Stand before the station and give you thanks for helping us win florida. But no matter where i go or where ill be, ill always be a son of this community. If youre here tonight or at home watching on television and youre thinking about possibly supporting marco rubio or john
kasich, i want to invite you, come join us. We welcome you to our team. I will never take a low road to the highest office in the land. I will not do it. We have a big election coming up. We could really change things. And you know, marcos not going to do it. And lying ted. Lying ted. Lyin with an apostrophe. What we dont have time for is the all that petty, punkass little thuggery stuff thats been going on with these quote unquote protesters. Good morning. And welcome to another super tuesday. Do you want to call that super . Is that the word . It doesnt feel very super today. Republican voters will decide whether or not the republican race is a coronation or a battle to the convention from here on out. A total of 367 delegates are at
stake today, across five states and one territory. Goldplated states, may i add. Making today the second biggest delegate haul, huge. And the last one to break 300 until the final contests on june 7th. Donald trump has taken about 42 of the delegates so far, with ted cruz staying competitive with 34 . And today is make or break for marco rubio and john kasich in their home states. On the democratic side, voters in those same five states will go to the polls with nearly 800 delegates on the line. Thats about a third of the total needed to clinch the nomination. Heading into todays contest, secretary clinton leads senator sanders by over 600 delegates. Just over 50 of the way to the magic number. With us on set, we have managing editor of bloomberg politics, Mark Halperin. Former Communications Director for george w. Bush, nicole wallace. In washington, columnist for bloomberg view, al hundredth. And in cleveland, hunt, seniorWhite House Correspondent, chris jiang, along with willie and joe. Lets go to the man that the kids call the rain man of the morning. Is he . Yes, he is, Mark Halperin. Ask him about any qantas fight taking off right now im for wapner. Okay. So, again, what about today . Set it up for us. Well, look, donald trump could end the race today. He has within hailing distance in some polls in ohio. If he wins all five states, i think this fight will be over. Does it all come down to ohio . You want to let everybody vote, but donald trump right now is light years ahead, in every single poll. Yeah. Theres early voting there, probably 50 of the people that are going to vote have already voted right now. Does it all come down to ohio . For the Republican Partys last best hope to stop donald trump . Yes. If you dont stop him in ohio, the race is over. If they do stop him in ohio, its a much different race. Watch ted cruz in illinois and
missouri. Trump could win one state tonight. I dont think he will, but he could win one. Big difference between winning one and winning five, to say the least. Theres talk now of marco rubio not winning the race, to hold on to his delegates to be part of a stopTrump Movement. Does he suspend the campaign . He does whatever he needs to hold his delegates into the first because he doesnt want to keep getting 4, 5, 6 . He may not keep campaigning, but he may simply hold on to the delegates he has. We showeded the emergency he has, hes got some delegates. The stopTrump Movement is still ineffective, its not as well organized as it could be. But after tonight, if trump does not win tonight, everybody tries the to figure out, is there a way to keep him from getting a majority. Well, they were trying to figure that out, al hunt, a couple of weeks ago. They pour in 25 million in the state of florida. Donald trumps numbers have only gone up 8 to 10 percentage points, and if you want to
compare polls week to week, his polls just keep going up. The more money they throw at him, the higher his numbers get. I wonder what their new plan is to stop trump after today. Well, youre right, joe. What theyre hoping is theres a big gap between next weeks arizona primary and new york on the 19th of april. And the hope is theyll spend a lot of money then. This is the stopTrump Movement. Theyll have a lot of money. It may have the same result. Im not going to say its all over, no matter what happens, because ive learned that ive said too many things are all over for the last six months, and thats a hazardous prediction. I do think that, you know, that data that you put up, really, the 42 , donald trump cant go into cleveland with 42 or 43 or 45 . He has to go into cleveland with something almost at 50 . So therefore, its not just how many states he wins, but how many delegates he picks up tonight and in the subsequent weeks. Nicole, i come to the conclusion over the past two
weeks, with everything thats breaking, that if hes at 49 , they will not give it to him. But how do they do that, though . By saying, were not going to give it to you. Listen, theres going to be a civil war, regardless. There is one, right . Im not suggesting this is what they do. Im just saying, after testimony david duke after once again saying islam is against all of us, after friday night, they have what they consider their justification. I think it will split the party in half and but, like you know, theres already civil war right now. Like you said. Yeah, i think the partys been broken. I think that donald trump has to really tumble in the polls. And the things you mentioned, three days the to disavow donald duke, doubling down on islam, these things create a crisis for him in the part of the party thats already against him. They give them exhibit a, exhibit b, exhibit c. They give the forceful message you heard ted cruz and marco rubio make in the last 48 hours. Those messages arent turning their supporters against him. Because they hear a guy not bought and sold by donors. They hear a guy whos correcting the political correctness, they hear a guy who hears their economic pain. So it is a broken party and it is a completely bifurcated campaign hows your dad with this . My parents hated the things he said about megyn kelly three months ago, theyve hated his personal insult campaign from the beginning. They liked him in spite of those things. They saw the violence, and no one watched the images of violence and it didnt make anyone like trump more, but it didnt peel them off, because theyre still committed to the fact that he doesnt have a donor base and that hes going to break what they hate about washington. To that point, theres a poll out yesterday that showed 88 either liked trump more or didnt change their opinion based on friday night. So we said that yesterday. We said, this only helps him among people all of this helps. That didnt change. I think all of that stuff is built in and baked into who he is. If he gets all these states and say he wins ohio and florida tonight, goes to cleveland with those huge states and all these delegates, how, practically, do you peel it away from him and take those millions and millions of people who voted for him and say, your vote doesnt matter, were going to give it to someone else. I think, personally, i think its a moot point. Because heres a poll, 88 , like you said, had no impact or made it more likely to vote for him. And again, this goes to what nicole was saying. All of these things that offend people in manhattan and in washington, d. C. , actually strengthens with the base. Because what his supporters saw on friday night, willie, was, you know, they saw moveon. Org. They saw bernie supporters tearing up signs. They saw well, they saw what i saw on tv. They saw people running up to
the cameras, shouting profanities, not even being able to explain why they were there. Raising a lot of questions about, okay, why exactly were they there . Did someone pay them to be there . They saw black lives matters there. They saw fistfights. They saw trump people leaving the parking lot and people screaming at them. And so even the things that offend us, actually reinforces support for trump among many. And i must say, even the news on fox has become more positive towards donald trump since friday. For a second there, i actually thought we were going to hear some sympathy from megyn kelly, who, of course, has no reason to be sympathetic towards donald trump at all. But as those protests were going on, she called out what offended her and what offended a lot of conservatives. Theres no doubt that the fox thing is on the leading edge of how this has helped trump with some parts of the party. There are two realities, though, that i think are important to talk about in light of today. One is what al said, which is
the calendar becomes much different now. And i dont know that that will work to Donald Trumps benefit, because of the second factor, which is, were going to have a slimmed down field. Assuming the voters in florida do not vote for marco rubio and trump wins that state, trump is either in a threeperson race with cruz and kasich, or in a twoperson race with cruz. And it is possible with the calendar the way it is and a twoperson race with ted cruz, trump could, could start losing states to ted cruz. So lets look at the latest round of polling, heading into todays key state contests. In two more florida polls yesterday, trump lead by double digits. Hes up 17 points in the final Monmouth University, 44 for trump to rubios 27 . With trump gaining 6 and rubio dropping 3 since last week. And trump has an 18point lead in the new by the way, i just we have to just say, again, the guy has gone up six points, despite the fact hes had 25 million thrown against him in florida. You cannot be in the state of florida without seeing a
negative donald Trump Commercial every 30 seconds. Yeah. It is everywhere in florida, and the guy has gone up six points. That shows what the establishment money and what the donor class money does and helps explain what usually would hurt any other candidate, only seems to reinforce donald trump. And since mitt romneys endorsement, those numbers are a full mitt romneys endorsement . I mean, mitt romneys antiendorsement, whatever you call it. It was an endorsement. Trump style. It has had the effect of endorsing him, because its the establishment coming out as strongly and you said it from day one. A misstatement im trying not to say i told you so. We talked about it here, an endorsement from an establishment figure for any of the others would actually hurt them. But these acts have not been accompanied by a candidate driving the same message. Its the only difference for ads to have a difference in a race like this. The ads are on and some of them are okay, but you dont have the
ads coupled with cruz or rubio or kasich driving the same message. That could happen in subsequent states. Lets go to ohio youre funny youre funny. Its not going to happen. People have been saying its going to happen. Its just not going to happen. It hasnt been tried yet. The most remarkable thing, that it hasnt been tried. That no one has tried to match this is oldfashioned politics 101. Nobody is able to match him. Marco tried. No ones tried to match try to match what, nicole . A Campaign Message with the media ad buy. No one has tried that. And that is traditionally how you drive a message, that your paid media match with surrogates and emails. No ones tried. And when it narrows down, its possible theyll try and succeed. I dont think its possible anymore. But no ones tried sit the political malpractice of the cycle. Its also quite possible that i, willie, could become an
astronaut and be the next person in space. Theres still time. The Monmouth University poll in ohio finds governor kasich finishing with a slight edge, taking 40 to trumps 35 , about a half a point outside the margin of error. Cruz is at 15 , rubio at 5. North carolina, which also votes today, a Public Policy poll finds trump in the lead, 44 to cruzs 33. Kasich at 11, rubio at 7. You see trump, mika, in the 40s in all of these. And every single one of these polls, once again, everything that everybody said about donald trump has been wrong. Yeah. What weve been saying a ceiling, you mean. A ceiling. Willie, we have been mocking people that have been moving that ceiling up for nine months. But celebrating, you know no, no, no. It was 15, then it was 20. Oh, that was it. I remember when it was 29. And it will never get to 30. Hell never get to 30. Hes in the 40s in every one of these polls. And pushing 50 in national
polls. The low 40s. Even in ohio, where hes not in the 40s, and governor kasich may well win today, what donald trump has done there is remarkable. John kasich is incredibly incredibly popular. Almost 80 Approval Rating among republicans. He won his last race by 30 points. Hes been endorsed by the Republican Party in ohio, which they havent done for 50 years. Hes got every advantage you can imagine. You walk around ohio, people love him, republicans love him. Yet, donald trump is within striking distance. Its one of the most remarkable things that trump has accomplished. To be competitive against john kasich is incredible. Its pretty incredible. But you look at the monmouth poll that came out yesterday that shows him doing so well against marco rubio, donald trump is doing well against marco rubio, even among people that give marco rubio high Approval Ratings for his work as a United States senator. Well, i mean, he was, at one point, sort of the establishment pick, and the hometown boy. And trump has squashed floridas hometown boy and possibly could squash ohios hometown, as well. Its unbelievable. In a final push ahead of todays ohio primary, Governor John Kasich held Campaign Events alongside former gop nominee, mitt romney. Did he endorse him . What said super nice things. Okay. He said super nice things. I forget which way the compliment went. Last night the two held a rally in kasichs hometown maybe hes going to run, himself, mitt romney, and thats why hes holding back on doing anything definitive clear and helpful. If kasich wins in his home state, it could keep his candidacy alive, but last night he said he isnt willing to sacrifice his morals for his job. Frankly, folks, i dont care about politics. Have you figured that out by now . It Means Nothing to me, okay . I dont care about polls. I dont care about focus groups. I care about listening to you. When i see you on the corner, the letters you write, the emails i get. You see, i hear you. And all you want is somebody thats going to call them like he sees them. Im here to be a good role model as best as i can for these kids and my daughters. And i want to tell you something, i will never take a low road to the highest office in the land. I will not do it. Chris jansing is in cleveland, i believe. So, chris, this is a big day for governor kasich. Whats the possibility from what youre hearing on the ground, anecdotally . Is it possible he could get edged out in his home state of ohio . Ive been here all week in columbus and cleveland. Theyre nervous, Republican Leaders here who all, as willie pointed out, all of them back john kasich. I thought the most significant thing we heard from mitt romney at two appearances yesterday had nothing to do with being projohn kasich. It was antitrump. Five words. America is counting on you. He is expressing the deep concern across the party. And when you talk to folks here in ohio who truly do believe
that john kasich would be a great president , who are willing to go out and work hard for him, they think that not just is ohio at stake here, they think the future of the party is at stake. They think the presidency is at stake. When i talk to the head of the party here, he said, look, chris, you know ohio. You know this voter base. There is no way, if donald trump is the nominee of the Republican Party, that we dont lose ohio. And if we lose ohio, we lose the presidency. Theyre nervous, but they do feel, though, that they have a little bit of energy going on. And you know, it is worth pointing out that mitt romney did win here and he seemed to fire up the crowds. So well see what happens. But this race is unbelievably close. Wow. Unimaginable. Chris jansing, thank you very much and thanks for being up way too early this morning. Its very early. So, al hunt, what do you i want to get you in on this conversation about what happens next. Do you think, as Mark Halperin thinks, that there can be an
organized antiTrump Movement, that is more effective than the one that weve seen over the past two weeks . Because we heard two weeks ago that the building was ton fire and, you know, had people pouring millions and millions of dollars in. Is it too late now or is it possible to slow him down . Joe, therell certainly be an organized effort and it cannot be less effective, because of what weve seen so far. I think what scares i think the people behind and it really is quite an eclectic group. Its the establishment, its the conservative activists, its some of the donors. And what scares them, as much as david duke and the islam and all the other things about donald trump, is the numbers and your nbc wall street journal poll last week. Donald trump has a committed 45 40 of the electorate. But his unfavorables were 69 . 64 . And his favorables were 25. Thats territory that almost no,
no modern politician has been in. Its incredibly negative territory, when you get beyond that committed base. So, al, can we as a washington insider, can we also tell the other side of the story, that Trump Supporters would want us to tell, but we havent told, because we have been focusing on the things that have offended us in Donald Trumps campaign. But can we also talk about the fact that it is a nightmare for republicans in ohio and washington, d. C. , and across america that have been part of an entrenched system, that have run washington, d. C. , for the better part of 30 or 40 years, and this is usually the stage of the campaign where the same usual suspects get lined up, start lining up at the trough, getting hundreds and thousands of people to work on president ial campaigns, so when the candidate gets nominated is and then wins, they can then go into the white house, or they can lobby. It is a washington, d. C. Circle