News prime time lineup of town halls with the g. O. P. Candidates. Greta van susteren interviewed Ohio Governor john kasich earlier this evening. Sean hannity will speak with businessman donald trump. And in a special airing. [booing] kelly file tonight at 11 00 p. M. Yours truly will sit down with florida senator marco rubio. But, first, at. [boos] at stake for the candidates in North Carolina 72 delegates. Here the real clear politics average of poll shows donald trump with a 10 point lead over senator tim cruz. [crowd booing] the last poll taken in this state was three weeks ago and a lot has changed since then. [cheers and applause] lets get right to it. All right, senator, thank you so much for being here. Lets start with the obvious question which is what are your predictions for North Carolina . Well, listen, i feel really good here in North Carolina. We have an amazing team on the ground. And we are seeing an energy. Were seeing an excitement. And, really what we are seeing in North Carolina is a continuation of what we have been seeing all across the country. You know, if we step back a year ago, we had 17 candidates in the field. I mean, it was a crowded field and it was a talented diverse field, a dynamic field. Pretty striking contrast for the democrats. [ laughter ] this whole year we have seen that field wing narrow. And its gotten narrower. We saw super tuesday andivn Super Saturday two tremendous outcomes. [cheers and applause] where the voters have now made clear that there is only one campaign that repeatedly beaten donald trump. [cheers and applause] and that can and will beat donald trump. And so what were seeing is republicans uniting behind our campaign. But what specifically is the path forward . Because it takes 1237 votes in order to become the republican nominee and what the odds makers are saying is ted cruz would need to win 60 of the vote from this point forward in order to win straight out before we get to a contested convention. And what those same experts are saying is thats really mathematically impossible unless you win florida, which even you concede is a long shot. Well, listen, i understand that the are constantly saying, the conservative cant win at every stage, if it were up to the experts, we would not have won a primary yet. Im all right with the experts saying that. They say none of them can win except for donald trump straight out. Thats funny. Those are the same ones that put donald trump on the same tv station 24 hours a day and then once he is the nominee. [cheers and applause] and nobody should be confused. The Network Execs who give donald hundreds of millions of dollars of free air time are all liberal democrats. They want him to be the nominee because they know donald gets killed by hillary and their plan is can obliterate him. Donald may be the one person on the face of the planet that Hillary Clinton can beat in the november general election. [cheers and applause] but you asked path forward. So lets talk some real simple math. It takes 1237 delegates to be the nominee. I have just over 300. Donald has about 80 more than i do. Both of us are within 08 delegates of each other. The path is simple. We continue to narrow the field. If you look at the other two candidates in the field, marco rubio, john kasich, both good, honorable people. But neither one of them has a path to winning the nomination. They are far too behind in the delegate count. They cant catch up. The path is simple. We continue to narrow the field. Head to head, not only do i beat donald trump but i beat donald resoundedly. Just today a new poll came out. [cheers and applause] that has me beating donald trump by 13 points head to head. By the way, that same poll has donald losing to Hillary Clinton and has me beating Hillary Clinton. [cheers and applause] he said he hasnt even started on her. He believes his numbers against her will get better once he, quote, starts on her. I want to ask you because you have talked about a broken convention. Lets be clear the media hasnt started on him and she hasnt started on him. He has had kid gloves for six months from the media and present company excluded. [ laughter ] thank you. Lets talk about contested convention and whether thats a likelihood. You have said this could be enormous mistake for the party. Obviously the party would have to be very divided for it to arrive at a brokered convention. Some of your backers who dont see an easy path forward for 1237 for you say i have no problem with the contested convention. I would rather see that, they say, than to see somebody get the nomination who only has a plurality, who doesnt have 1237. So if it has to happen ugly, it happens ugly. Look, there is difference between a contested convention and brokered convention. A brokered convention is the fevered dream of the d. C. Establishment. Mitch mcconnell. That everyone is divided and then suddenly the d. C. Establishment swoops in with their white knight and theyre mad at the voters. [crowd booing] thats the reaction ever the voters. I think it would be absolutely catastrophic to have a brokered convention where they try to parachute in some d. C. Establishment candidate. You would ski see an open revolt. [cheers and applause] and it would all but concede the election to Hillary Clinton. Theb u voters need to decide this. And thats why our strategy is veryc simple. We intend to beat donald trump. But the way to beat donald trump is beat him at the ballot box. [cheers and applause] you havent yet amassed 1237 and neither has he, lets say its a two man race at that point, you are okay with the, quote, contested convention where then it goes to a balloting system and its still decided by the people. A contested convention is a different thing where you go if no one gets 1237 and you have got two frontrunners. Lock, reagan and ford battled it out at contested convention. Thats what conventions are for. If you are fighting between the candidates who have earned the votes of the people, and its the delegates at the convention who have been elected to do that, thats the way the system works. And thats perfectly appropriate. I will tell you i dont believe we are going to need that either. I believe our path is very simple. Were going to continue to narrow the field. When we get head to head with donald trump, we are going to beat donald trump over and over and over again. [cheers and applause] how does it happen though . Because what the analysts say is that and what you heard marco rubio say is that your path will get harder from here. They points to states like new york and california and florida, new jersey, which might not be ted cruz territory. Well, lets talk about those. California, the last field poll that was done, i was in first place in california. [cheers and applause] i think they like you. Well, North Carolina is godsc9 country. [cheers and applause] but, you know, there is always an analyst saying well, there is no way for the conservative to win. That is what the talking heads always say. Going into iowa. Every pundit says on every show trump was going to win. We won an overwhelming title wave landmark victory. [cheers and applause] then on super tuesday. Super tuesday donald was supposed to sweep all over the country. We won a tremendous victory in oklahoma. We won a tremendous victory in alaska. [cheers and applause] and we won a landslide, historic turnout victory in my home state of texas. [cheers and applause] and then lets go to Super Saturday. Super saturday was supposed to be a great day for donald trump. The pundits, those experts who say we dont have a path, they said donald was going to sweep all four states. He had a decisive lead everywhere. Well, its interesting. Kansas, the day of the kansas caucuses, marco rubio had spent the whole day campaigning in kansas. That morning, donald and i were both at the same kansas caucus site. We spoke back to back to the same group of voters. All of the pundits had predicted donald was going to win kansas. Not only did we win, but we won with a landslide nearly 50 of the vote in kansas. What the polls showed was that you started really surging later in the week. Yes. And that trump has started to haven gone down a bit since last weeks debate and over the past few days. To what do you attribute that . What i see happening is republicans are consolidating around us. 65 to 70 of republicans recognize donald trump would be a disaster. If he is the nominee, hillary wins. Now, donalds friend has been division. He wants this field divided. As long as that 65 to 70 is split up among two, three candidates, that helps donald. What happened after super tuesday is the folks who want to stop donald trump had pee gun uniting around our campaign, and we are welcoming people who are supporters of jeb bush, of chris christie, of rand paul, of dr. Ben carson. Were welcoming. [cheers and applause] were welcoming people right now who are supporting marco rubio or supporting john kasich, both, good, honorable men. But neither one of them has a path to defeating donald trump. If you want to defeat donald trump, i would say to you come join us and if we stand together, well see the results. 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Live here in raleigh, North Carolina, how do you get things done without giving up your values . And were back now with senator ted cruz. Thats the question. They love that you stand on principle. They believe you. And they believe you are a constitutionalist and you mean it and you are not going going to betray those values. They want things done if they send to you washington. Absolutely. Stakes too high. The problems are too big for us not to fix them. How do you do it . You think about it. A president really has three levers of authority. Throw levers to change the ship of the direction of government. The first is executive power. Thats within the one that obama abused so mightily. [crowd boos] the Silver Lining to that is everything done with executive power can be undone with executive power. [cheers and applause] so, for example, i have pledged from the very first day in office to rescind every single illegal and unconstitutional executive action taken by president obama. Do you see the presidency as the weakest branch of government as the one thats supposed to be the smallest . It is not the weakest branch of government, but it is circumscribed by the constitution and its authority. So, when you look, when the president illegally grants amnesty as he has, that is contrary to the law. Its contrary to the constitution. But, with the stroke of a pen, that executive amnesty will be gone. What are two and three . Also on the first day in office, i pledge to direct the department of justice to open an investigation into planned parenthood and to prosecute any and all criminal violations. [cheers and applause] also on the first day in office i intend to direct every agency of the federal government that the persecution of ledge just liberty ends that day. [cheers and applause] my question to you is, while they clearly like what they are hearing, what about the daytoday management of the government and getting deals done . You are talking about change. Also on day one, i will direct the department of education, common core ends today. [cheers and applause] now, you want to talk [cheers and applause] well, you know, under common core we have 11 days in a week. We have a long time until election day. [ laughter ] look, all of those are actions that a strong principled conservative president can do and can could immediately and i will do. The second lever of president ial authority and change is Foreign Policy. And Foreign Policy can change overnight. I mean, its worth remembering in 1981 iran released our hostages the day that Ronald Reagan was sworn into office. [cheers and applause] but, if i could, i think what this is going for is the things that cannot be done simply by the executive office. The stuff like entitlement reform was one of the things i was asked about. Megyn, im starting more broadly because what the media tells us is that you cant fix this. You cant change that. And it isnt true. On Foreign Policy on day one i will rip to sheds this catastrophic Iranian Nuclear deal. [cheers and applause] also on day one, i will begin the process of moving the American Embassy in israelc to jerusalem. [cheers and applause] now, lets focus on the third area which is where you want to go, which is legislation. Legislation is the hardest lever to use because right now congress is fundamentally broken. It is dysfunctional. I am campaigning on two big policy initiatives. Number one repealing every single word of obamacare. [cheers and applause]dh q and number two, passing a simple flat tax and abolishing the irs. [cheers and applause] control of the house and the senate and the Republican Party if you want to get that done. Now, listen, you are right. And neither of those are easy. I am not remotely naive or polyan issue in. Were behind you, ted. Thats actually the key. Listen, could i get either of those done in this Current Congress . Not a chance. Because right now the washington cartel, all of the lobbyists, all of the special interest, they depend on the status quo. The irs tax code, the reason its so long is thats where subsidies, all the handouts are buried in that tax code. How do you change it . You know, if you look at the last time we broke the washington cartel, it was 1981. It was the reagan revolution where reagan took it to the people and there was a tidal wave from the people. The way we get that done is i intend to make 2016 the election len jection against Hillary Clinton a referendum on repealing obama care and abolishing the irs. [cheers and applause] how about immigration. That was another question somebody had about what you are going to do to secure the southern border and how quickly and i said is that a big issue for you . She said im worried about isis coming across the border. Absolutely. I asked you this at the debate but we didnt quite get an exact answer. What about the Jeff Sessions factor. People for whom immigration is a big issue, they like Jeff Sessions. You have stood shoulder to shoulder with him. I like Jeff Sessions. He endorsed donald trump. So what message do people take from that . You know, i actually trust the voters to make their own determination. [cheers and applause] in 2013, when marco rubio was standing with barack obama and harry reid and Chuck Schumer and pushing the massive gang of eight amnesty bill. [crowd booing] i stood with millions of americans and led the fight against amnesty. [cheers and applause] and we defeated it in congress. Does president cruz build a wall . Yes. But let me point out let me finish with 2013. At that time donald trump not only was nowhere to be found. He was funding the gang of eight. He gave 50,000 to five of the eight members of the gang of eight. And let me say to folks at home. One of the most ominous words that was repeated over and over again in that last debate was flexible. [ laughter ] donald said that over and over again. Flexible. He was going to be flexible. You know inad d. C. Flexible is code word for they are getting ready to stick it to you. [cheers and applause] and lets be really clear what donald was be