♪ >> welcome to a best of "with all due respect." another big week for the presidential campaigns. two more debates. donald trump won by a lot in michigan, bernie sanders one by a little, still enough to sting the hillary clinton campaign. we begin by dissecting that victory. how on earth did sanders pull this off? >> particularly, trade is an issue that has more residents in -- resonance in michigan that maybe any other state. they do not like clinton's

position on trade deals. that allowed him to get a huge comeback win and a huge symbolic win, and to return from the dead. >> i want to show what the democratic breakdown of the vote was. this is also super important. take a look at the first breakdown between white and black voters. sanders beats clinton 56/42. importantly in the black vote, you have sanders getting 28% of the black vote in michigan, way more than he has gotten anywhere else in the country. if you look closer, white women and black women, clinton is dominating with black women. but with white women, which should be in the heart of

clinton's constituency, bernie sanders meets her. if he gets a healthy amount of african-americans and white women, he can win more states. >> he put together a coalition of the people he had already been attracting but also a much higher percentage of the african-american vote. it does suggest that that wind, if he can keep it up, is not a fluke. when the clintons say he won because he targeted the state, i'm not sure that is an effective ways of spin. >> the sanders campaign going around saying that hillary is a regional candidate. she cannot win out of the south. obviously, he won in new hampshire. winning this state, it is a tangential claim they are making, but it is there. >> mississippi also gave her the bigger delegate haul of the evening.

while michigan may have given him some needed momentum, he still has a lot of ground to make up. next tuesday, five states voting on march 15. the polling shows that clinton has a big lead in all of them right now. john, five big contests next week, a few more coming down the road. where is sanders likely to win, if he can keep his momentum going? john: sanders will try to run the same playbook as he did in ohio. he could be very competitive there. they are favorable on missouri. >> given one donald trump accomplished last night, what is the most plausible scenario of

the stop trump movement? mark: they have to hold down what they are going after on. the opposition research, every day our inboxes are filled with stuff like that. something he said on tour, trump university, trump steaks. while they did some experimentation in idaho, they have to prove that attribution will lead to hurting trump. they have not done that. i will say, it starts with case -- with john kasich winning ohio. they have to keep his delegate totals down. they have to make it plausible, three ofn if he wins 5, 4 of five, even five of five, he is not on a glide path to a majority. john: it is possible to give the stop trump movement going, it -- if john kasich wins ohio and

somebody else wins another one. it will be on life support. somehow, marco rubio pulling off a lazarus here in florida would be a big deal. that would really messed up trump's plan. i think the one thing that you said that i agree with, the amount of money spent on any advertising is meaningless if there is not a message that resonates. candidates picking up and riding it. where is the polling that is informing the advertising? right now there is no research underneath it. mark: marco rubio has gone from being anti-donald trump now gone back to his message. it's a problem. only the candidates can stop trump. it leads me to what i think now is the most plausible movement right now is potentially kasich and rubio losing their home states and ted cruz getting him one-on-one.

starting next if you look at the wednesday. public polling, ted cruz beat trump head-to-head. maybe that would not happen in reality, but there is not one poll that shows trump beats ted cruz. john: i'm looking at all those states, the few places where you can imagine ted cruz winning, but you getting to places like wisconsin, new york, pennsylvania, iowa, those are not ted cruz country. mark: carly fiorina endorsed ted cruz. lindsey graham may be. he has a chance to consolidate the party behind him. john: may be a long shot but the most likely right now. there was more reporting today, marco rubio and his team holding some conversations today, some floating the thought about whether he should get out of the there was more reporting today, race before florida. the campaign denies those

reports but that has not stopped the donors and strategists from other campaigns of speculating on the subject. according to a new poll, donald trump leads in florida with 45%. rubio is way back with 22, down six points from last month. ted cruz with 18. if rubio, a big if, decides he cannot go on, does not want to get bludgeoned in his home state, what then? mark: if trump gets the 45 in the state, nobody will be him. -- beat him. i believe right now, unless he has some sort of spurt, does well in the debate tomorrow night, somehow comes back, i believe if he got out, ted cruz would have a better chance of effectively stopping donald trump one-on-one. i think ted cruz has a better chance of stopping trump in this state than rubio.

john: i imagine all of the rubio vote going to case it. -- going to john kasich. as hobbledagine -- as rubio is coming he has a better chance of beating trump than ted cruz ever will. mark: he can go on the air trump out ontake all of the liberal stuff. this is republicans only, this n older electorate. trump is the odds on favorite. all i'm saying is i think cruz has a better chance. john: i wonder how many florida republicans are thinking around -- sitting around saying, i wish , jeb bush was still in the race. i bet there are a lot of established republicans thinking, we would have been better off. coming up, florida and three other states voting next week. we ask the former chairman of

the republican party in florida where the sun will be shining. ♪

mark: joining me from tallahassee, florida is the former jeb bush campaign supporter and former chairman of the florida republican party. al, your candidate is out of the race, you have known marco rubio a long time. why are you not a public backer of marco rubio? >> i am in about the third or fourth stage of the grieving process. that is coming to accept what is going on. what is going on seems to be a two-way race between ted cruz and donald trump. if we look at the early exit polls today, that seems to be

reflected of what is happening in michigan and mississippi. i am not in the mood to get involved, i have not seen a persuasive case to get involved. destiny looks like a two person race. depending on what happens on the 15th, i don't know if they can keep donald trump from getting to 1237. i think ted cruz has a chance, i don't think anyone else has a chance. i think it is no better than 50/50 that anyone can stop donald trump from getting the nomination at this point. mark: has anyone asked for your support since jeb bush got out of the race? >> folks have been kind enough to reach out. i care for marco rubio. i think of the four candidates running, he is my favorite, with kasich in a close second. looking at the state of affairs, i am ready to not get involved

in this and see if i can be one of those folks that puts in the effort to reunite the party so we can avoid a disaster in november. mark: who is your preference between trump and cruz? >> certainly will be supporting ted cruz if it is down to those two. mark: let me stop you there. if you favor ted cruz and you are concerned trump will get the nomination by steamrolling quickly, why not do everything you can to slowed down in florida? >> when you support somebody, it should not be for strategy, but for what you think is best for you to do. right now, i think what is best for me to do is to do what i can, to bring party together. you cannot ignore donald trump. whether he gets to 1237 or not, he will be a major force in the party.

either ted cruz and donald trump will find a way to coexist, donald trump will be so close to the finish line that he cannot to have either case it for rubio on his ticket, or pick somebody else, or ted cruz could do the same. at this point our best bet is to , see how he can be the best ticket he can be to defeat hillary clinton, rather than taking sides in the primary. what i need to do is figure out how i can put in my two cents and make sure a ticket leaves out of cleveland that can compete with hillary clinton. mark: marco rubio says he will win the order primary, is he? mark: i am still confused, i know that you said you should not vote for strategic purposes,

but her career is not a -- marco rubio is not some stranger. you know him well. he needs all the help he can get to in the primary and keep his candidacy alive. why wouldn't you and jim bush do -- and jeb bush do everything you can to help him? >> we are where we are for all the reasons i told you. i believe you get involved in supporting a second candidate if you think he can ride that wave all the way to cleveland. at this point in time, a case has not been made that that is a long-term -- mark: you think he has 0% chance of being the nominee? >> at this point yes. even if he wins florida, he has a chance to go to an open convention and be a player, but i don't see either case a core rubio being the nominee of the party. i think the nominee will be donald trump or ted cruz.

mark: from the general election in florida, trump versus clinton. >> i would say trump. two words on that, supreme court. mark: so you think he would be the favorite to win the electoral college? >> i think so, if he has the right ticket, if he has the right strategy. if he continues to be an outlier, he will put the race at risk. if he gets smart in the general election, he can beat hillary clinton, without a doubt. mark: what would it take for you to endorse donald trump? >> a lot. you have seen many candidates go from a primary race to the general race and become a different candidate, become a more acceptable candidate to america's mainstream. you do that by picking the right vice presidential nominee, by picking the right team to start

helping you begin to transition. we will see what he has to say. if he moderates his point of view, i will support him. mark: who surprised you more in their reaction to donald trump in the last few weeks, chris christie or mitt romney? >> mitt romney. mark: when we have you back, we will have you explain the answer to us. appreciate the honesty as always. john: next, our conversation with hillary clinton's national political adviser. we talk about the implications of her candidate losing in michigan. ♪

mark: final hours before the big democratic debate in miami. we bring in hillary clinton's national political director. thanks for coming back. hillary clinton lost the michigan primary because -- >> it was a close race, always was going to be a close race. we have to do our job to earn every vote. mark: i will ask you again, hillary clinton lost the michigan primary because - >> i don't have an answer for you. we are still digesting the information. we have to get out there and invest, be there, make sure we are talking about jobs earlier, make sure that people know exactly where we are on manufacturing jobs. we came in on friday to get our message. maybe we could have done it earlier. mark: is it possible there is some skepticism in that state regarding who is a bigger

opponent of international trade deals, bernie sanders and hillary clinton, given her next -- her mixed history and his consistent history? >> i think you heard that point made in the debate. here is why i'm opposed to tpp. then we talked about her pro-jobs message. pro-jobs message. i think that will be a difference that you continue to hear from us on both sides of the coin. i think that's an important aspect as to go into these next states. john: let me ask you two demographic questions. how do you explain a losing white women to bernie sanders, if you are hillary clinton? >> i think we have to talk about what kind of jobs we are going to create. we are going to do that. in general, that is a midwest message. we have not hit that our hearts -- as hard as we could. in light of the breaking barriers message, it's important that we talk about what her jobs plan is.

when you compare the two, it is different. she is incredibly comprehensive, she does think through innovation and the foundation of our economy, and we will talk more about that. mark: in south carolina, she got 90% of the african-american vote. last night, sanders won a third of the black vote in michigan. what accounts for the disparity, and how does that worry you? >> we have to make sure that everyone knows the primary is happening. that is a little different with michigan. 2008, michigan played a role. we also have to talk about the importance of jobs in every community. what we saw in michigan is how disappointed people are about the manufacturing industry, that they need a president that will bring those jobs back. we are going to make sure that we are loud and clear about that piece of it. mark: going back to the first

question, it sounds like you said you were not in the state enough and there was a failure of messaging. >> i think we have to talk more about her jobs plan and we did that on friday. i think you'll start to see more of that and it's important that we have that plan out there. mark: given senator sanders victory last night, the other ,- the amount of money he has do you assume this will be a competitive contest into the spring? >> absolutely. mark: donald trump could on tuesday effectively end his nomination fight. if he wins all five, do you think he would be a de facto nominee? >> i think you have people who are really engaged in staying in the race. mark: you think all five will continue to the convention? >> i do. mark: explain how that would happen. >> people stay in the race. i think you could see kasich, cruz stay in the race.

mark: i will bet you a shake shack burger that it rubio and kasich do not win, they get out. >> cruz? mark: he already won in some states. is senator sanders running as good or better a campaign as you are? >> i think we are running a great campaign. >> better than him? >> yes. mark: what metrics are you using? >> when you look at who we are bringing together, we will continue to grow our vote within the different demographics, including the young vote, including making sure that the women stay on board. when you look at the coalition of the democratic party and you size that up because what is -- with what is happening on the republican side, the victory in the general is making sure that we still have the biggest tent. john: one of the things i am

struck by, i went to two sanders events where there are over 10,000 people. with all due respect, that is more than hillary clinton sees. they are big events. what accounts for -- even as the media is telling democratic voters, it is over, the delegate lead is insurmountable -- why does sanders continued to get that sort of passion? >> we are going to make sure that we are going to some of the places come in terms of universities and colleges, where there are a lot of people. i cannot account for what he is doing. i can make sure that we are getting our message out there. it is important that we talk about when she will do to make sure that people have good, paying jobs, and particularly the younger voters, we have to talk not just about jobs but also about college affordability. mark: as bernie sanders -- has bernie sanders generally been a friend to the u.s. auto industry?

>> i think there is a truth, and i work for the senator in michigan for a long time. there is the truth that, at that moment, when you need to take a hard vote to save the auto industry, it matters. mark: has he been a friend and ally? >> he was not there at the key moment, and i think that says a lot. mark: up next, my conversation about donald trump's connection to a program where investors get visas in return for money, many of them coming from china. ♪