al: i'm al hunt mark: i'm mark halperin. with all due respect to donald trump, are you bored with winning yet? mr. trump: we weren't expecting to win too much but now we are winning. soon the country is going to start winning, winning. ♪ mark: just to be clear, we are never bored with donald j. trump. republican presidential candidates will debate tomorrow night. the -- donald trump is the man to beat. last night in nevada, trump won 45% of the caucus vote and rubio was second with 24%.

ted cruz had 21%. trump won in every demographic in the silver state except for with young voters. today, in virginia beach, trump's victory lap took the form of a q&a with pat robertson. the donald mused openly about his running mate possibilities, ted cruz, and the democrats. mr. trump: bernie looks like he is over. hillary is going to be protected from the e-mail scandal. i promise you. it will be discussed often. if you look at justice roberts, he could have killed obamacare twice. senator cruz is the one that pushed him. so senator cruz gave us obamacare. >> one of the most important qualities you are going to look for in a vice president of candidate, and feel free to name names? mr. trump: we started off with we are down to five. 17, i want to get lots of great legislation that has been

sitting there for years and years. mark: trump also lamented washington's partisan fights and also touched on his own fight with the pope. al hunt is sitting in for john heilemann, who is on assignment. speaking of donald trump, how big in historical terms are his three straight wins? al: huge, as he might say. i can't think of any presidential candidate who has won three big ones like this and has not gone on to win the nomination. i don't think it's over yet, but mitt romney won three and a half out of five. gerald ford won a lighting to beginning and he started to lose, but he still won the nomination. trump is a very strong if not prohibitive front-runner. mark: the three windsor in three different regions with different types of electorates. he won all of them big. with people knowing full

well he was a dominating force. he held up his lead in all three places. al: he sure did. you have to say that his negatives remain as high as ever. i want to tell you something. that floor is impressive right now. mark: as people keep saying if , jeb bush or marco rubio or one of the other candidates had a record of achievement of these three straight wins after second in iowa people would be saying , the race is over and they will be talking about the trump cabinet and running mate and all that. as al said, it is not over. last night's runner-up marco rubio took his runner-up lap to the today program on nbc this morning. he argued he is the only one who can now stop trump and it would be nice if some the other guys got out. sen. rubio: the vast majority of republicans don't want donald trump to the our nominee. that is evidenced by the fact that your own poll showed that

if it came down to meet and donald trump, i would be him down -- i would beat him i will 16 points. there are four people dividing up the non-from vote, and you will get results like what you saw last night. the soon as we get the race narrowed down, the easier it is going to be to stop donald trump. mark: if there is a path for marco rubio, what is it? al: it is not a very wide path. let's make that clear, to start with. i think with rubio next tuesday, march 1, it would be nice if he can win one of those contests. he certainly has to finish a strong second in a number of places. he asked to come out ahead of ted cruz in the delegate count that day. and not that far behind donald , trump. then, it is winner take all two weeks later. florida on march 15. if marco wins that, he could be in for a while. if he loses, it is gone go home. , mark: his path starts with ted

cruz losing in texas. if that happens, there will be a lot of pressure on ted cruz to get out of the race, which rubio wants. -- rather ohios and florida vote, if rubio can somehow win his state and john kasich loses ohio, that could win over the field down. if he is the only one who wins his home state, he can survive. if you look at the public polling of the three, he is in the worst shape in his home state. people in the us data this -- people in the establishment who say he is most likely are wrong because it starts with winning your home state. al: i think would be bad for a -- bad for him if ted cruz dropped out. of those ted cruz votes, more would go to trump than to rubio. mark: we will talk more about that as we go forward. in third place was ted cruz. a press conference and speaking

houston, where he earned the nod of his old friend texas governor greg abbott. ted cruz compared the race with a circus. sundays, 8:00 p.m. on showtime. sen. cruz: we can't be fooled by pt barnum. [applause] the time for the clowns and the acrobats and the dancing bears is passed. [applause] now is the time for texans to stand together. mark: cruz talked about how happy he was back to be in texas, but texas may not be the saving grace that he needs. and you pull out today, cruz and trump are basically tied. it shows ted cruz at 29% and trump at 28%.

al, you said before something that not everyone agreed with, but i do want you to talk about it. what is ted cruz's path to victory, and is it good for him if rubio stays in the race, or does he not have the same situation rubio has? al: i think it is a little bit different, although they want to both stay in for a while if you want to be trump. here's the ted cruz path. it is even harder to rubio's. he has to win texas but he can't win it by 29%, 28%. he needs to win big. he's got a win a bunch of those delegates. if you get more than 50% in any congressional district, you get all the delegates. fiesta win over 50% and that he has to do well in the others. marco rubio has to finish at least a second, maybe be trump

in one or two places. come out of super tuesday delegate wise, about even with , trump. mark: the way he does that is to use the vaunted targeting operation, the data operation more sophisticated than some of , the others, to figure out where can he win delegates. not statewide, but district by district throughout the south. he has invested a lot in the south. he needs to come out of super tuesday where people are no longer saying he is a dead man walking. the media narrative is, he is the strongest, rather than weaker than rubio. left out of often the narrative, but he should not be, is ohio governor john kasich. he did not compete for a nevada. he was in gulfport, mississippi today, dispelling the fiction that he is getting out of the contest anytime soon. gov. kasich: i'm staying in because i think at the end of the day i'm going to accumulate enough delegates to win. that is what i think is going to happen.

[applause] we're going to come down here and we are going to perform well enough to continue. we are going to have some strong performances next tuesday. and then at some point, we head , north to places like michigan, illinois, a little state called ohio. -- john kasichng also sent out a stream of the memos and tweets today about marco rubio saying he did not , meet the expectations in nevada, arguing that putting money behind the florida senator now would be a bad investment. al: you have to tiptoe on this he has to do well in a few one. southern places. he has to look to new england. and score an upset over trump in , either massachusetts or vermont. you may laugh about vermont, but that could be very important for john kasich.

i think you will back there before tuesday. the reason is he wants to have a sense that he is still alive going into michigan a week later when he goes head-to-head with trump. if he gets in a position to win and it is winner take all in ohio a week later, casing is going to be around for a while. mark: he's a little more establishment in media credibility. he is left out of the story. he needs to change the narrative and convince people it is a four person race. that starts with doing better in the south than people think, maybe picking up her mind or keeping a close in massachusetts. and then must win michigan, must , win ohio. if you're going to bet on one of these guys winning their own state, you would bet on john kasich. the quinnipiac poll shows he is strongest in ohio. he has to start making about electability argument. finally is there anyone else in , the race, which would mean ben carson, or anyone not in the race now, who somehow could end

up as the republican nominee? al: ben carson is a no. i think it is a real reach for anyone else. only if you have a deadlocked convention, which means three candidates have to be going into may. that is unlikely. if you hold trump down to 40%. conceivably they would have to turn to someone else. that would be one heck of a convention if that happens and i can't wait to cover it. mark: given trump's success in -- success so far and the number of delegates he is likely to rack up, he will get over 40% of the delegates. that is the magic number. if there's any chance that the establishment has to say it is not going to be trump even though he has a plurality, you have to hold him under 40%. that would require more people staying in the race. i don't think you can stop trump if it is a one-on-one race. the establishment does have that little hiccup in the strategy. if you clear the field, maybe it works, but maybe by the time you

clear the field trump has run , away with it. al: i think the establishment has been wrong throughout. you have to keep a bunch of people in this race, and even then it is uphill, particularly if trump comes out next tuesday with more delegates. mark: talk about this provocative point, why it is good for rubio if ted cruz stays in. al: the ted cruz vote is more likely to go to trump than to rubio, particularly in some of those southern states. if the whole purpose is to somehow stop donald trump from getting close to 50% or exceeding 40% you can't let them , pick up more delegates in alabama and georgia and louisiana and kansas and some of those states after. mark: and only ted cruz can do that? al: i think so. mark: up next, we dig deep into the great establishment quandary of 2016 over donald j trump. we will be right back. ♪

many levers of the republican establishment did what they did, they went on television. gov. brewer: it appears that mr. trump has the wind beneath his wings. i think he will probably be be our nominee. i think the american public is upset with the establishment. and they have spoken. it is a pretty loud and clear that they want something different and they have chosen mr. trump.

we need to support the guy that the people support. >> he is out there telling everybody he is just mad as hell. he is mad at washington. >> obviously, donald trump is doing well. 65% of all the delegates coming right now in march, and we have to wait and see. >> we are in great shape to win in november. without drama. there is some intrigue going on in our party, but on the other side as well. that's what primaries are. mark: this afternoon mitt romney , went on fox news and said "there is no question that , donald trump has the clearest path to become the nominee." trump received his first congressional endorsement today. one from duncan hunter and another from new york congressman chris collins. if trump sweeps on super tuesday

, or comes close to sweeping what does the establishment do , next? al: drink heavily. i want the bourbon and wine account for the republican club. what they are doing now is a rationalization. maybe he won't be that bad. maybe he will do well bring in , some democrats, and we can deal with him because he really doesn't believe in a whole lot. other numbers of the establishment saying, wait a minute, there are issues that are really important to us like trade, and he has totally changed our agenda on trade. it is half hopeful and half petrified. mark: if he does become the de facto nominee, it will leave time for people trying to get on the ballot. some of them are worried you can have one or both of the following types of people. a conservative who says trump is too liberal. a more chamber of commerce type , a business type, maybe a retired senator of governor. you then have three candidates of the right in the race.

that would ensure that hillary clinton became the president. probably ensure that bernie sanders would become president. i think the republican establishment is still in denial and they are coming to terms with how to deal with him. some of them are saying maybe this won't be too bad, but i think for the purist types that , won't be the dominant view. al: they are worried. they don't trust donald trump. they don't think he is a real republican. they do worry about some of these issues that he has raised. deportation. as i mentioned earlier, trade. you know something? they are helpless to do a thing about it. they have been totally inept throughout, and i think they are going to remain so. they can wring their hands and drink. mark: how much you think trump will reach out to the establishment if he locks up this nomination in the next couple of weeks? al: he will do some of it, he

will feel it's on his terms. they will have to come to him. we will see how smart a politician he is. mark: i predict he will do a lot of that, and a lot of behind the scenes. up next, we will talk about a former flotus and the future of scotus. after this word from our sponsors. ♪

♪ for fans of hillary clinton, i have some good news and bad news. the good news is that harry reid endorsed clinton. the bad news is that a federal judge has now ruled that clinton's top aides may have to testify on the use of that private e-mail server.

the judge set a procedural deadline for this spring that could complicate clinton's life big-time. with trump appearing to be cruising to his nomination, will e-mail develop such as this rattle democratic elites? al: you bet. in this case, with all due respect to the senate minority leader, the bad news is a lot more important here than the good news. this is a festering sore that won't go away. when i talk to people who seem to have a lot of expertise on this, they say it is highly unlikely you can bring any action against her. that doesn't mean that action can't be taken against her aides. but it just keeps going. it really hurts her because she has a trust problem to begin with. i think democrats were feeling , pretty good couple of days ago they think trump is a weak , general election candidate. but this is something that really does rattle them. mark: it operates on two levels.

what is the potential, if not for an indictment, maybe more legal action and embarrassing revelations. it is a symbolic level, in that the inability that she has to get over this question of whether she tells the truth and whether she is trustworthy. i do believe that democratic elites, the superdelegates and others have basically made their , peace with this. it is like some of bill clinton's scandals. they are willing to ride his horse and cast their lot with hillary clinton, knowing full well that there could be a case on the e-mail stuff and they will just have to deal with it. al: they have no choice. there is no other option. they have taken that choice, but they are worried. mark: you have all these federal judges, these cases have not been consolidated. as you know well, there are a

lot of independent people there. the judge was nominated by hillary clinton's husband to the bench. there are wildcards in this. there's nothing clinton can do to control what they do. senate republicans kelly i ought -- kelly ayotte of new hampshire and said they will not even meet with whoever obama nominates to the supreme court. they ignored an invitation from the white house to just talk to them about a possible nominee. i can't imagine what president obama will think of all this. pres. obama: the constitution says that i nominate candidates for the supreme court when there's a vacancy. the senate exercises its constitutional role of the advice and consent. i'm going to do my job. trialhere is the first balloon or something intriguing

on its own merits. "the washington post" says that brian sandoval, the republican governor of nevada, a former judge, is being vetted to possibly fill that slot. can the republican leader mitch mcconnell hold the line on his early stated position that there will be no hearings for whoever the president nominates? al: he probably has to. it is a safe assumption there we no justice confirmed before the november election. i don't care who obama puts out. my new set -- my own sense is that sandoval is too cute by half. but if obama nominates someone who is clearly qualified, i think it is a political loser for the republicans. i'm not sure mcconnell has any other choice. the sense of fairness of americans, you are not even going to give this person a hearing, i think that will go to the democrats advantage, but there will be any confirmation vote before november. mark: i usually have strong feelings about how these

confirmation battles will go. i actually think it is possible that if you pick sandoval that they would have to have a hearing. he is a somewhat moderate centrist, conservative on some issues, hispanic, popular figure in a swing state. i think there will be people who would at least break ranks if he were the nominee. i do wonder how liberal and progressive groups would feel about the president nominating a republican for a seat after they got him reelected. al: especially for the swing vote on the court. that you ares right on this, but i think the right-wing base would not be very happy with even sandoval. this is something that they really care deeply about. mark: i do wonder, and all credit to "the washington post" for running the story i do , wonder if it was a trial balloon. oftentimes potential nominees , get floated even though the president has no intention of nominating the person, to type -- to kind of whirl the waters a

little bit. it would be a fascinating pick. some people think sandoval would like to go back on the federal bench at some point. i think it is possible he would take it. i can't think of another thing that would put as much pressure on mcconnell. if sandoval said, i want to be a supreme court justice, i think it would put a lot of pressure on them. having dug in the way he has it would be hard to change that. al: he clearly put out the word he is interested he met with , harry reid. i will be very surprised if you wouldn't take it, but i would be surprised if obama offered it. mark: coming up, john podhoretz and former congressman tom davis after this. ♪

♪ mark: our next guest has the two qualities that are essential to

be considered a relevant conservative in 2016. he writes regularly for the "new york post" and he is really funny and prolific on twitter. john podhoretz. he joins us now from our new york studios. in your mind, is it possible that if donald trump or president that he would be a good or great president? john: it is not possible. a man of his extraordinarily flawed character and lack of principle and scruple and support for vladimir putin, one of the worst people on earth. what appears to be a general set of foreign policy convictions that lead to protectionism and trade wars and to all sorts of horrible things i can't even imagine shows that he would be a disaster. mark: mitt romney floated today on fox the notion that we should see his tax return. there is a potential bombshell in there. is that line of attack something

you think could slow trump down or stop him? you have to give him credit. it is hilarious. it is one of the best trolls of the year. the guy who spent months getting attacked by harry reid for not releasing his tax returns gets to turn his fire on trump. what's more, i think there is some merit to the charge. trump claims to be worth $10 billion. we would learn the truth of that. we would learn what sort of money he lost, how much money he gives to charity, which i believe to be negligible based on what one can tell from his public record. it would, in general, it could potentially pop all sorts of balloons in his own narrative about himself and his wild success. mark: let's say you are invited on a conference call with the -- with john kasich, marco

rubio, ted cruz, and they say we , will do whatever you say to stop donald trump. what would you ask each of them to do? john: they have to disrupt the trajectory. that is the story of the next two to three weeks. if the path is not disrupted it is a straight line to the nomination for trump. the polls suggest that, he is waiting in all these states, he is winning even in kasich's home state of ohio. the point is you have to knock , him on his heels. you have to attack him the way he attacks you. you have to question his character and integrity and see what on earth he does with such attacks. i think it is fine to go after him on policy, but largely, what he will do if you after him on policy is he will call you ugly or say there's something wrong with you, or he will question how much you sweat or how you need a facelift. anything that he can do to go ad

hominem, to go away from his own liabilities. if they don't do something to make it look like he loses tomorrow night, that he loses. not that he does pretty well but he did ok and all that then the , trajectory is not disrupted. mark: what you think of the practice of ted cruz and marco rubio not finishing first and going out and giving speeches that seem to amount to basically victory speeches? john: it is fine as a matter of spin. i think it has actually worked for rubio, both in iowa and south carolina, for him to sound positive that he is going forward and he feels thrilled by the results and that he defeated expectations and all of that. followers andhis gives you a sense that he has a sense of where things are going for the future. i don't think it works quite as

well for ted cruz. he is not as good of a communicator. obviously, that has got to stop now. there are 12 primaries on tuesday and nobody will be able to claim victory if trump wins 12 or 11. you can claim victory in one state, but you're not going to be in a position to say i am the , guy. that is why it is a dramatic moment tomorrow night. and indeed over the next six , days you can't just let him , dominate the news. you have to do something to -- something dramatic. mark: republicans have generally given one of two answers when asked if they support trouble is the nominee, legal republicans. either he is not going to be the nominee or i will support whoever they nominate. if trump sweeps on super tuesday and it looks like he is going to be the nominee, should they continue to give those answers? or should they explore the prospect of running someone else? john: i think something organic is going to happen.

you are seeing these outlier congressmen endorsing trump today. i think you will see, if he wins 12 states, you will see people trying to get on his good side. people who might think in a hail , mary situation, in which he actually wins the presidency which strikes me as being , extremely unlikely, but of course, i thought it would be unlikely that he would be in the position he is in now. nonetheless that they would be , in favor of him and you would see other public officials trying to make their peace with him. beyond mitt romney or somebody enormously famous and incredibly wealthy who can somehow write a $100 million check to get himself in the game late. even if one could, there is no reason to think that the story line of trump getting increasingly acceptable to the republican electorate would be interrupted. mark: america do yourself a , favor, follow this man on twitter.

you will thank me later. it will fill up your day in a pleasant way. john: thank you, mark. mark: up next former congress , -- former congressman tom davis speaking for multitudes. in washington, you can listen to us on 99.1 fm. ♪

♪ al: joining us now is former congressman tom davis of virginia's 11th district. a big e on his sweater for establishment and expertise.

few have as much as tom does. you think trump has it wrapped up? rep. davis: he certainly doesn't have it wrapped up, but you have to get delegates. 15th of march, you start winner take all's, and if he is not stop by them, it will be very difficult. you don't get to some of the states, california, new jordan -- california, new york, new jersey until later in the cycle. , it is front ended for the more conservative elements of the party. if you can stay in long enough, you may have some shot at him. the way he is rolling right now march 1 and march 15 he could , wrap it up. al: would it be better for a couple of them to get out and just have one person take him on now? mr. davis: i don't think so, for

a couple of reasons. in ohio, if john kasich gets out, then rubio doesn't win ohio. trump would win ohio. you need to divide up the high a little bit. on march 15, rubio takes florida, john kasich takes ohio. mr. davis: here's the problem. when you are with a friend in the woods and a bear comes after you, you don't have to outrun the bear, you just have to outrun your friend. everybody is ignoring the bear and they are trying to outrun the other guys. 96% of these ads have been against the more establishment candidates and ted cruz, not against donald trump. trump has put himself in a very strong position. al: marco rubio has played nice with him. john kasich says he is not going negative. that doesn't work against donald trump, does it? mr. davis: at this point, it certainly hasn't worked. they were all under the illusion

the trump would fall on his own. he is untested, he would say something crazy. we have not seen that happen. al: how would you advise they go after them? mr. davis: you go right at his record. he has been all over the place. you go for the jugular in terms of his bankruptcies and everything else. it is a long litany of things. you have got to go right after it. he will still have people clinging to him, saying that the establishment is going after our guide. he has not been very well vetted. in a general election, every business deal that he has ever had everybody he has put out of , a job when he closes a casino, you can put them on television. it killed romney and they will do it to trump. al: we will learn what the term eminent domain means. you better learn it now. if he does win the nomination, can he make peace with the establishment, or rather can the establishment make peace with

him? mr. davis: absolutely. you have two parties. you have the supreme court on the line. most republicans will rally behind trump. i think, as we have seen in the past, he is flexible in doing the things he needs to get done. al: let me take your state of virginia, first for the primary. trump, a big favorite? mr. davis: he will do really well in the western part of the state. it is proportional. john kasich has some strong pockets of support in northern virginia and tidewater. rubio has some people behind him. cruz has the party establishment , the pro-life and conservative, social conservatives. it is a hodgepodge. it is proportional voting. donald trump may or may not win it but he could walk off with the mother lode.

al: how would he do in a general election? mr. davis: it would be tough. my old area in northern virginia is 30% of the vote. trump's comments on muslims and on hispanics, prince william county is now majority minority. fairfax is chock-full of immigrants. he's got to overcome that. al: a significant asian population. mr. davis: a very multiethnic population. that is what he has to overcome. is it doable? you never know. he is a rock star when he comes in there. northern virginia is pretty's -- is pretty sophisticated voters. trump appeals to more is noncollege educated. fairfax is one of the most educated counties in the country, so is loudoun county. he may do better than most republicans in the i-81 corridor, coming on the western part of the state. he is running against hillary clinton and she has her own set of problems. it is a long way to go. al: some people think it will be

fear and loathing. mr. davis: it'll be a race to the bottom. you will see more negative ads that you have ever seen. i think hillary clinton generationally, has a problem , with, do you bring the sanders people? do you motivate the obama people? is trump enough to motivate them to get out? trump has brought a whole new group of people into the electorate would not participate before. al: if trump and the establishment make peace, they will do it on his terms. -- will they do it on his terms? the trade issue is an issue that really worries the establishment. that is one of his signature issues at this point. i think he wants to be president. he is a businessman. he knows how to negotiate. you close behind and then you negotiate afterwards to some extent. al: give me a sense of some people you would recommend as running mate. tom: rubio would be a good choice because he is hispanic , he is from florida which is a critical state.

he has to carry ohio and florida, so kasich and rubio are good people. he is not nominated yet. you have three other candidates in this point, but kasich and rubio would be very very strong for vp if they would take it. ,al: thank you so much. up next, we talk ted cruz and john kasich with two reporters who know them well. after this. ♪

♪ take a look at the

upcoming calendar and map, and you will see there are a couple of states that donald trump is not guaranteed to win. those would be texas, the home state to tender -- state of center ted cruz and ohio, the home state of john kasich. joining us now two reporters who , cover the states. abby livingston. and darrel rowland of the "columbus dispatch." he joins us suspiciously from columbus. thank you both for joining us. the candidates we are talking about have been left out of the mix a little bit. some people say ted cruz is a dead man walking. a lot of journalists leave governor kasich out of the mix here, surprising to me. what is your sense of whether john kasich needs to do more to fight his way back into the conversation? darrell: i think he needs to do more. there's a certain frustration in the john kasich campaign.

things have kind of gone how they predicted. they never predicted they would do well in the states immediately after new hampshire. i think it is crucial that he has to win his share of delegates, as he said in mississippi, of the super tuesday states on march 1. otherwise. he risks becoming -- otherwise, he risks becoming irrelevant. i don't know how you may go through all the states and say the reporters gave me a mulligan after iowa. people are not going to give him a mulligan after a dozen states. mark: abby, there is no question that senator cruz has not done as well as he would've liked so far. does he seem to be rattled off his game? abby: i think we saw this earlier this week with his .ampaign firing clearly, his campaign is feeling

some of the trouble they are having. that's dead -- that said they , are turning to their home state. he is a native son. he has to run up the delegate count here. donald trump has got a headwind of momentum. we don't know how well ted cruz is going to do here. mark: back in ohio, where john kasich has been pretty popular we've seen mixed poll results. ,up until recently was ahead, but there was the quinnipiac poll that showed him not being ahead of donald trump. what is your sense of how he will do in ohio? could he lose the state to trump? darrell: quinnipiac was out yesterday and trump was ahead. it was like 31% to 26%. i think he could easily make up. it becomes a ground game. i think kasich could easily take it. i think perhaps more important if he has to stay at home to , defend his home turf, that will keep them away from other winner take all states that day illinois and missouri, where he , counted on doing well.

mark: abby, here in texas, we talked earlier about how governor abbott came out today for senator cruz. he has rick perry as well. does he need to worry about possibly losing the state to trump? abby: we don't see it now. but certainly, consultants are watching the polling. statewide matters, but also this is broken down by congressional district. consultants tell me, who have been running campaigns in the local state legislature in the congressional district, that weeks ago ted cruz was doing , great. donald trump came in second and marco rubio was third. they are closely watching it. no one is seeing any movement where donald trump has moved ahead, but they are certainly looking for that. he has got it wired. i would also add that the donors are drifting from jeb bush to marco rubio. al: --mark: staying with you and the question of ted cruz, do you

have a sense of what the campaign believes went wrong in south carolina, why he didn't finish a strongly there as he had hoped and planned? abby: the county i was watching more than any other was greenville. ted cruz went there more than any other city except des moines, iowa. donald trump beat him there. i just think that the evangelicals went with donald trump. it wasn't by much, but it was enough to really keep ted cruz from doing well there. as opposed elsewhere. darrell, you are a longtime watcher of your governor. he said yesterday it is not , perhaps his purpose to be president. do you get the sense that he wants this more now than he did when he first got in? when he still exhibiting he truly feels, which is a classic john kasich, que sera se ra?

darrell: i saw his remarks yesterday. very in artfully said. i kind of knew what he meant. i know some of these women who "came out of the kitchen" to support him. he has talked about this zen he has been achieved throughout the town hall process. he has got really comfortable with his own skin. we don't see him making these wild remarks that has characterized his political career here in ohio. he said today in gulfport, mississippi, if it is not made -- if it is not me trump is the , nominee. he points to national polls and one in ohio, where he is the only one who beat democrats. mark: abby, if ted cruz has one thing going for him to come back what would it be? , abby: we need to remember his 2012 campaign. he was the underdog, he was underfunded compared to a self

funding millionaire, and knows the state very well. it comes down to donald trump's momentum and whether he can take that away from ted cruz. mark: thanks to you both. we will be right back with who won the day. ♪

♪ mark: in conclusion, who won the day? al: i really wanted to surprise you and say something like jim gilmore. but i can't. as has been the case with many days, it is the donald. mark: those two congressional endorsements are good for him. also, i thought he had another strong conversational performance and nobody came back today and was able to cast his win as anything but huge.

if you go to bloomberg politics right now, you have to read our deep dive into donald trump's past global deals and his business partners overseas. coming up on bloomberg west. until tomorrow thanks to al hunt in washington. we will be back with full coverage of the debate here in houston. the republicans gathering. jeb bush, for the first time not , on the stage. we will see a different dynamic. an exciting night and a lot of pressure on the other candidates to finally step up and take on donald trump in a way that they haven't yet as the clock ticks towards next tuesday when a bunch of states vote. thank you for watching. we will see you tomorrow. sayonara. ♪

rishaad: this is "trending business". i am rishaad salamat. ♪ rishaad: live and shanghai, sydni, a look at what were watching for you. the g-20 finance chiefs gathering in shanghai. investors seem to like the plan,

shares soaring in sydney, australia. tracks, upgrading india's massive railway network. is equivalent to the amount he wants to invest. seeing some loss of steam after a last-minute rally. online, things are dragged it down. we are off the lows of the session. the shanghai composite down 1%. the australian stocks continue to see pressure. g-20tocks falling as the