>> the candidates are making their closing arguments. mr. trump: i have seen him sweat like i have never seen anything like it. >> the campaign testing the candidate's resolve. mr. sanders: last week, i bought my second pair of underwear. >> i think we are getting off track. >> this is crazy. this is just nuts. , superl due respect

tuesday, 13 states. ♪ >> good evening. this sue bird 22nd birthday of justin bieber. a two hour show for you. roughly a quarter of all republican delegates reported fortunately on this day alone. 20% of delegates will be doled out and all signs indicate donald trump and hillary clinton are going to win bigly. let's start with the other contestants. on this night of nights for trump and clinton, who else is most likely to break out and who is most likely to break out with a bad news day?

>> of your to listen to the people around him, the most part -- most likely person is marco rubio. there have been times in the past when the campaign, they got a little ahead of themselves. they are talking about the possibility of marco rubio tonight. arkansas, virginia, oklahoma, and minnesota. happens, it would be an earthquake on revolution and it will lose their mind. it will be a big moment for marco rubio. >> a bad night for bernie sanders. i will always say he has done a remarkable thing bringing his ideas to tens of millions of people, drawing big crowds, raising donations. thatht, it is possible outside the home state of vermont, he may not win a home state.

sanders may tonight face virtual elimination. >> i 100% agree with you that is a possible outcome tonight. hillary clinton is up in minnesota. bernie sanders, two caucuses, he lost them both. it could be a mega blowout for bernie sanders if that would happen. ted cruz if he loses texas. >> ted cruz could have a good night and do better than rubio tonight and win texas and that would be good for him. row,e third day in a donald j. trump has been hounded about why he failed to do an ounce, former kkk leader.

his annoyance at the issue was vividly on display. mr. trump i disavowed him on friday. i disavowed him right after that. look at twitter almost immediately after on twitter and facebook, they were disavowed again. every time i speak to somebody, virtually, and they keep it going and keep it going. >> you would make a clear statement our map -- renouncing all white supremacists? mr. trump: of course i am. no one has done as much equality as i have. >> the latest and most prominent chime in, mitch mcconnell and paul ryan. trumpk as big a swing at as you could possibly take without naming him. >> if a person wants to be the nominee of a republican party,

there can be no evasion and no games. they must reject any group or cause built on bigotry. this party does not prey on people's prejudices. mark: it has become a galvanizing point for a lot of people in the party who were reluctant to support him anyway. it is one of the more emotional ways people are coming at him now. repudiation of it is once again, people do not like him and they continue to hit on it. i do not think his supporters will care. chairman of the convention. he is the speaker and he said he would support the party's i think the issue will be the excuse a lot of people use that they do not want to be for trump. think- i agree and i trump has been utterly tone deaf on this.

issaid, i will repudiate him it makes you feel better. approve asked to repudiate, of course he will. it would not take much to come out and say, of course there is no place for white supremacy groups, to say something more sincere, as if he gets why people are upset about this. this is a long-range problem for him. trump is like dick cheney in the following way. when the press and deletes demand he say something in a certain way, he does not want to do it. where while he has said the words i denounce, it is members of thest society would use to denounce such a group and such a person. john: donald trump seems to have a problem with it. mark: some people seem to be

making peace, other republicans continue to say, no way, know-how, no-trump. they have all now said they would not vote for trump even if republican nominee. john, are these republicans saying that out of pure principle or do they have another motive. is anyone out there if they took this posture, would have an impact on the race? john: i think in most cases, it is a matter of principle. he is with marco rubio. he would never vote for donald trump. john, are these republicans saying that out of pure principle or do they have another motive. i feel fine talking about this.

things hetoo many espouses that i fundamentally do not believe in. that is driving most of these people. they have a political motivation to stop trump. the reason they will not vote for him is because it is someone they could not in good conscience support. him onhey are against pure principle. there is nothing in for them personally or politically. either the most likely republican nominee -- they are going up against him. mitt romney has basically said this by saying what trump said was disqualifying regarding david duke. not think bush 43, paul ryan, the bottom line of the question is no, there will be a lot of elites that irreparably will be separated from trump. they stopped him from the nomination. john: if all the winning

republican nominees would stand up and say this, it would have an effect. i do not know if it would stop him. it is not surprising that over the past few days, there has been significant focus on the potential of the clinton versus trump general election. topicories on this including on bloomberg politics.com, and jen, both of whom would be on the show later, there was a report in the new york times today that laid out the clinton campaign's three-point strategy for decimated -- decimating trump. highlight the many insulting remarks he has made about women. characterize his temperament as unfit for the oval office. here is how trump responded to all of this on fox news this morning. say that: they will i'm a sexist? fenton not work four weeks ago. i assume you are getting it i hope they do that.

if bill tries to portray me as a sexist, he will have a hard time here to never let the e-mail thing died. frankly, she viciously broke the law. many of the people were prosecuted for it and went to jail. she is out there running like nothing happened. hillary clinton today displayed why she has the -- spoken up more often and more loudly about her potential republican opponents. ms. clinton: every day that goes by, hearing what the republicans say as they engage in an insult fest that has become their campaign, especially what you hear from donald trump, it just says to me the stakes could not be higher. i am fortunate enough to be the democratic nominee, the sooner, the better. going after what the republicans stand for and what they're saying, their bigotry, i think

we have got to get into it and make sure we do not let that happen for the country. john: clinton would be trump 52% -40 4% -- 44%. and who now favored is getting their game on most effectively? mark: it gives me pause but i will say this. the republicans are now scrambling to put together research on trump, to come up with a theory in the case about theelectorate, even though clinton campaign has largely been focused on beating bernie sanders, they will have better trump andn donald

there will be stuff that in the contest of a one-on-one matchup, it will be hard for him to handle. john: hillary clinton will have a lot of time on her hands. money andt plenty of a lot of stuff out there. he can only win by lease -- re-scrambling and totally making the electoral map. there is a way to do that as smart democratic -- acknowledgment stronghold for democrats. smart democratic strategist like david a knology there is a danger there. there is also the fact trump would be the most predictable candidate we have ever seen. unpredictable candidate we have ever seen. mark: all right. when we come back, we with and -- whip and nay nay.

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>> we have a team of reporters covering today in the second hour. a good old-fashioned mega monster tuesday. what was super tuesday like today for donald j. trump?

>> he will and super tuesday trump club he frequently talks about and it is sending a signal that even if he went big tonight, he has his eyes on florida, a clear sign that he is time senator rubio. >> trump has got a lead by all public polling in florida. is there a tactical reason trump is in florida tonight? >> absolutely, i think he is heding a message that as sees the establishment of the republican party starting to coalesce behind the rubio campaign, he is green the battle right to marco rubio's home state. should he be able to beat marco rubio in florida, the same way he was able to beat jim bush, if you will, in the national polls

and get him to drop out of the race, that is the last and here. between him and the nomination. mark: thank you. we will check in with kevin all night with what is going on with donald trump. also a big night for marco rubio. we want to go now to kerry, spending the evening covering the senator in miami. two candidates in the state tonight is not voting tonight for marco rubio home this evening? >> his home turf, it also plays into this fight over the state of florida between him and donald trump. i think that is what you are primarily looking at. optimismre is a lot of bubbling out of the rubio camp. saying he might not win any state. you are now hearing some donors saying the campaigns are talking

about him winning 2, 3, maybe four. do you hear that on the campaign trail? sayingcially, they are it is about delegates and right now, we are still going proportional. but there is an optimism, a talk that maybe we could take two or three states. i have heard that. that would be a big deal if it happened. thank you for checking in with us and we will check in with you later. we want to head to texas where the ted cruz campaign is waiting results. tell us about what your day was like? >> good afternoon. i'm here at the redneck country club at of houston -- houston, texas. they built their campaign for super tuesday. many southern states are voting tonight.

they have a very conservative and evangelical voting the ted cruz has been vying for all on. they did not see the trump juggernaut. .rump is poised to do very well what the campaign wants to get out of the race were out of tonight is to be well ahead of everybody and not named donald trump and they are already laying heavy groundwork to drop out. that is a slightly will see after tonight. pan --he ted cruz game game plan doing well all long. why, besides trump, is there any reason that they are not in a position to win any states tonight except texas? could anything go wrong except for trump? went wrongthing that is that ted cruz did not do as well as evangelicals and conservative voters in place of

like nevada. it is a bad sign because those are the kinds of voters expected to power them to victory. it is clear that trump did very well with those voters, better than next acted. john: up next, two guys that know a thing or two about the state of the republican party. join us after this. ♪

>> back with us again tonight, the senior man, and advisor to speaker paul ryan.

thank you for joining us. of people youod talked to in washington regarding the current state of the race? concern,g from deep bordering on panic are not much support for donald trump in washington and i'm certainly not one who does, and there is a lot of concern he might wrap this thing up tonight. i'm not quite ready to put the period at the end of that sentence, but it was difficult. people are confronting the idea that they will have to make a decision about whether to support somebody who is fundamentally at odds with the things they have believed deeply for most of their lives. >> given that you want to stop donald trump from being the nominee, why are you not with somebody who wants to do that? >> i'm with multiple people. i do not want to jump on just

one. i disagree with the notion that we need to get it down to one-on-one. for the time being, we are better off having other to forete with trump proportional delegate votes. cleanser via people today, very bullish. are there states where he can win tonight? >> there are a lot of delegates he could win. i think you will come in a strong second. i think he will come really close. , whether or about not the sense is that donald trump is unstoppable tonight, if his wins look more like south carolina and new hampshire, in the 30's, as opposed to the 40's, people will look at tonight and say, wait a minute. he still has 60 plus percent of the republican electorate consistently rejecting donald trump. why would any candidate

get out of the race? actuallyump -- not building a majority support from republican primary voters there it i think it will go for a while. >> what is better? better to have one-on-one now or a split field now? somelot of the voters, if of those candidates get out of the race, more and more of those voters will consolidate behind one candidate and test the notion that donald trump consistently getting in the mid-30's is actually unstoppable. >> would you like to see people like paul ryan speak out more forcefully against the notion of trump as nominee? >> i think paul ryan has handled it exactly right. he is not trying to get involved in the presidential race to he has the highest elected position in the republican party now it is deeply focused on policy. a couple of times now, he has made it clear that there are some things the republican party

does not stand for, like barring people from coming into the country because of their religion, and associating with racist and white supremacist groups. i do not think he should try to get into the middle of the presidential race. play. got a bigger job to >> let me play devil's advocate. he has got all the power. should you use it? >> i understand what you're saying, but i do not think it would work that way. i do not think endorsements help a whole lot and i am not sure paul or anyone else could help another candidate substantially by endorsing them. i think it is important for the party to have prominent faces out there reminding people of what republicans really stand for. i think he is playing a more important long-term role by doing exactly what he is doing. you this question. number of republicans said they would not vote for donald trump if he were nominee. we asked a question earlier.

is there anybody in the republican party currently who came out and said that, that it would matter? >> i don't think so. i don't that will slow him down a lot. breakthrough that this will make him unelectable. that would be the key to stopping him. >> if you walked into your polling place next november and your choices were only hillary clinton or donald trump, who would you vote for? >> i am not ready to make that decision. >> recruit another republican to run as an independent? >> it may be very hard for me to vote for donald trump. >> thank you. lot more to talk about and we will be back shortly after this. ♪

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>> there comes a moment when you have to call in the shrewdest acts on hand to tell you what is going on. here with us is al hunt. washington bureau chief. and our white house correspondent covering the democratic race. i'm happy to have you here. questions, none of them are true and false. >> you have got to focus. here is my question. you have seen a lot of super goingy's in your life back to maybe this entry before the prior century. what are you expecting tonight and what outcome would surprise you that you think is in the realm of plausibility. >> what would surprise me is if marco rubio and ted cruz win multiple states tonight. i think that would be very important. on the democratic side, if bernie 15, that would be a pretty darn good night for him.

>> what are you actually expecting? think tedt know but i will carry his home state but trump will carry most if not all the others. tonighthas to happen for people to look up and not say tomorrow, donald trump is the defector nominee other public republican party? >> we were talking about this in the green room. ted cruz will have to in texas maybebio will have to even win minnesota. and looking at oklahoma for example. difficult ifll be he comes through with the members we are seeing on the turnout we are seeing in the states in particular across the south, which favors him. i cannot see a scenario right now where we do not wake up and see a wave of headlines and what is our way out. i think if marco rubio

outperforms, if -- as mark mentioned, that is one factor that will keep him in. >> basically the same question and was the outcome bernie sanders must achieve tonight to say tomorrow, i still have a , to thewever narrow nomination? >> either win massachusetts or come awfully close. there will be warning signs in some of the southern states for hillary clinton that are enough of warning signs, that it is not -- it is such an interesting turning point. bookend to her. super tuesday in 2008 was the her andg of the end for enables her and enables of obama's rise. everything suggested tonight would be the opposite sort of night for her. it is a question of when, and how fast. if sanders could up and the narrative, then he still has

something left to campaign for. >> hillary clinton basically campaigning already as an election candidate. she is attacking republicans like donald trump every day. the voters must vote and people do not want to call the race over, but if hillary clinton wins most of the states tonight or all of them except for vermont, what happens to bernie sanders? what kind of campaign does he run? he has got a lot of money and a lot of followers still. >> hillary clinton basically campaigning already as an election candidate. she is attacking republicans like donald trump every day. >> and a lot of passion. he will try to make a big showdown in michigan on trade. a week later, a johnny-come-lately to trade protectionism. >> i have seen a lot of super tuesday's, but i have seen a lot of washington. inave never seen republicans this despair. there is panic and you cannot exaggerate it. they do not know what to do. they are arguing with each other. the big donors are supposed to be so damn smart.

>> you are all washed and people. speak to it. not sneak up on anybody. donald trump has led the national polls for nine months. how can the panic be setting in now? >> iver member sitting in dinners with big senior bankers who looked at the field and said, you are creating this phenomenon, the media is creating this, once voters see he is an empty suit with no real policies, voters will turn against him. that fundamentally has not happened. not only business leaders in the market which are usually actually quite accurate and savvy in predicting where people will go, because whether it is small banking or small business leaders, the absolute panic and crisis, they feel a real readiness among some to really question the republican party and what it stands for. the civil war we have

been talking about? bigger than reagan for the republican party cannot exist after the election the way it is right now. all the rules do not matter. donald trump really tolerated awful and while bigotry in that answer and then he lied about it and it does not matter. chris christie, it does not make any difference. people see he is a spend politician. >> you saw in 2008 what it meant to have a party ripped in half covering obama and how difficult it was to bring the party back together. that ors remind you of is this much less what happened in 2016 with sanders voters who love bernie sanders and a clinton voters who love hillary clinton. will this be as hard or significantly easier as obama faced eight years ago? >> i

think it is significantly easier. it was all on her to decide whether or not to forgive obama and putting it back together. it is different. she is not as in control of it. the charm factor and his impact on sanders on the other side, it is a real. there is anger and frustration and economic worry. many sanders fans -- just well enough. >> megan, margaret, thank you. a next, in an yang. two great political minds together. if you are watching us in washington, the the, listen to us as well on bloomberg 99.1 fm's. we will be right back.

♪

>> joining us now, needed done back on the show and back here in the studio. adviser to paul ryan and a supporter of marco rubio. is bernie sanders campaign possibly ending tonight for all practical purposes? campaignst one to say and when they have just raised over four -- $40 million from small donors in one month and when they are about to get them -- a huge number of votes. the delegate is really tricky.

hillary clintona she was in a similar situation in 2008. the delicate gets really tough for the person not ahead of democratic party. the challenge is bernie sanders may face coming out of tonight will be substantial. not think anyone should say the campaign is over until the supporters of that candidate and the candidate himself to size the campaign is over. >> for the thing around. guyie sanders, there is a who will have a tough time going forward if hillary clinton performs as well as we think she will tonight. you have got a candidate in a marco rubio not a lot of money. >> he has got money. his super pac raise a lot of money. >> he did not raise $40 million in any way. what do you do if you are marco rubio and do not win a lot of states tonight and do not have that much money in the bank. how do you stay alive just to get to florida? >> he has the resources to stay alive for florida and to get beyond florida.

he is fully funded to run us areas campaign and order and a number of efforts to boost rubio and to go after trump. i think the structure of the race is not comparable to democrats. hillary clinton is in a much stronger position than donald trump will be here from in 2012 was in a much stronger position than donald trump will be. the wayd trump performs he has been performing, once you get past the 22nd, the primary states are in the north we -- northeast and out of the list. you have to believe he will perform there as he has now here it he will need something like 60% of those delegates in a bunch of states that are not necessarily his base. what the race looks like is something had to work the convention, possibly. >> that is the endgame. the endgame is not marco rubio or ted cruz or john kasich gets the magic number. it is all a convention scenario. >> the convention scenario is i think trumpto

is about to be under enormous scrutiny and will be subjected to a paid media campaign. he has had a total free ride of until now. collapses under that pressure. but if he does not collapse, i do not see how he gets to 1237 terms of delegates. >> what donald trump's biggest weakness in this fight right now? >> i am not an expert on the republican party and i do not pretend to be. easily, his biggest weakness is one of his greatest strengths. ands the establishment steep dislike of him in a huge part of the republican party. it is also fueling his candidacy in many respects. fascinating situation dan and his party find themselves in , the more you attacked the sky, and how do you attack sky, the more your health and him.

the argument going at the core message of donald trump if he is a successful businessman, showing he -- that is not the case, it is obviously something republicans are trying out now. some democrats may be looking carefully to see what lessons they can learn from what is going on now. >> let me stay with you on this. as aere asked about trump nomination. what about the general election? about what 12ink may be like as a rival to run against. do you think he is formidable as a general election candidate or he is the kind of guy who will leave the republican party to a landslide against it? call generalnt to elections and nominations before they get decided. i think a lot of people have underestimated trump every step of the way, us included.

no one thought he would get to the point where he is now. tempted to say all the prognosis about how that he will be and how disasters he will be, that is wrong. a lot of evidence suggests he would be a candidate for the party and the party is increasingly being split every day he stays in the race. the divisions in the democratic party are very minor by comparison third as you look at the general election, he could be in disaster. >> is a rare moment we agree. savor the moment. >> i don't think it is that rare. >> maybe not that rare. a challenge is how do you take the rom elect oral map and expand upon it? all the people say donald trump will bring all the new voters over to the republican column and attract white working -- that republicans would never compete 40. that is interesting impossible. it is not like the romney map is thinkable. he will ask what will happen through the latino vote,

arizona, states that romney one. -- won. the idea is to expand the map, not to gain a new map, and you lose a bunch of other states care that is the worry about trump. that all the voters romney already had will stay there. collects you have already seen roughly half of the republican him as ans unacceptable candidate they will not go for. some of those are moderate it is not an additive process. you lose a lot of voters who do not vote or end up voting for the democratic candidate. i agree with dan totally. it is not an additive process. he made -- he may bring in a few but lose a lot. >> thank you. of next, two democratic strategist.

mike and steve give us their super tuesday views after these words from our sponsors. ♪

mr. sanders: i am confident if there is a large voter turnout, we will do well. i hope there will be millions of people coming out and participating in the political revolution. we are doing pretty good. >> joining us now are apparent

democratic strategist. steve and mike, a former advisor to vice president gore. good to see you guys. answer me this question. , whatas to happen tonight does hillary clinton need to do tonight to get this race down and what does bernie sanders have to do to get this alive? >> he has got to show he can play in state other than his neighboring states or states with a homogenous population. i think for secretary clinton, it is as much messages have -- message as how he she does. -- how she does. women, she will have to do very well among the southern states and nonwhite populations tonight.

she has got a different challenge than senator sanders does. she has got the lead in the ability to wear him down over time. think mike is if i were the clinton campaign, i would be i getg to think about how those disaffected republicans who are horrified about the prospect of donald trump, and how do i speak a little more to the high school educated white male and two constituencies within the democratic party that donald trump might be able to reach into and try to cut that off early before donald trump sort of gets there. i think for bernie sanders, what he has to do is show he can play someplace outside a really white state. 70% white. he did better there, but he has got to start performing with african-americans and hispanics if he will make this race competitive.

>> on tv was paid advertisements everywhere. he raised $40 million this month. where should he start spending the money going over? >> my own view that a strategy that you say we take it here and then here in over there, it is not a strategy to win. he has got enough money to go for it and he probably should. say,me point, people will -- >> what does going for it mean? >> and they raise this at a time where they do not have enough opportunity to spend it 30 probably look a little farther out and say, we will win states and say what they are. if they do not do something like -- thet's -- it attention will be focused on the fact that bernie did not win almost anywhere and he did not make it as close as he should have, and they will start to ask him when you will get out. he does not want that to happen.

both talking about hillary clinton's challenge going forward. it is a message challenge, but there is one event where you can say, i'm going to start talking about republicans all the time. another is about party healing. bernie sanders in a lot of states right now and you show up and there are 10,000 for bernie sanders. more than hillary clinton will get at a weeks worth of rallies. a lot of enthusiasm and young people who like him. should she be more focused about trying to attract those people to work within the party, or do you think it would be a better idea for her to put emphasis on down the road and republicans taking on trump etc.? >> she has got to do both. first and foremost, it is less about disaffected voters. it is more about energizing core constituencies that led back-to-back for barack obama 2008 and 2016. she will need an energized electorate.

it may seem as though she could count on her opponents to do that, but i think the electorate will be turned on its head and she will need to start with a core, energized, democratic race. that is the first priority. mike: let's say hillary clinton becomes the democratic nominee, design a role for bernie sanders for the conventions. what would a good role for him be? mike: she will have to capture not just his endorsement but the energy and support of his following now. i think she does not underestimate the power and she realizes an energized base of support will be important. i would leave it wide open. i would want his endorsement when he is willing to give it and under what conditions he is willing to give it. i would want him not just letting my name to the cause but lending my energy and my support and my following to the cause.

classic bernie sanders wins the race is where he is competing, colorado, vermont, massachusetts, he wins all five, is this still a dog fight? >> i don't know but it would be a rationale for him to go on and place that $40 million out there in a way that he could become competitive. i think it gives him the time in to actually go become competitive or not. >> thank you stephen mike. we will have lots more on our super special tuesday coverage after these words from our sponsors. ♪

>> make sure you go to bloomberg politics.com. the results are coming in soon. for our international viewers. first up is next. stay right here. the second hour of super tuesday show is coming up. we will take a look at the southern at war and we will ask chris christie of the his governor's trump endorsement. we will be right back. ♪

>> have always heard people say,

donald, you have the most beautiful hands. welcome back to our special coverage of mega monster game day on tuesday. alabama, georgia, tennessee, and virginia said they wanted a continuation of president obama's policies. an outsidery wanted and 32% decided within the last week. polls will beur, closing in the first batch of states. we have exit polls pouring in. striking thing on the democratic side is that overwhelmingly there is a sense in these states that democratic

voters would like a continuation. what they do not want, the majority, is more liberal policies than barack obama which is bad news for bernie sanders. is, but that is a national trend. i'm not surprised that any of those results. >> there is a sense people have had that the democratic base has drifted to the left. there is disenchantment that barack obama was not more progressive. when it comes time to vote, it seems the center of gravity is more in obama's court then elizabeth warren or bernie sanders. >> i never bought that theory. bernie sanders is a perfect vehicle. he is a protest vehicle. i do not think the democratic base has moved very left. i think they are satisfied with what obama has done.

why are hillary and bill clinton so popular? i think that is an exaggeration. i don't think bernie's appeal is because they want a more left-wing country. >> he lost a huge amount of momentum after he lost the caucuses in nevada. could he be doing better today than he is likely to do? are there mistakes he made? >> he could've got more votes in nevada. moment, arer that there other things where you say he did not do as well as he could have because of that? >> you cannot manage bernie. bernie is bernie. i have not seen anything they did where i said, that is so dumb. >> except for managing expectations in that one state. >> he was going to get clobbered in south keller -- south carolina the matter what happened. let's see how he does today. if he wins three to four states,

will he be the nominee? probably not but certainly a lot of momentum. >> you mention that half of the republican electorate in these super tuesday primary states say that they want an outsider. that is in some senses not a novel thing. but there are a majority of republicans who say, we do not want washington -- it puts a real number on a date when voting is taking place on a trend we have been detecting for a while. >> i think republicans brought this on themselves. obamaay we will repeal care cut taxes, reduce the size of government. that republican voter is saying, none of it happened. they were unrealistic promises. says throwk-and-file the bums out and bring the new

in. >> is there anyway for the senators or john kasich to cope with the reality that have to party what an outsider? >> it is a little bit easier for ted cruz because no one is more disliked in washington than ted cruz. but he does that donald trump has. if ted cruz were to get any kind of momentum, i don't think that would be a problem for him. going against trump am a it is. it - going against trump, is. >> i think governor kasich will have the worst night of everyone. is there a level of performance that causes him to end his campaign tonight? >> think the expectations are so low that it doesn't really matter. it would be better if he does well in vermont and finishes second in massachusetts, but w hat he has to do is do well in

michigan and then when ohio. if anyone does not win their home state, game, set, match. if rubio is the most likely alternative for the establishment, it's not looking good. >> when you think about tarot cards 4-wood you board -- or a republicans 32% of decided in the last week. just that one stat. who do you think that augurs well for? >> i am always skeptical of that number. if they did decide in the last week, what weighed on their minds. by my standards, donald trump had a bad last week, but in the voters, maybe he didn't. if they decided last week, they

thought some of these issues like david duke matter, but w cut?way does it they had a strong recollection and then confirmed it -- predilection and then confirmed it. >> looking at the republican party, you are looking at the ideological, self identification of these voters. 18% of massachusetts republican say they are very conservative, 14% are very conservative. only 32% say that they are moderate and 4% liberal. true of the massachusetts republican party, that tells you why donald trump is happening and why it is possible. relatively to be conservative and vote for conservative candidates. in massachusetts, the last

public in candidate who won the primary was bob dole. it has not happened since 1996. chose the reality of trump not being a regional candidate. he will have one new hampshire and presumably massachusetts. he has done a number of events and drawn huge crowds who understand his message as any state that i see him in. >> usually when you look at these multistate remarries, you understood the demographics on the republican side. by now you would understand who the romney voters are. you could say here is the percentage of evangelicals, suburban, by income -- you could predict the outcome. but trunk has blown -- trump has blown it out of the water. it is ideological. income and everything else. across thes

entire spectrum. with higheress well income and better educated but not wiped out with them. sevenn hillary clinton is to eight points lower on negatives. he is really liked by a lot of people and despised by even more. it is remarkable. >> it is. what is your scenario where trump is not the nominee. >> it is hard to come up with one. the only when you come up is if rubio and casey quinn march 15 in their home states and it is clear that not one of them will 37, andarch the 12th somehow mark -- trump is held at 40% and cannot win the convention. >> you talk about the degree of fear and loathing among republican establishment terry and i -- establishmentarians.

do you have any doubt that they would not try to take the nomination away from trump at the risk of alienating his voters? >> that is what they are trying to do. a big effort to raise money to throw everything at him the next two weeks. >> even if it means blowing this election? >> i think that there are a number of republicans who think they are concerned about preserving the senate, and not having this party labeled as the anti-immigration party for the next four years. we willwe come back, have a democratic wit around with our campaign reporters. after this. ♪

>> checking in on the democratic race. fromjoins us by phone essex junction, vermont. isnie sanders is a man who sometimes not in the best of moods. how has his mood been the last couple days? >> he was pretty down after south carolina but today he has been upbeat. he voted in burlington. he was joking that he has at least one vote, he was working on his wife. people here like him. in his70% of the vote reelection in 2012 and he will audibly have 5000 people for his rally. >> i am curious how bad do they

think it could be tomorrow. are they braced for something that could be quite terrible? or is there generally a sense of genuine optimism about the ability to win the five states or so? >> you heard them talk about doing well in those five states. think after south carolina they're looking toward super tuesday but also toward ohio, missouri, toward these less diverse states where he thinks he has a better shot. are rootingsay they for all five states. whatever happens, they will be there in july for philadelphia. >> this is the homecoming for bernie sanders. talk about how he is being received and what the event is supposed to be like. >> people really like him here.

there were people shouting out to him, there are bernie stickers everywhere. people are cheering and shouting. there were long lines to get in this afternoon. do you have a sense as i do that the michigan race next week will matter? talking about trade and the economy -- that they will be really all in to win that race to try to revive a campaign that will take a hard hit tonight. there is about 70 set

-- 70% white with eight trade history. he is not -- with a trade history. he is not as far behind as he is in other states. arit john thank you for those reports. confidant of a chris christie thinks about a donald trump endorsement and more on the race for super tuesday after this.

>> joining us now from washington, d.c. is a former

chris christie advisor. former obama, white house press secretary bill burton. i want to ask the obvious question at hand. boss,christie, your someone you have worked for for a long time, endorsed trump last week and shocked a lot of people. what was he thinking? >> i think the governor looked at this and saw three people left with the path. he thinks highly of john kasich but did not think he has a path. he saw donald trump and two first-term senator's. s. he made it clear doing the campaign what he thought of first-term senator's and their ability to go to the white house. >> what do you say to people like meg whitman, who is not alone, giving voice to the christie allies, that this was an act of shameless and

political opportunism? >> we tell people that they are free to go where they want to go. the governor is doing this personally. he is not trying to deliver the campaign team or donors. go,s encouraging people to but doing what he thinks is right based on the three people left in the race. >> mike, do you support donald trump for president? >> i have stayed neutral at this point. ever since my guy got out of the race i have decided to stay neutral so i can do shows like this and give informal feedback. >> bill, watching the republican see a scenario where donald trump emerges from his domination and hillary clinton emerges as a democratic nominee where hillary would be favored to win the democratic nomination or donald trump will win the matter what? >> i think hillary is in a very strong position versus trump who

has a lot of problems in most every state in the country. he has a major set of problems that he cannot overhaul come. >> what are his biggest problems in the general? >> people will have a hard time seeing him as president of united states. someone who uses the kind of meta-light which uses on race and women. a host of -- meta-language he uses on race and women. a host of issues that people do not see as presidential. when we wake about up tomorrow morning, assuming there are open questions about this evening, what are the most plausible scenarios you see to stop donald trump from being nominated? >> i think each of the candidates see the opportunity

to win their home state and hope the other two do poorly or lose. marco rubio will want to look to florida to win and donald trump wins ohio and ted cruz wins texas but does not have a lot be on that. they all -- does not have a lot beyond that. they all want to get into that one on one race with donald trump but if he wins 10 states tonight and does well march 15, at that point it may be totally. >> who is the most likely nominee besides donald trump? >> besides donald trump, i don't know. ted cruz might have two wins after tonight. people are still rallying around marco rubio. there is a slight path for john kasich. anybody other than donald trump and somebody won three of the first four states by double digits and was on his way to winning 10 or 11

states, we would say it is over. because it is him, we see a path. the other three are all in their way. they are all keeping each other down and that is really good for donald trump. >> bill burton, give me three adjectives that you would use to describe a potential trump-clinton general election. >> [laughter] i would say, not overly positive. it will be a very aggressive general election. in the short-term, it does look like it will be trump who gets the most delegates, but you could have a scenario where nobody gets out of the race, they force it to the convention and the republican insiders try to give it to someone who did not get the most delegates. then the general will be messy and a little scary to watch. >> let me ask you about bernie sanders. what has to be the case tomorrow

morning for bernie sanders to stand up with a straight face and say i have a narrow but plausible path? 2008, when president obama pretty much put away the nomination process on super be difficultt will for bernie sanders to do anything if he does not surprise people. he is really only contesting five states, not even half of the delegates. unless he can show that he can extend his support beyond white, college educated liberals, he does not have a path. i don't know that if he gets out or must get out, but it is pretty much done. >> he just raised the contested convention scenario. what is more likely? donald trump getting the

majority of delegates to secure the nomination, or this going to cleveland and having an actual floor fight? >> i think it is more likely that he wins the nomination in terms of getting enough delegates. political junkies like us would always love a contested convention. we will always talk about it. tonight, he1 states will have 114 of the first 16 states -- he will have won 14 of the first 16 states. people are talking about it and thinking about the contested convention, but it is less likely than winning on votes. if you win on that many states, will party leaders go against the results from their home states? >> what is the most interesting reaction that you have heard the donald trump and from whom? >> i will keep a lot of those conversations private.

there has been a range across the section. a lot of people saying it is the smartest thing he could've done, and meg whitman and others who indicate the other side. >> if donald wins nine states or more, do you expect more people to follow governor christie this week. more centers and more establishment figures or do you think they will continue to hold off and governor christie and others will be the current investors? >> most people will wait until march 15. my biggest frustration with the republican establishment is most people sitting on their hands. people say not trump, but they do not have the guts to support someone else. want donald trump, you have to help somebody else win. that was my frustration while trying to help chris christie. so many who had a fear of offending jeb bush or because they liked rubio or walker, they

did not want to get behind somebody and now they are complaining. people want to stop donald trump, so they have to support somebody. burton, first to me donald trump's campaign slogan and then hillary's. >> make america great again. hillary's campaign is bigger than a slogan is her slogan. [laughter] >> does that point up the fact and he has a simple message she has a top located message and it might trump -- she has a complicated message and it might trump complicated? >> so to speak. very much intended. people i think one something a little more complex than suggesting he will make america

great again with themes about stomping on minorities across the country. >> mike, if donald trump is the nominee, will you vote for him? >> i will vote for the nominee. >> if hillary clinton is the nominee, will you vote for her? >> twice, if i can. >> mike, you managed to almost look like you would be happy to vote for donald trump. thank you, mike. thank you, bill. next, a breakdown of the money spent on political ads. you can also listen to us on bloomberg 99.1 fm. we will be right back.

>> we have talked a great deal about political tv ads. do you want to guess how much

has been spent? the infotein has graphic breakdown. .25o far in this election, ilion dollars has been spent -- $.25 billion has been spent on tv ads. until now. youhe run up to tuesday, would think that candidates would rely on ads. that is not the case. million dollars in ads have been ordered on the republican side. in the first four states republican spent $1.4 million on at to win each of the delegates up for grabs. coming that to this tuesday, republicans are spending just $6,000 per delegate.

nearly 300 times less. as for the democrats, during the first four contests, they spent $358,000 per delegate. way, there will be adsimes less money spent on compared to new hampshire. hunt.ning us now, al and megan murphy megan. we talked so much about fundraising, but on the republican side nobody has got much money except donald trump. >> this is the most bizarre season for ads. to one person who had a ton spend on advertising was jeb bush and that was proven ineffective. on the democratic side as well,

you try to think, what are the standout ads? you have bernie sanders for america, but is there another one that stands out? i cannot think of another one off of my head. >> why is bernie sanders a great internet fundraiser and marco rubio not? >> i think bernie sanders is more of a passionate, cause left wingleft wing -- usually raises more on the internet. obama was the exception because he was unique. other campaigns will look and say if we want to spend a lot of money on super tuesday, we had better think it will add value. >> looking at the terrain ahead, super tuesday was expensive. to matter atgoing all? >> part of it is that there is so much good material on the road. we are seeing now the power of

twitter, smartphones, social media. it has evolved bit by bit with every cycle. in south carolina, morgan freeman, the voice of god, doing hillary clinton ads -- i don't know how much of the difference it made, but it certainly validated her. there is such an opportunity to do this for free, and on the public stage. and on television which has an insatiable interest in covering it. >> in terms of impact of advertising, one of the things that hillary clinton has done is, she has released this at covering valeant pharmaceuticals. that sent the stock down. we may not see the impact on the voting people, but we are sure seeing it on the market. >> history shows that some of the most effective ads do not necessarily have a lot of money.

we have seen a lot already against trump another is a sense that more groups will put more money behind him. what is your got about what -- what is your gut about what kind of ad might hurt trump? anything? >> everyone in the establishment says we have to do something. then people say, maybe trump university, others say the hypocrisy. if they are going to do it, and i am dubious that they will, they had better settle on a central theme. the kitchen sink will not work. >> i believe it will be trump himself on video, everything he has said, but much more in the general election. >> do you agree with al that the money will not be there? i think if they put up military brass and senior military people

and soldiers from down the line and up, i will not support donald trump as my commander in chief, that would do damage as well. >> let's say that chris -- cruz does not win texas. does anybody drop out tonight? >> if ted cruz wins texas, no. >> it has come in stages. the first stage was in the fall as they saw him rising nationally. the second stage was certainly in new hampshire when he blew out the competition on the same night when she got walloped. after the carolina races, the steamroller headed into tonight. hillary is engaged, the pollsters are engaged, the coordinated groups are engaged. they still are not convinced. >> will bill clinton convince

china to go fight back? >> i do not think he can. >> that would be epic. >> who would keep him in the corner? what the super pac will do on donald trump -- they will not make the mistake that the gop rivals did. >> they will be armed with research and aggressive. >> megan murphy, al, thanks to the three of you. up next week talked to a trump strategist after this. ♪

neverer tuesday was

anything we thought would be some great thing for us. we were looking forward to heading north and we will head north. at the end of tonight, 35% of delegates will be selected which leaves 65% yet to be selected. makes a, if a guy double and you make a par, it is a whole new ballgame. >> here is a romney-ryan chief strategist, extreme sports aficionado, and never trump agitator. stewart, you are here from vancouver. tonight, donald trump is poised to win a lot of races tonight. mpu have been on an anti-tru crusade for a long time. a lot of people in the party have joined you, belatedly. if i give you all the money in the world and the role of chief

strategist in the anti-trump rally, what would you do? >> i would talk about what it would mean to have donald trump as president. on multiple levels. what it would mean to the economic future. his crazy plans for tariffs. there will be a trump tax. to talk about what it would mean for america standing in the world and our military. absolutely crazy ideas about foreign policy to the extent that he has any ideas. most00, our single effective mission was restoring honor and dignity to the white house. if donald trump were to be president that would be a powerful message in four years. so you have to break it down, what would it mean to have this person as president. what would it mean to your

paycheck and your sense to be an american? afterco rubio has taken donald trump in the last couple days. how would you rate the job he has done? >> i think he is doing a great job. the first thing about fighting is to get in the fight. success -- the sign of success of rubio's efforts is that trump is responding to him. this has always been the key. he response to everything and you need to hit him with a lot of things. traditional thinking when you have an opponent is, focus one attack and go with that. in this case, trump invites the opposite approach. multipled hit him with attacks on multiple fronts and he will try to respond to all of them. he is one person out there. he does not have a lot of support staff.

he micro manages and tweets himself as we saw by the fact that he cannot spell. that is the way to really drive the agenda. it is like a hurry up offense in football. you have to move and control the agenda. >> you're a man for mississippi where the ku klux klan has a lot of residents. what trump said or did not say about the kkk -- does that matter? does it hurt him or is it of no consequence whatsoever? >> i think it is of tremendous consequence. i am a seventh generation mississippian. i have seen those wars fought for a long time. i do not think there is a candidate, politician, or officeholder in mississippi that would've answered that question remotely the way that donald trump answered it. it was absolutely appalling.

you cannot say it was a mistake. he knew that he was -- what he was doing. he was heading into super tuesday and trying to be, at most, gracious. too cute by half and play the race card. it is disgusting. it is part of a larger pattern. someone who calls mexicans racist. this is someone who has no respect for anybody but donald trump. it has really crossed the line. it has reallyhis, become a moral question about supporting donald trump. everyone needs to ask themselves , can they cross that line to who takes them hours to research the ku klux supremacist, david duke? and donaldhillary trump, who would you vote for?

>> i would not vote for either one. i would not walk down either path. you can lose an election. mechanism to regain lost offices. you cannot lose your sense of self. >> let me ask you differently. who would be a better president, hillary clinton or donald trump? >> oh, personally i think that hillary clinton would be a better president than donald trump. i think that donald trump is a dangerous person. someone who would embarrass america. absolutely no desire to see hillary clinton as president of the united states. i will is the choice, not give her my vote. but i cannot support donald trump.

time in be the first our lifetime that there was not a conservative choice on the ballot. he needs to stand for something other than elections. >> your first client chris christie endorsed donald trump. how potent would a chris christie-donald trump ticket be? >> the overall rule would apply that whoever is at the top of the ticket will matter. i think donald trump will get crushed at heroic levels. it would prove that hillary clinton is the luckiest person on the planet if she goes against donald trump. >> how do you explain chris christie doing what he did? >> i have no idea. i will not do what donald trump does. if others make different choices i will not attack them or try to denigrate them or question their motives. i think we need to respect differences of opinion.

but i go, and i think a lot of people will share my view in a different direction. >> our thank you to stuart. next, the return of alphonse -- al hunt, mike feldman, and steve mcmahon. after this. ♪

>> joining us now, al hunt. our friends mike feldman and steve mcfadden -- steve mcmahon. democratic gurus. is it gurus? or guru? >> it certainly fits.

>> exit polls are coming in talking about the electorate and what they think. one that flooded into my e-mail box is in the republican party which says that 85% of donald trump voters favor his ideas for a muslim ban and 60% of non-trump voters. i know that you two are democrats. what does that say about where the republican party is today and how much of that is an indication of why donald trump is doing so well? >> i think there was a bloomberg purple paul that first discovered -- purple poll that first discovered the level of support among the primary electorate for the idea. think it says that the republican party is neither very diverse nor very tolerant of other points of view. as a democrat, i cannot believe it. it seems so inconceivable to me, but you see it again and again in these polls. >> there is something very

powerful and passionate and scary going on underneath these numbers. ,hen we look immediately anybody who underestimates the power of an election cycle that could produce this trump phenomena or even the sanders phenomena on the other side is deluding themselves. >> i have heard wildly divergent views from various people. donald trump as a strong general election candidate or a weak candidate? >> weak. >> why? >> his negatives are off the chart. when people say, do i want to see this man as my commander-in-chief? will i be proud? i think that is a personal vote and people reject that. >> mike, i will ask you the same question but frame it slightly differently. i had a conversation with david

cluff, he said the clinton campaign should not take this for granted. they should be a little nervous about donald trump because he would scramble the electoral map, the industrial northeast, the industrial midwest states could be up for grabs. he is incredibly unpredictable. the last thing you want to face is a candidate you cannot predict what they will do any day of the week. the democrats might be able to beat him in a landslide, that he is different and dangerous. >> i think he is right and you know who else thinks that? bill clinton. he was recently saying let's not underestimate this guy. that is what everybody, including everybody sitting here, has done all the way along the line. white,e electorate is middle-class, blue-collar folks -- kind of the same as bernie sanders. he takes it to a different place. he says it is the foreigners and

the people coming from the country. bernie sanders says it is the wealthy and wall street. there is a core of the argument that a similar. al is right. he has a lot of problems but is also not one to be under estimated. >> it is easier to say, do not be complacent. you should take any opponent seriously. but if running the clinton campaign, who would you rather face in the general? marco rubio or donald trump? >> i don't know. trump is unpredictable. but the math point is right, one was the last time new york had to defend new york state in a general? >> new jersey. illinois. >> it scrambles the map. > on the other hand, there is this anger, this anti-establishment energy.

but hillary clinton is an established political brand, and you do not know how that will impact you when you scribble the map. >> easy -- when you scramble the map. >> easy or hard for hillary clinton to pull the sanders energy and enthusiasm into her corner. the party back together. there is a fair amount of passion in both directions. >> it is not the differences, but the energy, the passion. that will be very hard with young voters. >> if you think about the obama coalition, she will get big percentages of african-americans and hispanics voters. can she get the numbers? >> one thing that a trump candidacy offers is, it will very quickly unify the party. electoratergize the who may have been sitting on

their hands otherwise. how it will play out in states, we do not know, but it will do that. >> millennials enthused about her in the way they are about sanders, what would your advice be? >> donald trump does a lot of the work for her. gap ins an enthusiasm the primary, but that disappears when you are running against somebody like donald trump. >> you have done the humans were tonight. yo ou have done the eoman's work tonight. you are a genius. >> al is already in the brain trust. >> we will be right back. ♪

to bloombet you go

rgpolitics.com to read all of our super super tuesday stories. there will be much more on this election night. >> later on "bloomberg west," emily chang speaks to attorney general loretta lynch. you will want to check that out. when we know the super tuesday results, goodbye. which means sayonara. ♪

charlie: the 2016 presidential election could be remembered as one of the most bizarre and unpredictable in american history. the new series seems to capture its jaw-dropping, head scratching moments in real-time. the showtime president david niven says it ends to expose not just the nitty-gritty of campaigns, but the people behind the candidates. joining the are mark halperin and john heileman