mark: i am mark halperin. john: and dime john heilemann. -- and i am a john heilemann. mark: garland day,errick google search fans. garland has been nominated to the supreme court. he has previously enjoyed support for both parties. he investigated a bombing two and we used to read

comic books, but now we are interested in constitutional law. askedent obama republicans to give merrick garland a fair check, even though it is an election year. >> the idea that someone has a served his country with honor and dignity, delivering justice for the american people, might be treated as a political piñata. that cannot be right. tomorrow, judge garland old travel to meet with the senators, one-on-one. i simply asked republicans and the senate to give him a fair hearing. and then, and up or down vote. -- standoffand up has been going on for weeks, ever since justice antonin scalia passed away. senator leader mitch mcconnell dug in his heels. he called garland today, said they would revisit the matter

when the president next -- next president nominates someone. he said this on the senate floor. rightis best presidents to nominate is a supreme court justice, but the senate's right to act as a check on the president, and withhold its consent. president obama and his allies may pretend this is about a person. noted, as our vice president made it there, it is not. it seems clear president obama made this nomination not with the intent of seeing a nominee confirmed, but in order to politicize it for purposes of the election. mark, conventional wisdom was before this pick, that obama is trying to pick somebody the

republicans are fighting hard to snuff. how is it working out? mark: better than i thought. i thought he would go to one with a more compelling resume and personal story, ben garland is more compelling than i thought. people already seeing willing to meet with garlands -- garland. and democratic strategists grassleyhat senator and a senator mcconnell he are digging in, saying no reason to even meet. they are right. it they may get grassley to flip and hold a hearing. if they can hold a hearing, they may be able to get him confirmed. john: it is true. collins, in susan think we will see republicans up for reelection this year recognizing that being intransigent on this may be a political problem. merrick garland is a consummate

washington insider. this is a rare moment when president obama is playing the inside game. he has a lot of conservative friends, including john roberts. he has worked with republicans on the court. mark: correct. john: if you weren't going to pick someone like brian sandoval, this makes a lot of republicans in this town comfortable. a lot of them voted for him, as well. we will talk more in the next topic. not everyone is falling in line with mitch o'connell right off the bat. mark: i will republicans crank up the pressure on grassley, let's see if grassley fold. it is safe to say, the wikipedia page has gotten a major update since this morning. president obama introduced him to the nation as a public-school educated, harvard graduate from chicago. in his first remarks to the

garland himself gave us more information on his biography. >> my grandparents came from western russia in the early 1900s, fleeing anti-semitism, hoping to make a better life for their children in america. they settled in the midwest, eventually making their way to chicago. my father ran the smallest of small businesses, from a room in our basement. , as he madeith him the rounds to his customers, always impressing upon me the importance of hard work, and fair dealing. so this is president obama's third opportunity to nominate someone to the supreme court. the first two were women. already, progressive groups like democracy for america expressing frustration that the president miss an opportunity to select a more liberal nominee, maybe someone to bring more diversity to court.

john, you wrote a piece on garland in your magazine in 2010. what is the president see in garland, and was he too cautious with this pick? john: i don't think he has been too cautious at all. int i wrote about him back 2010, when he was being considered by president obama to replace it justice stevens, was that he has a quality, and undervalued quality in terms of people you put on the court. it is not how far to the left you are, or are you basically progressive or basically conservative? can you persuade other justices to side with you? he has demonstrated that ability time and again. he is able to get conservative justices to side with him on issues on the labor law, environmental law, discrimination law. he has been a persuasive the judge. i think obama is playing in that game. trying to get someone, like who was able to

build coalitions on the court. mark: i talked to one of the supporters of this nomination today, and they said he is older than nominees have been, of late. sacrifices they years. he is so experience, he practically has the skill the basic report justice walking in the door. he would be an influential player in court today. a younger judge would probably show more deference to the older colleagues. if he does get confirmed, he can have an impact right away. john: i think that is exactly right. when we do that, the john kasich classic on the campaign trail. the establishments last hope, and the stories you would like to tell, after this. ♪

mark: i a donald trump one the ohio primary, there would be very few questions about the republican nomination. but he did not win ohio, and now one thing stands in his way, john kasich. the man of the moment for many. the only presidential candidate out on the trail today, everyone else was resting. i covered him just this morning. not talk today about trump or cruz, but did talk about a lot of other stuff. >> maybe i should tell you a

little story. march madness. this wall street game, cupcakes, my uncle, i don't mean to speak political gibberish here, the mailman's wife, we went from the smaller tyrannosaurus rex, to the big one. did you read the story about this? ufos, photography, college roommates. don't you like to protest? that is where superman changed his close. some big darn institution in new york. ben & jerry's free for one whole year. anyway, beautiful chandeliers, everything. president nixon. can you give us more snow days? you are the governor, john, dad. let's keep it simple. sincerely, john kasich. a today.t was he also talked about other stuff and more serious issues. but he did not make dramatic

news or remarks. he caught a break in pennsylvania. rubio supporters dropped a ballot challenge lawsuit against him. be on theesumably ballot there. plus, at a time when john kasich needs to seize the moment and this opportunity, does he seem to have a plan to change the dynamics of this race? i am afraid you and i will agree on this 1000%. at the moment, i discern no plan, and no clue. last night one winning his home state of ohio, his victory speech was uninspiring. from what i have seen of the event, totally all over the place. -- manic,man take frantic on display. he has to get his stuff together if he wants to win. mark: he needs to be big and seize the moment. betting against john kasich has been foolish. he has won a lot of elections, including last night.

things have come his way. do, doing what he needs to to make people believe that this is a three-person race, to win financial support, endorsements,

mark: that is a lot of stuff.

the last one was a web video. he said in the last two weeks, i had many negative ads against me, and i won by a massive landslide. and another 1 -- all these things he could have done in pajamas and a barca lender. now he only faces john kasich and ted cruz. what, at this point is most likely to stop donald trump from being the republican nominee? john: i just want to ask you those questions. can you were allowed that he did not do those things? mark: he dominates the news.

pretty amazing. john: i continue to think, that the current configuration of a three-person race with kasich able to win some states, and cruz in theory to win some states, as the best chance of keeping trump under 1237. to getd have to have 58% the majority of delegates before the contest ends. i think there is a chance back at happen if it is the only way to stop it. it is a better chance to happen that way than if cruz went one-on-one with chuck. mark: i am not sure. it depends on whether john kasich steps up and claims a fifth or a quarter of some of these votes. if that happens, without a doubt, it would be worse for trump. i think the other thing that needs to happen, there needs to

be people and the conservative trump is notdecide electable. and notthem below 50% improving his polls against hillary clinton, is a way he could be stopped. but those are two big gifts -- ifs. it still remains to see if they can stop them from getting to 50%. when we come back, bernie sanders half performance problem at the polls. a look at the democratic results from last night, and what they mean for our future, after this. ♪

,ohn: last night was pretty pretty not good for sanders and his fans. losing all five states, polls assumed to be tightening, and the economic message gaining traction. he did not do great with two important groups, women and white voters in ohio. compared to michigan state he won last week, sanders supporters among those groups fell 9% in the buckeye state, among women.36% my question for you, why didn't bernie sanders do better yesterday when he needed to? mark: those are two groups where he did not do so well.

the michigan experience where he won narrowly but still one, they hoped would transfer over to illinois and ohio and missouri. other groups where he did not do as well in those states, as he has done in michigan. is, the fact that he could not target a single state, and the head-to-head competition, made it harder for him to draw contrasts for voters in that state. michigan was a more concentrated experience. perhaps the fact that the economy there has been pretty bad did not allow them to perform that. or are a bunch of groups where he did not do as well in the state as he did in michigan. john: i agree with you. i feel like that is the case. the more people would get to know him and time to spend with him, and his tv ads, sanders tends it to perform better. sanders, way behind hillary

clinton in every day. argue, something close to what you are arguing. that it is not an excuse. this is the way it now works, these multi-primary date. sanders is basically doomed now. part of the story for him will be that he did not compete nearly well enough when multiple primaries were happening, not just last night, but prior to that. hillary clinton wins the last night gave her a big delegate whose area and she took almost all the momentum bernie sanders had out of the big surprise win in michigan. we have not seen a sweep like sweptince dick van dyke all those chimneys in "mary poppins." regain control of the narrative, pointing out there are some friendly states coming up in the election calendar. a lot of caucuses, and a lot of states where the electorate might be better for him.

john, at this point, i know you said you thought he was all but doomed, but what could bernie sanders do to stop hillary clinton smarts to the nomination? john: a totally unpredictable event would have to happen, in the legal realm, or a political scandal. the political equivalent of her being hit by a bus. there are 75% of the delegates being fought for, and i cannot imagine a scenario where bernie sanders could do that. mark: if you look at the calendar, and took away her momentum, in theory, he could win every caucus and primary, up through new york on april 19. if you put that scheme together, that would get him plenty of momentum back. people would get to question things about her viability. it would be very hard for him to win all of these dates. but he is thought to put together a winning streak. to get to do something

people to question her ability to stop him. it is still the mouth of proportionate representation. he could win every single one of those states, but he would have to win them by very large margins. even in the states he is winning, he is not winning like -- by that much. they did it in nevada, and they did it last night. --did not do well in no enough to say he could kill her. the legal affairs correspondent for mbr join us, and. ♪

john: joining me now to discuss the presidents nomination of

merrick garland, is ron klain, the former chief of staff to al gore and joe biden. and the correspondent for npr. merrick for a long time? and you have main an argument that this is a pic, free of politics. seriously? guest: i think so, john. big political following, he is not the first of this or that. he is just the best person for the job, the best for obama to put forward. i think that makes the case for him particularly compelling. they can't say this was a political rally. they can't argue anything other than he was nominated because he is a great jurist, and a great person. me that a pic to

free of politics is still politics. making a pic that would be difficult for republicans not to give him a hearing. don't you see that as being the case? guest: i do. i entirely see that. you can see that those who a choice ofo make someone younger, someone you might be there younger. not do argue you did that, therefore it is political. however, he did not do that in part because he had a message channels,lican the that they would probably move this nomination after the presidential election in the session. and if you make back in session, you can work on other concessions. and they will work hard to break down this idea that there should not be a hearing and a vote prior to the election when the

president made a nomination in march. ron, you're a student of these tassels, as is nina. grassley courtesy calls a stepping stone. the biggest thing will be to get a hearing. if he gets the hearing, he has a very good chance of getting conference. what you think flips grassley to i know -- deciding on a hearing? the public is ari saying they will meet with judge garland. him,nk once they meet with it will be hard to say no to a hearing. i understand we are a polarized country, but it is a fair country. and the idea of someone as distinguished in qualified as merrick garland not even able to make his case or make a hearing, it will rub people as unfair and

wrong. the last time i was out here i made the point that this whole thing is different once there is an actual nominee. once you see merrick, and see the tape of him at the white house telling his life story, it will be hard for people to say he does not get a hearing. what you think will flip grassley to get a hearing? will not flip grassley, it will flip mcconnell, and that is a much harder proposition. unless there is a complete revolution, unless they think this becomes a major electoral issue. and i still have a hard time believing the supreme court is having a major electoral issue, except for the other players you are ready decided. this is a process. the white house did not just released tapes of merrick garland talking about being a judge. atalso released tape of him ground zero at the oklahoma city bombing.

the president talked about that in his remarks. you could see, when the president was talking, you could see that was a moment when judge garland almost lost his composure. he feels very passionately about being somebody to protect victims and convict the guilty. he is a judge, but he was a prosecutor all of his life. horse to ride of that town, you can be sure of that. john: nina, just to follow up on your point. we heard from many republicans today who have broken with leader mcconnell, susan collins and others. are those meaningful at all, that they are not falling in lockstep behind mcconnell's posture right now? eight toughis an reelection race. susan, from the very beginning, was one of one or two coup republicans who thought we ought

to meet with somebody who was nominated. she did not make any pledges about a hearing or know me -- no hearing. is, if you have a hearing, and the nominee does well, why not have a vote. that is what they really don't want to have. you can see mcconnell's point of view. the optics of it are not great. and you can tell that in all the public opinion polls. there is no public opinion poll in which people think this is a great position, even a substantial number of republicans think this is not a good position, to be opposing the hearing. john: ron, real quick. i think this is like water through your basement wall, it will keep growing.

more republicans will meet with the judge garland. i think it will be a surprising bunch of good news in the coming days. klain, you have made a lot of predictions, we will get to see if they come true. up next, how the republican establishment land to handle donald trump's success at the polls. strategist charlie black joins us after a quick word from our sponsors. us, youou are watching can also listen to us on bloomberg 99.1 fm. we will be right back. ♪

>> i am sure you know the press now labeled you, the last establishment candidate.

i know your record. how do you feel about the label? >> if they are saying it because they are being complementry, i like it. if they are not, then i don't. i don't really care about shaking things up, as long as i am on the right track. track, in the wrong need to have friends and smart people around me to say i am wrong area i am willing to listen, too. i am an no orthodox -- unorthodox political figure. that was the john kasich at a town hall at just outside of philadelphia. we have a strategist and kasich advisor, charlie sly. i want you to tell me, what is the plan for how you are going to get john kasich to be the nominee? john, we are getting into an historic convention. no one has seen this since the democrats in the 1920's. john kasich now as momentum out of ohio. he will win other primaries in the northwest and mid east, and

maybe california. we are going to go to the convention. i think donald trump will have about 40% of the delegates, ted cruz, about 25%, and the rest will be john kasich delegates, or even undecided. it will be a wide open, competitive convention. as you know, all of the delegates are free agent. you are continuing the pointer, that john kasich will not be able to be the nominee in a straightforward way, he won't be able to get to 1237. do you think it is possible for donald trump to get a majority? he has not gotten anywhere near that so far. i think he will end up with about 40% of the delicate. -- delegates. trumps people will not the second,be on

third, fourth ballot. in john kasich has as much chance as anybody. he is the most qualified. charlie, i follow a lot of what you're saying but the thing i have trouble following is the notion of a slamdunk that john kasich will win states or even be competitive in eight. given his current poll standing, lack of enthusiasm i have been able to detect, despite your move in the last 24 hours, how is he going to win the state? think, he is now in the spotlight for the first time. the more people see of john, the more they like him. look at states in the midwest and northeast, new york, pennsylvania, delaware, indiana, and those kinds of states, a more mainstream conservative has a good chance. john will acquit himself well as he gets more attention in the campaign. i am confident he will win a few more states. theoryoes not, maybe my

is not good, but come. not go for a majority. debate has been canceled largely because donald trump said he will not go. you have known it from for a long time. will he say no more debate, and if so, does that hurt john kasich chances in the arena? charlie: i think we would rather have debate. that gives john a good chance for exposure, and the contrast between his positive approach and the gutter attacked the donald trump. decided not toe do debates, but when he figures that he is not winning or getting to 1237, he may go back to it. became public it last night that you would support john kasich. how long you been a supporter? he has been a friend of mine my whole is all life. in this race, there were five or six canada five-hour well-qualified to be candidates, that i was good friends with.

i waited until it narrowed down to one. i told john a day or two to before the primary, i would be in. john: i hope you don't take it as a criticism, that you are a number of the republican establishment. if anything, you would be a charter member of it. charlie: i think that as a comment. i spend my adult life in the trenches, electing congressmen, senators. john: why is it that john kasich, a popular two-term governor, why is it that he has seen so little support from fellow members of your club? now, even with the people who have come over. has a past few months chump gained strength? and why has kasich not? he did not spend a lot of time around washington, but a

lot of people signed up early, especially for marco rubio. beltway, he had more support than anyone else. now it is open, you will see more donors and party leaders me to support john kasich. what matters, is people out in the field and primaries voting in the states, and those 2400 people at delegates, at some point will be free agents. is in a couple weeks. arguably, that kind of state that will start to see progress. is that a state where john kasich should finish first or second? think he could finish first or second there. he needs to campaign there. he is in pennsylvania today, which is another good state for them. it is his native state. trumpn new york, donald is not that popular outside of manhattan or queens. there are a lot of states there that john will have a chance to win delegates and state. next do you expect in the

round of polling now that it is down to three, that you will see john kasich jumped to the 20's and 30's and places? charlie: i do. , aftere coverage he gets this supreme court nominee stuff, especially if he wins and other primary or two, his numbers will improve. do you think if donald trump were to become the republican nominee, what are the various forms of damage that would inflict on the party? don't just say he would lose to hillary clinton. charlie: there is more than that. been 10 points or so behind hillary clinton. if he loses, in the blue states where we are trying to get senate seat, we would probably lose. it means we lose house seats.

we could lose governorships. a bunch of republicans stay home if they don't believe in the nominee. but not an essential threat to the party? charlie: no, the party will be here. and i don't think trump will dominate the party, win or lose. john: charlie black, thank you for coming in. when we get back, steve mcmahon breaks down the state of the race. and reporting from the campaign trail. ♪

>> tonight it is clearer than be one of the may

most consequential campaigns of our lifetime. the next president will walk into the oval office in january, sit down at the desk, and start making decisions that will affect the lives and livelihoods of everyone in this country. indeed, everyone on this planet. joining me now, our democratic strategist steve mcmahon. and another friend, bc correspondent kristin. me, you haves from been with hillary clinton a lot during this nomination by. the math now is pretty daunting for bernie sanders. is the clinton campaign starting to get with the idea that bernie sanders might stay in this race and cause her problems and spend a lot of money she does not want to spend of the next few weeks?

kristin: i think there is concern. they want to give it to the general election in a railway. we have seen her start to do that on the campaign trail. last night she came after donald trump with her sharpest attacks yet. she said we need a commander-in-chief who will defend us, not embarrass us very having said that, the campaign is a jubilant today. because they pulled off that clean sweep last night. they were not expecting it. this is getting much closer to be able to put it to the general election. for one, you have the optics of it. he looks like a much stronger frontrunner. and then you have the bottom line. she has a huge delegate lead over bernie sanders. she had to queue times over what barack obama had over her in 2008. they are feeling very confident, focusing on locking up the nomination. to your point, they are anxious to do that so they can give it to the general election. they are thinking it is going to happen now more quickly than before last night. you thisve, let me ask

question. what happened last night? mark and i tried to answer this. bernie's win an upset in michigan, gave him hope, but he lost everything last night. what is the explanation? secretary clinton right of herself on this whole issue of trade. wasers core of the argument rich people and wall street are taking the money you should have. he moved that to an argument against these trade deals costing us manufacturing jobs across the country, which really worked in michigan. hillary clinton for the power of that trade message, and she is a fast learner. she apply those lessons. she did not allow her position on trade to be mischaracterized. and she picked up her game. you thinktin, what do their attitude is toward these upcoming state? a lot of caucuses, and in some states, a more welcoming graph for bernie sanders.

can they keep winning aura for losses? kristin: and they feel they can afford some losses. they're looking at arizona, for example. sanders has already been spending big in that state. candidly, they say arizona is going to be tough. they think those other caucuses -- caucus states they are facing will be rough, as well. what they are focused on, they want to win the delegate-rich states like california and new york. to keep their losses to a minimum. there is no doubt about that. but they anticipate senator sanders will have some weight. i want to add, what we are seeing is the democratic base being energized in a way we have not seen. part of that has to do with this stop trump movement. i have been speaking to voters, and they say we have to stop him by electing hillary clinton now,

and he really energized in the general election. see the obama coalition more energized than we have seen them in this primary. that will be we head into this. he was called the dead by the media, then michigan happen. if you were inside the sanders campaign, and wanted to change the scenario, is there anything short of winning contest that they can do the -- due to change that? they can do things like raise money, to suggest momentum. sometimes there was not as much momentum as we were sadistic. the big rallies in crowds he continues to draw give the sense of a candidate he that is very much alive. the delegate count has got to be depressing for those guys. they have done this before, and they know the math is almost impossible at this point.

how does bernie sanders stay motivated and enthusiastic when he knows the chances of winning are between slim and none? do you think there'll come a point when the clinton campaign will be more explicit than it is been so far in asking senator sanders to step aside for the sake of unity and focus on donald trump? we will i don't think see that from the campaign. i would not be surprised if we heard that from some of her sarah gets. if they take that tactic, they run the risk of alienating his supporters. she wants a chance to take it to the convention. john: it is a tricky thing. the obama campaign made a slight mistake in 2008,. steve: she is running a delegate

campaign. they don't care if bernie sanders wins one here or there. there i is on the prize. kristin walker, steve, you are great. we will be right back. ♪

mark: check out our website for our campaign tracker. it always has the latest news on the presidential race. speaks toy changes the ceo of oculus, that is these books virtual-reality inset. sayonara.

>> i am mark crumpton.

president obama has nominated

merrick garland for the supreme court. grassley and o'connell think it should be filled by the next president. in north korea, an american college student has been sentenced to 15 years hard labor for what the government called crimes against the country. he was accused of taking down a propaganda sign last month. the obama administration has ordered another round of sanctions against north korea. there is said to be in response to the countries so-called illicit nuclear missile test. there are recent sanctions that have been approved unanimously by the un security council. kim jong-un said his country would soon it a nuclear warhead and been left missiles, capable of carrying the warhead. in thelt, a new twist country's corruption investigation. the former president would join the current presidents chief of staff. he faces criminal