Inslee Enters 2020 Race; Sanders and Biden Lead in Polls.
HARLOW: Just this morning, Washington state governor Jay Inslee is jumping into the 2020 race for the White House. He is the 13th official Democratic candidate, but the first governor to get in this race. He's also the first who intends to make climate change and fighting it the center of his campaign. And he is up against some serious Washington heft. A new poll out of New Hampshire shows Senator Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden, who, by the way, has not even announced he's running yet, leading the field of candidates. Joining me now is CNN political commentator Symone Sanders, of course, who was previously press secretary for Bernie Sanders' 2016 run. That yellow looks marvelous on you, let me just say, this morning Symone. It does.</s>SYMONE SANDERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thank you, Poppy. Just trying to bring a little sunshine, OK. It's dreary here in Washington,</s>D.C. HARLOW: Look, I love that on a -- on a snowy Friday. Thank you for being here, Symone. Look, I mean, you know, it's important. Climate change is so important. But you know where it falls on American's lists of priorities of things they care about, of things they vote on. And so I'm interested in what your read is on -- on Governor Inslee making that his -- his platform.</s>SANDERS: Look, I think Governor Inslee is trying -- is getting into the race and he's trying to distinguish himself. I like to remind folks that the Democratic presidential primary is all about your delegate path. And because, on the Democratic side of the aisle, we have what's called proportional representation, meaning Bernie Sanders could win Iowa and Kirsten Gillibrand could come in third or fourth and she could still get a substantial number of delegates. And so this is all about who can get to the magic number. In 2016, it was 2,000 -- I think it was 2,383. That was the number of delegates you needed to win the Democratic nomination. And so I think what Governor Inslee is doing is, he wants to be somebody who was on the voters' minds. And when you think about climate change, he wants you to think about him. Now, he will have to have other platforms.</s>HARLOW: Right.</s>SANDERS: And so while climate change is his -- is his stable platform, he has to have a criminal justice platform. What is he going to do about the economy, so on and so forth. Health care. What is his message to black women? So I think we'll see that. And, you know, perhaps he'll be able to stand out on the debate stage. We'll find out in June.</s>HARLOW: Yes. Yes. Right. You've got to make the debate stage, but, yes, indeed. Symone, look at this -- look at this poll out of New Hampshire. You've got your former candidate in 2016, Bernie Sanders, topping it out there at 26 percent. Joe Biden, former vice president, who hasn't even announced a run, 22 percent. We checked, after that, coming in third is Kamala Harris, Senator Kamala Harris at 10 percent. You know, I feel like, from the outside, Senator Sanders benefitted a lot last time around, even though he didn't get the nomination, by being the underdog for so long and sort of being underestimated. He didn't have to face as much oppo research, et cetera. Now he's leading the pack. Does that bring with it a host of new challenges?</s>SANDERS: It does. And, I mean, you have to run differently. If I am advising a 2020 candidate, which I am not at this time, and my person was polling at the bottom of the pack in New Hampshire right now or at the bottom of the pack in South Carolina, I'd be OK. We don't want to peak to early because the earlier you peak, you open yourself up for criticism and to be a target. I mean lots of people view Kamala Harris as a frontrunner right now and she's getting a lots of what the young people would call smoke, Poppy. Lots of people are digging deep into her record and pulling things out. So, look, I think what you see right now in that polling is literally about name recognition, though. That's why Vice President Joe Biden is polling so high, Bernie Sanders is polling so high. The voters know them. And from what they know, they seem to like them in New Hampshire. Those polls will look -- could look drastically different come December 2019 and definitely January 2020. And so --</s>HARLOW: You mean --</s>SANDERS: Yes, I mean --</s>HARLOW: I was just going to say, you mean you can win the presidency even if the polls don't look like you can?</s>SANDERS: Even if the polls don't look like you can. Shocker.</s>HARLOW: What do you make of this brouhaha some are upset about former Vice President Joe Biden calling current Vice President Mike Pence decent?</s>SANDERS: Well, those wouldn't be the words I would use to describe current Vice President Mike Pence. Look, I think what folks need to understand about Vice President Joe Biden is that he is -- he has built himself as a consensus builder.</s>HARLOW: Yes.</s>SANDERS: He has worked across the aisle. A number of these folks -- he speaks so highly of Mike Pence because he served with him. He knew Mike Pence. So I don't know if that will play well with this new, young crop of potential voters who are looking for a Democratic nominee that's not necessarily willing to hug the current folks that occupy the White House.</s>HARLOW: Yes. One thing --</s>SANDERS: It remains to be seen.</s>HARLOW: Yes.</s>SANDERS: We don't know.</s>HARLOW: One thing finally, very quickly, that really interests me is that Senator Sanders has not said that he's just running for one term, for example, and Vice President Joe Biden, if he gets in, I don't know if he's going to do that. But I just wonder if you think that that would actually be an advantage for one of them to say -- you know, age obviously a consideration, but also, I'm just going to run for one term to govern, not to run again.</s>SANDERS: I don't think we'll hear Vice President Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders say that for multiple reasons, but I think namely of which is that they both really want to be president, I think. If Joe Biden gets into the race, he gets into the race because he wants to be president of the United States. Bernie Sanders is running because he wants to be president of the United States. Concurrently, I think, Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, they all want to be president. Governor Inslee. So if -- again, if I was advising somebody, we're not saying we're getting in just to be a one and done. I'm getting in because I think I can be the best -- my candidate can be the best -- the best choice out there and we want to be president and we want to be president for as long as legally allowed possible. So, two terms</s>HARLOW: All right. Symone Sanders, thanks for bringing the sunshine this morning. Good to have you.</s>SANDERS: Thank you.</s>HARLOW: New reports that President Trump dismissed the objections of senior intelligence officials, his senior staff and ordered his son- in-law, Jared Kushner, to be given top secret security clearance. Now some members of Congress want answers and documents. They're threatening a subpoena.