a game of telephone, right, between the president and reporters.</s>PFEIFFER: Right.</s>BALDWIN: I mean I can't imagine that could ever happen ever in a million years. I kid. But, you know, if this is true and if the president, you know, has done this, do you think this could give a little nudge to the Sanders campaign? This is coming from the president.</s>PFEIFFER: No. Look, I think Bernie Sanders has every right to stay in this race for as long as he wants to stay in it. I think he has accomplished tremendous things. What - to go from where he was to making this a close race is incredibly impressive. The question will be, for the period of time in which he's still in the race, what will the tone be? Is he making negative arguments against Hillary Clinton? Is he creating video snippets or clips that can be used in ads by Republicans, or is he continuing to carry his positive, populous message to the rest of the contest? And I think that will be the question.</s>BALDWIN: OK, Barry Bennett, let me just pivot to you because one big question that we all need to start asking is, can Donald Trump defeat Hillary Clinton in November? I know your answer's going to be yes. I want you to tell me how that will happen.</s>BENNETT: Well, I mean, I think that the political map that we've always, you know, that I grew up with is going to change. I mean, if we look at - since January 1st in Pennsylvania, over 50,000 Democrats have switched parties. In Ohio we had a big instance of that as well. In Massachusetts as well. There's a shift. So the traditional battle lines are probably not going to be in play this cycle, it will change. And, you know, I feel very good about it. I mean, you know, if the campaign is about who - are we going to continue, or are we going to change? I feel very good about it. So, you know, it will be a different kind of campaign. It will probably be a nasty campaign. Both candidates have pretty high negatives. But I feel pretty good about Donald Trump being - getting elected in November.</s>BALDWIN: Dan, you former colleague, Mr. Plouffe, you know - you know where I'm going with this, his quote, to paraphrase, you know, Democrats should not start popping bottles of champagne just yet. I mean how would you assess Mr. Trump as a challenger?</s>PFEIFFER: Right. Look, I agree with David Plouffe that Democrats should not take Donald Trump lightly. All the people who said Donald Trump couldn't win the primary are the same ones saying he can't win the general. So I don't know why we would listen to them. But, there are some very - for any Republican, Hillary Clinton or any Democrat has some very serious structural demographic and electoral damages. To win - for A Republican to win, they have to dramatically improve their position with non-white voters and flip a lot of states. Not just a couple of states, a lot of states that Obama won in 2012. And many of these states have gone Democratic in, you know, three, four, five of the last elections. And so it can happen. I think Hillary Clinton would go into this as a very strong favorite. Donald Trump's negatives among Latino voters in particular create a particular barrier to his victory. But if Democrats take this lightly, we could lose.</s>BALDWIN: The, you know, I said this a second ago, that both of these candidates are loved and loathed. And their unfavorables are very, very high. People love them or they love to hate them, Dan. How would Hillary Clinton, starting with her, how would she overcome that?</s>PFEIFFER: Well, I think this is going to become largely a campaign about motivating people's bases of support. I think that's how Trump would run. That's how Hillary will run. I expect both of their numbers, but particularly Hillary's, to potentially improve over the coming months because there's some portion of Democratic voters who are now giving Hillary Clinton an unfavorable rating because they're very passionate Sanders supporters. And when the choice is not Bernie Sanders versus Hillary Clinton, but Hillary Clinton versus Donald Trump, I think her numbers will improve. I think that will happen some on the Republican side as well. It's a question of how - of how much the party is willing to unify around Donald Trump.</s>BALDWIN: If, looking ahead to let's say November, Barry, with a potential Trump/Clinton matchup, do you think we will see a record turnout or a record low turnout?</s>BENNETT: I bet we have a record turnout. I bet a lot of people - we're seeing on the Republican and Democratic primaries right now huge turnouts. I mean we're seeing people vote that, you know, aren't on the rolls because they haven't voted in the last four elections. So, you know, I think it's good for the democratic process. I also agree that, you know, right now what's fueling their high negatives largely is their primary opponents. You know, I was not a big fan of John McCain in the primary and I said, never McCain, I'll never vote for that guy, and I gave him a check and I voted for him and that's going to happen. That just naturally happens. So those negatives will come down significantly.</s>BALDWIN: Barry Bennett, Dan Pfeiffer, thank you both very much. Coming up next, Judge Merrick Garland, President Obama's choice as the nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, he will be making the rounds on Capitol Hill today, but will he actually meet with any Republican lawmakers? Stay with me.