>> i'm john heilemann. >> i am mark halperin. with all the respect of the islands, the good seats are going fast. greetings from a star-spangled cornstarch to main artery of democracy, des moines, iowa. we are here at this brand-new ag summit.

it is coveted by republican wannabes. that includes jeb bush. in his first to iowa in a long time. he was welcomed in hawkeye style today by the headline above the register that said "some of you bush skeptically -- the use -- view bush skeptically." and he was asked, is there bush fatigue in iowa? >> the iowans that i know are thoughtful and they want to get to know the candidates. my answer to your question is that i will go make my case. most people know my record as governor and my life experience, so i will get a fair hearing. >> we will be here tomorrow streaming live from jeb bush and other potential candidates. let's start with jeb. what are the stakes for him and what should people be looking for on this big trip?

>> first of all, he has to prove that he is a conservative. there is a suspicion as you know, that he is not, that he is a moderate. he has to make that case. he started to do it in an aggressive way in florida. and he has to do the retail thing. you know, i saw him and las vegas, he was pretty good out there, but he was doing a lot -- -- a lot more events and i will. he will face a lot more scrutiny and iowa. he will have to bring his a game. >> this will be a big deal. my sense is this is is kind of event because this is mostly a policy focused interview on stage. it is the retail event. one tonight, before the event, then on saturday. how he does retail and iowa, i think that we both agree that he is a better retail politician than people think. i think it will surprise people. and he will lead the league in selfies taken. he grabbed -- grabs those phones

and takes pictures. >> he is looser, funnier, and more charming than a lot of people think and i think that iowans will find that. if they don't, you will be in big trouble. >> moving on to other speakers. the question is, the aunt jen -- beyond jeb, who do think as most of the stake tomorrow and here in iowa? >> mike huckabee, and rick santorum, two people that one iowa the last couple of times, they are languishing in the polls. they will have to reintroduce themselves to voters. there is no way that they can be the nominees if they do not make a dent. scott walker, who you mentioned, he has to prove that he is the real thing. he has been on a roll, he have to keep that going. >> the other person i am keeping

my eye on is that the gentleman from texas a&m. rick perry has about as many military credentials as anyone in the race. i know back east people dismiss his chances, but he has to do well in iowa. this is a time for him to do what he failed to do four years ago which is to be the ag candidate. >> this is a second chance for him. ted cruz, it will be an important weekend for him. if it is going to happen for him, it starts in iowa. he has been doing lowly in the polls, so he has a lot of pressure on him. >> it is, it is an interesting dynamic, because it scott walker came in last in the straw poll

but has become one of the front runners. i think that everybody will have to think about upping their game. >> if you watch our streaming coverage tomorrow, and you want to spend saturday hammerd, play a fun game with me. throw back a shot every time the e-mails of hillary clinton are mentioned. speaking of that, her plan to counter attack is -- a, send out a famous tweet or, b, tweet -- hillary has done them no favors. >> by not answering questions they are allowing the story to fester in ways that are unhelpful. lack of speed kills in this case. >> the president has a firm policy that e-mails should be kept on government systems. he believes in transparency and i know that the state department

is working with the archives to make sure that secretary clinton's e-mails are made available. >> so they are not doing themselves any favors, but on the other hand, maybe it has been stonewalled. >> there are questions in general about this and as we get information, i will share. >> if you could take the question of -- >> i am happy to keep sharing information, but i do not have any information about that at this time. >> have you sought the information? >> has the department sought the information? >> the department? >> from former secretary clinton. about her server, the encryption, have these questions been asked? >> i am just not going to have

details on that for you. >> on that, how do you think hillary's strategy is going so far? >> she has turned this into a combination of talking points memo and tmz, this is not going to work. she will have to say more. this is a story with a lot of angles and a lot of legitimacy. she is not answering and the state department cannot answer for her. >> of those two sides, the state department is kind of helping her out a little bit, but having someone as shrewd as david axelrod and as much media attention as he gets, taking her down, that shows her that she has to do more. and her husband has to do more. somebody has got to do more, but waiting for the storm to blow over is not good. >> maybe they are right. it may be other big stories will come in and move the focus away, but there are so many legitimate unanswered questions. she needs to address the questions, why did you do it this way? >> agree.

moving on, tomorrow the president will go to selma alabama to the place of the marches that helped change in american history forever and for the better. that is something that everyone would want to celebrate, right? well, apparently not. not a single republican representative will be making the journey with the president. mark, my question is for you and it is very simple. why? >> every one of the congressional leaders have said, of course mr. congressman, you should go to selma. it is important. apparently they didn't. i do not know their excuses, but it is historically and politically stupid of them not to go. >> i agree. but there is not a lot, in the republican party, but there is not of cultural affinity for african-americans in there and there is also a strong element

that they do not want to be part of anything that will be good politically for obama. obama will look statesmanlike and they do not want to be on the same stage as him when he is looking good. that has been a problem all along. it continues, especially on something like this. >> they might have reasons not to go, but it is not given up. in almost any case, they should be there. >> absolutely agree. a source tells bloomberg news the justice department will soon charge with corruption charges. he is a democrat from new jersey, so, you know. he was helping out a donor and in return got gifts. , we will have more on that story tonight, but coming up next, he built it and they are coming. the man behind the iowa agricultural summit, he is here to raise the curtain that is always at the iowa state fairgrounds. that is after the break. ♪

>> our guest is the kevin costner of the iowa summit, it is bruce sumner, thank you for coming by. it will be a rigorous grilling to help promote your event tomorrow. and our colleague from the des moines register. it will be a big day tomorrow. tell us who you are and why you are doing this. >> i grew up on a small farm and went to the university of iowa. i raised some pigs, i farm today, and we do some investments. we thought it was important to all americans that we talk about ag issues. issues like immigration, food safety, country of origin labeling, gmo's, it is an important policy discussion. >> was it hard to book all of

these potential presidents? >> it was. but we think it is important that we gather this large group and that they have a head up on these issues so that they can get educated on these and have better policy decisions, and we will all know what they are. >> is there a sense why the democratic contenders did not come? >> the democratic field is not well formed yet. i got a note from joe biden the other day that tried to change the schedule, he was appreciative of the invite. i think that these issues are bipartisan, they are not partisan issues. food safety is an important thing whether you are a democrat or republican. i think that once it is fully vetted, the democrats will be asked those questions. >> for the average farmer, what would you say the most important issues are for them? >> it varies.

nutrient runoff and how we manage that and contain it, the management rules, but one of the important issues is foreign trade. the president having trade promotion authority, should we trade with cuba, china? and immigration is an important issue. a significant amount of the workforce in agriculture today is immigrant workers. it is important to have a stable program. we will talk about renewables, i owa is the second wind state in the country. right under texas. and it is important to clean air, and every car that americans strive. >> so you will be up on the stage with a series of republican potential candidates asking questions. you said that the topics are on the website, but do you plan to ask every person the same question? >> we debated that. some will get basic questions, maybe three or four will get

asked the same questions. but i think there will be a variety, because that is important and we want to hit more topics. >> will you unleash the inner mike -- and follow-up with them? >> this is what it will be there will be a question asked and we will expect an answer. and we hope that they don't filibuster. >> at the end of the summit, what would you consider a win for these contenders? >> what we would consider a win, for people and iowans in general -- they need to have a sensitive background on ag policy issues. they don't need to agree with everyone, but they need to be able to articulate -- on the world and income and what they

do as president to fix those things. i think that for someone to have a win would be a reaction from people to say, wow, the new when they were talking about. and they had reasons why and i think they will be a better president and ensure a nation for safer food supply because of it. >> it is fantastic to do this. it is so hard to bring this to the campaign. my hat is off to you for doing it. and i will ask a political question, so where does the republican race go? you have been largely a proponent of the republican candidates. not exclusively. who is doing well right now? of the 10 people coming tomorrow. >> i read it the polls, so i think walker is a well. i think that bush will be interesting. i think that marco rubio has done well. chris christie will play well with people in iowa.

you start from there. obviously, rick santorum had success here before. as it did mike huckabee. you have a much diverse. >> it sounds like it is pretty open. >> i don't think there is a clear leader. >> this is a big production. you asked the business community to help underwrite it a little bit. it looks like they responded. >> yes, we had great response. i haven't seen the exact numbers. it is important that we have a great venue and that we ask substantive questions. you will see tomorrow, and i hope that we have a chance to represent agricultural well. and that we have a chance to talk about substantive topics. oftentimes, with these discussions, they get held in panels or small groups where the public is not invited. the media is invited. there is going to be 250 folks

from the press here tomorrow, so that is terrific. we are glad you are here. >> 250 media folks, and some of these candidates with reporters of their own. but i also want to talk about substance. are you asking people -- do people come in and talk about their stand even if it is different then what i will -- what iowa farmers want, what do you think? >> good for them. i hope they stand on principle. i hope they answer the question. if they don't come i will try to politely follow-up. >> sprinkle in some iowa sports trivia. >> the heisman trophy, 1939 -- >> or ask them what the official state flower is. whatever it is. good luck tomorrow. we are rooting for you. up next, stories that you won't

hear anywhere else about what happened in selma 50 years ago. and what people are doing today. after this. ♪

>> earlier we spoke about the politics of soma, which are in a way to bad because there are some things so important that they should transcend politics. even though this is a politics show, we went to selma to record the voices of those that made history 50 years ago. ♪ >> i was age 15 when i marched across the bridge. we saw state troopers. i heard these people, they were yelling and i couldn't see, i was running. i ran and i ran. ♪

[piano music] >> i was watching television thinking, oh my god. i jumped up i was only five minutes away. and i remember some of my classmates saying to me, you know what, we may get hurt. i said, we are already hurting. >> nobody anticipated that law enforcement people would be as brutal as they were. i was working at an american hospital, i was employed in the business office. some people came in cars, walking, but the numbers kept growing.

>> i was scared, we didn't know what would happen as it we went along. were they going to be people that were shooting at you? but also, i was determined that i needed to be a part of making a difference. >> it was determination. determination, determination determination. we were just always determined to have our rights. and if you saw the masses there, they were students, college students, high school students etc., because we had nothing to lose. when i look back at 17, it seems

very young now, but 26 was also young. martin luther king was only 26. these were very young people that made these changes happen. at the age of 12, i made the choice to join the marchers, to march to the capital of montgomery. i think my mother, she knew my free spirit and she cautioned me to be careful. i don't know, i don't think she could have stopped me at that time. i could see justice. to me, it looked like a sea of people moving in unison. i could feel something within me that elevated my excitement. >> to me, it was one of the high points of my life. it felt good to see that many people.

♪ we came out, i saw martin luther king jr., that was the last time i saw him. >> i am glad to be here and tell my children and my grandchildren that i was one of them there. i want them to pass the torch. >> i think in ways that i don't understand yet, it helped me to become the person i am. whenever i cross the bridge going into selma, there is a chill that comes over me to think that this was where it was. my mom had tried for years, and she knew the answers, and she was not allowed to.

if you had gone through what i had gone through, you had no fear. ♪ >> alongside that video our own margaret tallon has written a narrative on bloombergpolitics.com. a detailed a lot of the stories of soma. in the meantime, we will be right back with a sneak peek of our coverage of the main event in iowa for the republican politics tomorrow. ♪

>> we are only on the tube for a half hour a day. that we are also online. and tomorrow, we will be live all day. we start at 9:30 a.m. eastern time. we will have the candidate speeches and interviews with folks, plus more. >> that will be an incredible show, you will not want to miss

it. you have to watch it. up next, we have taking stock. from me and mark, happy weekend. ♪

♪ >> hello, i'm pimm fox this is what i am taking stock of this march 6, 2015. sometimes good news is bad news for stocks. the u.s. posted its lowest unemployment rate in seven years, 5.5%. investors sold stocks send in the s&p down five and a half percent. >> it encourages the fed to feel more comfortable about starting a very gradual hiking cycle by or at the september meeting. >> the payroll report was embraced by democrats but met with some criticism by republicans. >> just think about where we were six years ago when we were losing 750,000 jobs a month.