mark: with all due respect, there's a chance that the donald is simply lights out. turn off the lights. turn off the lights. ♪ happy national margarita day, sports fans. cheers to those campaigns that survived the weekend.

for hillary clinton and donald trump, the win was worth more than that. have solidified their front runner status and amplified doubts that anyone could halt of their respective marches to their nominations. said whent ted cruz he asked whether donald could be defeated. >> the only way to beat him is for conservatives to unite behind our campaign. if other candidates devote all their time and energies into attacking us, it is possible they could weaken us to a sufficient extent that they hand donald trump the nomination. >> marker, you have a brand-new piping hot story on bloomberg.com about this topic. oneuestion for you, why did south carolina victory make trumps try and -- try and cash tryouts -- triumph?

zika >> he his -- are and crews put a lot of effort in there. him to do well tomorrow and into the big march contest with momentum. there's no one else on the field . i think one of the things that tells you how important ins was that saturday night the trumps and her circle, the campaign manager was on fire over how important south carolina was. the fact that trump had beaten ted cruz. trump one.history

demographic win for trump, hugely important for the march states. >> now that trump seems maybe inevitable, what can the republicans do to stop it? ofi talked to a lot republicans this weekend and they basically gave me three scenarios. one is widow the field down. -- widow the field down. hope that that person one-on-one will stop him. the second scenario is lindsey graham and others have been pushing as we get these guys to team up. that's not going to happen. last, to try to steal this from trump at the convention. these are interesting scenarios.

they seem pretty unlikely right now. john: look, those are pretty ont ofhe entire waterfr possibilities. the only strategy right now to stop trump is a convention strategy. we need to see if people are willing to keep trump from getting the delegates, that magical number, and then have the establishment do what you suggested, say, hey, look, we can't have donald trump as our nominee. down in cause holy hell that if that were to happen. all thate of them are plausible and that is why i wrote it is going to be very difficult to stop donald trump. maybe clinton in the next three

weeks. onto the democratic side. if you wanted to know how the caucuses work, if bernie sanders had done better, and he lost around five points, he would be inging his back to south carolina, but instead, sanders and his campaign staff are downplaying the loss in south carolina. now he is headed off to new england to lay some super groundwork for super tuesday. on the other hand, rather than rushing to south carolina, clinton heads to southern california to hobnob with some rich people there. we asked about from and why did one caucus victory here so changed dramatically the perception that clinton is now, it is inevitable, in a

commanding position? that one poll, that cnn poll, that showed in nevada that it was a tossup. ratherised expectations than lowering them. hillary clinton came in by winning the popular vote and she also won the delegate count. strength with african-american voters and latino voters and even though sanders made a slight dent on side, we think, he didn't do enough to rob her of that coalition but to big delegate leads on march 1 and the way the democratic process works, when she pulls ahead, it will be very, very hard for sanders to catch up. here reinforces her connection to her super

delegates. they believe that she is the nominee and she should be. if she has the superdelegates and she wins most of the states in march, just the way the delegate map works, bernie sanders can never catch up unless he wins caucuses with over 50% of the vote, and that is extremely unlikely given that she has a stronghold along with the other candidates of the democratic party. john: absolutely. why lyndon isnow so formidable. this is the fact that he he has a hold of the party as well and it could come back. are the scenarios that bernie sanders could come back and take her nomination? the only scenario that i see, and it is not a totally impossible scenario, but he has got to win a state that he has got to win. if bernie sanders were to

somehow win in texas, if bernie sanders were to somehow win in georgia, and these are not highly plausible, highly expected outcomes, but if he wins michigan, obviously massachusetts or vermont, that is obviously not enough. he has got to win some state that she is expected to win. try tohey are going to break his back by winning some states. massachusetts, they have a political consulting group that is based there, and they are going to try to work very hard to keep bernie sanders from winning there, they are not going to try to shut him out, what they are going to try to shut him down. hillary clinton is called by the justice department about her e-mails, that could spook voters at least.

in south carolina, she could go in and win in march in some unexpected places. win, ofe other way to course, the other way to do it in some unexpected states would be to do it in these battleground states. innie sanders could do it ohio, michigan, florida, maybe, maybe you could say that it is a tough road for bernie sanders, no doubt about it. coming up, it is a dig departure for the ted cruz campaign. and of the loss of jeb bush and other endorsements in the campaign. much more after this. ♪

mark: ever since the south carolina primary on saturday night, people are starting to look towards marco rubio in stopping donald trump. many believe that the only thing that can take down tromp is a candidate that can be consistent. that is a problem considering rubio's tepid replies considering the chances to blast trump during the weekend. >> can you support him as a nominee? i don't believe he has exhibited an understanding in foreign policy. iswhy should a voter who undecided choose you over donald trump? donald's campaign is largely about how terrible

things are. if you look at the policies he talked a they will not make america stronger. he says he is not short that you are eligible to run for president. what is your response? nobody can get any coverage on anything else. onm going to spend zero time his interpretation of the constitution with regards to eligibility. about 70% of people around the country say they want donald trump to be our nominee, but the problem is, that vote has been divided among the people, for the people. mark: compare that relatively how tone considering ted cruz's campaign talked about marco rubio disparaging the bible. transtake a video and

pose what i said about it? that is something that is untrue and in this case, it goes after my faith, so i understand that one of their spokespersons should apologize and i would accept an apology, what now we are at a point where we start asking about accountability. ago, just a little while ted cruz asked one of his aid's resignation over this situation. but my question about rubio, he stump speeches, and he made no inclination about acknowledging ted cruz. how is marco rubio handling these two main obstacles in the campaign rhino, donald trump and ted cruz -- in the campaign right now, donald trump and ted cruz? with of aree complacency and in some sense,

how long marco rubio has to get this done. he is in the mainstream lane and can be donald trump. i do think he is talking about eating a unifier. that is part of the brand he is trying to build. it is hard to be the guy with a hatchet in your right hand. i am not sure you can become the nominee with that after mentioned hatchet. agreedi have that there is a logic to having stayed out of it, but plenty in the establishment, as i have said earlier, want to take on tromp. the other thing is, i inc. -- take on trump. the other thing is, i think that there is plenty of indications that donald trump will go after marco rubio if he can and needs to. john: over the last couple of days, there has been a lot of

talk about the republican race being whittled down to three people. the only governor left standing in this race who caused a little commotion, john kasich, virginia some facts in , which he seems to have ripped from the pages of a binder full of women. ich: there were many women who left their kitchens and went out door-to-door and put their signs up for me all the way back when things were different. now you call homes and everybody is out working, but during that time in the early days, it was an army of women who really helps to get me elected to the state senate. twitter, predictably, went into mad spasms over this. question to you

is, will john kasich actually get the path to the republican nomination, and if so, what is it? mark: he has done a very good job of shaping the dynamics in the race and saying is a three person race. there are a surprisingly large number who are trying to decide between rubio and kasich and they go with rubio. i think the path is not that much different between rubio and ted cruz. this is not just because he is a governor, what because i can point to states between michigan and ohio where he has a chance of winning them. maybe ted cruz can win texas and maybe marco rubio can win florida, but again, if somebody can prove that they can beat donald trump post-iowa, they don't have a chance against anybody. john: there is a possibility that john kasich can win some of those states, you mentioned ohio, michigan, but i wouldn't

necessarily think that donald trump could take any one of those states. i just think the biggest problem for him is that it seems like a long time between now and when you get to those states. as you know, the way the media narrative works and the time it gets spilled between now and then, we mainly just talk about these three guys and it means that john kasich seems like an afterthought. he is an afterthought in the media narrative. mark: john kasich picked up some endorsements today, but marco rubio picked up some endorsements from the republican establishment. and in the last 24 hours, there are endorsements to fill up enough luxury speedboats with candidate. arkansas governor is a hutchinson has come on board stillubio, but there are two big establishment prizes out there, and one is jeb bush

himself who just got out of the race, and the other is mitt romney. many people think that he can pick off many of donald trump's financial backers, but romney continues to watch closely to see how this development will work out. john, what do you think in the end with how they are going to do and how d think it will have an impact on the race -- how do you think it will have an impact on the race? john: i think maybe both of those guys, maybe both of them, would be more inclined on their merits to choose john kasich over marco rubio, but they also really want to stop donald trump, so they might stand up with marco rubio, although i think both of them have doubts about his readiness for the oval office. mark: you had kevin mccarthy, the majority leader of the house on "morning joe" this morning, and he said he thought it was a thoughton race, and he

it was a two-person race or at least he said it was between rubio and trump. that is a problem for most of the party now, especially the older members. they do believe that he has got the best positioning at this point to be the one to emerge, even if they prefer john kasich both as a nominee and as a president. thing wel, the one have learned in 2015-20 16, is that the republican establishment has been weakened hadley and none of those guys want to waste an endorsement on someone and ultimately it not have an effect on donald trump. so when we come back, is hillary clinton getting that are, or is it all just an illusion? we will be right back. ♪

john: it appears to you as if

you are witnessing the version 4.0,llary 2.0, or 3.0, or and it may be because of a couple of things. with hert have to do stirring speech in las vegas. child whon: imagine a won't have to grow up in the specter of deportation. every child gets the education and that he or she needs and deserves. imagine a tomorrow where every parent can find a good job and every grandparent can enjoy a secure retirement. with your help, that is a tomorrow that we will build for our country. john: there are also a slew of ads coming out of the hillary clinton campaign. unlike hillary clinton's prior

commercial, these are pretty, pretty, pretty good. mark, is hillary and her campaign actually stepping up the campaign, as it would appear, or are we all laboring under an illusion that they are the perception of being winners? mark: there is a little bit of the latter, but i think they have stepped up their games. there is something about both occasions where the candidates rose to the occasion and really e withtheir voic passionate emotions. i think the biggest thing about hillary clinton's and bernie sanders was the question of authenticity and emotion or passion. i think these as and her performance on saturday brought these things to the fore. shewas speaking about what really cared about. i think she was strong and if she keeps that up, she is going to make it even harder for bernie sanders and look like a much more formidable election candidate. i think she has been

quietly, slowly becoming a better candidate for several months now, and i thought, i agree with you 100 percent. her speech on saturday reminded me of some of the speeches she gave in 2008. . it was like that moment which he was on the winning side of it where it kind of fuels were confidence and the confidence kind of fuels were winning and she gets better at that stuff. they have had some of the best ads i have seen them do in a while and i wish we could be in disagreement with them, and she has an aura of a winner, and it really feeds her. as trump andpt -- sanders shows, passion helps with politics. there was one telling moment with burning sanders -- with bernie sanders who is at a west african church in columbia,

south carolina, some people noticed them, some seem interested, others seemed less interested. isn, this begs the question, bernie sanders in south carolina and beyond now, having a good chance of making inroads with the african-american community? that i got to say everybody was focused on nevada, mark, and they were all focused on the hispanic vote. the question is that hillary clinton's performance in nevada was due to her strength with the african-american community. a last bloomberg politics south carolina poll, i don't see at this moment, except for a group ofl african-americans were young, i have not seen to date that bernie sanders has made a dent against hillary clinton's hold on the african-american vote. mark: let's say, again, that bernie sanders has done a remarkable job getting his

message out, but it is clear that without that momentum, the kind of momentum he had after new hampshire, it is going to be much more difficult for him to get his word out and to break the bond that hillary clinton has with a lot of the constituency in her party, with labor unions, with african-american leaders, it will be difficult for him to not fall behind. bernie sanders has a big african-american supporter, and he compared hillary clinton to coca-cola in the south, familiar and tasty. mark: ok, we will be right back with a couple of folks representing the clinton and sanders campaign in south carolina. more "with all due respect" right after this. ♪

john: joining us now here in charleston, we have a bernie

sanders supporter, a former south carolina democratic chairman, and a hillary supporter. totlemen, it is fantastic see you both. i asked you how disappointed you were to see the south carolina loose maybewhat a little bit of energy around it. tell us why nevada was such a big deal? hillary was 40 points up, but now the gap is a lot closer here. a lot closer. john: how much closer? dick: single digits. john: single digits? dick: single digits. what i am seeing around here with the sanders camp is what i saw with obama in 2008.

i live in a neighborhood that is a swing neighborhood for democrats. i have not had a door knock, not a phone call, not a mailer, not , nothing, from hillary. [laughter] john: i am not sure why you are talking about -- [laughter] i would win against dick in vegas because he would be a winning man. every poll that i have seen shows her with a sizable margin. but here is the real story. i was in churches, three churches, largely african-american congregations, those locations along with new orleans mayor landrieu, and the people are aboutd, yes, excited going to vote for hillary clinton. the fact is is that hillary has

been in the state through the most horrific tragedies that the state has ever witnessed. death of the shooting walter scott. she elevated the conversation of race and police profiling i speaking to the urban league shortly thereafter and also, she attended the funeral of my senator clemente to pinckney. john: i have been asking every surrogate supporter of hillary clinton in this state, what substantive policy is hillary put an better than bernie sanders? marlon: if you remember when her husband was president, she fought vigorously around the state using the first lady position for early childhood education. that is a critical issue in the state because we have a problem

educating those and most importantly, hillarycare, which now over 8 million african-americans in this country enjoy, 20 million enjoy the affordable care act, but hillarycare eventually became the basis of the starting point for the affordable care act, so those are two significant issues. you: dick, i will not let rebut that, i wish i would, but -- dick: i don't have to go back to the clinton presidency to remember hillary clinton. she was here in 2008 stripping the bark off of our president, barack obama, saying that he wasn't ready, he was an amateur, and it was degrading politics, and bill clinton pushed back on that. many of us remember that. many remember that when the going got tough, she got mean and she got down and she got racial.

and it is called obama care, not hillarycare, because barack obama passed it, not hillary. there is no central bill or passage that happened when she was in senate. john: so i think that every clinton supporter would put out itt hillary sanders, i think would honestly be unfair that bernie sanders say that hillary clinton wants to strip health care from everybody, that is it not the case that when hillary clinton makes the argument when you are trying to get more, it is going to be impossible, and bernie sanders is offering a santa claus reality when he says that obamacare is not enough and that it is deeply flawed. it was not achievable when a democrats had a majority in the senate and they tried to go for broke and get something that is not possible. dick: it is not possible when you are taking $10 million from the farm industry in your super pac. dimef you are not taking a from them, you can go into the

white house and take a position, now you might not get everything you want, but he is going to be hammering that every day and he is not going to have to listen to the lobbyists on health care. and i've got to tell you, that is what has persuaded me to go with sanders, and that makes me go -- and by the way, trump. of moneymade a lot from wall street, but so has hillary, and she was considering releasing the transcripts to the speeches that she gave to the big banks. tell you this, that is her decision, that is her decision -- but listen, listen, this business about bought and paid for is really unfair. she represented the state of new york and we are fooling ourselves to believe that busting up wall street is a substantive policy. we need our capital markets, and

the issue is, how we reform wall street. i am a civil litigation attorney who sues wall street companies every day and securities fraud in securities fraud cases. up then is to open capital markets so that the african american investment managers can manage some of that money. they have been traditionally left out of the process. she has been meeting with small ,nd minority-owned businesses she has a plan to generate and to make the economy work for people who have been left out the process. so when we talk about dusting up wall street, we have to recognize that it can't stop there. we need a substantive agenda to reform wall street. john: imagine that bernie sanders would be here for five days of fighting for every

single vote. dick: he was in sumter the other day. john: he was all over the midwest and he's going to be in massachusetts, do you believe that south carolina voters think that bernie sanders has given up on us? dick: he was out here the other day. john: but he is also all over the place. dick: well, there is a big super tuesday coming up, he can't put all of his eggs in one basket. he has been making a lot of phone calls, and that is going to pay off. john: i've got to leave it there. thank you, dick and marlon. don't forget, if you are watching us in washington, d.c., you can listen to us on the bloomberg radio. we will be right back. ♪

john: in the battlegrounds of democratic politics, especially here in the south, there might be nothing more visceral and passionate than the politics -- politics that take place around black churches. we sent our filmmaker griffith hammond out to document what happens when this collision occurs at the intersection of religious convictions and ballot boxes. ♪ my thing is churches. i reach out to the people in church to let them know soul to the poll. >> obama was first and we want the first female. ♪

clinton, if we are smart, will be the nominee on the democratic side. look, bernie sanders is a nice when somebody shows up and has offered me everything for free, it makes me nervous. i think it is pretty clear right now the donald trump is going to be the republican nominee. i think that is what it looks like. we can be great again. everybody is talking to us and when you tell somebody in the south, i want to be great again, what i hear is, we need to go back. that is what i hear.

endorsen't specifically any particular candidate, that itagainst the rules, but doesn't this is early said it can't encourage an endorsement. [laughter] >> if someone has their hands up, no threat, why did my son died? >> before anyone had seen at the video, she was arrested after asking, i think it was about 14 times, as to what she was doing. >> i have yet to hear from the leaders in my state capital of matters in wisconsin, no condolence call, no, we are sorry for your loss. took the time to

personally have her staff contact me. >> she spoke to us, one-on-one. she was listening, she was actually listening, and taking notes. >> she has a heart to serve the african-american community. >> she will fight for us so i stand today saying i am endorsing hillary clinton and i'm giving her my support. >> you can ever take anything for granted, you have to ask for the vote, you got to hear them, and that is what we are going to do. you have to get on your feet. >> your boat is just as important as a billionaire's just asvote is important as a billionaire's vote. >> stop talking and get out and do it. john: our thanks to griffith hammond, for making that beautiful piece of inspiring video. now joining us to chat about it

and other matters is martin. a time you were out on honored day in presidential politics hitting some churches. speech --sse jackson speak, what was it like? was hoping hei would endorse hillary clinton or either bernie sanders and we would sort of have that element, and he didn't. he told parishioners that he really didn't care what that his goal was to get them to turn out in november. he wants them to vote saturday as well, although he didn't talk about the candidates by name, he was talking about donald trump, saying that making america great again is basically coded language. politics andly religion mix and a lot of parts of america, that here in the primary politics, it is

fascinating to me, as we saw in griffin's speech, the pastors will not go so far , you will going and vote for hillary clinton or you will vote for bernie sanders. it is an incredibly rich part as to how this primary happens. that is definitely true and trying to figure out which way jackson is leading is interesting because sanders endorsed him many years ago when it really mattered. there was complicated politics in 2008 and when you are the rainbow coalition push guy, it is very interesting with the democrats prevailing in november. when you are asking black voters to turn out, you're asking them to support hillary clinton. john: margaret, you are going to stick around and talk with us after this next commercial. margaret, we will have you and also the amazing strategically

brilliant john huey right after this. ♪

the: joining us now, talented john huey, former editor and chief of "time inc." and not a native of south carolina, what a transplant here in south carolina, arak into her raconteur, and a longtime drinking buddy of mine. is that fair? john: that is fair. is a you say that this

story about black churches. why'd you say that? john: i think that story that you just had said more than anybody has said, it was a beautiful piece. you have to understand south carolina and the history of the primary, but i will go into it too much, but last week and was the republican primary. this is a white primary. south carolina is a very small state. not even 4 million people. and 30%ughly 70% white black. democratic party andostly african-american, by the way, charleston had a democratic mayor for 40 years. journalist and county voted for barack obama twice. but statewide, the democratic party has only one representative in washington,

jim clyburn, and he wields an enormous amount of power. the churches are a big part of this. mr. clyburn is a big part of this. and there really has been some moments of drama in the whole history of it. in 1992, clinton won the first one. then it came off the wires. clinton showed up with charlie and obamaangle, showed up with opera. who all due respect to dick has been jousting at windmills for a long time, i wouldn't expect a lot of drama on saturday. i think being a democrat in south carolina and particularly a white democrat is a little bit being like a cobbs fan. it have to take your pleasures where you can. predicted,ut what he

if what he predicted was true, bernie sanders beating hillary clinton, it would be a huge story and it would completely change the dynamic. john: you're absolutely right. now it surprises me a little bit isn't not more lingering hard feelings between african-american and a in this state. the way they played politics into those of a against barack obama created some lingering feelings. it will: i don't think translate to bernie sanders votes, i think it will translate to people just staying home. i think, again, this would be the youth african-american vote where bernie has the best chance to make inroads. again, clinton doesn't mean the same because they don't have the same history for the younger voters. the poignancy, the trauma, you know, the barbershops and the hair salons and the gathering

places and the diners, it just doesn't feel the same right now as it did eight years ago today. john h.: i think that was more of a retail event. i don't think the retail black voter got mad at the clintons, i think they just decided to go with history and barack obama, and i don't think they remember that. hillary removers this. the thing that reminds them of this is 2008. i called up a big democratic donor and i asked him what was going on, and he said, i am andg to quote bill maher, i am going to go and vote for hillary, and it is going to feel like a flu shot, it is going to go out and it is going to hurt, but it will be the right thing to do. john: did you think that there is any -- what would sanders have to do here, beyond the numerical thing, again, if he did, actually six or seven points aback, i think people would be startled by that, but

what can people do between now and saturday to lessen the blow from what should likely be a shellacking? he can work on building up the youth support and he can try to turn around some kind of strategy heading into super tuesday. period. john h.: he has a much better chance in other states. margaret: he can do it in massachusetts. john h.: but he have a better chance in north carolina or georgia, that this is not a good way to spend a here. margaret: we are not seeing as much as him as a result of that here. john h.: the caravan is going to move on. margaret: but she is playing it really hard. morgan freeman is going out for her. john h.: you think she is increasing the score here? margaret: absolutely. john: she is here tomorrow, she is here a lot. she is coming out here a lot more than sanders is. she is coming out here to crush him. she lost here, and if

you lose again -- margaret: if she gets overconfident, she is in a whole heap of trouble if she loses again, and the closer you get to 30 points, the more you knock him out of the way. john: and a better knock on for the march 1 date. john huey, i am always so happy to see you. margaret, i always thought i would work with you. we will be right back. mark will be right back. we will talk about more after this. ♪

john: so mark, another day has ended. who one it -- won it? i think marco rubio got a

win and ted cruz got off his message, he may be the trump alternative if there is one. the: i cannot go along with ation of a person making number of endorsements, none of them is a game changer, but i still do not believe that marco rubio is the one that republicans should rally around. jesse jackson was going to church out here in south carolina, and he will have a more on hillary clinton and donald trump. up, we will be here in the silver state. until then, thanks for watching. sayonara! ♪

he was denied bail. the county prosecutor said he waived his right to self-determination and his involvement in these incidents. republican presidential candidate has asked and mark rubio spokesman to resign for falsely alleging that marco rubio bible. question thell not faith of another candidate. president obama's ask for help to push his free-trade agenda. should tell her congressional delegation about how the pacific rim trade deal could boost business in their states. the u.s. and russia have agreed on a new cease-fire for syria that is scheduled to take effect saturday. the cease-fire does not cover islamic state or any other militias designated