Sanders Plans To Win Over Superdelegates
CABRERA: New this morning, Bernie Sanders holding a rally later today in New Jersey and although it looks extremely unlikely, he'll get enough delegates to win the Democratic nomination, in fact, he can't do it with just pledged delegates. He'd have to have some of those superdelegates flip to get there. Sanders still says he's planning to keep on fighting until the end. But he's also not ruling out the possibility of being Hillary Clinton's running mate. Let's take a listen to what he told our Wolf Blitzer.</s>BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, right now we are focused on the next five weeks of winning the Democratic nomination. If that does not happen, we're going to fight as hard as we can on the floor of the Democratic convention to make sure that we have a progressive platform that the American people will support and then after that, certainly Secretary Clinton and I can sit down and talk and see where we go from there.</s>CABRERA: All right, let's bring in Democratic strategist and Bernie Sanders supporter, Nomiki Konst. Also with us is a Hillary Clinton supporter, A. Scott Bolden. Nomiki, I want to start with you. First, reaction to what we just heard from Senator Sanders.</s>NOMIKI KONST, BERNIE SANDERS SUPPORTER: I think Senator Sanders is absolutely correct. The Democratic Party has a primary process that is a set of rules that we've had for the past 35 years really. One big rule is that both candidates, both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, have to reach a 2,383 pledged delegate mark. That's really to encourage the primary system, to make it go through all the states. Really, the insurance policy for the Democratic Party was this superdelegate system and that was built for elected officials, who wanted to have more weight in the party. But one superdelegate does equal 10,000 votes and it really wasn't designed so that you have those superdelegates pledged a year in advance like Hillary Clinton did. So I think he wants to carry this out to the convention not just to show that he still has a chance because the rules are the rules, but also to show the Democratic Party that it is time -- and really try to reform the Democratic Party process, to highlight some of these things that I think a lot of Democrats aren't aware of. Whether it is the fact that we stacked primaries, put conservative primaries towards the beginning to encourage establishment candidates, or the fact that we have closed primaries and semi-open primaries, or blocking out independents in a lot of races when 43 percent of the country is independent right now. I think this is all going to be talked about at the convention. It is going to be fought over through the superdelegate system. But more importantly with the superdelegate system, I understand having elected. But party leaders, lobbyists, dignitaries, those people don't have an obligation to voters --</s>CABRERA: Let me get Scott into the conversation because I think everybody can agree that there has been criticism about the election process on both sides, both Republicans and Democrats. I don't think anybody is necessarily disputing some of the perhaps fallacies in the system. But let's talk about where we are at because right now the rules are what they are. On the Republican side, this past week big, big changes, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, they both dropped out. So that essentially leaves Trump, last man standing. He's now able to attack Democrats. But, on the Democratic side, it's still a battle within the party. Why is Sanders staying in the race and how is that impacting the party, do you think?</s>A. SCOTT BOLDEN, HILLARY CLINTON SUPPORTER: Well, I think Nomiki is absolutely right. His progressive agenda has got to be on the table. They can do that behind closed doors. They don't need to have a public fight right now. They can do it on the convention floor if they want. But the target and the winning prize is the presidency and the target is Donald Trump and the Republican Party. I think you'll see if Bernie Sanders stays in -- he clearly is going to stay in -- then you're going to see both Hillary and Bernie turn their sights on Trump, one. But, two, there will be no personal attacks. And, three, I think the Bernie Sanders folks are going to try to bring Hillary closer to the progressive side on certain issues and her people are going to negotiate to try to stay in the center. Because the statistics show or the polls show that both Bernie and Hillary, if they get to the -- one of them gets to the general election and it is probably going to be Hillary -- they both trounce Trump. And so that's the Democrats' best shot here.</s>CABRERA: Nomiki, what do you say to those people who believe it is possible that if Sanders stays in the race as he plans to do, it could lead to a much deeper divide in the Democratic Party that would ultimately hurt Democrats in the general election?</s>KONST: I think that those people are really not understanding the history of the Democratic Party. We have a long history of very competitive primaries and this has been a pretty peaceful primary. Bernie Sanders has been very respectful. Really what they need to look is the numbers. This isn't about Bernie Sanders. The Democratic Party I think has been a little blind to the fact that 80 percent of the party is under the age of 50, is supportive of Bernie Sanders. What does that mean for the party? The party is 70 percent more progressive than it used to be. The number one issue concerning Democrats today other than the economy is transparency in politics and campaign finance. These are all issues that I think in the last 25 to 30 years since the party has become much more corporatist they've lost touch with. Part of that is just the design, the way the party works. So I think that if Democrats are concerned about him dividing the party, they really need to look at the reports, studies after each election. The past five elections we've done these diagnostic reports that show that we have these splits already. But I don't know why the establishment has been blind to them. I'm concerned over that as a Democrat and I am especially concerned over that for my generation of Democrats who really don't seem to have a place in the party. And for once Bernie Sanders is not only bringing in a new generation but bringing independents because we are losing 10 percent of Democrats a year.</s>CABRERA: A. Scott, let me bring you into that because the truth of the matter is Sanders is the candidate we've seen on the Democratic side that is igniting a passionate following that is drawing thousands to his events. So let's say he doesn't win the Democratic nomination, which is more likely than not. Maybe he doesn't become Hillary Clinton's running mate. What does Hillary Clinton need to do and the party need to do to motivate those Sanders supporters to still turn out and vote for Clinton?</s>BOLDEN: They've got to figure out a way to make them turn out and vote in droves for Hillary Clinton as the Democratic nominee. Absolutely. Nomiki is right again about these younger voters want transparency in government who are showing up in throngs in hundreds of thousands at these rallies and stuff, the Clinton campaign has to figure out a way to reach them to effectively use Bernie --</s>CABRERA: What do they need to do? What do you think is the answer in order to do that?</s>BOLDEN: I think, one, she's got to embrace Bernie Sanders and they've got to stand together and they've got to do that outreach together. That's the first thing. Second of all, she's going to probably have to negotiate some of the more progressive items on her agenda to make them part of the Democratic platform. Then not only talk the talk, but also walk the walk, because that is the future of the party and Bernie Sanders has tapped in to something not anger, if you will, but agitation, if you will, that these young voters who are Democrat, whose parents were probably Democrats, they want more from this party. While the establishment is still winning, Hillary Clinton is going to get more delegates and going to be the nominee, you have to address that issue not for now, but for the future of the party.</s>CABRERA: All right, we have to let there. A. Scott Bolden, Nomiki Konst, thanks to both of you for joining us at this early hour on Saturday. We appreciate it.</s>BLACKWELL: Look at these flames. There are fears that this massive wildfire in Canada could double in size by tonight. Ahead on NEW DAY, a look at the destruction it is causing and the rush to escape these flames. Also ahead, this man, a federal law enforcement officer, will have his picture up in a moment, accused in several deadly shootings. He's finally taken down. We'll tell you exactly how.