this is al jazeera america. i'm randall pinkston. john seigenthaler is off. tonight the republicans debate for the last time before the super tuesday. the university of houston is tonight's debate. donald trump is the front runner. that after winning in new hampshire, south carolina and

nevada. marco rubio and ted cruz, super tuesday could be a final chance for them to slow the billionaire businessman's past to the republican nomination. in tonight's debate marco rubio and ted cruz are expected to shrug it out, each trying to show voters why he is the best person to stop trump. ali velshi is live there tonight. ali. >> there were five. that is what is going to happen tonight. five people. we are looking at as you said what donald trump is going to do super tuesday has a lot of delegates at stake. donald trump is running ahead in almost all of them. 155 delegates are coming in from texas. you and i have been involved in media coverage for a long time. i want to give our viewers a flavour of what is going on in this room. this is the media room, filing room, aspen room. what you see more than you see than guys with big cameras, you

see people with their phones doing this. this is a digital debate tonight at the university of houston. it is a very young crowd. lots of excitement around here. some real sense that something is going to happen. something has got to break. you have ted cruz who is running behind in his own state. there are questions about if he doesn't pull it off in texas how does that hurt his campaign. you have marco rubio who has been doing this on again/off again thing. is he the candidate whom the establishment is coalescing. everybody is coming up to you saying, are you michael shaw, can i do a snap interview with you >> it happens to me all the time. >> reporter: let's talk about the momentum that donald trump goes into super tuesday with >> i think in any other year, if you had the kind of momentum, three straight first-place finishes, new hampshire, can

south carolina, nevada. you would talk about the presumptive. they're saying what can be done to undo trump. right now you would not say anything. >> if it were anyone else, you're right. let's talk about ted cruz. this is his state. he was an upset win for the - when he was running for senator he was an upset win. he becomes the senator of the state. he is not a team player with his party. he is somebody the establishment doesn't like, but this is his state. is it make or break with him? >> you have to say it's make or break. it's hard for him to leave texas on march 2 not having his own state to go to the rest of the country to say even though i didn't do well in my state, i'm still the guy for you. it will be hard for him to

create a narrative of success coming out of texas without a win >> talking about rubio, there are people around head. john kasich is still in this race but right down. is marco rubio the establishment candidate? >> it's hard to say. if you ask the doneor or endorsing class, he is. if you have ted cruz winning in texas and marco rubio who is down in florida not winning there, then who is there. we talk about donald trump not being thought of as no.1. marco rubio has finished in third, in fifth, in second and in second. people will be asking that when are you dropping out. >> we've both been talking to republican officials here.

we will talk about that later. ranchts ndall back to you thank you. donald trump has more delegates than all of his component combined. marco rubio and ted cruz are trying to knock donald trump from his perch. the stakes are high and the snow is ticking >> five days to go and this debate will be crucial. it is seen as a latch ditch effort for the candidates to make their mark and nothing short of a show down is expected tonight >> >> we love nevada. we love moved. thank you. >> reporter: after a big win in nevada and a third straight victor him, donald trump is expecting a sweep on super tuesday. >> we weren't not expected to win too much and now we're winning, winning, winning the country >> reporter: marco rubio and ted cruz are scrambling to stop

trump in his tracks. for cruz that means his home state of texas is make or break time >> as the men and women know here, texas has a history of standing and leading the fight >> reporter: the latest poll out of texas shows cruz with a 15-point loo lead over trump at 28 to 33%. other positives show a tighter race. rubio is saying that he is the best candidate. so far he has no win. >> the vast and overwhelming majority of republicans do not want donald trump to be our nominee. >> reporter: the question remains whether rubio can boost his chances by siphoning off the support from the failed campaign of his mentor jeb bush >> i am suspending my campaign >> reporter: he dropped out last weekend after another poor showing in the south carolina primary. time is running out for rubio.

his home state of florida is a must win ahead of the march 15 prime there he is trailing donald trump by 16 points. with donald trump forging ahead, they keep facing the dwe of whether the g.o.p. is ready to embrace him. >> they will embrace whoever the nominee is. i embrace them all >> reporter: with the stakes high there are calls for ben carson and john kasich to call it quits. both say they won't. john kasich is concentrating on drawing a battle line in his home state >> a lot of people were to say if i were to get out donald trump would win ohio and that would be the end of it. >> reporter: john kasich is trailing trump in ohio >> we should point out that not all the polls are on the same page. ali velshi mentioned some of

them. cruz has a sizeable lead over trump in some do you have any idea where there is discrepancy at this late date >> there was a poll going into today that had them apart by one point, cruz ahead, and then a poll came out this afternoon with the sizeable lead. it is really hard to get a gauge on this we are now joined by the professor of political scienceed and republican analyst who is a former white house aid to president george w bush. he is if in philadelphia - philodelphia. before we get into the deep weeds of the vote of super tuesday, i want to clear something up. why is it everybody is lynd up

against donald trump? >> in terms of the establishment wins? yes. as ali pointed out, if you had someone with this head of steam, no-one would be trying to knock him off the pedestrian-- pedastal. >> he is not an orthopaedic docks republican. he has taken contrary views and there is fear out there that if there is a president trump republicans will not be able to pass the policies that they want to pass. that's one part of it. the other part is that republicans believes and long believe that he cannot win a general election. if you look at the latest polls he has an unfavorable rating in latinos of 82%. you cannot win were that percentage. they're worried that he will not win the general election and he will impact the ballot races.

so they will lose the senate and numbers as a result of this. there is a variety of reasons that people are very, very concerned about a trump presidency or even a trump nomination at this point going to joe. with that being the case, and i assume you agree with her points, why do you then find so many republican voters in these primaries and caucuses going for trum trump? >> there's a difference between folks who are operatives and members of the state, and people who make up their mind and vote for whoever it is they please. people in the establishment are concerned about the fact that they don't owe him anything because he is not raising money like you normally would. he doesn't have all the people who work for establishment candidates who bundle money for their own candidate.

so he doesn't really owe anybody anything and he also doesn't really have a track record. nobody knows what he would do. he has never been an elected official. this is a cycle where not having been an elected official really appeals to republican voters because they're angry. they're disappointed with the economy, worried about terror, worried about illegal immigration and they don't see congress being effective at involving any of those problems of the they're saying they're so angry we're willing to trust an outsider, somebody who has no experience in government and politics but in experience who thinks he can get things done who is able to - he understands our anger and will do something about it. they want to give him a chance. donald trump has spoken to the anger of the electorate and is

getting traction the economist the magazine said to almost the only policy mr trump ascribes to is a fantasy, a construction of a wall paid by mexico. what would he do if faced with the crisis in south china sea, a financial meltdown, nobody has any idea. he may well be suited to voting where voters bear little resemblance to the country as a whole, but winning a general election, namely governing. >> even on the saturday night in the south carolina primary you heard from voters and you continue to hear the theme that they were caught off guard. they're saying they're waiting for donald trump to say something so outlandish that it would eliminate him from this race. it seems that kind of thinking has been going on since the

beginning. it seems that the republican party was caught off guard. >> i would say on the issue of governing, this is the big problem with a donald trump potential nomination or presidency. he has absolutely no policy proscriptions whatever and the very few that he has laid out there makes not an ounce of sense. up cannot remove 11 to 15 million people from this country in a two year period-- you cannot-- we don't have the money or capacity to do it and certainly mexico and we've heard the former president from mexico say they're not going to be paying for it. the ludicrac he is saying ali you've been listening to us? >> i was going to give her $# if

she said what the mexican leader really said what they were going to do with that wall. he used an ex-pleative. i think we have to knowledge that you and me will let the lovely young women out of this because they're not establishment old guy journalists like we are, but to say we as the media are part of this issue where everybody else says the guys winning. he is winning because he is anti establishment. we keep talking about how this is hurting the republican party and on the democratic side are saying the bernie sanders is hurting the democratic party. who cares about these parties. if you sit here worrying about them it puts you in that category. i spoke to the chief strategist

for the republican national committee >> this is getting more interesting. by the day and week. it is getting more heated. in the beginning you had a number of different candidates all sort of doing different things and they were not all talking to each other. now they're getting into each other's business and people have to pay attention. as i always ask you, how does this new tilt affect the republican party? >> we're at this key phase. we've ended the first carve-out states and entering a crucial point. on march 1 many states, many delegates. if you want to be the nam know of our party-- nom me of our party-- nominee for the party, this is when it kicks into high gear. >> when people talk about the

fact that the way this is playing out is hurting the republican party and some say about that on the other side, most people out there don't get emotionally aattached to the party. >> correct. >> why does it matter that there is a republican party or a democratic party? >> in our case, and we're in different shape, while these candidates are focused on the primary, we're focused on the general election. we spend four years building up data, with communities around the country building up networks and organizations that we hand over to that nominee and say now that you've finished at the primary here are the resources to compete in november and take back the white house do you need them? >> absolutely. we need them and they need us. we're thinking 15/20/30 yards down the feel, that when they secure that, we're ready to go

are you excited to getting to a convention without it being entirely clear who the nominee is? >> i would rather have a nominee earlier. it allows us to integrate better and allows us to make sure that we're getting ready. sort of like preseason. we want to make sure that we're working together, we have all the kinks worked out and then put on the best possible general election campaign. at the same time there is drama, intrigue and interest that will happen that wasn't fully known one of the things that the parties worked on a lot since the last election is all the stuff you described, the logistics, ground gain. you were working on trying to be a fuzzer or warmer face for the country. are you worried about the rhetoric, the heat? >> i think once we go into a

general election phase we will start speaking more broadly. right now our candidates are speaking two primary voters, but again one of the things of the beauty that we're doing is we're focused on the general, we are out in those communities, in those states that are not necessarily the states and building those relationships, those networks, talking to them about why the republican party and our candidates are best for them >> as things stand, you are going to have to have a good showing in the general, ohio, florida, virginia in places where it's not obvious that you will. that sort of party will have to show its face. >> yes. at the general election, by 200,000 votes in four states. it was a lot closer than i think it was made out to be. i think we have made a lot of ground up. when you look at where the democrats are. one is a 74 year old socialist from vermont and the other one

is someone under investigation from the f.b.i. i feel good about our chances and where we are tuesday is going to be a big day in texas. what do you make of people who say if ted cruz doesn't win he is out? >> i think it is obviously a very important state, but i'm not going to tell a candidate when or when they shouldn't get out. it is up to how much money they have and how much they're spending he some smooth about that stuff. we're going to have more about that later coming up we will move much more of 2016 presidential race plus developing news from kansas. several people are dead, dozens more wounded in a workplace

shooting. pushing back against an iphone order. the court motion that has apple saying the f.b.i. is seeking dangerous power.

a small town in kansas is the scene of what appears to be a workplace shooting. four to seven people are dead including the gunman. more than 20 others injured. it happened at excel industries. they make lawn mowers and employees some 500 people. >> we had a report of an active shooter inside. we have numerous people shot inside the building. we have a number of people killed inside the building. i don't have an exact count for you right now. the shooter himself has been shot and is deceased

nearby stores and a local college have been placed on lock down. people up and down the east coast are recovering tonight from violent storms that left eight people dead. the small town was hit particularly hard by the storm system late last night. three people were killed there, including a 2-year-old boy, when a tornado over turned a mobile home. several other structures were damaged. obama met with his security team where they discussed the fight against i.s.i.l. among other security issues. >> the fight against i.s.i.l. will remain difficult, but we will continue to draw on all elements of our national power. military, intelligence, diplomacy, homeland security, law enforcement and the strength of our communities. i am confident that we will prevail. we are are in a better position now than with we were last month and a better position last month than we were three months ago earlier today the

administration top officials tested before-- testified that they're a damage estate. apple battles the f.b.i. over iphone encryption. the f.b.i. says it needs apple to open a blocked locked iphone belonging to one of the san bernardino shooters. they want their own operating system so they can access iphone users information. our correspondent is in san francisco. >> reporter: this has been a war of words but has now become an open fight in the courts. apple's filing mentions that the company has been asked to do something that no company has been asked before and that violates its constitutional rights. in a motion filed a day ahead of the deadline, apple executives

are asking a federal magistrate to reverse her order requiring apple to help the f.b.i. hack into the locked iphone of the one of the san bernardino shooters. they're asking them to built a government os as well as a forensics facility that could be used to unlock phones in hundreds of other cases. appear emexecutives told the reporters that the demand violates the company's rights, compelling an innocent third party to work for the government. james comey has said this is about just about a single phone. he told a house panel thursday that this help becoming a larger issue >> i think we have two roles. one is in the cases we must do a competent investigation following the murder of 14 people and we will and we will use whatever lawful tools are available to us, but in the larger conversation our role is to make people understand what

are the coast associated with moving to a world of strong encryption. >> reporter: the chief legal officer told the committee that the government has gone too far >> we do not believe that courts should seek to resolve issues of 21 st century technology with law that was written in the era of the adding machine. we need 21st century laws that address the 21st century technology issues. we need these laws to be written by congress. >> reporter: everybody agrees this is new territory. executives said they're not aware of any precedent for this at all. no company has been conscripted to build something that doesn't exist. it shouldn't have to be the first it was argued. >> reporter: it has raised a very interesting philosophical

side, about how our personalities are reflected in our phones, apple saying it's not just about one phone but about the future. there has been talk about this. i was speaking to apple executives today and there is a clear sense in the company that while up until now they had been willing to comply with the f.b.i. and the government in various ways. they have walked up to a certain line. comey said they have been cooperative in the past but this was not relief they were willing to provide. this is a line to be drawn and apple is determined to stand at it up next more live coverage from houston after the final debate before tuesday's crucial primaries. border politics. donald trump and the former mexican president argue about the wall. the wall.

immigration has played a key

role in this year's campaign. it comes as former mexican president thoughts have been speaking out about g.o.p. front runner donald trump >> i declare i'm not going to pay for that bleep bleep wall. he should pay for it. he has got the money. >> reporter: are you afraid he will be the next president of the u.s.? >> not at all. democracy cannot take crazy people that doesn't know what's going on in the world today what else is he saying about donald trump after that quite stunning rejection of trump's suggestion? >> sure. a very colorful one at that. the former mexican president essentially saying that he is a

crazy person and a threat to the u.s. if elected president. he also expressed his dismay and shock that polls show 44% of hispanics who voted in the nevada primaries had supported donald trump. >> i would like to know who - then again, they're followers of a false prophet. he is going to take them to the desert. if they think they will benefit from an administration by donald trump they are wrong. they must open their eyes. >> reporter: i actually spoke with one of donald trump's hispanic supporters here in dallas today. 27-year-old is the son of mexican immigrants and he told me he supports trump because he

is an anti establishment candidate who he thinks has a strong way of defending the u.s. against terrorism. when it came to immigration, he said he did not support trump's idea of deporting all 11 million undocumented immigrants. he said immigration for him was not a defining issue and he rejected the former mexican president's plea together p today to be against donald trump. >> we make up our own decisions and we don't surrender our decision-making skills to mexico, rome, the vatican. we make up our own mind >> reporter: trump did take the 44% of hispanic votes in nevada, but it remains to be seen how he will do here in texas come tuesday where ted cruz who is from texas has an advantage. also nationally washing post

shows more than 80% of an unfavorable view of him and only 16% say they will vote for him in a general election neither one of the three top candidates are supportive of immigration. marco rubio had been but he has backed away from that position. what is the reaction to the way the immigration issue is playing out during this campaign? >> i was in a small farming community called fort hancack texas and i spoke with the rancher who owns the land where the border fence ends. right in the middle of his farm it just stops. he said he supports donald trump's idea of extending the fence because he does get people who controls without authority onto his property trespassing than onto his property. he said when it comes it donald trump's idea of deporting those

11 million undocumented immigrants he thought that idea would be both impractical and inhumane we're going to ali velshi who is live at the site of the debate at the university of houston. >> reporter: we're talking about the effect on these candidates that these debates have. when they do well in these debates or they do well in a primary like super tuesday, fund-raising really gets effective. it's only five republican candidates left. we want to talk about who is contributing to dt. john did you kn dunbar joins me. he talks about being financed by 70% has come from him, but he

has donors, small and medium business people, ceos and owners of their own industry. tell me more about this. >> one of the best ways to find who supports a candidate is to see who is giving money. he does have a donate button on his website. he does take money from regular old donors. we looked at the donations from those folks and then we analysed the data wound found out that the top three contributors were - occupations were owners, presidents and ceos. we immediately thought great. then he must be supported by all the rich people in the country. then we started looking at the businesses and they're quite small. there were a lot of mom and pop places, ranchers, pesticides,

someone who owns a diner. small business owners. if necessity all had one thing in common it was really, really angry. sort of vitrial to some point, but probably like outrageous frustration with the state of the government as it is now some people, ceos and business owners, might like donald trump because it represents what they do, is somebody who makes money for themselves and employees other people. maybe this idea of over regulation, which generally speaking isn't the purview of the federal government, but does that play into it at all?

>> absolutely. more than one person - by the way, they're from different parties. there is a surprising number of democrats that are independents supporting trump. they female like they're in between. they feel like the republican party represents big business in trem corporations and that the democratic party has left small business people behind and is controlled by other interests, including the big business as well as unions and nobody is paying attention to business owners who work hard and deem with a tremendous amount of regulation, a lot of taxation and are frustrated by a lot of the issues that they here trump talk about. they may not necessarily understand exactly what his policies are and his policies quite frankly are vague they like the idea that

rates will come down to 15%. that seemed to be attractive to business owners. >> lower taxes, less regulation, they're big on the immigration. they're also terrorism, trade. some of the issues, though, that we have read often and they weren't aware of, i think one guy i talked to was angry and he was anybody but who is there right now. i really don't even care who it is that's a little bit to all of these >> it's a little bit scary anybody but whoever is there, it doesn't matter if i know what they stand for.

thank you for that. i want to bring michael shaw back in here. they've just gotten started. they had the anthem. let's talk about texas and ted cruz. he has got to have a two pronged attack today >> i spoke to the cruz campaign at length topped. what they're needing to do is go after donald trump. i think the people that backed ted cruz has been responding to the attack that he is a liar. he is an excellent debater. you will probably see that come out tonight we're having a discussion about what happens if ted cruz doesn't win his state. >> if he doesn't win, it is a totally different conversation.

i think i heard somebody speaking earlier about the fact that if he does win his state, it doesn't matter to donald trump. he can say that's his state. if john kasich wins his state, that's his state. if ted cruz doesn't do anything in this state, there are a lot here if evangelicals had a candidate in whom they could believe, they might come out in numbers that they haven't come out in previous elections >> that's right. in the millions. even if this state where voter turn out is not high that is a huge thing to get them out i'm joined by my guests. some people who in the interviews say they want anybody but who is in the office now, is

that the core source of the so-called anger that we hear about, that this obama hate is driving them to anybody, including somebody with no experience, donald trump >> yeah. i think that's part of it. many people feel on the right that since obama took office almost everything that they believe in about america has been stripped away. that's not just economic, it's the foreign policy and social issues. looking at the last term of the supreme court, support for gay marriage across the country, support for obamacare, these are things that people never thought are happened. they're frustrated with that and frustrated with the establishment republicans and establishment democrats. you add that together and does t does make them look for anybody who is not in public office. that's why it has been easier for donald trump to run against ted cruz and marco rubio. he doesn't have a record to defend. they have to consistently run

their record. they say i only did that as a be that as it may. they have to defend what they did in office. it is attractive. the next step is who is going to govern next talk to us about the strong points for ted cruz and marco rubio as they go into this face off with donald trump on the eve of super tuesday. >> this is a really battle for delegates, of course, and actually for ted cruz and marco rubio for survival because if ted cruz doesn't win texas on super tuesday, he has got a real problem. you've got to win your own state. when you can't win your own state it is hard to have an argument for continuing. marco rubio is 15 or 16 points behind in his state of florida, that is behind donald trump. that is a problem for marco rubio because it is hard to create the narrative that you

should be the nominee of your party when you can't win your own state. especially when you lose it by double digits. in cruz's case he has breathing space because he has been shown ahead. they've got to start winning the primaries because not to win primaries and say i came in at a close second or distant second doesn't create the narrative that he should be the nominee what do you say about john kasich? >> he is going to stick around because he has a great chance to win ohio. that's an important state. no presidential candidate has won a presidency without winning ohio stay with us. with us.

we've been focusing on the republicans but let's not forget about the democrats. they have a huge primary come up in south carolina in saturday. when i was there a few days ago it seemed as if every 20 seconds/60 seconds there was an ad for hillary clinton. she was spending money like it was going out of style. are the airways still plastered with her commercials? >> every airway, every commercial break, grass verge and adverts for bernie sanders everywhere you go. here we are at the royal commission baptist church, north charles ston, and this is a town hall. there's about 500 people here. she has been warmly welcomed. there is thumb for what she-- enthusiasm for what she has to say.

she is far ahead in the polls. she doesn't need to do this. bernie sanders has been heavily criticized for leaving the state. he was campaigning in flint, michigan. she has been burnt before here. she has been ahead in the polls and has still lost. so she is taking part in events like this. that doesn't mean she hasn't had a bad 24 hours. take a look. protests are common in politics. this girl held up her banner. >> we will talk about it. >> reporter: the protesters sign refers to a statement she made in 1996 about at risk youths >> they are often the kind of kids called center predators, no conscience or empathy.

>> reporter: it's not the first time she has encountered activists from black lives matter. in october a dozen proceed at any timers drowned her out. >> yes. they do >> i'm going to talk a lot about that. >> reporter: the stand off lasted for more than 15 minute before they were escorted out of the building. this was done with this protester and finished her speech without referring to the protest again. it is not likely to slow her in south carolina where polls suggest she is expected to win big despite gains her challenger says he has made >> we have picked up a lot of support. we have closed the gap very, very significantly. >> reporter: bernie sanders denies abandoning the stage, but he has moved on. he will return on friday taking his message to ohio and talking to resident of flint michigan

about the water poisoning crisis on thursday. while he makes his way across the country, hillary clinton isn't budging from south carolina. in 2008 polls suggested she was the favorite. obama was handed the state and handed the nomination. she wants to prove that history doesn't repeat this time. >> reporter: the secretary gave an interview with the washington post newspaper this afternoon and said she shoount have used those-- shouldn't have used those words and she wouldn't use it again. she has sat down to a cheer from the crowd that will now follow a town hall event in which she will answer questions from people on the stage and people in the audience we have to point out that in south carolina last primary more than half of the votes came from

african-american democrats. going to a democrat strategist and daughter of house minority daughter nancy palosy. there is this idea that clinton is trying to bring this whole thing to an end to put a stop to bernie sanders, but my question is this, doesn't she also face the risk if sanders is out of the race of being ignored by media until the convention? >> i think hillary clinton is going to win the nomination and win the presidency. she has run a terrific campaign and it has been made stronger by the grass roots of the party who are being included by both campaigns. i think it is really very exciting and i do think that a long campaign is a good campaign for the democratic party because it means more democrats coming out helping us win the house and senate and the white house.

>> reporter: in your estimation, how much of a victory does hillary clinton need in south carolina on saturday? does it have to be a blow out that bernie sanders enjoyed in new hampshire? >> no. i think that one interesting thing of note about skooin is they already have returns that have come in. so far 78% of the returns have been from african american precinc precincts. i think she will do well. then on to super tuesday where both will win some states and it will be a test of the national organization of the campaigns it appears, according to some of the analysis i have read, that sanders must win various states by a sizeable margin. do you agree with that and if he

doesn't do you think it's all over for bernie sanders? >> no. i don't think it will be over on tuesday. i think hillary clinton will do well. there will be states that bernie wins. he will continue forward. his supporters are very enthusiastic and he certainly sees the campaigns through the june states where we decide late on june 7. i do think this campaign is a strong one about issues and unlike the republicans who are afraid to take on donald trump, the democrats have no qualms about taking on each other and pushing each other to do better so that in the end we have the strongest nominee in stark contrast to the republicans who are could youering under the bullying and threats of donald trump. if he is not their party or brand, they really ought to take him down on the substance, not on personality, but on the substance of what he is saying about banning muslims, but p

about building walls could you address one of the ar kill ease heels-- archilles heels facing hillary clinton, her receipt of fund from wall street, wealth for her speaking gadgets. that has been something that bernie sanders has really gone after her about. do you think she is going to-- >> he has but at the same time one of his big supporters michael more made a movie that was funded by gold man sachs. so we can't demonize everybody on wall street. what are you going to do for main street. i think hillary clinton will brip plans for main street. her plan to take on wall street is very tough and strong and

that's why she enjoys broad support within the democratic party. we know we have to do more for consumers. we have to build on the great work that obama and others did bringing us back from the ditch. we lost 13 trillion dollars in household wealth in this country after the republican wall street crash of 20038. the democrats did a lot to bring the economy back and i think hillary clinton will be well suited to bring us forward. that includes making sure that wall street recklessness does not mean main street recklessness thank you for that.

a quick recap of our other

top story tonight. a workplace shooting in kansas. the sheriff's office says four to seven people are dead including the gunmen. more than 20 others were injured in the attack. it happen in a company that makes lawn mowers. the identified shooter has been identified as an employee of the company. more now on tonight's presidential debate in houston. our guests, starting with ali. any interesting exchangess at the debate? >> it is underway, personal and getting mean. i asked michael, he answered without me asking, did i miss john kasich and ben carson. are they not in this debate. they haven't had any air time at all >> no.

they gave brief opening statements and that was it. so far marco rubio has been joined sort of arrested from attacks from donald trump, not tonight. right away with the credit cards, with the debt, with the immigration. >> all that stuff coming out in the past that didn't get traction. they're bringing out against each other. marco rubio and ted cruz talking about some immigration employment violations that donald trump caused him to pay a million dollar fine. it is just getting personal rye now >> exactly. that's what we expected. >> reporter: to the panel over there, one of the things that donald trump pointed out when he said about immigration, he has support and mentions joe that ted cruz does not have the support of a single republican senator. he said you work with every day and not one has decided to endorse you. that's the tenor of this debate

any surprises from you? did you think that they were going to go at it like this? >> yes. just in fit withing this whole cycle, donald trump doesn't act like a front runner. such a front runner would not go on such an attack. that's not his style. he skwlu plays against-- just place against all conventional political wisdom. >> ted cruz, it is his turf. he has to have a strong performance to stay in the game why do you think ben carson is still in the race? >> very good question. i would think that he would be out by now. it is his choice to stick around thanks a lot to you all for joining us as the debate

continues campaign 2016. that's our news for this hour. i'm randall pinkston. ali velshi is next on target. target. county, a devastating earthquake in more than 200 years. aid groups descended. billions poured in. what happened since may shock you. tonight, a special edition of "on target". haiti or shaky ground.