Ben Carson reacts to last GOP debate before NH primary
2016 candidate offers his thoughts on the night
This is a rush transcript from "Sunday Morning Futures," February 7, 2016. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
MARIA BARTIROMO, HOST: Good morning, everyone. Happy Sunday. I'm Maria Bartiromo. Welcome to "Sunday Morning Futures."
Taking heat and taking hits. GOP candidates duking it out for another debate just days ahead of the critical New Hampshire primary.
Who are the winners, who are the losers going into New Hampshire? In just a moment, we will talk with Dr. Ben Carson.
Plus, Marco Rubio supporter, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, with us on the jabs last night.
Plus, the battle for the younger votes. Bernie Sanders continues to grab voters from this group. Does Mrs. Clinton have a shot with the millennials?
Sluggish job growth, new numbers show 2016 is not off to a great start after all. What's behind this and where are the jobs right now? We're taking a look at coding, as we look ahead on "Sunday Morning Futures."
(MUSIC)
BARTIROMO: Well, the Republican presidential candidates facing off last night in the final debate ahead of the first in the country New Hampshire primary, focusing mostly on immigration and foreign policy, with very little discussion about the economy. It was also a make or break moment for several of the candidates ahead of Tuesday's crucial vote.
According to the latest Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll, Donald Trump leads the field still with nearly 29 percent going into New Hampshire, followed by Marco Rubio at 19.4 percent. Ohio Governor John Kasich is in third place with 13.
With all of the candidates, including my next guest, trailing in the single digits.
Dr. Ben Carson joins me right now from New Hampshire.
Sir, good to have you on the program. Thanks so much for joining us.
DR. BEN CARSON, R-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you for having me.
BARTIROMO: I want to ask you about that debate, how you felt about it.
But let me kick it off with the opening.
Sir, I've got to tell you, that was so hilarious in terms of what happened when you were coming out, everybody was coming out. What happened? Did you not get the cues?
CARSON: Didn't hear the number. There was very bad acoustics in the back. ABC News admitted that they had some technical problems and a number of us actually didn't hear.
BARTIROMO: And then Donald Trump, instead of moving forward, you sort of made a friend there, he waited backstage with you.
CARSON: Well, he couldn't hear either. And John Kasich couldn't hear either. So, you know, you make light of it, you know, and move on.
BARTIROMO: How do you think the debate went, Dr. Carson, overall, from your standpoint?
CARSON: Overall, it went reasonably well. You know, I always get shortchanged because not having been a governor or a senator, no one's likely to call your name out. So you don't get extra time to talk. And, you know, it's not something that the moderators ever take into consideration.
BARTIROMO: So what do you feel like you would have liked to address and didn't get the chance to because you weren't called on? Was it the question about being a conservative?
CARSON: Yes, every else got to weigh in on that. I was not called on. I have strong feelings about what conservativism should be.
It should be a preserving of those things that really work. For instance, in our country, which was -- declared its independence in 1776 and less than a hundred years was the number one economic power on the planet, how did that happen? And a conservative would analyze that and try to recreate the situation that encourage entrepreneurial risk-taking and capital investment. That's not hard to figure out, rather than allowing us to move on to a new, quote, "progressive type of situation".
A conservative recognizes that America was built on opportunity, not on dependency, and therefore creating the ladders of opportunity that allow people to move from a state of dependency into the fabric of America. A conservative recognizes that we have enormous resources in this country, and that fueled, you know, our tremendous rise, and that you don't, you know, use something like the EPA and the Bureau of Land Management to depress that development, but rather to work with business, industry, academia, ag, to find the cleanest, most environmentally friendly ways to not only develop your resources but to preserve your environment.
You know, that's just a smattering of things that real conservatives do and that needs to be emphasized.
BARTIROMO: Yes, I think that's a great point. And one thing you're referring to is all the regulation. New regulation coming out of the EPA, coming out of, you know, Dodd-Frank legislation, Obamacare, has in many case kept employers sitting on cash and not hiring new workers. There were not a lot of talk last night about jobs.
And I feel like that's become once again the number one issue among voters.
We got job numbers out on Friday which were, again below expectations.
Businesses are not hiring enough. How would you characterize the jobs picture in America and as president, what would you do about it?
CARSON: Well, it's horrible. They say it's down to 4.9 percent. But, of course, you can make that number anything you want it to be based on who you include and who you exclude.
In our case right now, the administration excludes the people who stopped looking for work. There are so many people who are content just to get, you know, handouts, and are not out there looking for work. They're not counted. That's absolutely absurd.
The participation rate is at a historic low. That's the real problem.
So, how do you get that moving again? First of all, you have to get rid of all the unnecessary regulations. And when I say "unnecessary," it indicates that I recognize this some of them are important. But you look at them in terms of their benefit versus their cost. When you do that, it makes a big difference.
For instance, the president's clean power plan. EPA has said if you implement all aspects of it, it will reduce the temperature of the earth by 0.05 degrees Fahrenheit in 85 years. That's the benefit. The cost? Billions of dollars and millions of jobs. That makes no sense at all. And yet, we are legislating based on ideology and not on evidence.
Also the tax, the tax system is oppressive. And we have advocated for a flat tax system. I hope people will go to BenCarson.com and read the details, because they're not just bullet points, they're details. But a
14.9 percent flat tax on everybody, starting at the 150 percent poverty level, and even the people below that will still pay something, because everybody has to have skin in the game.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
CARSON: No deductions, no loopholes, no shelters. Because when you put those things in there, people will begin to alter what they do in order to take advantage of it.
BARTIROMO: Yes, and you believe --
CARSON: Some people have more --
BARTIROMO: I'm sorry, go ahead, sir.
CARSON: No, some people have more -- some people have more ability to take advantage of it than others. There's no double taxation, no capital gains tax, no death tax, nothing is double taxed. That's kind of thing that really will encourage growth to occur.
BARTIROMO: And you think you can get tax reform done in your first year of the presidency?
CARSON: I think you've got to get it done in the first year of the presidency, just looking historically at the ability to get things done. But I would -- but I would begin negotiations immediately with Congress.
And I would do it in a very public way, so that people would know who is the stick in the mud, if there are any.
BARTIROMO: Well, I'll tell you, that certainly is what voters would like to hear.
Let me ask you about North Korea, sir, and some of the news events in the last 24 hours. North Korea this morning is saying that it has successfully put a satellite into orbit, with that rocket launch that of course we know has been widely condemned as a disguised long range missile test.
What should the U.S.'s response be?
CARSON: Well, I believe that we have been very lax when it comes to North Korea. And I think it's costing us. You know, when they engaged in cyber attack, you know, we complained a little bit, but we did nothing.
We have tremendous offensive cyber capabilities. And I think we should send them a message utilizing our offensive abilities in such a way that they would never think about doing it again.
And, you know, I think we also need to be developing our strategic defense initiative. You know, Ronald Reagan was laughed at about that. But the fact of the matter is, in the future, he who controls space will control the earth.
And we need to make it very clear to North Korea without a shadow of a doubt that if they launch a missile that we consider aggressive toward us, it will be the last thing that they do. We need to be very, very strong about that. I think we need to be working with China, because China does have some influence there. I think the economic sanctions that have been relaxed was a mistake, giving them the ability to be able to do these kinds of things.
BARTIROMO: Let me switchgears and ask you about your own campaign. Obviously last night, Ted Cruz apologized to you again for bad tactics. Do you accept his apology?
CARSON: Well, of course, I accept the apology. And I think what has to be looked at is what does this tell you about a person, if they will allow a campaign in which people clearly do thinks that are underhanded. If you accept that, what does that say for what you will do as president?
So, I think it should be a moment of enlightenment for people.
BARTIROMO: Now, I should be clear, you have cut some staff in Iowa going into New Hampshire. Do you want to tell us anything about the campaign, how you expect to break out in this crucial vote on Tuesday?
CARSON: Sure. You know, a couple of months ago I was being told that everything was wonderful with the campaign. I didn't believe it, so I began to do my own personal investigation.
I found a lot of things that were inappropriate. We began making changes. You know, I think we now have an extremely well-run, efficient organization. You'll notice that since that time, we put out tons of policy, could never get any policy out before that, because we had a dysfunctional organization that was bloated. We had a lot of people duplicating services. So, all of those things have to be fixed.
And that's the same kind of attitude I would take as president. You know, there's an incredible amount of inefficiency in our government, duplication of services. You know, way too many federal employees, way too many agencies. We would look at those things in a very logical way, the same way I did in my organization, the same way I did throughout my medical career. That's what leads to success.
And I don't have any obligations to any special interest groups or to any billionaires who want to control anything. I never will have those obligations under any circumstances.
BARTIROMO: Sounds terrific. Dr. Carson, we'll be watching you in New Hampshire. Thanks for joining us this morning.
CARSON: Thank you very much.
BARTIROMO: We'll see you soon, sir, Dr. Ben Carson.
CARSON: OK.
BARTIROMO: Up next we'll speak to South Carolina Senator Tim Scott about Senator Rubio's performance last night as the senator took fire from all sides of the stage, especially from Governor Chris Christie.
Follow us on Twitter @MariaBartiromo, @SundayFutures. Let us know what you'd like to hear from Senator Scott coming up.
Stay with us. We're looking ahead once again on "Sunday Morning Futures."
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BARTIROMO: Welcome back.
After surging in Iowa, Florida Senator Marco Rubio scoring a key endorsement this week, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott throwing his support behind the Republican presidential hopeful. Rubio's competition took notice of his recent surge heading into New Hampshire, making him one of the primary attack targets in last night's debate.
Watch this exchange right now between he and Governor Chris Christie.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE, R-N.J., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He simply does not have the experience to be president of the United States and makes these decisions.
SEN. MARCO RUBIO, R-FLA., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think the experience is not just what you did but how it worked out. Under Chris Christie's governorship of New Jersey, they've been downgraded nine times in their credit rating.
CHRISTIE: That's what Washington D.C. does, the drive-by shot at the beginning, with incorrect and incomplete information and then the memorized 25-second speech.
RUBIO: Chris, your state got hit by a massive snowstorm two weeks ago.
You didn't even want to go back. They had to shame you into going back.
CHRISTIE: No, no --
RUBIO: This notion that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing is just not true.
CHRISTIE: There it is, the memorized 25-second speech. There it is, everybody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARTIROMO: Wow, that was brutal.
Joining me right now is South Carolina Senator Tim Scott.
Senator, good to see you. Thanks so much for joining us.
SEN. TIM SCOTT, R-S.C.: Good morning, Maria. Good to be with you.
BARTIROMO: So, before we go into why you made this endorsement, let me get your take on how damaging that was just there, that exchange between Chris Christie and Marco Rubio, and Marco Rubio going back to that rehearsed line about Barack Obama several times.
SCOTT: Maria, one thing that Marco knows is that this campaign is not about attacking other Republicans. This campaign is about getting America back on the right track.
I think last night's performance was fantastic for Marco. The reality of it is, I walked away thinking about one thing, having a brother serving in the United States Air Force, who do I want to be commander-in-chief? The one thing I left with, without any question, is that Marco Rubio has the knowledge, the intellectual capacity to lead this country as commander in chief.
Anyone watching that debate realized that on the most important foreign policy objectives of this day, which is defeating ISIS, Marco Rubio can be commander-in-chief from day one. Good news for the country.
BARTIROMO: Intellectual capacity, OK, but not necessarily experience, right? And people keep coming back to this when talking about Senator Rubio, because he's a junior senator. We had that with President Obama, a lot of people disappointed with that.
When people try to talk about his accomplishments, you don't get the sense that they feel like there are enough.
SCOTT: There's no doubt that liberals are excited about the success of Barack Obama. There's no doubt that Obamacare is a dismal disaster for this country, has been successfully implemented because of the liberal left and their agenda. There's no doubt that Dodd-Frank, a challenging disaster for those of us who have been business owners looking for access to capital.
This is another success story if you're a liberal but it is bad news if you're a small business owner. What Marco Rubio will do is not confuse experience with leadership, because he will lead. He will lead us away from Obamacare and replace it. He will take Dodd-Frank and make sure that we have an opportunity to have access to credit and to make sure that the banking regulations actually work for the common person and not for big banks on Wall Street.
The reality of it is simply this, that what I saw last night, was Marco Rubio in a strong melee with Chris Christie, this is good for Marco. This is actually helping him become a better debater and better prepared to take on the one and only Democratic candidate, whoever that person is. We'll have to go through this Republican Party. We will make sure that America's best days are ahead of her.
BARTIROMO: What do you think about the pushback about the experience question, though? Last night, when, you know, a number of times he could have talked about accomplishments or talked about what he would do with the country, he kept going back to, you know, Barack Obama knows exactly what he's doing, he wants to change this country. Was that intentional or did he have nowhere to go?
SCOTT: I think it was actually a very clear path forward. What Marco was doing was simply distilling the fact that the lack of experience when Barack Obama came into office did not stop him from accomplishing the agenda that he set before the American people --
BARTIROMO: Right.
SCOTT: The agenda that the American people rejected, but he went forward anyway. What Marco was specifically was saying, was that with strong leadership from Marco Rubio, we will be able to reverse the direction of Barack Obama and get this country back to our Founding Fathers' vision of conservative principles undergirding the success of this country.
BARTIROMO: So, Senator, what is he going to do different, going into New Hampshire now, to have a better performance Tuesday?
SCOTT: I looked at one of his meets this morning. He had it looked like over a thousand people in the audience. The Marco momentum continues.
I think he's going to have a very good, solid performance on Tuesday.
Hopefully, he'll be edging closer to first place. He'll probably come in second. He'll come into South Carolina with a strong momentum. And I believe South Carolina will be the place where he finds the first number one performance in this very early primary.
BARTIROMO: All right. So, you're counting on South Carolina then.
Senator, good to have you on the program. Thanks so much.
SCOTT: Thank you, Maria. Have a great day.
BARTIROMO: We'll see you soon.
Senator Tim Scott there.
The latest jobs report out Friday, pretty flat outcome. Where are the jobs right now? We'll talk to young people. We're checking out coding.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: Presidential candidates going all out to win over the young vote in this year's election. And the number one issue for that group happens to be the economy and jobs. The latest jobs report showing 151,000 new jobs added to the economy last month, that was lower than analysts expected.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate did fall to 4.9 percent, that's the lowest rate in eight years.
Joining me right now is Zach Sims. He's the co-founder and CEO of Codecademy.
Good to see you, Zach.
ZACH SIMS, CODECADEMY: Thanks for having me.
BARTIROMO: Thank you so much for joining us.
So, I want to get to the youth vote because it's so important. First, let me ask you about coding. Codecademy, an fantastic idea.
Are you seeing opportunities in coding right now?
SIMS: Absolutely. So, we think technology is one of the biggest areas for opportunity in today's economy. Lots of unfilled jobs and lots of ways now to start learning the skills that are needed to find those jobs.
BARTIROMO: How do you learn coding? Explain the process.
SIMS: We created a website, codecademy.com, that teaches people in a hands-on manner how to learn the concepts behind algorithmic thinking and how to write code to make applications to power our lives in a regular basis.
BARTIROMO: And even this last jobs report, we saw that there were opportunities within technology in this last jobs report. There are some jobs that are obviously growing faster than other areas.
SIMS: Absolutely. Technology will be that area for the foreseeable future.
BARTIROMO: Why?
SIMS: More jobs for high skilled people as every industry becomes more of a technology-driven industry.
BARTIROMO: So, for the person out there worried about losing their job, who may have lost their job, who is frustrated and has stopped looking, what do they need to do to arm themselves with the right skill set?
SIMS: Really all that matters is motivation. We've seen people all around the world. One of my favorites is someone named Asa Smith who started as a construction worker and started learning a program at Codecademy, now is employed by us doing part time work to continue to sharpen his skills and get a new job.
BARTIROMO: You would think as you go through life, you want to constantly improve your skills. You don't want your doctor to ever stop learning in terms of new innovations and new ways to treat things.
SIMS: Absolutely. That's what I think we want the future of education to look like, something where it's not just about four years and you're finished, but a really continuous process over the course of your life.
BARTIROMO: So, let me ask you about this millennial vote. For the first time, millennials, the largest bloc of voters, you speak to them all the time, you founded Codecademy. What does the millennial want in a president?
SIMS: I think what matters most is the presidential candidates should care about issues that are important to millennials. As you talked about earlier, the economy is number one, and then college and higher education is number two on the top of minds of millennials. I think those issues aren't being addressed adequately by today's candidates.
BARTIROMO: How do you want those addressed? What specifically about those issues are you hearing?
SIMS: I think seeing stronger plans as to how we can help millennials find the right jobs, how it can help provide the right educational opportunities, and how we can stop millennials from being saddled with debt when they go through college is important.
BARTIROMO: Did you choose a candidate yet?
SIMS: I have not chosen a candidate yet.
BARTIROMO: What do you think is behind Bernie Sanders's success? He's obviously resonating with young people.
SIMS: So, I think young people are less party driven and more focused on the issues. When they look at Sanders and Trump, both on the extremes of their respective parties, they maybe see a chance to make a difference in politics because it's not the same as usual that you'd find the traditional candidate.
BARTIROMO: But, Bernie Sanders last night on "Saturday Night Live" saying yes, I'm a Democratic socialist. Do millennials, do you think, understand what socialism is?
SIMS: I think so. I think, obviously, you're seeing something just as extreme being preached on the other side of the spectrum. So, I think it's really about there's huge polarization. And millennials actually I hope don't want the kind of polarization that we're seeing in this election and will eventually gravitate to candidates that's more mainstream.
BARTIROMO: So, do you think the millennials are excited by the GOP candidates as well?
SIMS: I think they can be excited by GOP candidates, yes. Trump is running as the forefront candidate among millennials amongst the GOP now.
BARTIROMO: All right. We'll leave it there. Zach, great having you on the show.
SIMS: Thanks for having me. Thanks so much for joining us.
Codecademy is the website, Codecademy.com is the website. Zach Sims is the co-founder there.
Who had the breakout moment in last night's GOP debate? We'll break that down with our panel.
Make sure you to log on to FOXNews.com/sundayfutures to catch my exclusive interview with Chamber of Commerce president Tom Donohue on regulations, keeping jobs in the U.S., and a tax plan that works for the American people.
Stick around. More "Sunday Morning Futures," next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, R-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So many people have hit me with commercials and other things about eminent domain. Eminent domain is an absolute necessity for a country, for our country.
JEB BUSH, R-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The difference between eminent domain for public purpose as Donald said, roads, and infrastructure, pipelines, and all that, that's for public purpose. What Donald Trump did was use eminent domain to try to take the property of an elderly woman on the strip in Atlantic City.
TRUMP: Be a tough guy. I didn't take the property.
(CROSSTALK)
BUSH: You tried.
TRUMP: I didn't take the property. The woman ultimately didn't want to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARTIROMO: There you go, Donald Trump and Jeb Bush trading blows over the issue of eminent domain, just one of the many heated exchanges at last night's crucial New Hampshire debate.
But with some of the candidates fighting for political survival, who came out on top?
I want to bring our panel right now: Ed Rollins, former principal White House adviser to President Reagan. He's been a long time strategist to business and political leaders. He's a Fox News political analyst.
Judith Miller, adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. She's a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist, and a Fox News contributor.
Robert Wolf is the CEO of 32 Advisors. He's a former chairman of UBS and a former fundraiser for President Obama.
Good to see you, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us.
ED ROLLINS, FOX NEWS POLITICAL ANALYST: Thank you.
BARTIROMO: We're happy that you are here.
OK. First I want to begin with you, Robert, because that exchange between Donald Trump and Jeb Bush, finally you saw Jeb Bush fighting back.
ROBERT WOLF, CEO, 32 ADVISORS: You know, I thought if I was going to give the comeback kid award, which was the '92 Clinton and being the Democrat on this panel, I would give it to Jeb.
I thought last night, he had a really, really impressive debate for a few different reasons. One, he got Christie to be the pit bull on Rubio that you didn't have to be. Number two, he was able to attack Trump on eminent domain, which is important in New Hampshire, especially northern. And then number three, he was able to discuss his policies of what he succeeded as governor of Florida. So, to me, I think it's going to bode very well for him.
On eminent domain, he got it right. You have to differentiate between private and public sector. With Keystone, it was definitely public sector.
It was going under water basins. It was the governor who didn't approve the Keystone there because of those reasons.
So, there's a real separation between the public and private sector on eminent domain.
BARTIROMO: All right. Jeb Bush had a good night. Ed Rollins, do you agree?
ED ROLLINS, FOX NEWS POLITICAL ANALYST: Jeb Bush had a good night. He's had two good nights now back to back in polls. And the loser last night was Rubio, who had a lot of momentum, he got mugged by Trump -- not by Cruz, getting mugged, excuse me. Too many candidates.
Get mugged by Christi Christie.
BARTIROMO: Get mugged a lot of people. Yes.
ROLLINS: But Christie really was the guy.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
ROLLINS: And when he trying to go back after Christie, there's plenty to go back after Christie, Christie had been a guy, out of state 400 days -- I mean, just all kinds of things. He's in the bottom of the poll in every poll, he didn't get a delegate in Iowa.
WOLF: As a New Englander, I would say that temperament of Christie last night may not play so well.
ROLLINS: It doesn't --
BARTIROMO: Good point.
WOLF: And I also think that Trump shushing and the audience booing, you know, those are difficult --
ROLLINS: Trump --
BARTIROMO: Doesn't play well.
ROLLINS: Trump was leading last night. He was he had a pretty debate. He has a little more substance than usual. So, my sense is what happened is Rubio was gaining fast, basically got slowed down.
I still think he comes in third or second. But I think he's got to have two good days. One of governors may come in fourth, but it's not going to be Christie.
JUDITH MILLER, PULITZER PRIZE WINNING REPORTER AND AUTHOR: I think last night, we saw revenge of the governors, where experience really matters, where you have to impress people that finally, finally, let's look at records.
I mean, the substantive nature of the debate was truly striking. We've now had eight debates. And the American people are learning a lot, not only about the temperaments of these candidates but also the issues themselves.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
MILLER: Eminent domain, who had ever that about that issue before last night? And yet, as you said, it plays big in New Hampshire where they're trying to bringing power lines from Canada down through the states and a group of people in New Hampshire are fighting that hard. So, that was an issue that resonates locally.
Trump once again, the amazing Mr. Trump, who is barely a Republican on some issues, but he said he's against the Iraq war, he's against insurance, he loves eminent domain. You have to ask what's going on here.
BARTIROMO: It's amazing.
(CROSSTALK)
ROLLINS: This is not about substance. You've had a lot more substantive governors on the three in the stage, and they're all gone. This has not been a year of governors. And the reason it's not a year of governors, this is the outsiders, this is the angry voters. My sense is Trump is still the frontrunner.
Cruz is still very much a game player the rest of the way. And Rubio is the guy that has some hopes and dreams and I think probably the strongest candidates in the end, but didn't have a good night last night.
WOLF: I'm glad the Republicans can say last night was not about substance, because I was incredibly surprised that once again, we're into the eighth Republican debate and the economy doesn't come up.
BARTIROMO: Unbelievable.
WOLF: It's unbelievable to me. I'm a Wall Street guy.
BARTIROMO: And, you know, it's my favorite subject, which is why it was a crux of our debate.
WOLF: It's mind blowing to me that, you know, with wages where they are, with growth where they are, you know, there's not a debate --
ROLLINS: If I didn't have to be on this show today. I would have watched the NFL hall of fame and the rest of it last night. I had to basically watch the debate. I am tired of debates.
Let's move, let's get the voters vote on Tuesday and let's get away from the --
(CROSSTALK)
MILLER: But ratings suggest otherwise. The ratings have been strong for these debates.
ROLLINS: I promise you the rates last night were strong.
BARTIROMO: It's funny because Debbie Wassermann Schultz tweeted out that I can't believe the GOP is doing a debate on Super Bowl weekend, Saturday night. Haven't all the Dem debates been on Saturday night, because of Wassermann Schultz?
(CROSSTALK)
BARTIROMO: What irony?
Let's take a short break. We want to find out what's coming up on "MediaBuzz", first. Check it with Howie Kurtz. He is coming up live in 20 minutes.
Howie, good morning to you.
HOWARD KURTZ, "MEDIABUZZ" HOST: Good morning from New Hampshire, Maria.
We're going to look at whether some of the pundits are going overboard in saying Marco Rubio crashed and burned in last night's debate. Whether Ted Cruz is unfairly blaming CNN for his own staff, spreading those false dropout rumors about Ben Carson's campaign. The media spinning of the results in Iowa. We may see that in New Hampshire. We've also got the publisher of New Hampshire's "Union Leader", who's been on a war of words with Donald Trump.
A lot to talk about from here in Manchester.
BARTIROMO: We'll see you in 20 minutes live, Howie Kurtz, thanks very much.
By the way, was it a crash and burn, Ed? Real quick.
ROLLINS: No, he came back at the end. And the truth of the matter, he didn't lose any. He lost his momentum, he didn't lose any of the support.
BARTIROMO: All right. Let's take a break.
Up next, the Democrats, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders continuing to trade jabs as well. Does Mrs. Clinton have a shot with the younger voters? We're looking ahead this morning on "Sunday Morning Futures," ahead of the big day in New Hampshire on Tuesday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: Welcome back.
The Democratic National Committee revealing it will hold another Democratic debate next month, this time in troubled Flint, Michigan. But before then, we're seeing more attacks than ever before between Senator Bernie Sanders and Senator Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire, where according to the latest UMass Lowell tracking poll, Senator Sanders now hold a 14-point lead, beating out Clinton, 55 to 41 percent.
Back with our panel right now, Ed Rollins, Judy Miller and Robert Wolf.
This, the last couple of days, Hillary Clinton plummeted versus Bernie Sanders.
ROLLINS: She's -- her campaign is struggling. Obviously, she's a smart woman. And obviously, she's an articulate woman, but he's driven her crazy and thrown her whole campaign off. And the most fundamental problem she has is she's taking young voters away from her. And the only way Obama has won the last two elections was because of young voters. And she has to do an all-out effort to get them back.
MILLER: Yes, 84 percent of those voted in Iowa, millennials, actually voted for Bernie Sanders, that is such a huge hurdle. And women also not holding their own.
Madeleine Albright said the other day, there is a special place in hell for women who don't support another woman.
BARTIROMO: Why? Why is there a place in hell for women who don't support another?
MILLER: Because we're speaking about someone over 45 who knows what it took in order to get a woman like Hillary Clinton even into the finals for the presidency. And they say young people have no memory. Young women have no memory. And they may be right.
ROLLINS: I'm not going to follow Donald Trump and shush the two Republicans sitting to my left, OK?
(CROSSTALK)
ROLLINS: But to say the secretary is plummeting is ridiculous. One, the poll a week ago had her down 30 something percent in percent in New Hampshire. She's now down 14 percent. As someone who knocked on the doors of eight years for Obama when he was up 8 percent and then lost in New Hampshire, we know in New Hampshire, a third of the independent voters have not made up their mind.
Now, I'm not here predicting that Hillary gets a win in New Hampshire. But if she comes in within single digits, that would be a huge home run for her. Also, we've only have Iowa thus far, so to say she's also plummeting is a bit of a stretch. She won Iowa no matter how you slice it, 49.6 --
(CROSSTALK)
BARTIROMO: Robert says a win is a win.
WOLF: A win is a win, it doesn't make a difference. I'm an athlete. You win or you lose. I'm a trader. You win or you lose.
She got the most delegates that day.
MILLER: She didn't get -- no one's gotten any delegates yet.
ROLLINS: Nobody got any delegates. There's still the convention that's months away.
(CROSSTALK)
ROLLINS: I promise you, it won't be that if I'm still in that race.
The bottom line here is going back to the point, someone who was the inevitable nominee is struggling and you can't argue that. I will tell you flat out she will lose New Hampshire big time and I don't care the margin is, one or two --
WOLF: And how about South Carolina?
ROLLINS: We'll see. That's weeks away.
BARTIROMO: So, apparently, I'm told the strategy is win three out of four states, go into Super Tuesday strong. This is Hillary Clinton's strategy.
Does that sound right to you, Robert?
WOLF: Yes. And --
BARTIROMO: That's the strategy?
WOLF: Listen, Super Tuesday and beyond, which a lot of the Southern states, she's going to do very well in.
BARTIROMO: But how damaging is Bernie Sanders right now? Let's face it, I know she's panicked over these young voters.
WOLF: Listen, there's no question Bernie's resonating. And he's definitely getting an excitement. And, by the way, if Hillary wins and those people stay excited about the Democratic Party, that will be
incredibly strong for the general. Let's not forecast where we're going --
(CROSSTALK)
ROLLINS: Dialogue, and I'm not a Democrat, I'm an observer. Dialogue is when we get Joe Biden still on race, how about Warren, what have you, and that's extraordinary. There's nobody sitting on our side saying, let's get more in. We're arguing to get more out. But I think at the end of the day, she's struggling.
MILLER: And as an independent, I'm struck by the fact that Bernie Sanders has managed to chip away at her lead without even going after her on e- mails. He's had every opportunity, he hasn't done it. He's only talked about Wall Street and his $27 average donations.
(CROSSTALK)
WOLF: I am equally struck that he is doing as well in his populist approach is resonating.
BARTIROMO: Especially she's OK with 92 percent tax rate.
WOLF: Pragmatically speaking numbers of things he's talking about cannot get done, OK? We're not going to have universal healthcare, college is not going to be free. These things are -- you know, Congress is not passing these type of things.
So, I actually think, you know, the secretary actually in the last debate did incredibly well, because the truth is the second half of the debate was a lot on foreign policy, and it showed who hasn't experience and who doesn't.
MILLER: But he has pushed her --
BARTIROMO: But how about that experience? People are looking at her foreign policy experience and say, you know what, I don't think it works.
WOLF: It depends which side you're on. I would say the Democrats actually would say they're pretty happy with it.
MILLER: She still has a hard time answering the three specific accomplishments she can claim credit for.
BARTIROMO: All right.
ROLLINS: A long way to go.
BARTIROMO: Long way to go for sure. I want to talk about that.
Meanwhile, in terms of the economy, jobs growth slams on the brakes. Even as the unemployment rate goes lower, wages were a bright spot in this most recent report.
The panel back to discuss where are the jobs are, and what this latest report reveals about our country's academy. We're looking ahead on "Sunday Morning Futures."
(MUSIC)
BARTIROMO: Welcome back.
The latest jobs report sending mixed messages on the U.S. economy. The unemployment rate falling to 4.9 percent in the month of January, that is the lowest it's been in years. At the same time, job growth slowed down a bit last month, with only 151,000 new jobs added that was lower than expected.
So, what is the real state of our economy right now?
Our panel is back, Ed Rollins, Judy Miller, Robert Wolf.
How you would characterize things, Robert?
WOLF: You know, I would say, as we spoke last month, I was never for the Fed raising rates. I'm not for the Fed raising rates now. I would have been there about a year ago.
But with the market volatility with, the geopolitical volatility and with the growth slowing in China and Europe and now in the U.S., I'm incredibly nervous for first half of 2016. And I think, you know, it is probably not going to right now bode well for job creation and wage creation. So, I'm nervous and I think we're going to see incredible amount of market volatility continue.
BARTIROMO: And the nervousness doesn't stop there. Some people are expecting a recession this year.
MILLER: Right. And even the optimists point to the fact that this most recent job growth figures suggested that wages were finally going up by 12 cents an hour. And moreover, the decline if productivity of 0.3 percent in the last quarter of last year suggests that these wage increases cannot be sustained.
So, I agree with Robert. The volatility of the overall financial markets and the slowdown in Europe and China do not bode well.
BARTIROMO: So, how do these tax plans that we're hearing about, some wanting to raise taxes? How does that impact an economy that just gaining traction?
ROLLINS: Well, first of all, no tax plan is going to take place until there is a new president and whatever that may be and getting a Congress to go along with it. So, we're at least probably two years away from that, and that's unfortunate because we clearly need to lower the business tax in order to stimulate the economy.
If Robert is worried about the economy who has more money than all the rest of us, maybe not you, but more money than all of the rest on this panel, I worry about it.
(LAUGHTER)
ROLLINS: I worry. I worry about this economy. I think people that are in the business that you deal with every day are very worried about this. And we are not driving the agenda by ourselves anymore. There's a lot of world events that are occurring that basically have an impact on us.
MILLER: That's why it's interesting we spent more time in the debate talking about North Korea than we did talking about the economy.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
MILLER: North Korea this morning, Susan Rice issued a statement saying the North Korean missile test was a definite threat to national security interests in the United States. There is an emergency U.N. meeting. But there are very few options for dealing it with as we saw last night in the presidential contenders and this morning.
BARTIROMO: They tried to get the breaking news of North Korea in. They didn't get the news of the jobs story in.
MILLER: Right, yes.
WOLF: And, Maria, you spoke about it all week on Fox Business. But, you know, this is the first week the dollar has actually weakened. We're still in a strong dollar economy. And we haven't been that in a long time. And we're seeing trade and manufacturing slow down.
At the end of the day, you know, we're an outlier. All central banks around the globe are easing and being more accommodative than we are. I think we need to rethink that approach.
BARTIROMO: Yes, Bank of Japan is actually --
WOLF: Negative rates.
BARTIROMO: -- negative rates right now.
ROLLINS: The danger is we're now absolutely in the midst of a lame duck presidency in which the president and the Congress haven't had their meeting last week, leadership, they're going to do nothing this year. You know, they'll struggle to get a budget through. There's going to be no increase anywhere. Taxes are not going to go up, and I think to a certain extent, spending will stay the same.
I just don't think -- you can't have government stop for a year. That's where we're going to be.
BARTIROMO: The president coming out with the budget this Tuesday.
ROLLINS: Right.
WOLF: Yes. And --
MILLER: And moving some money from the pot that is supposed to go to fight ISIS in Afghanistan into a pot of military money that is supposed to enhance our defenses in Europe against Russia. That's not more money.
That's moving money around.
BARTIROMO: Yes, moving the decks here.
WOLF: And I think when people read headline news, there is just a nervousness. You cannot disregard the markets going down. Even if a lot of people aren't in them, I'm not a real equity guy, OK? But when we look at this market going down and having volatility of 2 percent, 3 percent up and down, what China having volatility of 4 percent 5 percent and Japan now income a bear market, that has to spread nervousness around CEOs and corporate executives about, you know, do I do acquisitions or is there organic growth?
BARTIROMO: Right.
WOLF: It adds to the uncertainty. And I think there is something that needs to be done.
BARTIROMO: All right. We're going to take a look at the week ahead and come up with one thing to watch for in the next week on "Sunday Morning Futures" with our panel, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: One thing to watch in the week ahead.
ROLLINS: Super Bowl today.
(LAUGHTER)
BARTIROMO: That's it?
ROLLINS: That's all I care about today.
BARTIROMO: All right. So, who are you picking?
ROLLINS: Denver. I'm for the old man.
BARTIROMO: Judy --
MILLER: Since he's watching the Super Bowl, I'm watching New Hampshire. I'm going to see whether or not Marco-mentum will be slowed down and I'll see whether or not women will actually start turning out for Hillary.
BARTIROMO: Robert?
WOLF: Well, since my Patriots aren't in the Super Bowl, I'm going to go with today's will 80th birthday of Jimmy Brown, my boyhood idol. Why I wore number 32.
BARTIROMO: Wow.
WOLF: And why my company is named 32 Advisors.
BARTIROMO: That's it. I always wanted to know why you named it 32 Advisors?
WOLF: That was my college football number.
ROLLINS: For all the young people under 70, Jimmy Brown was a great football player.
BARTIROMO: There you go.
I'm going to pick retail sales number on Friday. That's going to give us a window into what is going on with the consumer right now.
Thanks to our panel. Great to see you, guys. I really appreciate it.
That will do it for "Sunday Morning Futures." I'm Maria Bartiromo. I'll be back tomorrow morning bright and early on "Mornings with Maria" on the Fox Business Network. Check us out 6:00 to 9:00 a.m. Eastern. Have a good Sunday.
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