Republican hawks. The neocons, the wall street people went after him too. The partys 2012 nominee mitt romney also went after him. At tonights debate the frontrunner came under attack from the remaining contenders in the case. The dynamic was clear from the outset. It was donald trump versus everyone else. People have now called the jackles because thats all they were tonight. John kasich went after his immigration stance, and his past business dealings. Actually john kasich stayed apart from this ridiculousness, especially the lawsuit filed against him by former students at Trump University. They went after that too. As has happened in the past, the fight quickly broke down into namecalling. I have a policy question for you, sir. Lets see if he answers it. I will. Dont worry about it, marco. Dont worry about it, little marco, i will. Lets hear big donald dont worry about it, little marco. Big donald and little marco. That was the tune of the night. On immigration, trump was challenged to release an off the record conversation he had with the New York Times. He refused. He said he lied anyway, listening to cruz is getting more difficult every night. Here he is. You could resolve this issue very quickly by simply releasing the New York Times tape because, listen, maybe its right that you didnt tell them youre misleading the American People. If thats the case, if you didnt tell them that, the tapes will prove youre innocent. Okay. But if, in fact, you went to manhattan and said, im lying to the American People, then the voters have a right to know. No, no. Youre the liar. Youre the lying guy up lehere. Youre the one. Release the tape. Excuse me. Ive given my answer, lying ted. The night began with rubio justifying his school yard tactics against trump and trump trying to set the record straight on one of those attacks. Donald trump has basically mocked everybody with personal attacks. Hes done so to people citying on the stage today. Hes done so about people that are disabled. If theres anyone ever deserved to be attacked that way, its donald trump. Lets be honest about this. The media has given these personal attacks an incredible amount of coverage. Lets Start Talking again about issues that matter to this country. I also happened to call him a lightweight, okay, and i have said that. So i would like to take that back. Hes really not that much of a lightweight. And as far as and i have to say this. I have to say this. He hit my hands. Nobody has ever hit my hands. Ive never heard of this one. Look at those hands, are they small hands . And he referred to my hands, if theyre small, Something Else might be small. I guarantee you theres no problem. I guarantee you. Its unbelievable. For the next two hours, well be breaking down tonights debate and where this republican race is heading. A stop Trump Coalition is forming. Who is the alternative candidate . Did anyone step up to that role tonight . Michael steel and the washington posts robert costa. Gentlemen, you cant beat someone with no one, and i saw a lot of no one up there on the platform tonight. Jackals, not lions. Again, i think that i dont know what the cruz rubio combo thing is and how they think thats going to work. But there was no ground game in my view with that approach. Tonight was not about doing what they did last week. Tonight was about differentiation, showing that, okay, weve passed that now. Lets talk president ial. The only one in my view who came anywhere near that and surpassed it was john kasich who at every turn brought the conversation back. Even when prodded and poked to attack, said openly, i will not attack. He wanted to have the conversation, and i think that will resonate with a lot of people, particularly now as we move into states like ohio and michigan and elsewhere. I kept thinking of hearts, the card game. He was the one that shot the moon tonight. Everyone else was discarding, he and said, no, im going 0 go for the cards. Its right before michigan. Youre coming right before ohio. This race is swinging up. Its coming back to the rust belt, and kasich is swinging for the moon. Hes saying if i can present myself as a different kind of candidate and rubio is taking all these pot shots, maybe i have a chance. Its an outside chance, but its a chance. You have two jackals tonight, completely attacking the rearend of the other guy. Then you have is there 25 in the republican that will go for the positive . If theyre turned off by rubio. Rubios keys has been wifning these suburban voters across the country. If these late breakers start turning to kasich, thats his chance. Do you think rubio did well tonight . Hes trying to make himself the headline. Hes in the headline now as the one who had big combat with trump. I think rubio had a tactic which ive seen in other campaigns. Bobby casey did it in pennsylvania. Just keep agitating the other guy. Keep making him react, react, react. He kept interrupting him just to bug him. Im not sure it works. I was watching both twitter feeds for seeing how people are reacting, and it wasnt going over very well, to the point where frank luntz said his focus group, which every one is deemed a rubio focus group was not buying it. 30 or less. I think rubio has hit a wall, and i think the he was doing the university, right . One thing ive learned in politics, when you go after someone elses personal finances or personal business, they always know more than you know. So even when theyre caught, they can always come back. You can always trump them. Trump is comfortable talking about his business. Rubio thinks he has the shot against trump, but trump actually likes talking about his private sector work. The thing for rubio, i was just at the senate today talking to his colleagues. They think rubios whole argument is to be the serious one and when hes taking these hits at trump, it kind of anyway, trump and rubio clashed early on trumps record. Lets watch look at that face. Lets watch. He has spent a career convincing americans that hes something that hes not in exchange for their money. Now hes trying to do the same, exchange for their country. This is a fact. He talks about these great businesses that hes built. He inherited over 100 million. Wrong. This little guy has lied so much about my record. Here we go, personal attacks. He has lied so much about my record. I started off with 1 million. I built a company thats worth more than 10 billion. You see what happens again when you challenge him on a policy issue. You asked him about the economy, and the first thing he does is launch an attack about some little guy thing because he doesnt have answers. Anyway, joining me right now, joining our group, the managing editors of bloomberg politics, mark halpern and john hopman. John, i thought it was a pretty dismal display because it was clear the two candidates koend tending in the teens nationally had to just bite trump over and over and over again. And to use that same word, the guy who looked good tonight was kasich who said to one of the moderators, im not going to bite on that. Im not going to goes with your attempting to get another fight going here. Mark . I havent understood for the last ten days why kasich is not getting more of a look from the establishment, the money folks and even from the voters. I thought tonight he did a better job than anybody on the stage. I thought cruz did a better job in two ways. One is he picked his spots more and tethered his criticisms to issues that voter could actually latch onto in a concrete way, affecting the real lives of voters. The other was i thought he did it in a way that stayed more on message. Rubio did more of it, but it was scatter shot, and i dont think it kept him on message. He kind of sacrificed in his brand for not much effect. So i thought cruz or kasich had the strongest night. Rubio, the weakest. The other two, somewhere in between. Rubio looked like he was a victim of his oppo people. It was all oppo. It was, and again it was scatter shot. It wasnt tethered, as cruz did, to say heres something about trump, and heres the way i am and heres why voters should prefer me. Heres something trump is saying right now. It wasnt material. Good point. Let me go to john on that. What did you think about it, the whole two hours . Yeah, i mean i agree with mark. I think, you know, theres no doubt that this was the best debate performance that john kasich has given in the entire campaign. He seems strangely energized. I spent a little time with him today, this afternoon. He seems strangely energized by the weirdness of this contest and by the whole prospect of this forcing this to a contested convention that would happen in cleveland, in his home state. He was clear today that he was not going to go down the path of attacking trump, that he was going to try to differentiate himself in a different way, and i think he really stood out tonight on the debate stage for not being part of the rest of that kind of cage match that we saw. I agree that cruz was better than rubio not just because i thought he was more on message but because of what hes trying to do, which is to get trump into an ideological contest, and in that sense he was on point. The things he was talking about were the kinds of things where cruz won arguments with trump tonight. I saw i thought rubio and trump were just in a fight, an undifferentiated mass of squabbling, and i think most voters will look at that and just sort of say, those two guys, they didnt seem to be kicking each other. There were no real points made. So i agree with mark. No doubt in my mind casic had the best night. Cruz did okay. I thought rubio and trump both did themselves no good. I think for the record book, we have to list rubios retort to being called little marco to retort with big donald, it was probably the weakest retort ive ever seen. You dont want to call your opponent big anything after calling him small on every one of his body parts. Let me get to this question. Mark, do you think one of the reasons that we saw a good, defiant performance, a Strong Performance by john kasich tonight is because of all this attempt to squeeze him out of the race . I mean people are saying hes the one dividing up the vote. Hes the one that should leave the field. Well, look, hes a very proud guy, and i think theres an element to that. I think three other things were in play. One is only four people on the stage, so i dont know what the stop watch said about how the time was divided. Im pretty sure trump got the most by a lot. Two, hes comfortable here. Michigan and ohio despite their football rivalry, similar audiences. He was a crowd favorite tonight. People liked his message. Three is, you know, the fact that he doesnt seem like hes lusting for the presidency. I think is somewhat liberating as these other guys seem intense and combative. The fact that he seems relaxed and willing to let the thing come to him i think is quite becoming and plays well for a lot of voters. He may not get his moment but i think he gave himself a chance tonight. Let me bring in katy tur. Katy tur, thank you. Youre with trump all the time. How did he do . Lets ask you the narcissistic question. How do you think he thought he did tonight . Reporter i think hes going to come down here and say that he won the debate, which is what hes said at every single debate that hes attended when hes walked down, which will now be a set of stairs. We have john kasich coming down right now. His campaign feeling very good about his performance. They were telling me earlier tonight. Governor kasich, were live with Chris Matthews. Governor kasich, were live on ms. He denied us, unfortunately. Back to trump. So i think hes going to say that he did well tonight. I think that there was certainly a moment with megyn kelly asking him about his inconsistencies, contradicting himself a number of times on afghanistan, on immigration, also on refugees, and i think that that was a moment that could have really caught him. But instead he was able to get out of it by saying that he changed his mind. He learned more facts and he evolved. That was a moment that he probably did better than expected on. And then the talk about Trump University, that was certainly the moment that i think that did actually land, talking about Trump University and that lawsuit. Megyn kelly is a lawyer so she was on her game and on point with asking him questions about that. Also the Better Business bureau did come out today and said that his grade rating for that university was aplus to dminus and currently it has no rating because they believe its out of business. Trump obviously not reading that headline, not getting that note because hes continuing on with the message that its aplus and 90something percent of people liked it. But for the most part, im not entirely sure this debate is going to change anything. I think peoples minds are pretty set. If there is any sway, you might see rubio do a little bit better in florida than expected or kasich do a little bit better in ohio than expected. But donald trump certainly still is going to maintain the lead after this. Could you clarify that. What was the rating by the Better Business bureau of Trump University . What was the grade . The letter grade . The current grade right now is dminus. It fluctuated from aplus to dminus. And we have donald trump here. Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump. I love the way we fight for these guys. Reporter mr. Trump. Hes going to fox first. Hopefully we can get him right after this. But dminus is the current rating. Well be right back. Okay . Great reporting there. Thank you, katy tur. Michael steel, robert costa, all sticking with me for this. Were going to all look at trump here. Much more ahead on this special edition of hardball. Well get Donald Trumps actual grade hes going to give himself tonight. Maybe well get a grade like the Better Business bureau. The candidates, their supporters. I agree with katy. I think minds are set. Tonight, whatever it was, kerfuffle, i dont know what youd call it, i dont think its going to matter. Youre watching hardball, the place for politics. So when your symptoms start. Doctors recommend taking nondrowsy claritin every day of your allergy season for continuous relief. With claritin you get powerful, nondrowsy relief 24 hours a day, day after day. And with fewer symptoms to distract you. You can focus on the extraordinary things you do every single day. Live claritin clear. Every day. The cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon. Then quickly fell back to earth landing on the roof of a dutch colonial. Luckily geico recently helped the residents with homeowners insurance. They were able to get the roof repaired like new. They later sold the cow because they had all become lactose intolerant. Call geico and see how much you could save on homeowners insurance. Man 1 he just got fired. Man 2 why . Man 1 network breach. Man 2 since when do they fire ceos for computer problems . Man 1 they got in through a vendor. Man 1 do you know how many vendors have access to our systems . Man 2 no. Man 1 hundreds, if you dont count the freelancers. Man 2 should i be worried . Man 1 you are the ceo. Its not just security. Its defense. Bae systems. This little guy has lied so much. Here we go. About my record. Here we go. He cant help it. He has lied so much about my record. This little guy. It really is grown up stuff, isnt it . This little guy. Welcome back to hardball and our coverage of tonights i guess it was a debate. It didnt seem like a debate. It seemed like a vetting by the moderators and the other candidates of donald trump. Were back with Michael Steele and robert costa. Weve got nbcs Hallie Jackson working the spin room with governor of ohio john kasich. Hallie, thank you for joining us. Hes had the patience of a saint while we were on commercial break. Hes the only guy i wait for is matthews, okay, only because he made sure that tip oneill put me on the Armed Services committee. I got to ask you how you thought the debate went for you tonight given that a lot of the focus was on your competitor donald trump. Oh, no, no. I thought it was a very good debate. I think im beginning to let people figure this out so people can get to know who i am, you know, not just the competence of the domestic and the Foreign Policy expertise but maybe a little bit more heart. Its been the frustration for me is the town halls are so fantastic, and the debates are so constraining. But i felt tonight in the end i made additional progress. So im happy about it. Everybody on my team is really happy about it, so good stuff. Do you think your message is breaking through given that you have folks here talking about small hands and what it means . I think it is breaking through, and i think that people are starting to pay attention, and i can tell by the crowds and the media coverage. So were doing fine. What are you looking over to see where trump went . No. Im just keeping an eye on the situation here, governor. Theres a million people, and im trying to not get knocked down here. Theres a little bit of substance that matters in this business. Of course you would ask me that. Somebody on the program with chris said you seem more energized these last ten days, that you seem like youre feeling some of the momentum from the crowd. Why do you think folks in the establishment havent necessarily coal easied around you . Because theyve never liked me. Why not. Because i give them trouble. They dont tell me what to do. Theyre a bunch of k street people that just theyve never liked me. I cause trouble for them. Im a change agent. Youre not a member of the establishment . Ive never been a member of the establishment. Youre the ohio governor. I used to want to think about tearing the walls of the city down and now that i run the city, i wonder. And the people that have been the special Interest Groups in ohio, were making great progress here. So the success is hard to deny. But i make people uncomfortable in the establishment because they dont know what im going to do next because i dont have anybody i take orders from except for my wife. And so ive never been an establishment person. Look, they didnt want me to be governor to begin with, but we worked it out and were doing better. Wur unified there. But in washington, these home dont like me. They never have. I crushed them 25 years budget. I get support from the people. Enough support to beat him . Look, most of the people thought i wouldnt get in, and they thought i wouldnt get to New Hampshire, and they though