i'm al hunt. >> and i'm mark halperin. >> let me give an answer for the american people. who cares? who cares what donald is tweeting late at night? ♪ mark: hello from wisconsin. hillary clinton's campaign is playing chances in the primary year. don't tell that to hillary clinton herself. speaking tonight at madison, later in the walking, and spending a couple days here at least this week. al hunt joins me.

maybe brooklyn is bluffing, playing down their chances. why is the candidate working so hard in a state that she may well lose? al: she really has to. the bern has a bit of momentum and she wants to slow that. sanders got clobbered. the chief strategist laid out with great clarity their plan. when caucuses, go head to head in wisconsin, and have a showdown in new york. it is robert e lee, june, 1863. you have to be the enemy on their own turf. she wants to avoid that. she wants to get back to her inevitability in the general election. mark: they said they may be downplaying her chances so even if she wins by a little, it will look big. clinton, like her husband, don't like to give up on any state. margins matter. sanders, huge wins over the weekend.

they don't want there to be another state where sanders gets a big w. al: i agree. i think they are more confident than they were a week ago. what i hear is very close out there. she cannot get beaten by 10 or 12 points in wisconsin by bernie sanders. mark: if you take the clinton folks at their word, despite limited public polling showing clinton a head, they are saying this will be a sanders stay. the demographics layout well for him. if you look at the history of people who have done well, like jesse jackson, it should be a sanders state. al: today, the clinton campaign was dealt a double whammy on that old e-mail story. federal prosecutors are setting up interviews with members of clinton staff and possibly clinton herself.

the washington post adds that in 2009, they were apparently not told that clinton's phone was not tied to her private e-mail center. what is the worst-case scenario for secretary clinton on the e-mail front? mark: there is no indication there is a grand jury. clinton folks have been welcoming her to be interviewed by the fbi to take out the gee whiz factor. i think her aides going before the fbi is problematic. you will see leaks from agents who don't like the fbi about what they did. if it happens simultaneous to sanders winning wisconsin and, from her point of view, worst-case, winning new york, but if he wins them both, i think it is going to cause the democratic party to stand up and say, wait a minute, what are we getting ourselves into?

al: there is a lot of nervousness already. the fbi director is a straight shooter. nobody really knows. if you experts said she displayed a reckless arrogance. they say you have to prove intent and they say that is close to impossible with her. not necessarily with her aides. i don't think the story will be settled for a couple of months. if she can dispatch bernie sanders, i think democrats will do whatever they need to to get to the general election. while the attorney general and fbi director are straight shooters, this is a complex situation where you have a investigating the democratic front-runner. sanders has downplayed the issue.

let's see what happens in the coming weeks. the clintons have spun this in the facts that are already known are worse than they like to a knowledge, in terms of being cavalier about what she did. april should be a busy month in new york, not just because of "american psycho" is opening on broadway. the empire state primary is april 19 and bernie sanders has been challenging clinton to do the debate in her adopted spate. -- state. here is what is brooklyn's official response. >> there was an interesting article this week and where the sanders campaign laid out what their strategy is going to be in the primary and they made it clear that they intend to attack hillary and run a very negative campaign. it is our hope they do not do that.

>> what was notable this weekend was not so much that, but it was the "washington post" story with campaigns said they tested more negative attacks on hillary clinton. >> don't distract here. why wouldn't you be? >> i think the question is what kind of campaign will senator sanders run going forward? he pumped $4 million in the weekend before march 15 and he lost all five states on march 15. they spent $4 million running negative ads. this is a man who said he would never run a negative ad ever. he is now running them. he is planning to run more. let's see the tone of the campaign he wants to run. mark: not a lot of direct response to the challenge. sanders campaign manager jeff lieber applied a little more pressure to team clinton. >> we hope the clinton campaign will relent. we hope they have an opportunity to see a one-oone debate between senator sanders and the secretary.

it is difficult for us to understand the motivation of why they would not want that to happen, what they want to prevent the people of new york from having the opportunity. mark: the clinton campaign responded with a call of its own. force clinton to agree to do their next debate before the primary in the empire state somewhere? al: i think they will. every day she refuses to debate is another good day for him to hammer her on it. the dnc tried to rig these debates. i really feel sorry for joe benson's virginie years. he ought to look at the other party.

one guy is a sleaze, the other is a liar, and they are arguing over whose wife wears combat boots. mark: every clinton surrogate on television today came more and sadness than in anger of sanders' negativity in the ads. they think it will not only debate in new york, but they are trying to kill the debates. the main reason i think the sanders campaign will probably win this and force brooklyn's hand is when you have a debate about debates, the cited the presses for -- the side the press is for usually wins. the press would love a gotham city showdown between these two. al: what is the idea against the debate? the idea that the campaign has gotten to negative is nonsense. i think she will relent, sooner rather than later.

mark: let bill o'reilly be the moderator. [laughter] trump, cruz, and the twitter. ♪

mark: not living under a rock or in north korea? you probably know that donald trump likes doing phone interviews, or phoners. it is no surprise that trump phoned into a radio show. what was a surprise is the treatment he got from the host regarding his twitter feud with ted cruz.

>> i failed in my effort to introduce you to wisconsin and our tradition of stability and decency by getting an apology from you about heidi cruz. as we know, that was an independent group.

mark: 100% not on the playground. trump likes to make news is twitter. cruz showed that he is not all that. >> let me give an answer to the american people. who cares? who cares what donald is tweeting late at night? we need real solutions for the real problems in this country. that is the focus of my campaign. mark: the family feud between some people said it is bad for cruz. charlie sykes, the powerful milwaukee radio host said that trump's failure to apologize will hurt him with voters. who is losing right now in trump the cruz? al: i think they are both losing. all the guardrails have come down.

it used to be that spouses and families were off-limits. i remember guys who had wives with real serious problems. those were never raised. this time, it does not matter. for donald trump to go and say it reminds me of my kids when they are seven and five and have no fight and yellow he started it, i think it is so unbecoming and harmful. mark: there is no doubt that that is not a standard that a president could possibly adhere to, to say if someone does something, they can go and do whatever they wanted in response as long as they did not start it.

the key will be who wins wisconsin. i think cruz has a shot to win wisconsin. mark: absolutely. al: today, john kasich campaigned in west salem, wisconsin. he has billed himself as the adult in the room and said that he has a lot of things to do in his life that are more important than watching donald trump's interviews. what cards does kasich really have other than electability? mark: he talks all the time about how he is leading hillary clinton in head-to-head polls when other republicans are not and there is a case to make for that. he will have to rake through with his record in ohio. he is a governor who had a higher approval rating and got things done in his state. it seems to me he has got to talk about more than electability and he has that

card to play. he is not doing it in a way that is breaking through very much. i am not hearing from a lead in the republican party very much from donors or members of congress saying my goodness, this is an accomplished man. this is the right person to be president. it has to be about government. al: the electability issue is real, but i agree it does not much resonate. he has to hold for a break. he and cruz may have to collude. if you look ahead, he might well do in pennsylvania and he should go head-to-head with trump in new jersey and compare his record to christie. that might have people take notice. mark: before we get there, he has got to hold his own in wisconsin and new york. he has got to show that he can be competing for delegates. there is no reason why he should not do well based on his resume, and if he can do that, if you can turn them into three-way races, even if he is a strong third, that does create the argument that he is going to the

convention. on the flight from new york to the walkie, i was thinking that even though obamacare has riled up more partisan bickering than any other issue in the last six years, it has barely come up in this election. maybe i was doing all that thinking because i read a column on that viewpoint. why isn't obama care getting more attention? al: someone will say, ok, what is your alternative? whatever value in might have, it would mean millions of people

would go off the coverage role. that is a problem for them. that is why it is easier to talk about repeal rather than replace. mark: there is not one candidate left in this race that talks about a new federal program on a regular basis in a way that real people understand. i have not found a voter yet who knows about it and is excited about the plan. trump has no specific plan. even kasich does not have a plan. talking about their health care plan when it is such a complicated issue is not in the card. if you attack the affordable care act, you have to say something about what you will replace it with, since parts of the program remain popular. al: that is true. mark: taking a break. when we come back, kelly and conway is back again. ♪

mark: we are back. joining us is the president of the ted cruz super pac keep the promise, kelly ann conway. thank you for joining us. kelly: no problem. mark: how would you appraise ted cruz's current chances of becoming the nominee kelly: they

are great. we started with 17 candidates. we are down to three, maybe 2.5. there are two possible ways for this to go for senator cruz. he could win outright. planb-plus is to go into a contested convention having aggravated a number of delegates across a swath of states, heading into the convention as the odds on favorite as there are many people who would like to stop mr. trump from being the nominee. mark: how does the super pac lan on spending his resources over the next month on making ted cruz the nominee? tv ads? kelly: all of that. wisconsin is a important state in the midwest.

because we have these contests coming so fast and furiously, we have missed the vigor of the retail politicking that we saw across iowa, south carolina, new hampshire. wisconsin seems to be a similar test. in our super pac, we put down about $800,000 for wisconsin. tv, radio, digital, get out the vote program. we are all out on wisconsin. we are also trying to slice and dice some of the states by congressional district. we have just started with a great deal of vigor looking at the convention. we have convention experts, legal, and delicate experts at our disposal.

delegate experts at our disposal. many on a volunteer basis to get us to that he-plus -- b-plus program. al: i hate to bring this up, but is the bitter personal exchange bad for your candidate as it distracts from the issues that he wanted to run against trump on? is that a distraction for ted cruz? kelly: it is a distraction for the voters. it would be a distraction for senator cruz if he continues to be in the cesspool. i think he dabbled to defend his wife and has gotten out. he should stay out of it. it is the same thing i would have told senator rubio. if you play on someone else's turf and do not allow voters to substantive debate, you are

losing. i can't fault senator cruz for defending his honor, making it clear that someone who runs the largest pro-crew super pac from day one that that picture had nothing to do with us. saying cruz knew about it, you are alleging that he lied and violated federal law. those are serious allegations. cruz condemned at the moment he saw it and had to defend his wife. i think he did so quite forcefully. al: if you get on the issues, what issues, do you think, are good? what one or two issues do you think you can score points on donald trump on that have not work so far? kelly: the fact that cruz is still in this race, not having had $2 billion of free media time that mr. trump has come of

the fact that he is not a self funder, and the fact he is still there. ted cruz has been told from the beginning that you are not electable, you were too far right. it is remarkable that so many other people were supposed to win. part of it is people know him from his fight against obama care. only one man stood on his feet for 21 hours in the well of the u.s. senate. i agree with your column today, al, because i would like to hear about the plan to replace obamacare. cruz is talking about isis and not being neutral on israel but standing with one of our best friends. those voters that want to hear about substantive policy, there is plenty to choose from if you listen to senator cruz.

mark: i say with admiration, you are as good a filibuster as the candidate you are supporting, ted cruz. kellyanne: green eggs and ham. thank you. mark: tell me the single biggest mistake donald trump has made in the last two weeks. kellyanne: no ground game. no polling. the ability to have your own data and own vaunted ground game. late break voters still go to him. they go to cruz. mark: thank you very much. when we come back, we are joined to talk about all things sanders and clinton. ♪

is this inside baseball, or do you think the voters will care about whether or not there is a high court nominee? >> this is good primary politics. i think they will care. for hillary clinton, it energizes the base and gets people -- it is also good general election politics for her, because in the end, there will be a choice, and whoever gets elected will ultimately be responsible for the makeup of the court, not just this nominee that two or three others during

their term, so this is good for her. al: harold, are they going to come in and say when the shoe is on the other foot, sam alito, he did not want to vote on that, so it is just a matter of who is in the opposition? harold: i think they have done that by citing this the dishes -- this fictitious biden rule, and she lays out concerns from guns to women's rights to voting rights, and issues, to michael's points, which will not only help during this primary season but which will unite the party after the primary between her and senator sanders. the second part that is critical, and to your point, i think it creates a real problem

with some of these battleground republican senate states, ohio, pennsylvania, what we have already even illinois, senator kirk and others coming forward and saying, i think we should have hearing. i think if judge garland has a hearing, it is very unlikely they will say this is the kind of model, the kind of person we would like to see on the court, not hyper partisan, and judge garland fits right in that mode. it will be interesting to see how this plays out in the coming months. mark: on a glide path for the nomination, and just play hypothetical with me. if he wins wisconsin and then upsets her in new york, does the does the race get transforms, and if so, how? >> i think the tricky thing for her is how she's dems off attacks from senators sanders -- how she stems off attacks from senators sanders while keeping one eye on the general election, knowing that she wanted all of those that make up the democratic nominating process.

she is going to need them energized in the fall. maybe if she phases someone like donald trump, so she -- if she faces someone like donald trump -- i think she is in a good place. mark: go ahead, harold. harold: i think if that happens, that puts pressure on what has to happen here in new york. when she gives speeches like she did today, when she lays out a foreign policy plan, when she lays out a specific policy plan, these other things that differentiate her from senator sanders, and, friendly, i am not afraid of a debate. i am confident about my

candidate. if it does happen, it makes new york that much more important. mark: congressman ford, hillary clinton had not been forced to the left in any way by senators sanders -- is that a credible position? i think she has fought for women's rights and the rights of those regardless of sexual orientation, and she has been one who has trumpeted for a very long time a kind of tax fairness and a student fairness, so whenever you get the primary -- mark: she is as far left as bernie sanders or not? having a fair shot, be it a worker or a man or a woman -- i think she has always been there. cap she is expressing it more than she has in the past, but for anyone to suggest -- perhaps she is expressing it more than she has in the past, but for anyone to suggest that i do not think is fair. al: there is still a huge enthusiasm gap. how does she turned that event around now?

she has not succeeded so far. she has a lot of work to do to energize the base. that is part of what happens before the primary ends. some of these arguments that are happening internally, before they turned to an external conversation and to a general election -- with donald trump, i think a lot of that work will be done for her, and i think they will see the choice very clearly, no matter who she faces. there will be a choice in november. that in and of itself will do some work in terms of galvanizing the democratic ace in the fall.

this is the rhythm of the political process. we are in a primary election right now. there is a conversation. i think, ultimately, there is a good conversation going on in the democratic party right now. whether it has moved her a little bit to the left, or there has been a conversation about who stands for the values of the democratic party better, i think all of that is ultimately good, but when we move into the fall, there will be a choice. make issues at stake, potentially the supreme court in the balance, so i think all of that comes together -- big issues at stake, potentially the supreme court in the balance, so i think all of that comes together. >> i hear you, but i think mrs.

clinton is in a good spot. mark: the gentleman from tennessee and the gentleman from the jersey shore, we appreciate it. when we come back, donald trump and hillary clinton. responding to the brussels attack last week. don't forget, if you are watching us in washington, d.c., you can now listen to us in the nation's capital on bloomberg 99.1. we will be right back. ♪

what got the attention last week, the brussels attacks. john and i explored how the two presidential front runners dealt

with the aftermath of the comics, and airing -- the aftermath of the bombings, and this is a portion of what the two front runner campaigns told us. mr. trump: i received a call and turned on the television pretty early. mark: a good friend. mr. trump: they know i will not be sleeping, and here we go, here we go. mark: you were already scheduled to do some morning shows. did you consult with someone on what to say? mr. trump: it is heart and brain, and that is what i do. mark: you are on network shows, and you get a call from your friend -- mr. trump: i say what i think is appropriate.

mark: what was it like? >> we had a call with hillary very early in the morning. it was me and jake. jake sullivan, obviously, a foreign-policy expert, and he worked through public forces, and we did morning shows from there. mark: so, al, obviously, secretary clinton prepared in a more traditional way. what do you think voters will think of trump's style? al: mark, that ought to be worried, and this is the race for the presidency, and what the president does in an issue of crises, and he or she tries to gather all of the experts, all of the information they can before they react. they just do not go on. there are a lot of things to find out. is this an isolated incident? is there a threat elsewhere? and i think there should be grave concern for trump's what i think is a really cavalier approach for something like this.

some of the positions he has taken or avoided taking over the last week on foreign-policy. al: i think some of them are probably popular, this idea of america first. it is probably popular with a number of voters, but i think he has created a lot more problems for himself. first of all, america first was the battle cry for the people who did not want to be in the war against the nazis in world war ii, and then his motto for secretary of state -- george schultz. george schultz, i am sure, is horrified by what donald trump said. unilateral foreign-policy, and to heck with them, we are going to go on our own.

mark: between trump and clinton, i think you will see some from the right indoors clinton. some will endorse clinton, and i think the area that gets a lot of attention is in the national security well, diplomats, former cabinet members, saying they are more comfortable with hillary than donald trump, and i think that will get a lot of attention and influence some voters. al: i think you are right, mark. going back to 1980, jimmy carter was perhaps a little bit ahead, because people were saying, can we see ronald reagan as commander in chief? i think he proved he was up to that task. it is a much more daunting challenge for donald trump if he is the nominee this time. mark: the one thing i want to say, and i do not want to overstate this and set my twitter feed on fire, in terms of america getting more in return for what it pays, in terms of freethinking america's positions in some cases -- in

terms of rethinking america's positions in some cases, he has got what america needs in terms of rethinking our foreign-policy -- i do not know if he is getting enough credit for some positions, dare i say, which are thoughtful? al: i dissent. mark: i thought you would. and the two primaries a week from tomorrow. right after this. ♪

mark: welcome back, from milwaukee. even though we are in wisconsin, we promise not to badger our next guest. maybe a little. the director of the marquette law school. >> good to be here. mark: what is the difference in the culture? >> it is the old-line manufacturing and the new biotech, and it is also kids, the university of wisconsin, and the milwaukee area that has got all of the heavy industry, and also the concentration of minority populations in the date. mark: it has been a while since the state has had two. could they imagine winning this primary? charles: we have seen such a shrinkage in the field that

there is a lot on the table. 31% plus of candidate that recently dropped out, waiting to be picked up by the other candidates. trump has been pulling in our trump has been polling in our data at 25 and then 30 in february. mark: high 30's, low 40's, right? charles: not here. mark: if trump is at 30, it means the other guys could get high enough to win. charles: ted cruz was at 19%. if he were the beneficiary of that on the table and the late deciders, he could easily move up ahead of turmp -- of trump if he does not have a surge. john kasich, it will take more for him to catch up, but it is possible.

mark: probably the biggest thing in politics today, a long interview, in which trump did not know that one person was part of the stop trump movement. is that a big deal? charles: it is a big deal, and not just for him but for other talk radio hosts in milwaukee. mark: almost uniformly pro-cruz. charles: yes, and the criticism of trump has been going on all year, and it really does reflect that establishment republican notion that was very uncomfortable with trump, and, friendly, which has taken time to warm up to cruz as an alternative, but in the interview, you saw some of the criticism that sykes and others have leveled against trump.

mark: the wisconsin democratic party 101, the should be a relatively good state for bernie sanders. charles: it should be. barack obama won it solidly over clinton in the primary. it is a white state, and sanders has tended to do better with those voters, but the tricky part is the party is quite divided, or the state is quite divided, between madison, which has a strong support for sanders with young voters and highly educated voters, whereas clinton is doing much better in the milwaukee area, and we have some things going on in the milwaukee area that could turn out some voters. we have some hot races. mark: why would those help? charles: it would boost turnout for those that consider themselves solid, core democrats, and african-americans and hispanics in the area, whereas bernie sanders does better with independents, so you get two different to actions

with these two. mark: if you look at his loss in illinois and another state, which is this state more like at this point? charles: it is hard to tell. we have had some contraction in manufacturing recently, though nothing like what michigan went through in the great recession. from a demographic point of view, we have a smaller minority population even within the democratic electorate, and young people do play a role. you saw that in obama's sucess -- success. if some of the areas came in heavily for one candidate, it could tip things, but those areas are not uniquely strong for one candidate or another.

mark: i want to go back to the republicans. donald trump's big kickoff -- is that symbolic, or is that a place most republicans would go for a rally? well chosen place, the place where the gm plant shut down a few years ago, a place that struggled to recover from the recession, though it has done pretty well recently, and it is in paul ryan's backyard, and there might be some small signal there, as well. mark: paul ryan, saying things mentioning trump, but not calling him out in the way of some, like mitt romney. charles: like other establishment republicans, he probably does not want him to be the nominee, and he has been critical but has not gone to the never trump side, so i think he is playing an experienced game, criticizing what needs to be criticized and keeping ryan in his leadership role but not going to the point of saying, "i cannot work with this guy."

mark: i look forward to watching next tuesday night. professor franklin, thank you very much. when we come back, who won the day, right after this. ♪

mark: al, from milwaukee, i ask you, who won the day? al: in milwaukee, charlie sykes, the radio host. mark: i thought trump and cruz both played a long, and i think there is a benefit for kasich. if he has got a chance here, it is to sneak up the middle. al: i agree.

if he could even finish a good second in wisconsin, that is a big thing for him. mark: ok, coming up on "bloomberg west," emily chang speaks with a ceo, and don't forget, if you are watching us in washington, d.c., you can find us on bloomberg 991. we will be back tomorrow from gotham city. for "with all due respect," thanks for watching, and sayonara. ♪

this is trending business. ♪ rishaad: we are watching the asian markets in the red, dragged out by disappointed out of japan. oil also retreating. land of the missing link. kingbl