john: i'm john heilemann. mark: and i mark halperin. and with -- and "with all due respect," we are at a disclosed location somewhere outside the nation's capital, and that's right, we are talking with you about cpac ladies and gentlemen. right now, scott walker is speaking, he is on stage here at

cpac and if you want to watch him live, you can head over to her website, we going to have a conversation that john had a little earlier with ted cruz later on in the show but john what struck you so far about this cpac? john: the first thing that struck me is that this is my lucky day. look what i got. i got a poster of sarah palin on a pony. sarah palin on a pony. what is better than that? mark: i think it is photoshop. -- photoshopped. john: we had the head of the aclu saying that the road of the program starts here, we saw a lot of interesting and important speeches today. mark: this is always the event of the year for the conservative

movement. john: and some people have a lot at stake here, i think john -- i think chris christie had a lot of stake here. mark: unusual this year, the format is a little bit different. everyone who spoke is entitled to be judged so we are going to do that without fear or favor. we are going to the day, and we are looking at them in the ascending order, and john, we are going to start with a person who i thought had the best day carla victorino -- currently fiorina -- carly fiorina. john: let's take a look and listen at some of the video here. carly fiorina: throughout my career, i have had someone to

need a chance and take a look at me. when i had cancer, i needed many helping hands, when my husband frank, and i, lost art child lori to the demon of addiction we remained with her family and the solace of our eighth, but we were also list did -- were also lifted up by the prayers of the people in our lives. everyone needs a helping hand, but no one wants to be trapped in the web of dependence that has been woven over decades in our nation. john: so mark, that was carly f iorina who was doing a bit of that biography talk that we discussed earlier, so you obviously think that carly fi orina did very well today? mark: that was, i thought, her

best moment. a lot of people in that room had never heard her speak, and her speaking skills are better since a couple of weeks ago in iowa. it is very strong for presentation when at the time it a party realizes that you cannot have seen a man up on stage against hillary clinton. she talked about national security, economics, and social issues. john: you are grading them on you are say that the things you are grading them on our weather to get the republican nomination,. mark: she made it clear that she is here to stay now with the republican party. now let's talk about chris christie, he came up here with the biggest slump. john: i remembering he did not have much good news. mark: he had trouble with the donor wing of the party and now he is trying to drive a very specific message, which is the things that he did test, which

is combative and saying that he can get things done. also, not riled up, not hot. all q&a. john: and in an interview, she was pretty tough on him, celestica listen to that end here about chris christie and the best thing about his presentation here today. chris christie: i went to speak my mind and i am going to be direct everyone sounds like charlie brown's teacher, you know, wah wah wah wah wah. [laughter] and i'm going to tell people what they need to hear directly. interviewer: but sit down and shut up? chris christie: yes, and if i need to tell someone to sit down and shut up then so be it. [applause]

and quite frankly, laura, there is so much ridiculous stuff being spewed at the white house that someone needs to say shut up. mark: it is true that sometimes people need to be sitting down and be told to shut up. what kind of grade did you give to chris christie? mark: he came in because he was given a bad run, i give him a b plus so he was very interesting , and he went after jeb bush recently. john: he also said he was willing to take on unscripted questions. mark: some people are saying that it is ridiculous that the head of the rga -- that the chair of the rga was saying that, but again, he is still in a deep hole, but it has been a pretty good day for him. all right, next up is ted cruz

which john and i did an interview with and we will show that a little bit later. john: he did all right, i thought, you know, that we always say that people say that he needs new material, and this is more like a greatest hits album. he got a lot of applause in the room, solidity or a little clip and will get back to your grade. ted cruz: if you are really a conservative, you will have been in the trenches, you will bear the scars, you will have been fighting the fight, and i will tell you what the men and women of cpac understand. it is the biggest divide that we have in this country. it is not the divide between the republicans and the democrats. the biggest divide in this country is between career politicians in washington and the american people. john: mr. halperin, your grade? mark: beep plus -- b plus i

think he was not 100%. john: i agree with you, i don't think he is catching fire yet. ok, we got one last one? mark: first bigger of the day dr. ben carson, who had the burden of warming up the crowd. again, let's talk about the standard, no new material. it was a classic ben carson performance, strong but it touched some buttons, but again it was at 9:00 in the morning, and not a lot of energy in the room, and by the way, i gave him a b minus. john: you are very generous to him, he has a lot of things on paper that makes them very attractive, he is not going to set the campaign trail on fire. mark: all of the candidates are guilty, and again, i graded them on substance, and he was not

doing well on substance. he has never been big on specifics, and this is not a format that you need to make a policy member. eventually have to be slightly grammatical and that is his thing right now, and i think if you need to go up to the next level, he can do it. john: i agree with you, i think all of them were light on substance today. coming up, we go cruisin' for a bruisin'and we speak with ted cruz and the cpac has just begun. ♪

john: senator ted cruz did a pretty awkward job today, so we decided to give him a mulligan. john: senator, thanks for joining us, you have been to a lot of cpac so tell us why it

is so fun and interesting? ted cruz: this is packed with fun, you have republicans who are angelic -- who are evangelicals, you have women, you have tea partiers, and there is a pastor and -- and there is a passion and an energy here. mark: when was the person you came to cpac? ted cruz: many years ago, i spent about an hour and a half sharing a drink with andrew breitbart and sharing our thoughts about the need for people to pass the torch on, and sadly andrew is no longer with us. john: your speech was great, a great reaction in the rude -- in the room, a very typical ted cruz bees.

ted cruz: well thank you. john: some people say you are better than others, so tell us about your humor. these think your jokes killed? ted cruz: i got to say that a lot of republicans take themselves too seriously. if you cannot laugh and cannot enjoy yourself, life is too short not to have fun. john: a lot of people are talking about jeb bush, and not many people think that he is a super-conservative guy. can you talk about the ways in which isn't think governor bush might fall short in terms of true conservativism? john: talk about your -- mark: talk about your innermost thoughts on this. ted cruz: i like him as a

governor and i like cam and respect him as a family member -- as a family man. the primary voters have an opportunity to look someone in the eye. it starts off in relatively small states like iowa, new hampshire, and south carolina. there is an old joke about if you would vote for someone, and you would say, i have only met him five times. if we go to the presidential cycle and say go to california or new york, most people's interaction with the candidates would be through some slick tv ad and they would not get to see them. john: -- mark: i hate to interrupt, but everything that you are saying is true. ted cruz: look, i have faith that primary voters are going to look to people's records. mark: did you ever compare your record to senator -- governor

bush bosch -- governor bush's. stickers -- ted cruz: i don't think that one should. look, we will see how this campaign plays out. i know governor bush was quoted at a "wall street journal" gathering that he had to be prepared to lose the primary to win the general, and i would confess that as a primary voter, that is not encouraging. we will see how this plays out. i think every candidate is obliged to make the case to the voters why they will fight for the principle that they care about and that we share. as i urged today, we hope that primary voters will look to actions and not words. everyone will look and claim to be a conservative, and i think

it is much more relevant to walk the walk and then talk the talk. john: you mentioned iowa recently and bush as at 25% and you have been in the low single digits out there you spent some time in iowa, a lot of iowa voters are attracted to scott walker. to cruise: -- ted cruz: i think polls show stuff from your out -- show numbers from a long w ay out, and when i started off in texas i had 2%, and then we ended up going through a $50 million primary, and we went to 2% in the polls to win by 40% in the primaries and 60% in the general's -- generals.

if we win the campaign, i were to spend a lot of time at iowa hop -- i hop -- ihop's and denny's and other places. mark: this is a pretty easy event for you when you say that a lot of americans would like a president who would bring the country together. what in the ted cruz record or position that you think would appeal to democrats and how do you argue that you are a guide to get elected and bring the country together? ted cruz: you know, mark, that is a great question, and we need to reassemble the coalition and bring together different parts to comprise -- mark: what about liberals, if you were elected president, what would you say to them? ted cruz: we have differing views but shared values. just like republicans and libertarians. mark: what about the reagan

coalition, what would your message be to liberals in the country who say that you would be president to everybody? how would you get them to be supportive of the ted cruz agenda? takers: -- ted cruz: diehard liberals would not be part of the coalition, but i tell you who would become a and now would be the reagan democrats, union members, catholics, people up and down the rust belt. over the past few years, then and women have been hammered and i think about winning is you have to run a hard campaign to appeal to hard-working women. mark: if you are running, what is your message to the americans who say that he does not want the liberals to agree with ted cruz but he wants them to lead them? ted cruz: i am bringing back

jobs and opportunities, so the single mom who is waiting on tables and the immigrant can climb the economic ladder and achieve the american dream. and then it is to guarantee the constitutional rights, even the constitutional rights of liberals, to fight for their ability to say what they want to say. and i think that there are so many millions of fdr democrats who became reagan democrats even of a voter democrats for demo -- even though they were voting democrat for generations they change with him. liberals are worried when a president of the united states expresses hostility against the nation of israel, and we need a president stands with the nation of israel and who stands up against isis and those are all of the issues.

those are 60% 70%, 80% issues. john: do have another movie impression or another oppression -- another impression? : -- ted cruz: i was in our media pits and i decided to do -- hit -- pit and i decided to pick up a mouse from the computer and started speaking into it and i said a keyboard, how quaint, and not a single one of the twentysomethings in the room a new i was doing. do you? john: i have no idea what you were doing. ted cruz: you are not enough of

a geek. that is "star trek iv" that is scotty going up to the 20th century computer and picking up the mouse and speaking into it. john: do it again please? ted cruz: "computer!" john: thank you so much. coming up the cpac -- all of the cpac swag -- that is fit to wear. glasses, stickers, and a helmet, who approved this? ♪

mark: pundits and all its --

pollsters will tell you that this is about the votes, but as we tell you, cpac is just about one thing. the swag. >> we're going to run through cpac and see how much free swag we can get. i want all of the ben carson swag you have got! >> big government sucks! >> i kind of like this. >> big buttons? >> i like big buttons and i cannot lie! is that a thunder stick in your pocket or are you just happy to cpac? i am a conservative.

deal with it. new series the government deal with it. >> i can put these all over you. >> what is the most provocative sticker that you have? >> what do i have to do to win this gun? america needs a superhero in 2016. are you announcing your run for president? the reformers. the battle for tax reform starts now. he became radioactive with fiscal responsibility or something? >> the spirit of the helmet evokes the spirit of the crusade, which was a legitimate action to defend christian europe against islamic invasion. >> i am getting all of my clothing here. what am i signing up to win? what free thing am i going to get? it is all free! give me all the money!

i like how giving away the money is the conservative thing. >> you know what is great about these buttons? >> their free? --they're free? >> no you have to pay for them. >> how much is this one? >> $10. >> $10? [laughter] oh. didn't see you there. mark: we will be right back from cpac including who is on the stage right now. ♪

john: you are looking at bobby

jindal live speaking here at cpac, he is the louisiana governor, you can watch this live on bloomberg.com, and in just a few minutes, coverage of sarah palin and just a few motor -- few more. mark: "taking stock" is next. sayonara! ♪

>> i am pimm fox. it is being hailed as the ruling that will protect an open internet. the federal communications commission voted to prohibit companies such as at&t and comcast from slowing online traffic. the backers of the new rules celebrated the outcome. >> it is simply too important to be left without rules, and without a referee on the field. >> the decision today goes further than net neutrality. title ii regulation means oversight of bad behavior. not meddling, not