if you don't have plans. tune in with us. that does it for us. "mpt daily" with chuck todd starts right now. ♪ welcome to friday. it is "meet the press daily." good evening. i'm chuck todd here in washington. coronavirus cases continues the rise. stocks continue to fall. mixed messages from health experts and public officials about who to trust or get reliable information are fueling a growing sense of unease and uncertainty about the actual extent of the threat posed we this virus. some public health officials warned it's gone to be bad and we may be unprepared. others including the president suggest the fear's totally overblown. he accused a news organization of doing, quote, everything they can to instill fear in people. and the president's acting chief of staff today claimed that you can't trust some of what you're

hearing tan hearing about the virus in the press because it's an election-year conspiracy. >> the reason you see so much attention to it today is that they think that this is what brings down the president. i got a note today from a reporter saying what do you do today to calm the markets? what i might do is tell people to turn the televisions off for 24 hours. >> so, gaslighting obviously is one strategy that they're using there. mix of fear and mistrust left the public feeling spooked. markets fell again capping the worst week since the 2008 financial crisis. the stocks fallen faster since the president took charge of this on wednesday evening. the world health organization is upping the risk assessment to very high at a global level. health officials work on a vaccine which is still likely months or perhaps more than an away. a whistle-blower complaint combined with reports of scarce access to accurate diagnostic

testing an insufficient resources to handle a widespread outbreak are raising concerns of whether the administration is taking the threat seriously enough and raising questions of coordinating with state and local government. the trump administration attempting to control the messaging. they're reportedly vetting the information through the vice president's office. so we may be actually withholding information. sort of an odd strategy. we begin tonight with a couple of experts, not politicians to try to help us wrap our arms around this threat. joining me now from "the washington post" health reporter lena sun who broke the story of a whistle-blower and dr. paul benninger of massachusetts general hospital epa director for disaster medicine. lena, where are we right now with what we know from the federal government? it feels like just getting some

simple facts about our threat level, the number of cases we have here, the expectation that it will hit here on a bigger scale, what facts do we know? >> we know that there aren't that many cases in the united states. and we know that the cases we have here, the cdc has a website that they have been posting and updating monday, wednesday and friday. there are 60 cases and 42 of them i think about 42 of them are from the "diamond princess" cruise ship and you know those passengers were on a ship sort of like a petrie dish and a higher risk of exposure to the virus. then separately, there are 15 confirmed cases. awe but three of them are from -- in people who had traveled to china or had contact with a confirmed case. so compared to other countries, south korea, japan, italy, the number of our cases is

relatively low but what we have been hearing increasingly over several weeks is that cdc officials have been trying to prepare us and the public that these cases will increase over time because you start seeing the surges in other conditions outside china. and we are more prepared now than we were doing ebola in 2014 and also the world is much more interconnected so one airplane flight can bring someone from an infected region to the united states. >> right. >> and so they have said and we should be preparing for more cases here in the u.s. >> doctor, i want to play something that the president said last night and essentially get you to tell -- to tell us how accurate it is. here's what he said. >> we have done an incredible job. we're going to continue. it's going to disappear. one day it is like a miracle. it will disappear and from our shores we have, you know, it could get worse before it gets better. could maybe go away. we'll see what happens. nobody really knows.

>> does nobody really know, doctor? or, you know, that's been part of the frustration. what is the likely scenario here? >> well, i certainly understand that it's frustrating for everybody that we really can't predict with 100% certainty what's going to happen. this is a completely new virus and we are in a completely different situation. really than we ever have been before in the world. global travel as was just mentioned is very different than we saw a decade ago. but what we do know is that this is a significant new virus. it's absolutely caused a large amount of illness. in many, many countries. and some death. and one of the hardest things with a new emerging infection is to try and plan appropriately for what we might face and yet try and also reassure our health care workers and the public that we are doing our very, very best to respond. the phrase hope for the best and plan for the worst is frequently

used. >> dr. biddinger, you probably had interactions with cdc and nih these days. do you have everything you need? if we do have a big outbreak here, do we have the ability, do we have enough places to quarantine people or what's this going to look like if we have a major outbreak? >> so again, recognizing how hard it is to predict, that is serious potential public health threat and seen large number of cases and current modeling suggests that cases will continue to expand and that we'll see illness in most of the parts of the world. now, there are reassuring statistics. more than 80% of people have mild illness and 98% of people live with coronavirus with the data that we have. however, other data show that this is a pretty infectious

virus an a large number of people may become infected so even if only, say, 10% or fewer people hospitalization, that ou population get infected. hospitals are pretty full. we run pretty full and if the numbers are big that's where we will have challenges in the emergency departments and hospitals. >> lena, i want to go back to the whistle-blower complaint you reported on yesterday. what can we glean from how the government is preparing for this? do you sense as a complaint is -- shows that this is just an hhs sort of caught not sure what to do and they're scrambling? or, is this even more alarming like we don't have protocols in place? >> i think that it's not clear. there's not been a lot of radical transparency about this case and seems there was a fair amount of confusion about why

these people were sent. they were not trained for this kind of emergency and they certainly didn't get a lot of training to deal with this and they once even they were on the base they saw that other people were gowned up and part of it is i think the federal government is siloed and report to an agency, unit. other teams reported to other parts of the federal government and cdc medical teams all there, some of them had all the gear and there was also a gear available so it's not clear to me why these workers were sent to do this job when the federal government has a unit in hhs the sole job to prepare for these kinds of emergencies. >> so we just don't know why they didn't send that unit? >> well, that unit was involved, too. that's the assistant secretary for preparedness and response and supposed to oversee and

coordinate in -- when there's an emergency. this unit that was sent is administration for children and families. they help after natural disasters and help people apply for social services. they're not supposed to be taking care of people potentially sick which is what they were -- a position they were put in this time. >> dr. biddinger, what more do we feel like we need to learn from china on all this? do you feel like we have the information? do you feel like you have the information you need out of the experiences that chinese health officials have had so far? >> well, i think the good news is that chinese health officials have had an unprecedented level of transparency compared to the sars outbreak in 2003 but no. i think we are always eager to learn more about how this virus causes illness and really how it plays out in society. but i think we have learned some extroomly important points. we have learned that the chinese health care system overwhelmed with patients both with mild and severe illness and lessons there

for how we need to be messaging to the public now that in the case that we see sustained transmission in the united states patients with mild illness shouldn't come to the health care system and threatens to overwhelm -- >> what's mild? >> people who might not have covid -- fever, cough, chills, so feeling badly and not shortness of pain or chest pain and dizziness. that's the message to get out when to seek care and when not and preserve the hospital beds, preserve the emergency department capables for those who really need it because the other important lesson of china is that perhaps 5% of people have critical illness and perhaps as many as 2% of people do die. >> yeah. lena, how concerned are public health officials that the misinformation is out of control here? >> well, how can i say this? the cdc has been putting out information as they get it.

for example, when they initially put out guidance it was sort of for testing was people who had traveled to china or had been in contact with somebody who was sick or, you know, had showed symptoms and watching the evidence they have now broadened that so people who have traveled returned from italy and iran, japan and south korea, these other countries, they have changed it based on the evidence. there are politicians who are saying that this is going to go away in april. it is going to be a miracle. i mean, it is not being -- that's not based on science and when you have mixed messaging like that it is not great for public health because people need confidence in what your government is telling you and if the government is telling you radically different things and not based on science then people are not going to trust you. >> in fact, doctor, i'd like you to -- this was part of an episode that we -- this morning on "the new york times" podcast noting how the spanish flu

essentially went dormant in the summer and came roaring back in the fall. what is the concern level of something like that with this coronavirus? >> so, previous pandemics of influenza had waves where they have come once or twice and saw that in 2009 with h1n1. each outbreak is different and this is not influenza so in the category of hope for the best and prepare for the worst we don't have science that says that this will go away with a seasonality. we do have science that suggests that it will take a wave to go through the population and perhaps affect 30% of people or so before the first wave is over. >> 30%? out of 2% death rate is a lot of people, doctor. >> so this is where the numbers are so hard. >> yeah. >> when you apply it to population it is very scary. it's -- you know, when people sitting at home and concerned, we try to help them remember 98% survival rg more than 80% mild

ill ps but that's why this is a serious public health threat. >> all right. thank you both. thank you both for keeping politics out of this, as well. we stuck to facts here. up ahead, stock markets taking a nosedive over coronavirus fears as the president looks to make the economy the centerpiece of his re-election effort. cnbc's jim cramer to break it down for us. a cramer segment. later, the super tuesday countdown. the shape of the 2020 race could be transformed in just a matter of hours. we'll talk with some experts and the super tuesday state that is matter most. at fidelity, we'll help you build a clear plan for retirement. one that covers health care costs, taxes, and any other uncertainties. because when you're with fidelity, a partner who makes sure every step is clear, there's nothing to stop you from moving forward. a partner who makes sure every step is clear, officially hitting the us.virus man: the markets are plunging for a second straight day. vo: health experts warn the us is underprepared.

managing a crisis is what mike bloomberg does. in the aftermath of 9-11, he steadied and rebuilt america's largest city. oversaw emergency response to natural disasters. upgraded hospital preparedness to manage health crises. and he's funding cutting edge research to contain epidemics. tested. ready. mike: i'm mike bloomberg and i approve this message.

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it's the unknown. you know? they look at it an they say, how long will this last? i think that they're not happy with the democrat candidates. i think that has an impact. we think we are going to win and win easily but you never know.

it's an election. i don't think that's helping but i think that basically it's the unknown a little bit. >> welcome back. that was president trump moments ago responding to a question of the stock market plunge this year and trying to share some blame with the democrats on this one because of rising coronavirus fears. it is the worst week for stocks since the 2008 financial crisis falling more than 10% despite the efforts by the administration to calm the anxieties. here to make sense of it all is jim cramer. good to see you, brother. >> i miss you. how you been? >> i've been good. i missed you. sorry it takes a 12% drop in the market to talk. >> that's all right. >> let me ask you this. the market accelerated the sell-off after the president took control of this coronavirus. is this the markets basically not buying into the government response? >> well, i think the problem is that it's a biological crisis. it is not a financial crisis an there's certain people that we have all come to respect because

of the great history and the person that wall street responds is dr. fauci. he was the man who pretty much ended aids and he works for the cdc. probably the most respected epidemiologist in the world. so give him the ball, chuck. use the analogy. right? this is the guy who should have the ball. taking the ball from him we think what kind of ground game are you running here, mr. president? you have the best guy in the country. >> jim, let me ask you this. because i have had this theory. you know the markets better than me. wednesday night the president said, on our point man tony fauci, here he is in the white coat and doing the shows on thursday morning, my show sunday, is the market up or down today? >> market rallied substantially from the bottom. nasdaq. but there is a sense that there was a critical error made by the administration which is that they had the single best guy.

look. when you have jonas salk working for our country, what a gift. what a treasure. let's bring him back. >> yes. all right. let me ask you this other part because i had another stock analyst say this to me that it's been easy to do this sell-off for some people because of the how much money made in december and early january. the big run-up and a sense of, you know what? 2020's a nutty year. there's going to be a lot of freakouts. maybe i ought to go to something to get 3% and see you in 2021. how much of that is now happening in the market? >> i wish i could find that 3%. look. i do think that the market was up. last week we had was one of the craziest positive weeks i have ever seen. pure froth. like a cappuccino skim wet from starbucks. this much froth. that had to be taken out an going after all the other

stocks. they went after the staples today. went after the things you buy at the supermarket. the market is unstable. i don't know what's going to happen next week. if a leader gets sick, if someone recognizable is sick, will go back down and what we want is to figure out what a biological crisis is. chuck, we have never seen one. it is easier to do a financial crisis. >> especially one with our -- with the supply chains the way -- i mean, we have never been this globally connected. >> that's the big issue. see? what the president has to worry about with a supply chain and just broken all over the place, you get a slowdown. when you have a slowdown there's not business formation, loan growth. when you get interest rates where they are, what that says is listen recession will happen. i'm not a believer in the recession. i am a believer that things will work out. maybe i am too larry kudlow like. i general withinly believe to get through this and the supply

chain will cause a worldwide slowdown and slower than now and what i worry about. >> our friend larry never had a bad time to buy. we know that. god love him. >> he's a friend. >> i know. god love him. always a good time to buy with larry. do we have the tools? we have a massive deficit. a massive debt. low interest rates. do we have -- we just did a massive tax cut. do we have any stimulus left to actually help the economy if indeed this thing does crater us? >> let's say they made me treasury secretary tomorrow, you would do a $500 billion 10-year to 30-year bonds, three traumplgs. i would run this for them. i could do this deal, place it very easily. the chinese still have trillion dollars worth of bonds and not selling. i could place this. it will be a make, i don't want to make america great.

let's get a little neutral. putt people to work because we have -- not that we don't have low unemployment but 500 billion at this low interest rate would be -- not the play! the guy hamlet would be really, really happy. ever read his stuff? >> yes, sir. read it a lot actually. a lot during the impeachment. >> dynamite. the federalist papers. dynamite read. do 500 billion. i'd like to do it and mutual. not democrat or republican. i would quit my job to sell that 500 billion in bonds. you know why? i could sell them in five minutes. >> well, what you are saying is that's the only stimulus left. >> yes! >> that's what you are really telling us. not many tools in the toolbox. >> what will you do? >> as always, if you're the emergency i'm glad it's you and not me. >> absolutely. >> thank you. >> thank you. up ahead, is the president playing politics with the

outbreak? accusing the democrats and the'd yeah for exaggerating the threat. hi guys. this is the chevy silverado, with the world's first invisible trailer. invisible trailer? and it's not the trailer right next to us? this guy? you don't believe me? hop in. good lookin' pickup, i will say that. oh wow. silverado offers an optional technology package with up to 15 different views - including one enhanced view that makes your trailer appear invisible. wow. - that's pretty sweet. - that's cool. oooohh! that's awesome. where'd the trailer go? i love it. it's magic. [happy ♪irthday music] ♪ don't get mad, put those years to work with e*trade. if you have moderate to severe psoriasis, little things can become your big moment. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not a cream.

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welcome back. as we said earlier the white house sending mixed messages of severity of the coronavirus and accusing the media of stoking fears of the threat. here's mick mulvaney at the annual gathering of conservative activists known as cpac.

>> we took extraordinary steps. why didn't you hear about it? what was still going on four or five weeks ago? impeachment. and that's all the press wanted to talk about. so that while real news was happening and we were dealing with it in a way that i think you folks would be extraordinarily proud of and serving the nation extraordinarily well -- [ applause ] the press was covering their hopes of the day because they thought it would bring down the president. the reason you're -- seeing so much attention to it today is that they think that this brings down the president. >> for more, i'm joined by anne guerin doug, pete seat and indiana native. visiting scholar these days from indiana. >> i like this. >> there you go. ann, look. i know it's the go-to political move. when in doubt, create -- there's no evidence of what they're pointing to. the only people saying crazy

stuff in the media about this apparently is mick mulvaney and sean hannity. they're complaining of something that doesn't exist. it is the very definition of gaslighting. >> i think it's a big question of who the sbeintended audience. if the president and top aides are trying to calm market fears and reassure americans that there is not a global pandemic at their doorstep and that americans are generally taking the right precautions, the virus is not spreading hand to hand in the united states, at least not widely, if that's the goal i don't really get why attacking democrats and the media for covering the crisis is the go-to move. this was done at cpac so i think this is a -- >> it's obvious what they're doing and yet it seems to -- i think it undermines their goals here.

that's what i don't get. >> wesh shouldn't have as a goa to reassure americans. it doesn't matter how many times you blame democrats and the media. it is going to rest on the president's doorstep an they know that. >> pete, i just -- you're not in this day-to-day. respond to what cramer said. tony fauci, it never made sense to me. put him out there and make him the spokesperson for this and the markets are calm. >> i'm grateful i'm not in this every day. thank god. but i think the administration sent a strong signal actually in choosing mike pence to lead this effort. >> indiana defender here? >> of course. who better than the second in command? and someone who understands the apparatus of government from the federal level to the state level to the local level. this is a whole of government effort. he is not going to suit up in scrubs and ask you where it hurts. his job is to coordinate the effort. he is already appointed himself

a public health expert to be part of this and you mentioned being from indiana. alex azar, jerome adams, mike pence. all hoosiers, all have worked together. they already have great relationships and i think they're gong to get the job done. >> you are a hoosier optimist there. i get that. >> i wonder if mike pence approved mick mulvaney comments today. he is spoked to be in charge of the messaging around the coronavirus. and i just wonder if he approved those comments which are totally irresponsible. >> firmly tongue in cheek? >> totally irresponsible. the problem with mike pence is he is viewed by the overwhelming population as a partisan and someone who comes from indiana and who doesn't believe in science. talked about how tobacco didn't cause cancer and what they should have done is put someone forward who had credibility, a nonpartisan figure that democrats and republicans could respect that the markets could look at and say, okay, they have this under control and went in a

different direction. now it's causing them a lot of problems. >> the white house would say to that, well, obama put in ron clain. >> right? >> considered a partisan. he was an operative. >> had a lot of executive management experience and czar of this, that and the other thing beforehand and on the democratic side always as a partisan. but i think you're on to something in that the -- if the goal here is to project calm and we have someone in charge who can run this top down, yeah, i mean, the vice president of the united states is certainly high up the food chain and can project that image. but he comes at a cost because of his own background on what he believes on science and what he doesn't. and the idea -- and the widespread view that he'll do whatever the president tells him to do and won't do anything the president doesn't want him to do. >> i'm curious. let's play hannity from last night because this also seems to

be -- well the president on one hand taking it seriously appointing pence and retweets these comments. take a listen. >> i can report the sky is absolutely falling. we are all doomed. the end is near. the apocalypse is imminent and you are going to die. all of you in the next 48 hours and it is all president trump's fault. or, at least that's what the media mob and the democratic extreme radical socialist party would like you to think. >> poor america. deal with it smartly. instead of giving in to panic and partisanship, perhaps thank the good lord that we live in the most well equipped country in the world to weather these challenges. >> what i'm trying to figure out is what the political fear here that the right is like -- clearly some bizarre fear that either he is not going to handle this well and so they need a ready-made explanation. just feels like overcompensating. what are you -- you're literally make -- because these criticisms

don't exist they're talking about. >> the environment we live in, panic can take hold quickly. i agree with laura ingram. the administration is taking responsible steps for weeks now to address the situation. they put in place -- >> the president's words undermine this? >> different audiences. anne's point. a public audience at the briefing room audience and a twitter audience. >> may be a moment where you can't -- is this a moment to split the screen? >> i think a problem that trump and his team has is that they aren't comfortable talking to anyone but their base. you know? they've spent the last four years motivating, talking to their base and i don't think they can reach out beyond it and i don't know if they know how to reach out beyond it and it's a small 40%, 45% of the country. what about the rest of the country? going after democrats, going

after the media, works at cpac and the base but for the rest of the country want tampa bay o bed that you have the plan. >> this back and forth blaming the media doesn't calm the markets. >> not at all. >> makes it worse. >> i don't know what's in the president's head necessarily but it suggests to me that he is very, very concerned himself because, you know, he obviously has ridden the stock market rise ignoring a lot of good advice over the last three years not to stake his presidency on it. right? >> live by the dow. die by the dow. >> it is a great talking point for him. see if he says it tonight in south carolina. the usual line of regular joes are brill yaniant, financial geniuses. >> obama way back machine if

obama holding political ray wills, what do you think hannity would have said? >> probably wouldn't enjoy this. >> not a good look for the president today to do a rally. >> sean hannity's job is politics. >> i know -- well, whatever it is it is becoming less credible what he is doing all the time by doing it this way. he has only his own words. >> after 8:00 is entertainment. right? >> you said it. >> we mpay attention but there' an element of entertainment behinld it. >> it does like the conspiracy theory of rod rosenstein's sister -- >> yeah. chuck, your researcher cans go back and look at what i'm sure sean hannity and laura ingram saying around ebola. >> the chief panic officer was donald trump. >> donald trump on twitter. everything. overblown. going after obama. you know? >> one person die from ebola? how many? less than a handful goff it in

this country. >> i think in terms of consistency, you know, there is something to say for the hypocrisy there and goes back to this is a message that for whatever reason they're trying to direct just to their base and they don't care about the rest of the country. >> so all right. we do have some news out of the white house and want to bring in hallie jackson because the president announced an appointment and putting an asterisk on it. congressman john radcliffe. we saw him a lot in the impeachment process. this is now the second time he's going to be a nominee of national intelligence. and we got hallie jackson here. my question is, is this a real nomination? or, is this a nomination in order to extend ric grenell as an acting far longer period of time because by law they had to nominate somebody if they wanted grenell's acting abilities to extend i believe beyond march 11th?

>> reporter: i don't know that congressman radcliffe is one to pick for that to do that strategically only given that the congressman even back first nominated for this position back in august ended up withdrawing in part based on the reporting at the time because there were some concerns on his part about the bruising confirmation battle that was to come. the president obviously likes john radcliffe for his position and wants him. the president said publicly and the sources told us privately ric grenell is not a super long-term player in that role but i do think it's important to put it in context here. this is the second nomination, a renomination for john rat cliff. at the time he was nominated over the summer in early august and there was a lot of consternation of the part of republicans on capitol hill who were looking at radcliffe and what they perceived as lack of qualifications and experience for the position, reporting in the media of things he said and

done, that gave apparently our reporting at the time and colleagues on the intelligence and other teams at nbc gave radcliffe some pause of continuing to move forward and the president made a comment. he said something like i put the names out in the media and you vet them for me and paraphrasing. >> i remember this. >> reporter: the president pulled the nomination. congressman radcliffe put out a statement acknowledging to withdraw from the position and here we are. what changed, chuck, in the last months here? look at it. that may have been part of it. that's him during the impeachment hearings coming to the cameras talking reporters almost every day. he was a vocal supporter of president trump's, not just during the house piece of it but particularly on the senate side. coming to talk delivering the message. >> why do we think he has the vote? the reason i'm skeptical this is more about -- by law they needed a nominee here to continue -- >> reporter: that's right,

correct. >> to have an acting. he didn't appear to have enough votes before. >> reporter: you are right. i don't know -- that's a great question, chuck. i think that's something that we have to report out here because i cannot see that there's been much that's changed from the confirmation battle piece of this between august and now. right? i don't know that it's at all crystal clear that he has the votes to be confirmed here. remember what mitch mcconnell said when the congressman radcliffe named for this role. very tepid response from mcconnell saying, yes, i understand he's been nominated and waiting to see his qualifications. far from full throated support for congressman radcliffe. listen. i'm speculating here, chuck. i don't like to do that but i suggest that perhaps, i don't know, maybe there's a sense that the president, you know, has shored up partisan support of republicans on this front and imagine that some of the -- after the impeachment battle, some of the republicans who are very focused on national

security, focused on the issue will look at the resume of john radcliffe and say i don't know that we're totally comfortable with this. >> i just -- i will let you go and do more reporting. john radcliffe on the ballot on tuesday. he is supposed to be running for re-election. is he going to quit this seat? is he going to renounce the nomination? this is why the timing of this to me is sort of intriguing and worth digging into more there. hallie with the breaking news. i love it. >> reporter: i would note, too, the hill team reached out to the congressman's office. we have feelers out from all of the nbc news folks to dig on this. >> you got it. hallie jackson out w the breaking news out of the white house. anne, also a "the washington post" reporter. but again i'm trying to throw -- he is on the ballot. texas primary. you know? i'm sure if there were a primary

opponent or people that wanted that seat going you did what? this is going to -- >> we thought that was over. >> something, something about to have a nominee to keep the ability to have an acting. >> right. i mean, there have been some speculation that they might name another -- you know, just fill in somebody who they didn't think could be confirmed or quickly. but to kind of do the redo on radcliffe is puzzling to me, too. my myself have to go do some reporting but grenell said he didn't expect to stay very long. and that, you know, they would put a nominee in and then it would probably -- for as long as that process took. >> right. >> then grenell remains as the acting. so say that process starts rolling on the 12th. right? >> couple months. >> exactly. >> pete, it does show the president felt like he had to withdraw it before. now -- eh. good luck, guys. go for it, senators.

shows his confidence levels these days. >> it is an intriguing choice but an unsurprising choice. radcliffe's name not only nominated before but the name floating around several weeks now looking for a new dni and i look forward to hallie's reporting. >> right. again, i go back. he is on the ballot on tuesday. this was clearly not something he was preparing to do at least as of december when the filing deadline happened. >> that's true. look. this is just the white house politicizing this position. they did it with grenell and now bringing in within of his staunchest defenders during impeachment. someone who is experienced in this field is questionable. who's already failed in his first attempt to get this position. >> tell us how you really feel. >> hey, you know, look. people want confidence in the national security positions and -- >> but do you -- >> putting the people in there. >> do you get the sense now that -- i guess ask you this, p.

>> he has every right to have people that make him feel comfortable serving him. >> maybe six months he may not have gotten it. >> different ball game now. >> anne? >> yeah. i think that's probably fair assumption. >> yeah. all right. let's sneak a quick break in here. hallie, thank you. up next, we're going to go live to the three key states, three of the key states on super tuesday that i think will at least directionally give us a hint of whether this is a big bernie lead on wednesday morning or a narrow one. we'll be right back. at fidelity, we can help you build a clear plan for retirement to help cover the essentials, as well as all the things you want to do. because when you have a retirement partner who gives you clarity at every step, there's nothing to stop you from moving forward. lobster fan like wild caught lobster,

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welcome back. we are heading into the most important stretch in the democratic race so far which means it could be a defining moment for bernie sanders. first it's tomorrow's south carolina primary where joe biden hoping not just for a victory but a huge victory. and then circle the calendar because then super tuesday. obviously the big thing is more than a third of all pledged delegates up. 14 states. plus some overseas business. but the bellwether states to focus on outside of california, north carolina, texas, virginia, fairly competitive, lots of delegates and right now they look like interesting three-way races. the sanders super tuesday strength in california and a win in any of those other three and

he really would like to get a win in texas and north carolina in particular but especially with a splintered moderate vote could be huge for him and for biden arguing that he needs to run the table to keep pace with sanders and tamp down the well-funded bloomberg campaign. let's check in with three experts. evan smith, larry sabedo. evan, you have the biggest delegate haul and start first. >> yep. >> sanders seems favored and clear that bloomberg is plateaued, leaking. biden seeing life. >> right. >> can biden overtake sanders? >> yeah, i think he can. i think the race if you believe the polls and should we believe the polls? who knows. i only pay attention to the actual result, chuck, but if you believe the polls right now sapders has a slight lead. biden in second. bloomberg is hovering around where biden is, maybe below.

one of the things to say is of the 228 delegates of tuesday two thirds are going to be awarded in the 31 texas senate districts. only a third go to the statewide winner so even if sanders wins the overall vote on tuesday biden is going to do well in many of the senate districts and i think that the allocation could be pretty close. i want to see what will happen on saturday. winning by a big margin there's momentum coming into tuesday and would not call it for sanders yet. >> that's very interesting. all right. let's go to virginia, my pal larry. it is -- it is -- this is another state where there's some interesting pockets and different places. i feel like we have seen sanders type candidate run statewide and lose before in a democratic primary. should we learn from that? and believe that biden or bloomberg has a better shot

here? >> well, i think biden does. i'm not sure about bloomberg, chuck. but look. as your texas representative just said, south carolina means an awful lot and as long as biden and i understand some other major recognizable democratic leaders will be endorsing biden on sunday and monday. >> i was going to say is the terry mccullau endorsement only if he wins south carolina? >> you're allowed to site them. with me, they'll kill me if i give a name away. it could be others. >> i'm sure there's a certain

senior senator in the works. and let's go to north carolina that might be the closest of these three sanders see an opportunity to make sure if he wins one true, deep south state that north carolina is part his shot. i struggle to say north carolina is the deep south. what say you? >> i think the polls, like professor said, show a three-way race with sanders leading the polling averages with biden and bloomberg close by. but a tracking poll came out nat showed joe biden up eight points. as you all have been saying, i think it depend as lot on south carolina. if biden comes out of south carolina tomorrow with a big bump, that's going to help him in north carolina. there was a poll that shows half

the voters were not firm in their choice yet. they could switch at the last minute. >> i want to do one final whip around. tell me about a candidate not named bernie, bloomberg, or biden that might be worth watching in your state on tuesday? and which one? >> i'm interested in elizabeth warren. she has the power of the castro brothers who have been barn storming on her behalf. they're popular in parts of texas where democrats vote. she was with them in san antonio. they'd been taking a lead roll in campaigning in texas. she may not crack the top three but she will do fine, i think on that day. >> and fine could mean delegates, which means a lot. in certain senate districts, down south in particular. larry. >> chuck, look to northern virginia because there are

strong pockets of support for warren, klobuchar and for buttigieg up there. and of course they have a lot of delegates and voting power. it's not so true in the rest of the state but it is in northern virginia and they're the engine of politics and everything else in northern virginia. >> and you have that weird cross over vote that means a lot for more conservative choice in the democratic primary in 2017. >> yes, and it's pretty clear that some republican leaders are encourag encouraging some of their people to go into the primary. they've said they're encouraging people to vote for bernie sanders. that's not to say they're right that sanders will be weaker, but that's what they're saying. >> i was stunned to see amy klobuchar spent the third amount

of money in south carolina. does that mean she thinks she's going to pop there? >> i think the money does tell you something. she's been on tv lately. she'll be here in charlotte saturday night and she's been in north carolina other times this week. and so, she seems to sense something other people don't and the polls don't show. but maybe she knows something. >> that was fun. i appreciate you doing the segment in which the spirit we want it to be done. thank you. let me take a look at the latest poll numbers. there have been a slew over the last 24 hours. big lead in two new polls there. look at how one doesn't have anybody over 15 other than sanders. sanders on top double digits in that one. colorado have been a caucus state previously.

elizabeth warren, is she in danger of losing her home state? he thinks so. amy klobuchar, minnesota, holding on to a very slim lead over bernie sanders again in her home state and there were bellweather states. biden narrow lead -- it's a toss up between soonders, biden and bloomberg. finally texas sanders on top in both new polls out today. obviously a victory over a crowded field in texas. that's a pretty powerful wednesday morning story if it happens. all right, doug. i feel like yewe're in a moment where there's this narrow path for biden to emerge. i don't know if bernie is being over confident by campaigning in

minnesota or rightinally confident? >> i think he's trying to cover all his bases and he has the resources to do so, more so than any other candidate other than bloomberg. for biden, big day tomorrow. i think the polls don't matter so much. if biden has a big day, and i think there's evidence tom steyer's numbers might be soft. we saw that in nevada. he had a great debate. jim clyburn's endorsement is going to make a big difference. i don't want to -- but if he can do that, that's -- i think sends a strong message. california's been voting since iowa. i don't know what that means. >> good news for bernie sanders. you've known of mayer pete.

are you surprised he's hung in as long as he has? >> what does he have to lose? >> but are you surprised at hour well he's done? >> yeah, i actually am. he's an articulate individual. he's certainly caught fire in certain segments of the democratic party but his came pain kill likely implode in south carolina. that's one of the perils of presidential primaries. millions have been voting for weeks and if biden -- >> there has been a movement online and you're seeing very few democrats in florida have returned ballots . they're waiting to see what happens. mike bloomberg is acknowledging a problem about the debates. i want to play a quick excerpt from the ad where he's acknowledging his problem. >> in life there are talkers and

there are doers. mike bloomberg has spent his life getting things done. so, ask yourself, for president, do you want a debater or a doer? >> i guess somebody didn't do well in the debates. >> that's bloomberg saying he understands the idea of mike bloomberg was better before mike bloomberg did a lot of talking. >> you don't run that ad if the data didn't tell you to run the ad. >> and he's going back to the main idea of i get stuff done and you don't need to worry if i talk. >> as any 12-year-old in a super tuesday state will say, i can get it done. we heard he's been leaking support. >> obviously some concern here. if you look at alabama.

>> it's almost one for one. >> and in florida, you're seeing a surge by biden too. so, the more bloomberg goes down, the better helps biden. i think the best gift biden may have gotten was bloomberg's debate performance. >> what do you make of these guerilla marketing efforts? >> operation chaos, right? i think this race is one of two things. bernie sanders verses bernie sanders or bernie verses biden. and bernie verses bernie started playing with the cuba comments. and if biden does well in south carolina, it will be bernie/biden. >> that's all we have for "meet the press daily" tonight. we have special coverage ahead of super tuesday. and if it's sunday, it's "meet

the press." my guests include a former vice president, joe biden and a current vice president, mike pence. and the government response to the coronavirus on other end. good evening, ari. >> good evening, chuck. thank you very much. thanks for joining "the beat" live. we have voters gathered and they're pretty energized. now, we have been doing something we're going to do later tonight which is what is on the mind of two of these voters. it arrives at a pivotal moment in the race. biden fighting for a comeback and donald trump under new pressure with his plunging stock market as well as his handling of it.