Ingraham: Moderates need to consolidate to beat Sanders

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Ingraham: Moderates need to consolidate to beat Sanders

Joe Biden staying in the presidential race is helping Bernie Sanders.

This is a rush transcript from "The Ingraham Angle," February 11, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Our promise to you is to always seek the truth. We're always going to be fair and balanced. We'll never going to be the rage Trump media mob and let not your heart be troubled because Laura Ingraham will get the decision I'm predicting in her hour. Laura.

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: Well, you had to up to New Hampshire where I spent four years in college. You had to go up there and I get to call the race here in New York.

HANNITY: You went to Dartmouth.

INGRAHAM: It's great for me.

HANNITY: I know. You got into a lot of trouble in school for being a conservative. I know your whole story.

INGRAHAM: Just a little. Hannity, awesome coverage. We look forward to calling this with the help of Evan up in New Hampshire.

HANNITY: Have a great show.

INGRAHAM: Great job up there. I'm Laura Ingraham. This is THE INGRAHAM ANGLE from New York City tonight. It is still too close to call New Hampshire but Bernie Sanders leading by a small margin over Pete Buttigieg with Amy Klobuchar, a surprise third.

Now two contenders, Andrew Yang and Michael Bennett, they dropped out of the race tonight and will they be the only ones to drop out. We're going to unpack everything that's going on in New Hampshire throughout the hour live.

We'll have reports from the ground including from South Carolina since Joe Biden has already tucked tail and run south. Now we will also explain what these results tell us about 2020 and how Team Trump is feeling tonight.

There's also some other big news that we hope to get to you tonight for politically motivated federal prosecutors, this is an unbelievable story, quit after Bill Barr's DOJ overruled their absurd sentencing recommendation, way outside the sentencing guidelines for former Trump associate Roger Stone.

Robert Ray and Sara Carter will be here later on. The story that everyone else in the media is getting wrong, I'm going to tell you why. But first, we are awaiting a call at any moment and joining us now with all the details from Bedford, New Hampshire is Bret Baier, Fox news Chief political anchor, host of Special Report and Martha McCallum, host of The Story.

Great to see both of you. Now Bret is - well - let's say Bernie sneaks out this victory tonight. Is he happy that the second and third place finishers Buttigieg and Klobuchar seem pretty ill-equipped to seriously contend right now in Nevada and South Carolina?

BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS HOST: Yes Laura, I think that that's right. The fact we can't make the call is pretty surprising because we thought we'd be able to make this call early, considering Bernie's power here.

This is you know, 4000 votes separating first and second. Only 9000 separating first and third so we're not ready yet and the decision to ask is looking at the numbers and what's left out there but you're right as far as organization, the other two are little bit behind Bernie's momentum.

INGRAHAM: Well Martha, you were there all weekend long in New Hampshire. Bernie was up what by seven plus over the weekend in New Hampshire. Now it's less than three points. What the heck happened between Saturday and Friday and tonight?

MARTHA MACCALLUM, FOX NEWS HOST: Good question. Well, for one thing I mean Pete Buttigieg came on strong out of Iowa. Kind of surprising that he was as solid there as he was so he came in here, even as crazy and chaotic as that situation was, it definitely gave him a boost.

Everywhere we went, Pete Buttigieg was speaking, he was speaking to pretty decent size crowds, not Trump size crowds but pretty decent size crowds so he got a lot of attention. Amy Klobuchar, I think you know sort of got the authenticity vote. She really connected with the voters here.

I mean think about the fact that at the end of this evening Joe Biden, the former Vice President and Elizabeth Warren, the senator from the neighboring state, are likely to walk out of here Laura, with zero delegates.

I mean if you had told someone that you know months ago and Joe Biden was leading in pretty much every place across the country that he wouldn't get a single delegate in the state of New Hampshire, I think that is pretty shocking.

You also have to wonder what the DNC is going to do now. I mean, if Sanders continues to win, are they going to go back to having super delegates on the first round or you know, are they going to work hard to change this trajectory. We'll see.

INGRAHAM: Well, people always make fun of Iowa and New Hampshire, Bret and Martha because they say, oh, they're small states, they're not very diverse. So what do they really tell us? What happens is people get to know the candidates in Iowa and New Hampshire, especially New Hampshire and they got to know Joe Biden and they might have some personal affection for him and appreciation for his time in the Senate as Vice President but they got to know him and what they saw, they didn't like.

And that's - we're going to get to this later but this is a - this is a real 'Come to Jesus' moment for the moderates in the Democratic Party and the establishment, what they're going to do now.

BAIER: Yes.

INGRAHAM: We're going to come back to both of you.

BAIER: You know I talked to a hockey mom.

INGRAHAM: Go ahead.

BAIER: Go ahead.

INGRAHAM: No, no, no, go ahead Bret.

BAIER: I talked to a hockey mom who you know, tested everybody but she really wanted to get behind Joe Biden and she went to a rally and said he was just tired, saying old things. This was her words and she eventually went on to Pete Buttigieg.

So that was happening late in the game as far as Biden, I went to a Biden rally that would have 150 people so it wasn't materializing for him. He's going to finish fifth tonight.

INGRAHAM: Yes, well, Bret and Martha, we're going to go right back to when you have a call so we'll see you just in a few moments.

MACCALLUM: OK. Thanks.

INGRAHAM: But we now go to live to the Sanders campaign headquarters in Manchester, New Hampshire where Fox's Peter Doocy is live there with the latest. Peter, what are you hearing from the campaign? Are they concerned this closed in the final hours?

PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: It doesn't seem like there's a ton of concern from the campaign. I've seen a lot of smiles on staffers and I've seen some high fives among the Sanders staffers with each other. As for the people here, they get really excited anytime at the screen flashes that Sanders is in the lead.

But they are just trying to figure out stuff to do and tell he gets here so a lot of it is just organizing chants. We just heard a chant right before you came to us of green new deal, green new deal. Right before that they were chanting, healthcare is a right and the feel of the house where we are has really filled in with Sanders' supporters.

We understand that there were several hundred people waiting outside here on the campus of southern New Hampshire University, trying to get in and the fire marshal would not let them. There are some lingering outside still just in case something changes or some people leave but it doesn't seem like anybody here's going to leave until they hear from Senator Bernie Sanders and we do expect him imminently, even though there is no official call yet. Laura.

INGRAHAM: Peter, they have to come up with a rhyme for green new deal because it doesn't go anywhere after that. They just have to come up with the next line. It'll work better. I will be back here in just a few more--

DOOCY: A lot of stuff rhymes with deal.

INGRAHAM: I know but so they need the extra line. That's what I'm saying. All right, we'll be right back with you, Peter. I'm going to go now to the Buttigieg campaign headquarters, Nashua, New Hampshire where Fox's Matt Finn is standing by there.

Matt, when can we expect to hear from Mayor Pete.

MATT FINN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: So far we don't have a clear indication from the campaign but it seems like we from the energy in this room, he might speak at any moment and there are hundreds of energized supporters here.

National community college. They've been chanting some of the signature cheers, President Pete and also Boot edge edge which is become the humorous slogan to help people properly pronounced Mayor Pete's last name and you know Mayor Pete, in these final days, he crisscrossed this state.

Fox news was there at the majority of the events and his final message really became clear that he was a perfect down the middle candidate for voters here in New Hampshire, saying Bernie Sanders is too extreme and calling for a revolution and all those other competitors like Amy Klobuchar are for status quo.

Mayor Pete's campaign was also trying to hammer home that Mayor Pete has the cool calm temperament to be president. Basically trying to paint him at the opposite of President Trump and more like President Obama after Michael J. Fox even campaigned here and introduced Pete Buttigieg at one point and Michael J. Fox says that Mayor Pete reminded him of Obama.

Actor Kevin Costner also campaigning here over the weekend and into today with Mayor Pete. We expect to see Mayor Pete in this room, a very energized crowd here tonight in New Hampshire. Laura.

INGRAHAM: All right, Matt, thanks. You got some star power there. Now if Sanders does hold on to his lead tonight and he probably will, as I said to Bret and Martha, this is a 'Come to Jesus' moment for the Democrats.

Now at this point, with Biden below ten points, his staying in the race past tonight is doing one thing. It's helping Bernie Sanders. So the Democrats think about this, they created this monster of radicalism by tolerating for a long time now, this anti-free market, anti-business, anti- law enforcement, anti-borders and some people think anti-American strain in some quarters of their party.

Now the chickens are coming home to roost. Schumer, Pelosi and frankly Obama, should they call up Joe Biden at this point and say Joe, we love you but it's over. Thanks for your service but your time is done and if you stay in and keep fighting through South Carolina, you're just hurting the moderate vote.

Now this reminds me a lot of 2016. How so? Remember, Jeb Bush got stopped in Iowa and New Hampshire. He was the classic establishment candidate. He had all the money, about $150 million.

Then he went down to South Carolina. He even brought his brother George W, former two-term President in and he still couldn't win. And just like Biden is now, Jeb was the establishment. Had tons of money but once he started getting into trouble, what happened?

He began attacking not Donald Trump so much but Marco Rubio, the only other threat among the then establishment candidates. So for you moderates, there will either be Bloomberg, Mayor Pete or Klobuchar, you need to pick one at this point.

It's not going to be Biden. If you want to beat Sanders, you sure don't want to go into Super Tuesday with say, just doing this stuff at the top of our head here. Let's say Bernie has 25. Bloomberg has 20. Klobuchar has something around 20. Mayor Pete has 15 to 17.

You have to form a coalition now not that you'll take my advice but I think the moderate should coalesce behind one person. Now if I had to pick someone who would perhaps have appeal beyond just New England and a few college town, it would be Amy Klobuchar.

At least she's a senator and she doesn't have the Wall Street baggage that is toxic to the AOC plus 3 crowd of course, that Michael Bloomberg does have. Now four years ago, Kasich, Rubio and Jeb, they all stuck around way too long and it ended up helping Donald Trump.

Kasich and Cruz, remember, they tried to form a temporary pact. Do you guys remember this? To beat Trump. I remember it really well. Cruz even picked his running mate early. I couldn't remember who it was. It was Carly Fiorina.

None of this worked. The Trump juggernaut passed out South Carolina, kept rolling along then it was too late. The same will happen with Bernie. He'll become the juggernaut. The new anti-establishment juggernaut of the Democrat party.

But what if it's Bloomberg and Bernie after Super Tuesday? Do you really think that you're going to convince the base, energetic for real change to choose Bloomy over Bernie at that point? Good luck with that. Not going to happen.

Remember by the middle of March or maybe even a little bit earlier, this is all going to be over. People think this is going to drag on brokered convention. It's never going to happen. The experts who pick a brokered convention, I laugh at them every time. It's never going to happen. No way.

They're not going to go into Milwaukee to try to deprive Bernie of the nomination if he has more delegates. There'll be a complete revolt in the party. If they're going to beat Bernie Sanders who's been a phenomenal retail politician, they need to stand united tonight behind one moderate candidate before Super Tuesday at the very least.

Maybe they can wait till tomorrow morning. Now if they don't do that, the left wing populist Bernie will win the nomination. Joe Biden took another primary beating in New Hampshire here tonight, of course there tonight but he wasn't there to see it.

He cut and run for South Carolina before the results came in. He saw the writing on the wall. Fox news Ari Fleischer, Shane Biden with an example from 20 years ago. George W. Bush learned in the early afternoon of New Hampshire on primary day that he was getting his clock cleaned by John McCain. He stayed over election night so we could thank those who gave their all on his behalf. Ouch.

Well joining me now Matt Schlapp, Chairman of the American conservative Union. Chris Hahn, former aide to senator Chuck Schumer, host of Aggressive Progressive podcast. Also with me is Steve Cortes, Spokesman for America First Pac.

Matt, your thoughts.

MATT SCHLAPP, CHAIRMAN, AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE UNION: Yes, I agree with much of what you said in THE ANGLE. I think that they are going to do - Bernie owns the party. I just spent all day in New Hampshire. He owns the party. He's got the activists.

Mayor Pete definitely has the momentum but the DC Democrats are scared to death.

INGRAHAM: Oh, they're doubting tonight. They are freaking out about this tonight.

SCHLAPP: Right. They will change any rule. Superdelegates, whatever they need to, they are pressing the panic button. When you have all the Hillary Clinton advisers like James Carville coming out and saying emergency, emergency.

What happens next is every rule can be changed to stop Bernie and I talked to a Bernie Sanders supporter today in New Hampshire. She didn't vote for Donald Trump last time. She said I'll be damned if I let them do that to my candidate again.

I will not support this party if they screw Bernie Sanders from his rightful delegates.

INGRAHAM: Chris, when you add up and it kind of an interesting thing to do. You add up the percentages among the moderates tonight versus the progressives. The progressives have the momentum but the moderates have the - have the larger percentage.

SCHLAPP: Right.

INGRAHAM: Or the larger blocks of the electorate in New Hampshire. Does that then play to this idea that if you want to nominate a moderate, if you really think that's the best chance to beat Trump, you better - you better get these people to start dropping out.

CHRIS HAHN, FORMER AIDE TO SEN. SCHUMER: So normally when I hear your ANGLE, I'm like cursing at it and trying to figure out how to pick it apart. You said most of what you said, I agree with it, politically right, strategy right but here's the thing. The Republicans picked a disruptor that nobody thought could win four years ago and then he won.

Maybe the Democrats are looking to pick a disruptor this year, I don't think the party's going to line up to stop Bernie. I do think you're right. They need to consolidate behind one person if they're going to do that. Maybe that person's Pete. Maybe it's Klobuchar. Maybe it's Bloomberg.

We don't know. But I think that this is going to play out and I think it's going to play out very soon and Biden, you know if there's a poll out today or tomorrow or two days that shows him in third or fourth place in South Carolina, it's over.

He shouldn't embarrass himself.

INGRAHAM: Does Obama go - if the party says, look, you need to - you need to - we need your guidance. We need you to come in and we need you to have a conversation with Biden or maybe you know, Biden and you know Buttigieg, get behind--

Would he do that or does he think you know something, I gave you guys eight years.

HAHN: Yes.

INGRAHAM: You still haven't gotten your act together. I've given you eight years. I'm going to stay at Netflix all my life.

HAHN: I think it's very hard for President Obama to call Joe Biden and say, get out of the race because he's been in these situations where people were telling to him to get out and then he eventually won the race.

So Biden's got to make the decision for Biden. His campaign team, they'll make that decision together.

INGRAHAM: But you are remembered in history, are you not Steve. You're either remember as someone who saw the writing on the wall and went out gracefully and helped your party's cause or you're someone who stayed on the sidelines or you're someone who stayed in the race too long and then you just faded away.

I mean no one's talking about Carly Fiorina today. Nobody's talking about you know, any of these people. Jeb Bush, God bless me is a wonderful person but he's never going to be a force in politics again.

STEVE CORTES, SPOKESMAN, AMERICA FIRST PAC: Right but to your point too about contrasting Biden with George W. Bush, who did the right thing and stayed in New Hampshire to thank his supporters. Biden showed us today by cutting and running and basically hiding from New Hampshire, that he's too cowardly quite frankly to be the Commander-in-Chief of this country you know.

I used to coach high school football or and if I were to leave in the fourth quarter, leave the game because we were winning - excuse me, because we were losing and go and hide and not address the team at the other game, I would be fired for that and I would deserve to be fired.

What he did, what Biden did to his supporters, to his donors, to his voters today in New Hampshire tells us that to him, it's all about his selfish quest, rather than the country or the party.

INGRAHAM: The party disruptors usually lose. They usually go down in flames. The last time the Democrats had a real disruptor who won was 1972 in McGovern. So think about it. It's been a long time. So it doesn't happen often.

HAHN: - changed there, right? I mean Trump--

INGRAHAM: But America still isn't there.

HAHN: To describe him as anything other than the disruptor of the Republican Party four years ago would not be accurate. He was a disruptor and he disrupted the entire political system.

INGRAHAM: My whole point Chris. My whole point Chris.

HAHN: I think America likes that to some extent.

INGRAHAM: Chris, my whole point was there was no way you're going to stop Trump after South Carolina.

HAHN: Right.

INGRAHAM: If you didn't form a coalition. I said this to - and Gingrich in 2012. They didn't listen to me. Romney ended up coming getting the nomination. They had more support, the two of them then Romney did. They didn't listen. They were like we're going to fight it out and it drives me crazy when they think they all can win.

They're not going to win. They'll never be - but they are going to hurt their causes.

HAHN: Right.

INGRAHAM: Their ideology's, their philosophy's chance of winning.

SCHLAPP: But it's about issues Laura, so why it why was the McGovern not successful in 1972 because his positions were way outside men's - basically the general election voter. Trump on the other hand, was actually connecting to voters unlike the Republican Party had had not done.

INGRAHAM: The establishment had failed them.

SCHLAPP: And immigration and fighting China and getting the government out of our lives and religious freedom and don't beat up on nuns. This was popular.

INGRAHAM: Just in the past 24 hours in the media have started fawning over Bernie Sanders.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VAN JONES, CNN HOST: Bernie Sanders is a phenomenon.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He very could well be the Democratic Front runner for the nomination so I think that's huge.

DAVID AXELROD, CNN HOST: I think Bernie Sanders is a phenomenal politician and he ought to get his due.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Well, the heel turn from the media is really interesting given this from a New Hampshire voter earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The reason I went for Bernie is because of MSNBC. The stark Bernie cynicism that I heard from a number of people. I watch MSNBC constantly so I heard that from a number of commentators and so that just it made me angry enough and I - so OK, Bernie's got my vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Chris, the liberal media is now chatting Bernie is the whole reason that someone voted for him.

HAHN: I don't know if I believe that. I mean I watch a lot of media. I consume a lot of media. I don't think people have been unfair to Bernie. They've called out things about him like they've done with other candidates. I think Bernie supporters are very sensitive to those criticisms more than others.

I think loo, elections are about the future, right? Bernie is talking about the future. Problem with Biden is he's talking about the past. He also made that line in the debate which I thought was a horrible line that you know, everything in the past wasn't always bad.

You don't say that. You want to move forward. You want to forget about the past.

CORTES: But Chris, to your point, I really don't think that's honest that media's been fair to Bernie. Look at what CNN did. My former network did to Bernie during the debate, right? I mean, they completely discounted his denial, his really very fervent denial that he ever told Elizabeth Warren that she couldn't be President because she's a woman.

And pivoted right to Warren and said how did it make you feel when he told you that he couldn't be--

HAHN: That was the New Hampshire reporter or whatever it was who was asking that question. I thought that was kind of out of line.

CORTES: It was a debate moderator at a CNN debate. The media has largely treated the Bernie movement like they treated the Trump movement and I think that's why in some ways while we don't have agree on anything ideologically.

HAHN: That debate moderator was a reporter for the Iowa dispatch--

INGRAHAM: Don't you want to see - hold on, don't you guys want to see, like I'm thinking of dream debates before we get to Trump versus whomever. I want to see Bloomberg debate Bernie Sanders. Now that would be a Democrat debate.

But they're both you know, I don't agree with them on most - pretty much any issue but they're both really smart people in their own right, in their own history. That's a real like the GOP establishment versus the populist conservatives.

It's the - it's the - it's the progressive socialist wing of the party versus the older pro-business, pro-China wing of the party. That would be hot and Bernie wins that then he deserves it.

HAHN: Hey, you know what? That's why we have primaries, right? That's why we have races. That's why we get out there. This is very exciting. I always get excited on election night. I've been on this network for a lot of years. I always go a little nuts on election night because I just think it's important. People are out there right now trying to take over their government, the way we do it in America.

We walk into a polling place. You vote for somebody who you believe in and you take over your government.

INGRAHAM: Yes, get out and vote.

HAHN: That's what it's all about.

INGRAHAM: OK, 32 percent Trump won South Carolina and remember at the time, everyone kept saying Trump can't get above 30 percent. Remember, they kept saying that. I kept saying, he doesn't have to get about 32 percent because these other fools are going to split the vote among the - among the other establishment candidates. Rubio, Cruz wasn't established, but it was Rubio, Kasich and Jeb.

Jeb got out of South Carolina and then a couple of - but they kept splitting the vote but Trump, 32 percent. He rolled right through Super Tuesday. That is going to happen here. Bernie might not get more 34 percent. Right? Am I right?

HAHN: If there are four people in the race and you get 30 percent, you're the winner almost every time, every single time, right? I'm not a math guy. Matt, you are. But it is - it is the way it was.

INGRAHAM: All right, Elizabeth Warren has a big decision to make tonight. If she cares about the progressive wing of her party and the chances of beating the establishment and the party, she's got to get out of the race tonight. She's not going to be the nominee. Will she make that choice, got to put your ego in the backseat. Put your philosophy in the front seat.

Gentlemen, thank you so much you and Bill Hemmer will be here in moments and tell us where and why. We're still waiting on these votes. Is there another issue going on? What's happening? Why can't we get this call?

Plus is Biden's fall an opportunity for another 2020 helpful? We just talked about him. Michael Bloomberg, already spent $350 million. Our pollster panel weighs in.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: The race is tightening between Bernie and Buttigieg. As this call is later. Going to be later than we thought at all. We thought it was going to happen maybe even two hours ago. I want to turn to Bill Hemmer, anchor of Bill Hemmer Reports at the Fox touch screen with all the latest details.

We're still waiting for the votes to come in. Bill, what is it looking like?

BILL HEMMER, FOX NEWS HOST: Yes, we are. A lot of people thought we'll make a call early and it's not the case Laura and now we're waiting to see you know, when we can make that decision, right?

We got 65 percent of the state reporting. Will show you in a moment here two significant counties that have about not quite half of the still outstanding but that's part of the reason why we can't make a call now. Really close race here. You've got about 3500 votes in separate Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg. So this is - this is tight at the moment. I'm going to show you why. OK?

New Hampshire, Vermont to the West as you know from going to school here. Massachusetts to the south and main off to the East here. This is Merrimack county here right here and this is where we find the capital city concur.

I mean just look at the vote totals here and all the other candidates aren't on the screen so I don't have a firm number or a fixed number of the total vote that's reporting but you have close to half of this county still to report numbers from the night based on the tabulations we have here.

Capital cities there I mentioned. Just south here is where we're located in Bedford, New Hampshire and I was looking at these totals as well. You know, between Bernie Sanders, Buttigieg and Klobuchar, you're on the board with about 30000 votes.

Let's say some of the others scatter another 5000 but you're still only about 50 percent of what this county can report based on a what it did four years ago, back in 2016. So again that's part of the reason we can't make a call yet.

I was looking at this is what, there are 10 counties across New Hampshire. Bernie Sanders swept them all when it was one on one with Hillary Clinton four years ago. At the moment it's 67 percent of the vote. Buttigieg is leading in four of those 10 counties.

I don't know many people, Laura, who would have made that prediction prior to the New Hampshire primary vote today but at the moment, that's where Buttigieg is and he really got a bounce based on Iowa and just for memories sake, go back a week in a day, all right, in Iowa.

Now we're starting to see this in a whole different light, Laura. 0.1 percent, unofficial tally in Iowa. Remember Sanders said he had 6000 votes more than anyone else in the field on the first alignment. Then everybody moved around in the caucus rooms and this appears to be the output from Iowa.

But this - there are one and two in Iowa and then we pop out here to New Hampshire and at this point, the night, 10:30 east coast time, they're one and two yet again. So, we'll wait till the clock runs out here, difference of 3000 votes between these two so.

Someone's going to come out with the gold. They're going to head to Nevada after that and to South Carolina at the end of the month at February but right now, too close to call and a pretty good race that I think a lot of people did not expect as of the moment.

INGRAHAM: Yes, so Bill, Bernie wins every district contiguous with Vermont, except one, right? So he wins three, one goes to Buttigieg--

HEMMER: County-wise.

INGRAHAM: Right. County wise, Buttigieg and wins a lot closer to Massachusetts and Maine. Interesting. Where is Elizabeth Warren? She's from neighboring Massachusetts and she's down 10 percent.

HEMMER: She was in Rockingham, a lot. You make a case that maybe it's the outer burbs of Boston based on the population movements over the past 20 years. She didn't show up in this county, Laura.

All right? Now she's in single digits and Joe Biden is as well. I think about that. Massachusetts senator, former Vice President of United States in single digits in a Democratic primary, it's quite a story.

INGRAHAM: Fascinating, Bill, thanks so much. We'll be back to you and former Vice President, former front runner as Bill said, Joe Biden fled New Hampshire today. That was very brave. Before a disappointing finish.

And he dropped out of South Carolina, a state that he thinks may be his firewall. But will he even make it that far? For more let's go to FOX News correspondent Jacqui Heinrich who is on the ground in Columbia, South Carolina, where the Biden campaign just wrapped an event tonight. Jacqui, you've been following the Biden camp for a while now. Do they seem upbeat after New Hampshire?

JACQUI HEINRICH, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Tonight's event was certainly upbeat. It was a packed room, and the former vice president started out by saying you have no idea how good it feels to be back in South Carolina, and no doubt it probably does feel pretty good after what looks to be happening in New Hampshire.

This was absolutely an effort to divert the focus from that and into a forward-looking moment for his campaign, but it did come as a surprise to everyone, including his supporters and even some surrogates who told FOX that, what happened in New Hampshire, bailing on his very own primary night watch party, was disappointing, a little bit discouraging, and that surrogates said that he thought voters might be a little discouraged by that too.

But the Biden campaign is really depending on South Carolina to act as a firewall. He's been touting longstanding support from the black community, saying to folks here in the crowd that you can't be the nominee without support from the black and brown communities. He reminded folks here about his eight years as President Obama's V.P. and all the things they got done. And he said Iowa and New Hampshire don't reflect the demographics of the rest of the country. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is important that Iowa and Nevada have spoken. But look, we need to hear from Nevada and South Carolina and Super Tuesday states and beyond. And look, we're moving into an especially important phase, because up until now, we haven't heard from the most committed constituents in the Democratic Party, the African- American community, and the fastest-growing segment of society, the Latino community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEINRICH: Had Biden stayed New Hampshire he might've faced questions about whether or not he was going to suspend his campaign or tough questions about whether he actually is the most electable candidate. But here in South Carolina, he gets to look forward, Laura.

INGRAHAM: All right, thanks so much, Jacqui. And joining me now, Scott Rasmussen, pollster and editor at large of Ballotpedia, Tom Bevan, cofounder, president of Real Clear Politics, and Byron York, chief political correspondent for the "Washington Examiner" and FOX News contributor.

All right, Tom, Biden keeps saying Bill Clinton lost eight of the first nine contests. But is not really a feasible path here? I was kind of joking with Jacqui, is he upbeat after New Hampshire? But this just looks like a weak sister move, going down to South Carolina when you have your people who did work hard for you, didn't panned out, but you've got to take your lumps and move on. He didn't want to do that. He just wanted to move on.

TOM BEVAN, REAL CLEAR POLITICS CO-FOUNDER: Look, I think Biden is a political dead man walking at this point. You can't finish as poorly as he did in the first two contests. South Carolina, his quote-unquote, firewall is 18 days away. It is a long, long time. He is out of money, he's going to be struggling. We are going to see his support erode in Nevada. And we are going to see it erode in South Carolina, and by the time that vote is taken, he may not even be in first place. He may not even be in the race by then. His campaign is in real trouble right now.

INGRAHAM: Scott, at what point does Joe Biden decide? This has been fun, I've run for president a bunch of times, this isn't working, I've got to give the moderates a chance to win make this thing.

SCOTT RASMUSSEN, POLLSTER: He is not going to decide that. He's going to be one of seven candidates coming out of Super Tuesday with delegates. He's going to hang onto those. People right now are already voting in California. They've voting in Texas. They've voting in Minnesota. So what is going to happen is Joe Biden is going to say, I am in this. I'm going to stay in it. And you're going to have a lot of delegates -- or a lot of candidates competing for that vote.

INGRAHAM: Byron, we've been watching a lot of presidential contests together over the years since, I don't know, 1996 or so. When you watch this play out, does it not remind you, somewhat at least, of 2016, where you had an upstart candidate -- you have winner-take-all, it changes the dynamic, I think Scott is right there, but if you're going to take out the establishment, the more moderate wing of your party, you've got to form a coalition early, because that juggernaut starts going and it's almost unstoppable. And this thing is over by mid-March at the latest.

BRYON YORK, CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, "WASHINGTON EXAMINER": There is a couple of things. Bernie Sanders' lead appears to be narrowing right now, but it is a lead. And the voters know that he won the most votes in Iowa, and if he wins here in New Hampshire tonight, he has basically won Iowa and New Hampshire. And usually that means a candidate goes on to win the nomination.

So, you're right about the coalition part. If people want to stop that, they are going to have to somehow get together. The interesting thing about the Joe Biden nosedive is he shed voters by the hour, and it does not appear that any of them went to Bernie Sanders. They went to either Amy Klobuchar or Pete Buttigieg.

INGRAHAM: But Elizabeth Warren gives her 10 percent to Bernie Sanders, where else are they going to go? They've not going to go to Bloomberg, right?

YORK: It's interesting, I went to t the Elizabeth Warren event tonight, and there was this odd moment. She comes out at 8:20, fairly early in the evening. There weren't many TVs around, which is kind of a dead giveaway for a campaign that is not really doing all that well. There's no introductory speaker. She comes out and she says, Senator Sanders and Mayor Buttigieg have had great nights, and I'm really very happy for Amy Klobuchar. And we really need to be honest with ourselves. And for a moment people started looking at each other, thinking, is she going to quit? What's going on?

And the answer is no, she did not.

(LAUGHTER)

YORK: She went on about how the party had to unify and that she was going to stay in it. But what you were saying earlier is absolutely true, you can't really have two candidates in that progressive wing and expect to win.

INGRAHAM: All right, we actually heard from Warren. We'll play a little bit from her and we've got to get back. Scott is chomping at the bit here. And Tom, I'm going to play something for you that is going to blow everybody's socks away. Let's watch Warren tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN, (D-MA) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Senator Sanders and Mayor Buttigieg are both great people. But the fight between factions in our party has taken a sharp turn in recent weeks. These harsh tactics might work if you are willing to burn down the rest of the party in order to be the last man standing. But if we are going to beat Donald Trump in November, we will need a nominee that is the broadest coalition of our party feels like they can get behind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: That is true, but Tom Bevan, where does that leave us tonight? When we have a gaggle of moderates and then you have Warren and Sanders together, the gaggle of moderates is a bigger coalition than the gaggle of the two progressives, right?

BEVAN: Yes. And this is what is interesting about Amy Klobuchar's surge. So she's going to come out of this night with his narrative that, hey, I've got momentum, and I'm in third place, we will probably see her get some lift in Nevada and maybe South Carolina as well. That actually is going to help strengthen Bernie, because now you've got another moderate taking up some space. And presumably she will get windfall of money, and so she will be able to stay in this thing longer. The longer the moderates stay in this race, to the point that you've been making all night, the better it is for Bernie.

And I think Elizabeth Warren is -- she didn't do very well tonight. I think there's no real path forward for her, so at some point she's going to have to decide to make a decision. And if some of her voters migrate to Bernie, it's going to strengthen him even more.

And I think, to Byron's point, he comes away the winner of these first two contests with the most votes. He's now leading in the national polls. He's their frontrunner, and the Democratic establishment is going to have to find a way to stop him.

INGRAHAM: Excellent analysis from all of you. We have to take a quick break, pay the bills. We'll be right back as await still this race call.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: Poor Joe Biden's candidacy, it's cratering, and Bernie Sanders is emerging. Not maybe as big a win as he hoped. We will still see what happens when this race is ultimately called.

But Mike Bloomberg sees this as an opportunity to sweep in. But newly resurfaced audio-video recordings might complicate his rise. While Bloomberg has now disavowed to stop and frisk, here he is in 2015 defending it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, (D) FORMER NEW YORK MAYOR: So one of the unintended consequences is people say, oh, my God, you are arresting kids for marijuana that are all minorities. Yes, that is true. Why. Because we put all the cops in minority neighborhoods. Yes, that's true. Why do we do it? Because that is where all the crime is.

And the way you get the guns out of kids' hands is to throw them against the wall and frisk them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: That is not all. Here's what he said back in 2013.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, (D) FORMER NEW YORK MAYOR: There's a couple, one newspaper and one news service, they just keep saying, oh, it is a disproportionate percentage of a particular ethnic group. That may be, but it's not a disproportionate percentage of those who witnesses and victims describe as committing it. In that case, incidentally, I think we disproportionately stop whites too much and minorities too little.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Joining me now, Doug Schoen, Bloomberg 2020 campaign pollster, John McLaughlin, Trump 2020 campaign pollster. Doug, in today's woke Democrat Party, how does Bloomberg come back from this?

DOUG SCHOEN, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: He's already apologized for his support for stop and frisk. And I think we live in a different era where voters have both shorter memories and perhaps greater tolerance for mistakes. We wouldn't have President Donald Trump given some of his statements in the past if the electorate wasn't that way. Michael Bloomberg --

INGRAHAM: Hold on a second. This isn't Bernie Sanders decades ago talking about communism. This is just a few years ago.

SCHOEN: Sure.

INGRAHAM: That's Bloomberg on tape. And I think Trump said this today in his remarks, he said, these people go to churches and they say, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Five seconds ago, now suddenly you disavow everything you said? Trump spoke out. Hold on, let's watch what Trump said today about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think when a man is with stop and frisk his whole life, and then he decides to go Democrat, and he goes to a church, and he is practically crying, he looked like hell, he's practically crying saying what horrible thing he did, I think that is so disingenuous. You know what I'm talking about, fellas. That was so, of Bloomberg, look, he's a lightweight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: If authenticity matters to voters today, doesn't that smack of inauthenticity?

SCHOEN: I think, again, President Trump, who supports stop and frisk, has had three or four registrations, a number of ideologies. I think it's a question of the here and now. Bloomberg is at 16 or 17 in the polls, he is at 22 in one poll with African-Americans. I think he has a real good shot to break through. And certainly, he has made it clear he apologized. He has a program on inclusive elimination of mass incarceration. So I think he will get through it. Obviously, this was not the best possible remark or the best possible day, but I think it would be a mistake to overstate it.

INGRAHAM: If a Republican said any of these things in the way he said them -- Trump thinks, I guess, does he believe in stop and frisk?

JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, TRUMP 2020 CAMPAIGN POLLSTER: I'll tell what the untold story tonight that the media is not reporting about is the Republican Party is totally united, plus the independents coming into the Republican primary. And Donald Trump right now as we are sitting here is running about 86 percent of the vote. That is what Reagan got in 84. Presidents that have been reelected in the party's primaries, you had Nixon had 68, Clinton had 84, W. had 80 percent, and Obama had 81 percent. Trump is at that level and no one is talking about it.

And so the president on his record of success and accomplishments, and he's going to do better with African-American voters than the Democrats even care to mention, because we know the black letters are very happy with what he's done with criminal justice reform, plus they have the lowest unemployment rates ever. So the president is doing very well in his record. And the Democrats --

INGRAHAM: Is he worried about Bloomberg? Trump does value people who have been successful. He admires people who have been successful. Bloomberg was an unbelievable success story. He got fired from Salomon Brothers, collapsed out of there, started his own company, richest man in all of New York. A global brand, Trump loves brands. So in many ways he is exactly the kind of American success story that Trump lauds, although he went kind of liberal in his political outlook.

MCLAUGHLIN: Yes, but he still hasn't win a primary on the Democrat side.

SCHOEN: He's ahead in the polls, John, against Trump. Polls are polls.

MCLAUGHLIN: Not the good polls. But in the meantime, the media polls still have a Democrat bias in it. But when you look at it, you want to pick a fight with us, you've got to get by Senator Sanders. You've got to get by Amy Klobuchar.

INGRAHAM: We're just playing it out. We're just playing it out. If all this goes away, and at the end you've got Bloomberg standing on the heap of the moderates and the progressives, and he's like, OK, I came in here and I spent a couple million on Schoen. I'm just kidding. But he's sprinkling a lot of moaning, like, we are all happy he spent a lot of money. But he could end up on the top of this -- I don't want to call it a pig pile, people will think I'm being mean, but a pile of candidates that were either lost or stepped aside, that would be a heck of a debate as well. We were talking about Bloomy versus Bernie? What about Bloomy versus Trump? That would be a great debate.

SCHOEN: I think that would be a heavyweight championship. Both are capitalists. One is one of the most successful capitalists in the world.

INGRAHAM: One has led the most successful recovery of my lifetime in the modern era, no doubt about it. This is incredible.

SCHOEN: In what is the most successful economic miracle in our lifetime in this city and country.

INGRAHAM: One is pro-China, wants to open back up the door to have China take our factory jobs. The other actually wants to take on China.

MCLAUGHLIN: But the reality is the former mayor of New York has to get by the former socialist mayor of Burlington, Vermont, and the former mayor of South Bend first. They are ahead of him in the polls.

INGRAHAM: Interesting stuff. There was a number of Democrats who think it doesn't matter, anyone who is nominated is going to beat this guy with this huge economic recovery. Just watch what they said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM PEREZ, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIR I could go on Fifth Avenue and find a stranger that would be a better candidate than Donald Trump.

HAKEEM JEFFRIES, (D-NY) HOUSE BUDGET COMMITTEE: Joe Biden beating Donald Trump. Bernie Sanders beating Donald Trump. Had they thrown Katherine Clark in there, she would've beat Donald Trump.

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think we could run Mickey Mouse against this president and have a shot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLAUGHLIN: I'm looking at this, and Donald Trump in the battleground states is winning. Impeachment backfired, his numbers are moving up. The democratic frontrunner, Joe Biden, is in shambles.

INGRAHAM: Anyone can beat Trump, yes? That is what they are saying. That is what they're all saying.

SCHOEN: They're wrong. Mike Bloomberg can. I'm not sure anyone else can.

INGRAHAM: Bloomberg is going to play down south?

SCHOEN: He's doing pretty well down south, is in second place in Florida and doing competitively in Alabama and Arkansas.

INGRAHAM: Where is he on this drug legalization? He was good on the pot issue years ago. And good in my view is not for -- is he for legalizing all the stuff now? Because he used to be against it.

SCHOEN: He is for decriminalization.

MCLAUGHLIN: But what about Bill? He's been the mayor of New York, and he's silent on what is going on, and they are letting hate crimes criminals --

INGRAHAM: Does he like what's happening in New York City under de Blasio?

MCLAUGHLIN: I don't think they agree on anything. If you see what de Blasio said about him, they are really at variance.

INGRAHAM: How is Bloomberg going to argue that Trump is not a success on these trade deals? And what would Bloomberg have done differently on China, USMCA, the soon the new British trade deal we're going to do?

SCHOEN: I think let's tune in to the general election, we will see what he has to say.

INGRAHAM: All right, Doug and John, thank you so much for being here tonight.

We're still waiting for a call in New Hampshire tonight. I want to bring in Martha MacCallum, Bret Baier. Both are waiting. The results, Martha, any sense of how late this could go? Unbelievable tonight.

MARTHA MACCALLUM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: We are hearing soon. We are hoping that we can make a call soon. We're basically looking at two counties here, Nashua and Dover that we are waiting for these last votes to come in. And one of the interesting things that came out in the FOX voter analysis, Laura, is that the late deciders tied 24 percent to 24 percent between Buttigieg and Klobuchar. And I think that we are seeing some of that play out here late night tonight.

BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Those two cities are actually the ones that are just not complete. And they are actually down to like 22 percent, 33 percent reporting. The rest of it, 100 percent reporting, and there you can see the breakdown. But there is enough vote out there that Buttigieg could either close or Klobuchar could come in second. It looks like Bernie Sanders is heading for a win. But it is going to be a lot closer than people thought going into tonight, Laura.

INGRAHAM: Pete Buttigieg is taking the microphone now, so we're going to stop in and check in with him and see what he has to say, as this is just a squeaker. Let's watch.

PETE BUTTIGIEG, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you to our extraordinary national cochair, Congresswoman Annie Kuster, who knows how to raise the roof and how to get out the votes!

(APPLAUSE)

CROWD: Annie! Annie! Annie!

BUTTIGIEG: And thank you to Chasten, the love of my life, who keeps me grounded and makes me whole.

(APPLAUSE)

BUTTIGIEG: I want to congratulate my competitors and their supporters on their campaigns in New Hampshire.

(APPLAUSE)

BUTTIGIEG: I admired Senator Sanders when I was a high school student, I respect him greatly to this day, and I congratulate him on his strong showing tonight.

(APPLAUSE)

BUTTIGIEG: And I want to congratulate Senator Klobuchar, Senator Warren, Vice President Biden, and all of our Democratic candidates and supporters.

(APPLAUSE)

BUTTIGIEG: And I know that we all share the spirit that we heard from some of our volunteers at a poll site earlier today who welcomed a competing candidate with chants of "vote blue no matter who." We are on the same team.

(APPLAUSE)

BUTTIGIEG: Now, over the past year, some two dozen campaigns have crisscrossed this state, each laying claim to the ability to bring people together, turn out the vote, and move Americans towards a brighter future. That too.

(LAUGHTER)

BUTTIGIEG: And here in a state that goes by the motto "Live Free or Die," you made up your own minds.

(APPLAUSE)

BUTTIGIEG: You asserted that famous independence, and thanks to you, a campaign that some said it shouldn't be here at all, has shown that we are here to stay.

(APPLAUSE)

INGRAHAM: That's Pete Buttigieg speaking in New Hampshire.

I want to bring back our panelists who have been patiently standing by, Matt Schlapp, Chris Hahn, Steve Cortes. Matt, it sounded like the beginning of a concession speech, very gracious there, but this hasn't ended yet. Is this Iowa, is there something going on here tonight? But no. It looks like we have a few counties coming in.

MATT SCHLAPP, CHAIR, AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE UNION: It's right around 4,000 votes, it's a right race. Give him a lot of credit. He got a lot of undecided voters. He's having another big night. I wondered earlier if he was going to declare victory. He's very sharp and quick on the draw to run down to that podium, which is smart, and try to spin what he has done. He's done great. I'm not so sure it's going to be a victory, but he's done great. He's going to make the most of this moment.

INGRAHAM: Amy Klobuchar tonight, getting some reports because she did speak earlier tonight, yes, and saying she started off strong, but by the end it petered out a little bit. Everyone is tired. Everyone has been canvassing. They are exhausted by the end of the day. Where does she stand after this?

CHRIS HAHN, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Clearly, she cut into Pete. Pete probably could have won had she had not had this great bounce the last couple of days. She had a great debate performance and she should be campaigning hard. She's got to search her soul and decide if she wants to go forward.

Also they have got to talk about resources, right. Pete has got some resources, he's been raising money. He's been a fundraising juggernaut. I don't think she has had the same kind of resources. maybe she gets a bounce out of this performance tonight. But that is the key here. Going to South Carolina is one thing. Going into Super Tuesday when you have to compete all over the country, you need to have money for that. And if you don't have it, you can't go on. So if you can't compete on Super Tuesday, you have got to ask yourself the question, why am I going to South Carolina.

INGRAHAM: Right. And now speaking of Super Tuesday, you've got California, people don't realize that California is voting now. That is part of Super Tuesday. You go into Super Tuesday with still a lot of people in this race who really don't have a path to the presidency. It strengthens Bernie's hand even if he only wins by two percentage points in New Hampshire. Even after Pete Buttigieg squeaked out that 0.1 percent victory, bizarrely, in Iowa after all of those issues.

STEVE CORTES, SPOKESMAN, AMERICA FIRST PAC: Look, I think you're exactly right. Because California was sick of not mattering previously in previous election cycles and didn't like to be in June, and is now part of Super Tuesday, you're exactly right, that it could very well be consequential.

And what I think is happening, and I think you are very smart on this point, is that the moderates will not form an alliance, they will not form a coalition to try to beat Bernie. And because of that, what we are seeing is the Democratic civil war. We did this in our party in 2016. The populist nationalist won. We clearly took over the party. They are having their civil war right now, and the populist left led by Bernie Sanders has a clear lane as long as that many relatively strong candidates stay in the field on the other side.

INGRAHAM: Matt Schlapp, Pete Buttigieg, obviously he's a sharp guy, impressive resume, he's not going to be the nominee of the Democrat Party, do you agree? There is not a path for South Bend mayor at this point. Maybe someday he'll be governor and Indiana.

SCHLAPP: He could be a great secretary of HUD.

INGRAHAM: He could be a cabinet member. He is not going to be the nominee of the Democrat Party. But he's in it because he thinks he can be, or because he wants something else?

SCHLAPP: It's alluring. He's doing so well.

INGRAHAM: What else is he going to do?

SCHLAPP: Laura, he is in his 30s. I was in New Hampshire all day. He had the best ground game, these people are exciting about him. He's got a little lightning in a bottle. And this is not the worst thing for the Democrats to have this debate.

HAHN: He's having a better night than Bill Clinton did in 1992 tonight in New Hampshire. That's not nothing. And I know my conservatives, all my friends here, you all want Bernie Sanders, you're really hoping for Bernie Sanders to be the nominee. I was hoping for Donald Trump. I was wrong. Be careful what you wish for.

INGRAHAM: I'm not saying. I actually do not underestimate Bernie at all.

HAHN: He has got an army. Trump had an army. Bernie has got an army.

INGRAHAM: People who are overconfident as Republicans going into this make a huge mistake.

HAHN: Including very special viewer right now who is probably very confident about Bernie Sanders.

INGRAHAM: Donald Trump is the smartest political mind out there. He is extremely savvy about how things are going. The media, he drops a little piece of meat out there and the media runs. He ran for mini-Mike, and that dominated the conversation about --

HAHN: I grew up in New York, I know all about him.

INGRAHAM: You know how it works.

But right now, you watch the state of New Hampshire, which I love that state, it's such an exciting place to be, especially this time of year. But they really do get to know people. And they are savvy people. "The Manchester Union Leader," this is old-style America. They haven't grown much in population, really small population growth. But they say, by golly, we still are important. And you're going to pay attention to us and we are going to determine something tonight.

CORTES: Their referendum on Biden I think, for that reason, is really valid and very important, because Biden did campaign there.

INGRAHAM: New Hampshire could have killed off Joe Biden.

CORTES: I think it did.

INGRAHAM: Whether he knows it or not.

HAHN: It might have. It's said. I met him when I worked in the United States Senate, always looked up to him. It's sad to see him go.

SCHLAPP: I feel bad for Corn Pop, too.

INGRAHAM: All right, you pony soldier, you.

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: All right, panel, fantastic conversation. That's all the time we have tonight.

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