And good evening from Detroit. We're round two. The CNN Democratic debates is almost here. I'm Anderson Cooper.
Thanks for joining us. And I'm Erin Burnett. And here we are, in Detroit. And the spirit of hometown hero Joe Lewis.
There is a heavyweight here tonight, as well as a lot of challengers who are ready to go. They have landed punches on him the last time they met. So the question tonight for Democrats is which Joe Biden will show up. The one that senators Kamala Harris and Cory Booker knocked around the debate stage in Miami.
Or the one who made his bones under pressure so many times before that. That is, of course, the big question and just one of many things people learned tonight on that debate stage. We also will see how Senator Harris defends her new health care plan just rolling out this week. And we'll also find out whether Vice President Biden's message, his message of moderation still resonates, especially after last night.
Progressives Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders dominated proceedings last night. Biden, after all, of course, is burning the polls, the overwhelming front runner when you look at those polls both against fellow Democrats. And when you look at the one on one against President Trump, even after his performance last time. But a second shaky debate appearance could change that.
So it is no overstatement to say that the stakes tonight are very, very high as we count down to the crucial debate and what will be another pivotal night tonight, Anderson. Yeah, certainly Aaron so much to watch for. I'm here right now with Biden supporter and his guest tonight, Atlanta Mayor, he's your Lance Bottoms. Mayor Bottoms, thanks so much for being with us.
David Axelrod framed the important for the Vice President tonight. He said the big question he has to resolve is if he's up to this thing, if he's vigorous, and if he is engaged. That was the knock on him really in the last debate. Is he going to do that tonight?
I think he will definitely do that tonight. Immediately after the last debate, we saw the Joe Biden that we know. We saw Joe Biden push back hard. I think what happened during the first debate is it caught him by surprise.
He's a statesman. So he didn't expect a friend to attack him. That being said, he came back stronger. He's been strong.
And it's the Joe that we know. And I think the more he speaks about his policies and not focus on the attacks, I think the more he will continue to resonate with voters. How much do you expect him to try to focus on President Trump, which is in his address in his video coming into the race, announcing his determination to run? It really was focused on President Trump and what he believes President Trump has done to the country and how Joe Biden wants to change that.
Trump is the enemy. It won't be the other people standing on the stage. This is about winning in 2020. And we've talked about the circular firing squad.
Got to be very careful that we don't kill each other off in the same way that we sent Hillary Clinton into the election in November of 2016, limping. She was damaged. So I hope that that will not happen tonight. I think we can talk about policies.
I think that we can be strong and be forceful without tearing each other down and doing the party and the country harm. But certainly, as you know, for some of these folks, this is their last night on this debate stage. Some of them are not going to make it to the next debate. And a lot of those people are going to do whatever they can to get to that next debate stage.
And if that means going after the perceived front runner, they're going to do it. Understand, but you have to remember Joe Biden's been a presidential candidate before. And so for anyone who's hoping to be president, it doesn't end here tonight, if that's your destiny. I think that it's important that we consider the future of this country, the future of this world.
We need the strongest candidate that we have to go up against Donald Trump, a candidate who can take Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, even Georgia and North Carolina. Let me play that moment that you talked about with Kamala Harris from the last debate for our viewers. Let's just watch. It was hurtful.
To hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country. And it was not only that, but you also worked with them to oppose busing. And there was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools. And she was bused to school every day.
And that little girl was me. This is a mischaracterization of my position across the board. I did not praise racist. That is not true.
The busing, I never, you would have been able to go to school the same exact way, because it was a local decision made by your city council. I did not oppose busing in America. What I opposed is busing ordered by the Department of Education. That's what I opposed.
And obviously, when I went on from there, you said that he was surprised that he didn't expect somebody considered a friend to do this. In the world of politics, obviously, there's friendships, and then there's politics. And running for president is the most intense thing there is. I guess the criticism of one of the criticisms of Vice President Biden, and that is if he wasn't prepared for what was probably a pretty predictable line of attack from Kamala Harris, how could he be prepared to deal with Donald Trump on the stage?
Even as we just watched that clip, that's a moment. It's a very small moment, a very short period of time. I wouldn't judge someone on a 30-second exchange. That was a great debate.
Kamala Harris is a great debater. But we're not looking for a great debater. We're looking for someone who can beat Donald Trump in November of 2020. And that's Joe Biden.
Yeah, Bob, so I appreciate it. I'd like to watch for tonight. Thank you very much. Thank you for having me.
Always good to talk to you. We're going to take obviously a lot to look for over the next two hours. Let's go back to Aaron right now. All right, and we are going to be here with our panel in just a couple of moments as we are getting ready to watch for this crucial debate.
And what will be coming in just a moment? We'll be right back. And the debate venue is filling up right here in Detroit. Anticipation is building for the second CNN Democratic debate.
Now, just before the break, you heard Anderson speak to a supporter of Vice President Biden. And look, the reality of it is when you're the front runner, all eyes are on you and you've got a big target on your back. Here to talk about what we might see and what to watch for. Jess McIntosh, former director of communications outreach for the Clinton campaign.
Also, Van Jones, former special advisor to President Obama, and host of CNN Van Jones Show. Van and Jess are political commentators. And also, you see political analyst USA Today, columnist Kirsten Powers, along with me. And two former Democratic governors who have been on these states before.
We have more than ever ran on this country. I'm a call of the state of Virginia. OK, so thanks to all of you. So look, we were here last night getting ready for what was a pretty amazing night.
And now here we are Joe Biden. There is a lot on the line for Joe Biden tonight. Yeah, I mean, it's a very big night for him, because in the first debate, he had a lackluster debate. And I think everybody's waiting to see if he's going to be able to come back and be a little stronger.
And I think that probably the expectation is that the attacks are going to be coming at him just as hard, if not harder, than they were coming at him last time. We can expect Kamala Harris to go after him. Again, Cory Booker has been making it clear that he's planning on going after him. And I think one of the things last night that was very lackluster was the case being made by the moderate lane.
And I think for Biden, he needs to be able to make a better argument tonight to basically say, we can do this in a way that is going to excite the base. And versus last night, what we were hearing a lot from the moderates was we can't be too bold because we're going to scare people. And so I think it's a lot of some Biden to really make that case tonight. That is a really hard case to make.
That is a really hard case to make. He's going to have to be like Neo and from the Matrix. He's got to have every bullet coming from every single person. So listen, I mean, it's all on the line for Joe Biden tonight.
Part of the thing I think that he has to wrestle with is that he's fighting off two opponents at the same time. He's trying to deal with the Trump phenomenon. He's trying to deal with this rising tide of hatred. He wants to have the banner against that.
But he's got a movement to his left that says, listen, the way to take that on is to be bold, to be aggressive. So now he's in the middle. Now in his day, being the- And he is arriving as we are sitting right now, but there he is with Joe Biden. Welcome.
Welcome to the territory, don't. Anyway, but in his day, being in the middle, you were triangulating. So you were being very, very wise. You're taking the best in the middle.
That was because the strength in both parties was in the center. The strength in both parties now is in the wings. And so he's got a very strong left wing. He's got to deal with the right wing movement.
How he deals with that tonight is going to be defining, not just for him, but for this party. And his team is being more aggressive, right? You just heard the mayor of Atlanta also, you know, being preparing- Oh, Kamala Harris is a good debater, as Kirsten's pointing out, you know, preparing the stage for others to be strong. Sitting expectations, Joe Brand is arriving literally that they are all coming in as we're speaking.
Just but Joe Biden's team is saying others on stage will not stick to the facts tonight, and he is prepared for flat out lies. Those are aggressive words before they even start. Yeah, it sounds like they're, like, they're, they know what's on the line, they know they need to do this. Joe Biden has not had an easy run period, aside from his last debate.
And I think there are a number of Democrats who are genuinely concerned that this idea that he is the front runner-runner safe choice. And it was a wonderful vice president for our favorite President Barack Obama. But before that, he was a guy who had run for president twice and lost. And since he announced this time, he has had to weather a series of gaps of his own making from his treatment of women that I think he said about segregationists, that he didn't call me boy, that he talks to 10-year-old girls on the trail, it has just been one thing after another.
So this idea that like this is the safe choice makes a lot of us really nervous, and I want him to come out today and reassure me that he's okay. All right, so he doesn't have any room for air, Governor Granholm, and I know in the last debate you were helping prepare him, you were, I mean, but does the pressure get to him? Okay, first of all, I think he does have some room for air for humanity. I mean, he's like way ahead in the polls, right?
But you're right that this is a fundamental moment for him. And I think he gets it. I haven't talked to the team because of course I work here at CNN and it didn't want there to be any conflicts, but I can, I just know that he gets it, that he saw what happened before, that he's coming in, as Jabin Jo, and that he is not going to allow anybody to misrepresent, but he's also got this moment where he's got to take us to the higher ground, that whole notion of he's fighting for the soul of America, that is a really important thing in an era where Trump is so divisive. Andrew Yang is arriving, and obviously he has a passionate face, he's got 10 on the stage, Governor McAuliffe tonight, but obviously a lot of eyes are going to be on.
The specific conversation right between Joe Biden, Hamil Harris, Cory Booker, race is going to be central tonight. Sure, it's going to be central as it was in the last debate. He's got to be able to deal with this issue, he's got to put it to bed, and there's a reason why today he's leading the African American community all over the country, very strong support. He has to show tonight, he has to show that support up.
Listen, he's kind of this debate as the front runner, he's leading in the polls. He also today is the one who can be Trump the easiest, he can't lose that mantle, and he knows it. So he's got to have a strong debate performance tonight. The last was not a strong performance, they said, well, if he can't handle these candidates, he can handle a little butter bean in the power of 2020.
He's got old Trump on the stage. That's a heavyweight match, he's got a show. He's got a show, he can take old Trump on, he can beat him. But listen, he's got a different healthcare plan than we heard about last night.
So does Kamala Harris. Tonight's the time they got to talk about and say, well, maybe Medicare for all, isn't the right way to go. This is the best way to go. He has to show that.
So look, healthcare's going to come out, he's made it clear. He wants to talk about healthcare and call out Kamala Harris, how are you going to pay for it? They're going to be sparks there. But on the issue of race, you have a lot of African American voters, yeah, they are loyal to him.
But does he have something to prove? I don't know. They are not the kind of black voters that are black voters. They are the black people that Joe Biden, they understand some of the decisions that were made in the 90s where they like them or not, they have a context for them.
But you've got a new generation of black voters. All they know is the chaos and destruction of mass incarceration. All they know is that white kids do drugs on college campuses, and don't even get to go to the principal's office, and black kids go to prison and it's wrong. And they lay at the feet of the Clintons and the Bidens and that whole generation, and they put a Biden right in the middle of that.
And when you dig up those old speeches, and you dig up those old votes, it's hard for those young voters to be forgiving. So he's got to come forward. Fortunately, his criminal justice plan going forward is very good. actually probably better on paper than commas or cori's but he's got to be able to say this i did some good things i did some bad things are under the consequences and he's got a pivot to what obama did and what he wants to do next if he gets stuck trying to defend that horrible 1994 criminal justice bill he is going to lose support of young black voters next right all right and i is crucial uh...
and uh... anderson but i forget about it being on here with uh... some of our own have you seen in senior political analyst tax files host the former top of the president of the xerot's in a senior political report in the mally kennerson also seen as a political analyst lawyer borger and seen in political director david chalanda xerot um... after not calling me but after the first uh...
after the first uh... debate you said that you feel like what's really prepared for the attacks yes i mean he's got to know now there's going to be more attacks not only with his positioning but his position in the race if he's not prepared tonight is this it major well i think that's funny but major oh yeah i know i think he's going to be around through the certainly through the early primaries and and he's expected to win the talk at the i will talk as expected to win uh... the new hamster primary but i think there'll be a lot of anxiety if he has a second-bad performance you know he is in part the front runner because he's viewed as the least risky choice to take on donald trump if he has two bad performances he becomes a much riskier choice and much more vulnerable you know i i i think that's right you know i do think you know i've been talking afternoon voters over the last couple of days and in particular today going into this there is this reservoir of goodwill that they have to want to and some of it is baked in in the sense that there i'm not necessarily think that they are expecting him to be an a plus a debater tonight they know that he's older they're sort of fine with that so you know i i think even if he gets sort of a see that some of that was that support among African voters of those older voters who are moderate see him as the less risky choice see him as somebody who's experienced i think that they're still going to be fine with his his his basic support my evidence is really really solid i'm just surprised by it as i talk to African-Americans i mean they almost sound like the same person giving the reasons why they are continuing to support you yeah you're kind of arguing that is uh... the clinton heads all that support among African voters early on that's right i mean and i mean and the difference was when obama was able to show that he was strong like well flying is going to take it from everybody's time he's going to get hommie from the new yorkers he's going to get incoming from torrey uh booker he's going to get incoming from kamala harris maybe she's um and i think that you know the challenge for brian is david is saying it's not only to take it but he also has to turn it around to donald trump and say where are you criticizing me there's that guy in the white house where we talk about my policies on busing what about the guy in the white house and i was told that he was very surprised and personally hurt by kamala harris's attack on him on busing and that that kind of shook him up a little bit and maybe for the rest of the debate he didn't do so well so i think now he needs to be prepared now when you're vice president people don't generally come in and attack you to your face yeah but if you are if you're shook up by kamala harris in one attack right are you are you then capable of going to toe with donald trump well not just on a debate stage but for the duration exactly i mean that that's uh to david's point why today is so important for joebide i think every democrat tuning in that watch that first debate and saw a lacklustre performance uh in addition to wanting a substantive debate here and listening to kamala harris they want to see joebitons performance does he have the fortitude does he have the ability to go the distance which oh by the moment that gets pierced even with base african-american support if that notion gets pierced the rationale for his candidacy against the problem but i'm sure he has the ability to do it um we just need to see it and that's what i think a lot of democrats are looking for you know one of the things with biden is uh that he doesn't have a really highly calibrated dial so he he can hang around at one and two as he did in the last debate and he can do nine and ten where he's blasting people back but sometimes he doesn't land in the middle and you can over torque yourself in this you don't want to be you know he doesn't want to get pumped by any of the candidates but he also doesn't want to over shoot because i think what gloria said is so important uh at the end of the day he wants to look big he wants to look like the front runner like the commanding figure in the race and also above not just policies but also kind of vision at which you know exactly what some of the other character is unifying figure yeah stick around we uh things are about to start hearing in the hall it's gonna start happening on stage we're gonna bring you some of that also the national press secretary for a couple of harris's campaign is going to join us by the anticipation building around harris's matchup versus joe biden and others tonight and it is going to be a very exciting night here in detroit center couple of harris has just come into the hall she arrives having clearly vested the former vice president in the first debate latest national ball from krenipiac university shows biden bouncing back and erasing some of harris's post-debate surge right there you see the numbers by the 34 percent warren 15 harris right underneath that join me now with the national uh which will happen join me now as national press secretary for the harris campaign in sam's thanks so much for being with us thanks for having us so you've been in town for a couple days what are you anticipating tonight what is the the mindset going into this yeah there's a lot of candidates uh and i think you know we saw last night a lot more engagement in this debate um so it's probably gonna be a robust lively discussion and i think that our challenge i think any candidates challenges how you gonna break through that to the american people and one of the things that kamal is gonna do is she's gonna say the issues that are keeping you up at night i talk about it i have plans that actually address those too often things get drawn into ideological kerfuffles or the theoretical sort of debates and iologues but if you're american family right now you're worried about getting by each month you're worrying about paying your health care bills you're worrying if your kid might get shot in school tomorrow from a mass shooter and she's got direct plans they're gonna speak to each of those things i'm trying to cut through the noise and get that out is the goal one of the things i thought she did quite masterfully in the last day was cut through literally the noise at times when people were yelling over each other she had a great line that not only got the whole audience behind her but also stopped all the kerfuffle um but she also seemed to pick her moments of whether it was attacked against somebody else or in one case um even if she didn't speak the most she used her time well uh how much do you expect this to be some sort of round two of her and to buy it look she's a courtroom prosecutor so she knows how to make a case and so she can get up and use her time to effectively communicate her point that's just one of her real strengths and it's gonna be one of her real strengths against Donald Trump in a general election but in a race like this look you can't be afraid to draw contrast with other candidates because ultimately it is a choice among the candidates on stage of who is gonna be the democratic nominee and you can't shy away from that but you also have to be focused on getting your message across to people and that's one of the things Joe Biden uh seemed uh or you know word has spread that Joe Biden was was personally hurt by the surprise by it um has there been any conversation can you say between the vice president and Kamala Harris since then?
I don't think so I mean I think they'll see each other for a few minutes on stage tonight and they'll get to hang out while you do the festivities that are opening up he says what she did was a mischaracterization do you expect him to kind of bring it up and redubate that moment? I guess it'll be up to him I mean look I think that it was on him to prepare for the debate and this is not a surprising issue I mean he had spoken fondly of segregation as a citizen fundraiser two weeks before that he dominated the news and he wrote about this buzzing issue in his memoir I mean this has been something that has been a real part of his record and legacy for his entire career so it's a sense of surprise just a little bit on uh one of the criticisms Kamala Harris has been that she's been uh imprecise on her uh her insurance plan on her health care plan she raised her hand it seemed to indicate at one point that she was willing to get rid of private insurance uh she said the same thing at another event she's now released her health care plan it's essentially medicare for all but keeping private insurance like the current Medicare system in fact there was an expert who wrote the Washington Post that said honestly of all the plans this is the most like actual medicare for all medicare is in as you know right now two-thirds of seniors are in the public medicare program and a third of seniors are in the medicare advantage program which is administered by private insurers what kamala is saying in this plan is what i'm gonna set some new really tough rules of the road for private insurance you can't keep milking people out of money but we're not gonna proactively abolish private insurers for trying to compete within that as far as your concern is the you know the warring sander is talking about eliminating private insurance from more than a hundred million americans is that political suicide from the democratic party i mean they're gonna have to answer for their plans what kamala did over the last six months was listen to voters who had real concerns about some of these issues within medicare for all and took those concerns to experts like happening civilians who wrote the affordable care act and other experts in the democratic party and i think thanks and said how can we make medicare for all better and we think we've done that uh in sam's appreciate it thank you very much i love that a lot to watch for we're gonna take on the party's growing ideological by when we return which faction may win that battle next and more candidates are arriving here at the debate site in detroit new york mayor build a blazio made his entrance just a moment ago and the audience is settling in events on stage are about to get underway and of course you're gonna see them all uh all of it right here we're gonna let you hear all of those speeches with this big night here in detroit as the fight goes on for truly the soul of the democratic party last night moderates did not hold back on the two most progressive candidates of course was with warren bernie sanders on the stage you are playing in the donald trump's hands they say immigration system needs a sane leader i think if we're gonna force americans to make these radical changes they're not gonna go along but we don't have to go around and be the party of subtraction and telling half the country who has private health insurance that their health insurance is illegal let's be clear about this we are the democrats we are not about trying to take away healthcare from anyone that is a disaster at the at the ballibaji might as well fed x the election to donald trump you can't just bring a plan on the world expect it to succeed so the question which is just one of many that we will see tonight is who will win the win widening ideological war in in the party and governor what is what it is right there is this you know that people that believe in it being moderate is not thinking small it's thinking practically and let's get it done and make changes and those who say no you got to go big i mean you saw the moderates going after the progressive one standard but these labels errand i really do i mean here you've got every single candidate on the democratic stage who wants health care for all they have different ways of getting there but every single one of them every single one of them has a climate plan that is more robust than anything we have ever seen trillions of dollars being investment every single one of them has one i don't know if everyone but almost everyone right now has a criminal justice plan that remedies a lot of what has been alienate i think you know i'm glad that this is a primary right now because i do think that this question about how big how far etc you go but the bottom line is that the democrats are united in in the end it's just that how they get there that is that is causing division which gets to the point about about the the end of beating donald trump so we can get there and i understand that point you're making but yet when you're looking at health care there's a big difference between a 34 trillion dollar bill and a 10 trillion dollar bill over 10 years yeah listen i really appreciate you keeping that context i think it's important context i think a lot of people want us to keep that context as democrats but we are in a primary and those differences matter and you know we had common harris you know finally come out with a plan she has been fish tailing on it's such an important issue we can't figure out are you on the moderate side the progressive side you're trying to split the difference and there is a danger common harris has the opportunity tonight if she knocks joe biden office petal so for once and for all she might become the leading quote unquote moderate in this race the question is though that will she have the confidence of people that she's got the conviction of not just a calculation in other words it's taken her so long to get her legs under her on such an important issue some people start to ask the question is this all calculation is their conviction and that's a bigger difference than left versus right i think i'm going to say that's a big versus totally because they must be your issue i agree with you that so kerson when i'm curious though is when you look at kon leheras last time obviously she did land a devastating blow against joe biden you saw in the polls temporarily she searched right she went up to 20 he fell from 30 to 22 but now here we are and he's by far the leader again 34 percent and she's cut her her numbers almost in half now again it's one poll but still what accounts for that well i think when you have a real sudden rise it's not as sustainable i don't think you know you are going to usually have an over correction people get very excited about you in the moment but it's not necessarily something you know slow and steady i think probably like what you're saying with elizabeth warren is a little more reliable i think that you know i think the reason people responded to what she said what she did wasn't just about what she was saying it was how she did it and how she knocked him kind of off center and so it wasn't just that people were liking her they were looking at him and saying oh i don't know about that because how's that gonna work when it's donald trump throwing the punches and that is one thing that people are really thinking about i think it also the moment gave us a glimpse into her personally and her her story how she grew up what she went through which we don't get a lot from kamala because she is so poised and so polished i think it's important to remember that people are not electing a health care plan most americans are not reading the fine point and the prime print and deciding which kind of proposal they want the best they're looking for a leader who they trust on this issue we at this country right now we don't even agree that health care is a right so the fact that we have all of these candidates on this age trying to get us there those values that people are going to relate to way more than the fine but when you say governor mccollough and i know not saying you all agree but when you say this about you know finding it's a person that you believe in right and what their point of view is is it enough to have the person that you don't believe in be donald trump no so you're going to vote for whomever or does jul bai need to excite people oh i don't care who they're not me as they have to excite people donald trump is going to drive a lot of turn out because people are just disgusted and everything he's done in the time he took office but on the other hand you got to leave and that's why i keep saying these debates it's very important for these candidates and i thought anerson's interview with eon was very instructive where kamala wants to go tonight to talk to americans about it specifically what she wants to do on issues and she needs to do that tonight i think it's important we learned last night i'll be interesting tonight so everybody's i think bai's going to be the punching bag they tried to do it last night to warn into sanders it didn't help the folks who actually tried to do it and warn was able to reflect it why big vision happy warrior we can get these things out here and that is what joe bai he is a glass half folk that's what he has to share tonight all right we hit pause there and a lot more coming up right after this we'll be back at the second night of the detroit democratic debate right here we'll hold for those candidates trying to break through tonight and welcome back now from detroit's what a city it is for the second round of the democratic debates we are here it is time for america the beautiful sung tonight by the flint citywide choir and multi-granny winning jazz singer dd bridge water flint citywide to sing america the beautiful together with grommy and tony award winning artist dd bridge water who is raised in flint michigan beautiful rendition of america the beautiful that was the flint citywide choir and multi-granny winning jazz singer dd bridge water we are getting closer to the start of tonight's debate there is so much anticipation here the big question how hard will joe biden go after the rivals who are trying to knock him out of first place how hard will he go after president trump and everybody else on stage what strategies will they try to execute tonight we're right coming right back from Detroit with more hi mvongoria and i'm setting out to really experience france to savor is world celebrated cuisine and explore the country's rich history evil angoria searching for france now streaming on the cnn app influential journalist kara swisher is taking a hard look at the longevity industry there's so much bad information that really good information gets drowned the new cnn original series kara swisher wants to live forever now streaming on the cnn