♪ mark: so much news over the place. the republican establishment versus donald trump. hillary clinton versus bernie sanders. those key votes in south carolina. >> we are going to show you some of our key interviews with the former romney advisor, the actor danny glover, and more. but first, donald trump heading toward super tuesday. we discuss the path forward for republican candidates hoping to get their party nomination. if there is a path forward for marco rubio, what is it?

al: it is not a wide one. it would be nice for him if he can win one of those 12 contests. he has suggested he may not. he has to finish a strong second. he has 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. on march 15, if marco wins, he

could be in for a while. if he loses, it is gone, go home. >> i think his path starts with ted cruz losing in texas next tuesday. if two weeks later, when texas and florida -- when ohio and florida vote, if rubio can somehow win his state and john kasich also loses ohio, he would have to hold onto that point. if he is the only one that wins his home state, he can survive. if you look at a public polling, he is in the worst shape in his home state. that is why i think people who say he is the most likely are wrong because it starts with winning your home state and he is the least likely to do it at this point. al: i think it would be bad for him if ted cruz dropped out now. more votes would go to trump than rubio. i think he wants to keep him alive for a while. mark: we will talk more about that as we go over it. in third place was ted cruz who earned the nod in houston of his old friend and governor of texas, greg abbott. he compared donald trump with a circus. ted cruz: we can't be fooled by p.t. barnum. [applause]

ted cruz: the time for the clowns, dancing bears, and acrobats has passed. [applause] ted cruz: now is the time for texans to stand together. mark: cruz talked about how happy he is to be home in texas but texas may not be the saving grace he needs. in a poll today, cruz and trump are basically tied. al, you said before something not everyone would agree with. in terms of cruz and rubio, what is cruz's path to victory? would it be better for rubio if ted cruz stays in the race? al: i think it is a little different. they both want to stay in for a

while if you want to beat trump. cruz's path to victory is harder than rubio's. he has to win texas big. he has to take home about 100 delegates which means if you get more than 50%, you take all the delegates. he has to win over 50% and over a dozen delegates. marco rubio has to finish second and maybe beat trump in one or two and come out of super tuesday about even with trump. tall order. mark: i agree. the way he does that is to use the targeted data operation this campaign has, more sophisticated than others to figure out where he can win delegates district by

district throughout the south. he has invested a lot in the south. i think he needs to come out of super tuesday where people are no longer saying he's a dead man walking. third person often left out of the narrative but he should not be is ohio governor john kasich. he did not compete much in nevada and got fewer votes than dr. ben carson. he was in gulfport, mississippi, today dispelling the fiction he is getting out of the contest anytime soon. john kasich: i am staying in because i will accumulate enough delegates to win. that is what i think is going to happen. [applause] john kasich: we are going to come down here and perform well enough to continue. i think we are going to have some strong performances next tuesday. at some point, we head north to places like michigan, illinois.

a little state, ohio. mark: team case it also sent out a stream of memos and tweets today about marco rubio and claim he did not meet the expectations in nevada and arguing putting money behind the florida senator now would be a bad investment. what is kasich's narrow path to the nomination at this point? al: he has got to do well in a few seven places. not very many. he has to look to new england and score and upset over trump in either massachusetts or vermont. you may laugh about vermont, but that could he very important for john kasich.

i think he will be back there before tuesday. the reason is he wants to have a sense he is still alive going into michigan a week later where he goes head-to-head with trump. if he is competitive and gets in a position to win and it is winner take all week later in ohio, john kasich will be around for a while. mark: i think he needs more media endorsement credibility. he is left out. the other candidates are saying it is a three-person race. he needs to change the narrative and convince people it is a war-person race. that starts with doing better in the south than people think and then must-win michigan and ohio. if you were going to bet on one of these guys winning their own state, you would bet on cruz and kasich. if he wins ohio, he has a talking point. he has got to start making the electability argument. is there anyone else in the race for not in the race now who somehow could end up under any scenario as the republican nominee? al: ben carson is an easy no. i think it is a real reach for anyone else. only if you have a deadlock where three candidates are going

into may, that is unlikely. i think it will be one heck of a convention and i can't wait to cover it. mark: i agree given donald trump's success in the number of delegates he is likely to rack up in march. i think he will get over 40% of the delegates. if there is any chance to say it is not going to be trump, it is to hold him under 40%. i think 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 from getting to 50%. the establishment does have that hiccup in the strategy. if you clear the field, maybe it works. maybe by the time you clear the field, trump has run away with the thing. al: i totally agree. i think the establishment has been wrong throughout and a wrong on this one. you have to keep a bunch of people in the race.

even then, it is uphill, particularly if donald trump comes out of tuesday with 300 delegates. mark: this provocative point you're making about white is good for ted cruz if marco rubio stays in. mark: i think the ted cruz grote is more likely to go to marco rubio. if the purpose is to stop donald trump from getting close to 50 or seeing 40, you cannot let him pick up more delegates in alabama, georgia, louisiana, kansas, and states after. mark: only cruz can do that? al: i think so. mark: stay tuned for more after this. ♪

mark: there are plenty of questions that remain about the republican race, the nomination fight. the one that matters most for now, is donald trump stoppable? here to help us answer that question are stewart stevens and henry barbour, who has endorsed marco rubio. did i mix up you and your brother? did you work on the romney

campaign? >> that was little brother, but i was a volunteer helper. mark: let me start with both of you, a basic question, how to stop trump. appraise the state of the race now. you have been outspoken saying nobody is going after trump. talk about the other three and the chances to be contenders. >> i think this is a straight up cage fight and whoever is the most aggressive contender taking on trump is the most likely to win. it is not very complicated. one guy is ahead. he has a bunch of votes. you have to tell people why you should have those votes and he should not have those votes. i think this race has been the most peculiar. people have been competing to see the order they could lose in

instead of trying to win. the guy who has been trying to win has won. ted cruz was able to stop him in iowa. when the guy was stumbling out of iowa, nobody laid a glove on him. it was as if they thought he deserved to begin a pass going into new hampshire. had a terrible week in south carolina, trump did, terrible week. yet nobody took advantage of it. i think people have to decide who really wants this. mark: henry, you are supporting marco rubio at this point. do you see this as a two-person race? do you think governor kasich and senator cruz are also in the mix going forward? henry: senator cruz has that big on march 1. he needs to dominate on march 1 to prove his campaign strategy makes sense. if he does not do that, it does not seem like senator cruz has a

path. if he does dominate, he is in the game. governor kasich has a tougher task. he needs to do better in nevada today and find somewhere on march 1 to get at least second place or something. otherwise for him to think he can wait until michigan or ohio, just does not seem viable to me. your question about can we stop trump, to me the key part of that is getting behind the conservative candidate that can win the primary in general. that is marco rubio hands-down. that is why i am supporting marco. mark: if your candidate does not win tonight and does not win any state on march 1, is that a problem? henry: you have to keep in mind this is about getting to 1237 delegates.

what marco has to do is stay where he has been. he was at second-place in south carolina. for these next few states which don't necessarily play to his strengths, he needs to stay in that range where he's staying within range of trump. i think stuart is right. marco needs to go after trump where he is wrong and make those contrasts very plain. where rubio's big opportunity is going to come is as the field thins, he has a lot of upside. he is a second choice for a lot of people whereas trump is not. so he has more upside than trump. when we get into florida and ohio, north carolina on march 15, most of the states become winner take all. that is when marco has an opportunity to hopefully pull away from donald trump.

mark: when you faced a threat with newt gingrich, you engaged in a tactical assault. there was paid media. your candidate talked about him. you sent surrogates to his event. are you suggesting taking on trump requires that kind of multipronged effort? >> it is the only way to win a modern campaign. we did the same thing in mississippi with thad cochran against mcdaniel. it is how you win races today. when romney got trounced in south carolina, he did not pretend he won. he realized he lost because he lost. the campaign adjusted. the campaign manager put together a good, comprehensive plan. donald trump is a much easier candidate to beat than newt gingrich. he responds to everything.

i have never seen a candidate so easy to get inside his head. i don't understand why these campaigns are not having fun with teams going at donald trump. i can promise you it is how you will take control of the race and get him responding to you. mark: henry, what stuart says makes a lot of sense. i wonder why you think marco rubio and his campaign are not engaged in that kind of effort to stop the front runner who will probably win three in a row tonight. henry: i think it is a given he will win tonight and probably have a very good day on super tuesday as well. stuart and i have worked on campaigns together. i think we usually agree. i don't disagree with him here, but i don't think he has to decapitate donald trump today or tomorrow or next week. he has to hang in close enough.

where trump is wrong, he needs to make that very plain. i would say this. it would be smart for us to foreshadow what the democrats might do it their national convention next year. if donald trump is our nominee, first night, maybe we will abuse people with disabilities night. the next night, it will be about donald trump hates women. the third night, maybe he hates hispanics. mark: those seem like good points. i spent the day after the south carolina primary with your candidate flying to three different states listening to his speeches. he did not mention donald trump. you're making a case of good points about what the democrats might say. why is senator rubio sitting back and saying i will stay close? why not go directly at him? henry: i will tell you this. i think marco rubio has a lot of

room to grow with republican voters. he does need to pass him or decapitate him. take your pick. mark: stuart, it seems to make sense to me from a matter of logic. why is it smart people working for other campaigns, why do you think people are not saying what you are saying? why are these campaigns not doing what you are saying? what could be the countervailing argument? stuart: i suspect it is denial. i thought donald trump would lose. he lost in iowa. i thought people could jump on that. look at what donald trump did in south carolina.

he called george bush a war criminal and attacked a pope in one of the most religious states in the country. you basically have a guy running in republican primaries a combination of michael moore and christopher hitchens. that is an opportunity. you should be organizing faith leaders to attack him for not respecting the role of faith in the public square. you should be sending iraq vets to his rallies to confront him for calling george bush a liar. he is not going to self-destruct. you have to frame the argument. people will listen. this idea that donald trump has 35% or whatever and those people are not going to move, i don't buy that. he had 10% a few months ago. there is nothing magical about this. people will listen to arguments. whoever makes the most aggressive, logical, compelling argument is going to win this race. mark: name three states you think marco rubio could finish first in between now and the end of the nominating process. henry: florida is one he has to

finish first in. midwestern states, he could do well. states like virginia, you could do well. mark: name two he could win. henry: i think you have florida, virginia. colorado is a state where he could win. there is three for you. mark: stuart, who is the second most likely nominee now? stuart: um -- i don't know. i think the race is in a real state of flux. in theory, ted cruz has been well-positioned to do well in these primaries. but he has been stumbling. i can't tell you the answer to that. i think most presidential primaries come down to battles of well and who will endure pain long enough and be willing to do it to win. i think that is the stage this race is in now. henry: cruz's campaign is unraveling. he has been caught in so many underhanded tricks the whole

trust ted thing is not working out well. mark: thank you both. when we come back, john's conversation with danny glover. right after this. ♪

john: in the race for celebrity endorsement glamour, bernie sanders has fought hillary clinton to a draw. sanders also has another celebrity secret weapon. maybe that should be a lethal weapon. last night, i spoke with one of the stars of that franchise,

danny glover, outside the american theater in downtown charleston. i started by asking mr. glover why he is supporting the socialist from vermont. danny: i come here to support bernie sanders because i think he is an extraordinary statesman, an extraordinary citizen. and certainly i believe in his message. it is not about bernie sanders the personality. it is bernie sanders and the message he brings here. john: did you know much about him before he ran for president? danny: yes, i remembered him as mayor. i remembered him in congress. i remembered he always stood up in the face of enormous odds. john: when you think about the issues he advocates, what are the ones that matter most to you? danny: certainly the issue around inequity in this country. he has identified the prison system and mass incarceration as a breakdown in the justice system, and he is willing to tackle that.

the numbers don't lie. the number of african american and latino men and women who are in jail, incarcerated, and what that means in terms of them being full-fledged citizens. we know that, those stories. i think he stands up for that. those are two. we have so many issues. he is not just a one-issue politician. the issues around climate change. the issues around wall street seem to get a great deal of attention. we saw the great recession and impact that had on families, particularly young, single black women. they lost their homes in the housing crisis. all these issues on the table are issues we cannot run away from. there is the issue of race as well. dr. king identified this when he talked about the triplets of materialism and racism. even though his voice was prophetic, it is time we listened to it.

i think bernie sanders campaign is the appropriate time for us as citizens to take on our responsibility as citizens. that is why i am supporting bernie sanders. john: we are in south carolina, the first state there will be a democratic primary or caucus. if history holds, more than 50% of the electorate on saturday will be african american. part of the reason people think secretary clinton has a great chance of winning this race by a lot is because she has so much support from the african american community here. the polling shows it. the clintons have a long history of support from african american voters. why do you think bernie sanders would be better for african americans that hillary clinton

would be? danny: i think the issues bernie sanders deals with are not only issues around african americans, but all americans. the working men and women, those who believe in participatory democracy and engagement. african americans have always been at the forefront of expanding the notion of democracy. take the civil rights movement. young people in mississippi and particularly young people a relationship. this is not about personality. personality is. this is about how did they announce change -- this is about how did they announce change and reform. the system of politics.