and we continue on. i'm brooke baldwin. so great to be here live in snowy new hampshire. the first in the nation primary. voters are at the polls right this moment deciding who should walk away with some pretty big prizes. the candidates have been out doing what new hampshire elections are known for, retail politics, shaking hands, talking to supporters, banging on doors, working with volunteers, you know, whatever they can do to round up these votes. yes, it's cold out there. there is no snow falling but listen, we're in new hampshire, this is a tough bunch, they've got this. the new hampshire secretary of state is expecting a record turnout with more than half a million votes today. we're watching so closely

because it's not just win, place or show, a failure here to perform to expectations, to show your campaign truly has life, could be costly. leapt's kick off the hour with joe johns at a polling station in manchester here and brian todd is down in hudson. brian todd, first to you, tell me what you're hearing. >> brooke, this is a very dynamic scene. this is what we love about covering the vote here new hampshire. you get to see american democracy in its process. it's the coolest thing on election day. this is how we can show you the turnout. the secretary of state of new hampshire has predicted a record turnout. we're going to take you out the door here to show you kind of an example of that. the lines have been going out the door since the polls opened here at 7:00 a.m. we're going to politely excuse ourselves past these folks here and take you out the door because one of the stories here in hudson, at the hudson community center here, as a photo journalist will pan to the

left and show you the traffic. the line of cars going about six blocks that way since about 7:00 a.m. this morning. a steady flow. some have turned around. i talked to one voter who said he turned around and then came back two types. he was a little upset. he thinks maybe they can handle the traffic better. the good news is, heavy voter turnout. half a million voters in new hampshire. at this precinct, they're expecting 9,000. as of about an hour ago, they already had more than 4,000 voters come through here. we think they'll probably shatter that record. a big story here in new hampshire are the undeclared voters who come in here. here's one of them. kelly godou. you said you were undeclared, then registered republican. why republican this time? >> i tend to be more republican than i am democrat. i've been -- i really like to be undecided because i like to vote for the person, not necessarily the party. >> who did you vote for? >> i voted for christie.

>> what made you decide christie? >> i actually like what he stands for. i think he's honest. i think he's trustworthy. think he has a lot of experience and i think he's the guy. >> what's interesting in new hampshire, with so many it u undeclared voters, a lot of people are curious, when did you decide? >> i've kind of been going back and forth over the last couple of days and today i just decided he wallas the guy. >> kelly, thank you. brooke, here's a sample ballot. 30 people are running on the republican ticket. the democrat, 28 of them. you can pay $1,000 to the secretary of state and get on the ballot. that's how free flowing the democracy here in new hampshire is. >> brian todd, you are bringing it today, my friend, between the ballots, the traffic, the lines. i tip my hat to you, brian todd, thank you very much. from brian, to my colleague joe

johns, where i know you are talking last hour, a little bit of a post-lunch lull. tell me, what's the turnout like where you are? >> well, we're looking at about 1,400 people so far since early this morning. that is a very fast pace. at mcdonough elementary school. with me now is the clerk. we wanted to get to it from horse's mouth. breakfast was fast, lunch was fast, lulls in the middle. tell me about turnout. >> turnout we think maybe 50% of the registered voters. we're probably on pace close to 70% and this evening it will really get busy. >> how much registered voter hs th voters in this ward? >> about 3,700. >> so technically half, right? >> it also doesn't count the absentee ballots. >> so you're looking for a big

turnout because the big turnout occurs, what, at the end of the day? >> usually after work, yes. >> what do voters need to know about 7:00, about getting in and being in line? >> as long as somebody's in the door, they're good. i would just be sure you're at the right place. if they can go online, look at the website for the city, make sure they're going for the right polling place. as long as they're in, they're all set. >> thank you, keith, the ward clerk. there you go, just about half we're looking at they're on pace for that and they haven't even gotten to the big crowd that comes this evening, brooke. >> all right, joe johns, thank you so much. you have a long night ahead of you. so great to get the pulse of these polling places through the day. this is ongoing. so much to discussion. let's broaden this out. a bunch of handsome gentlemen. the former member of the south carolina house of representatives. he has officially endorsed hillary. and our next guest, the director of the new hampshire survey center. matt lewis, cnn commentator. and senior contributor at the

daily caller. lou is back as well, co-chairman of trump's campaign in rockingham county, new hampshire. fella, hello. you, matt, i look at you, because we last chatted last weekend in iowa. you successfully predicted what would happen. so twbeginning with you, you ge the gold star. you want to call it for tonight? >> i'll try. i'm not as confident. i think we probably think -- i think -- i'm going to predict donald trump. the real question is who comes in second. that's where it's really jumbled. i'm going to go with john kasich. i think the high turnout helps people like donald trump and people like john kasich. you'll have unaffiliated voters, independent voters. i think that's where the action is. >> you agree with him? >> i do. i think where we'll see it is donald trump. i think you'll see kasich. think the battle is for three. i'm really watching the race between rubio and bush. not only do these two gentlemen truly hate each other as we've seen across the process but i think it kind of determine also

the establishment lane. just from talking to people here in new hampshire, hillary clinton's best friend tonight might actually be john kasich because there are a lot of people who are making a decision right now between bernie sanders and john kasich. and the expectation game which you talked about, because bernie's expected to do so well, one of the individuals i met earlier today said bernie's got this. >> you know that's part of the pitch. part of the pitch, they're on the phone with new hampshire voters and they say they want bernie and they say personal be going to win, and why don't you take kasich, and that could help clinton. on trump, is a win enough for him or does he need to win big? >> a win's enough to get him through. he's got the money. he's got enough momentum that will go forward into states that are as amenable to him as new hampshire is. south carolina i think is a spot where he'll do quite well. if it's really close, if it's one or two percentage points, people are going to try to spin it as a loss. i don't think donald gets spun

too many times. even in iowa, he spins a loss into a win. so i'm not worried about him being able to make his message. >> so trump is your man. let me just come to you on this. we've heard a lot about trump and the wall along the u.s./mexico border. we've heard a number figure associated with building this wall. apparently donald trump did the math taking price per square foot and price per square mile. i finished with ap calculus and that was it in college. >> i didn't make it that far. >> $8 billion do you know where he got that number from? >> i don't, but certainly he is a builder and he knows the cost of billion and i would suspect that that number came with some degree of certainty in his mind. and i think that the wall is something that we need to do. if for no other reason than to stop the flow of heroin into the united states. so i think that -- i'm a strong supporter of doing it if for no other reason that. >> let me pivot from the wall to jeb bush and to you.

i thought you wrote something kind of potentially fantastic. let me just quote. >> kind of potentially. >> one theory on jeb bush and what we've seen, is that he has been relieved of the burden of thinking he can win the presidency. freed from the encouple brens of trying to win he has been liberated to focus on simply destroying his old friend rubio. you don't think he's fighting to win, is that where this relaxed jeb bush has come from? >> i think there's a psychological switch he threw at some point where he just said, okay, i'm not -- probably not going to win. let's just have fun. and let's get even. it's like the seinfeld campaign, it's about spite. and there's nothing -- >> thank you for the seinfeld reference, much appreciated. go ahead. >> if you watch him, he really looks like he's finally having fun. if this jeb bush, we'd had this jeb bush from day one, he could have been in much better shape. i think there was a psychological switch where he figured out he's not going to

win. >> it's not like he's been the front-runner all along. >> jeb bush is really bad at running for president of the united states. i think we've learned that already. he's just not a good candidate. what we are seeing is when he brought out the grandmother offensive, when he brought out his mother, barbara bush. who by the way, i absolutely adore. didn't know i loved barbara bush as much as i did when i saw her with a jeb bush sticker in the snow with an umbrella above her. >> amazing. >> amazing work. his brother, in south carolina, where we have a number of military installments, is still very, very popular. so i'm not going to say that he can't win. i mean, but he still has a path. here, at least he's fighting. >> there is an irony that once you sort of give up and just surrend surrender, okay, then all of a sudden -- >> you get better. >> maybe it's a spiritual thing. >> the thing in new hampshire, the beauty of the primary, the candidates are here long enough that you can tell if they're being themselves. when they are themselves, you know it. that shows through and they become a better candidate. when you try to be somebody else, you're not going to go

anywhere. >> okay, hillary clinton. there's a report out there, bill and hillary clinton, they're disappointed with the direction of the campaign. a staff shake-up could be imminent. the campaign denies it. from david axelrod, former obama adviser, tweeted this, when the exact same problems crop up in separate campaigns with different staff, at what point do the principal also say, hey, maybe it's us? >> david's a friend of mine. i worked with david in 2008. i was the co-chair for the president steering committee in south carolina. i understand what he's saying. however, speaking to the campaign, understanding what they're doing over there, they're on the right track. the difference between now and 2008 is something very fundamental. she won iowa, you know, and not only did she win iowa, but bernie sanders is not barack obama. so they do have these things going in their favor. tonight's going to be a rough night but if they're able to stay within 10, 12 points. we saw rubio's spin job in iowa. when we thought rubio actually won the race after that speec. p

>> when her husband -- >> won by nine points and became the comeback kid. when she gets to south carolina, i said this earlier, i'll say it again, when people -- like my mother and her friends are deciding this election, hillary clinton will do well. >> a tough moment with bill clinton in south carolina back in the day. you know what i'm talking. >> we hammered bill clinton for some of the comments he made. we didn't throw hillary clinton under the bus as much as we embraced barack obama. i was in church on a sunday morning and when i walked in, the way it works, you have a picture of jesus, a picture of martin luther king and a picture of barack obama. this is the mentality going in. hillary is riding those coattails and embracing the president. that's going to push her forward. >> gentlemen, thank you. >> thank you. >> and please stay with us here at cnn all day long into the wee hours. we will all be up and at them. results will be rolling in. do not miss a moment of our

special live coverage. starting officially at 4:00 evening with my pal jake tapper. they're advivacillating bet trump and sanders, yes, it's a thing, welcome to new hampshire. plus, former white house press secretary ari fleisher joins me to talk about what he thinks about jeb bush's campaign, about donald trump's chances and marco rubio. and we will talk live here to voters. let's just get right to it. independent voters here in manchester say they've been to all these different rallies, they have made up their minds officially today. hear their choices and why. you're watching cnn's special live coverage. we'll be right back. what makes this simple salad the best simple salad ever?

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independent voters here in new hampshire apparently having a tough time deciding between donald trump and bernie sanders. you heard me correctly, independents can register as undeclared in today's primary and vote for either party. there are a lot them. more than 40% of the registered voters here in new hampshire are undecided. what is it about these two candidates in particular who seem like polar opposites essentially attracting similar voters? let me bring in casey spodic who had been our new hampshire embed. cnn has sent people like you to sort of live in new hampshire, get the feel on the ground, south carolina, iowa. you've been here a while. one thread you noticed, people are vacillating between trump and sanders? how is that possible? >> when i looked into this story, i talked to both their campaigns and something they both talked about is they're not beholden to special interests. they don't have superpacs. they're not looking for donors who have lots of money who they're going to be beholden to

also. >> did that surprise you in talking -- you, covering politics, that people are torn between those two? does it make sense to you or still baffle you? >> when you talk to voters who are undeclared, that's really important that they can vote in either election and they're thinking about candidates based on the person and not on their party. there's kind of the feeling against parties here. i think against being solidly in the democratic party or republican party. they like the ability to switch back and forth. >> you know, we have heard from the secretary of state who is anticipating this record turnout today. basically i think north of half a million voters. and if they do get this record turnout, which candidates does that benefit the most do you think? >> what matters specifically is which ballot these undeclared voters decide in. you get high turnout overall, but high turnout within undeclared to either party is what's going to make a difference. so if you have undeclared voters turning out in higher numbers in

the republican pry merck that's going to give kasich a boost. he could actually go into second place from some of the polls we saw. >> as someone who lived in new hampshire, set up camp here for the last eight months, what is the one thing you're watching for tonight? >> you know, it's hard to say. i think that the voters are really making up their minds at the last second and so it's going to be, you know, like what are the issues that they care about the most, and i think it's like a gut decision for a lot of them. i think they're going to be thinking about the debate, thinking about, you know, these final closing messages from the candidates and how long they've spent in new hampshire. >> talking to people here, and it's about to change, but when you talk to people in new hampshire, it's not, you know, have you met any of the candidates, it's, oh, talked to bernie sanders twice and hillary clinton came to my door once. that's how it is in new hampshire, what makes it so special and why people take it

so, so seriously. >> i've covered so many town halls here. you'll hear voters say, i've asked this question of three other candidates. i want to hear your answer. last night at christie's town hall, there was a voter who said, i asked bush the same question, you had a better answer, you now have my vote. they're going to the candidates and asking them these questions. >> casey, thank you so much. our embed here in new hampshire and her article is posted at cnn.com. ari fleisher will join me to break down the crowded republican field. will marco rubio regain his momentum out of iowa or could one of the remaining governors here, bush, kasich, christie, have a good night? we'll talk to the former white house press secretary coming up. >> and you feel like all the kerr fluffle about the debate? >> voters in new hampshire are serious about this. they understand what's at stake here. ncial superstars pitch you investment opportunities. i've got a fantastic deal for you- gold!

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just about the bottom of the hour. you're watching cnn. i'm brooke baldwin. it is an important day here in this country. voting in the first in the nation primary in full swing. that has not stopped the sparring between candidates. today, governor christie pointed out that senator rubio keeps repeating over and over he says the same talking points, despite the criticism for doing so during the republican debate. and christie added the hammering he gave rubio that night was to show he is better prepared to run the country. >> we've been making that argument over and over and over

again in town halls, 76 of them, throughout this state. and yet it took saturday night to put the spotlight on that moment. the fact is, that wasn't tough on saturday night. and it wasn't tough on senator rubio. they haven't seen tough yet. >> and then there is donald trump and jeb bush. trump has said bush is a disgrace to his family name. bush pushed back with this today. >> and the disparaging of people because of their faith or because of their gender or because of their disabilities or because they're a p.o.w., you know, it's just wrong and he cannot hijack our party. our party will not win if we're the reactionary party. >> with me now, ari fleisher who served as press secretary under george w. bush. good to see you. >> great to be here. >> okay, so i want to get into

this whole back and forth with trump and bush in just a moment. first, looking ahead to tonight, let's just go ahead and assume, you know, everyone's correct, trump's going to take the win. among the governors, ari who continues on to south carolina. >> i think it's a muddle, bro brooke. i think the key is does somebody come into second place by sufficient majority of the third and fourth place people that they can turn to those people and say you need to drop out, there's no future in this race and you need to drop out and therefore the race winnows? what i fear the most is that won't happen. they'll be so bunched up close to each other that each one of them is going to say, i'm going on, which would be trump's dream come true. >> why do you say that? >> because so long as there's a divide and conk, trump will continue to win with the greatest moralities. so long as you have three or four mainstream so-called candidates who are getting 12%,

13% of the vote, you don't have a sufficient bloc to stop ted cruz. the mainstream guys carve themselves up. trump and cruz go on to fight it out. i think ultimately one mainstream candidate has to emerge and then you'll have that mainstream guy against trump, against cruz, and that's the future of the race. the question is who will that be. >> it goes back to that circular firing squad we heard from house speaker paul ryan, you know, to your point. on governor bush and donald trump. listen, we've been watching this. we've been watching the back and forth for quite a while. but it's really become personal recently. what do you think this is about? is it because jeb bush attacks mr. trump back or do you think there's more to it? >> no, i think jeb is just finding his voice and finding his grounding now at long last. i think it took him a while to get to the point to really go after trump and he has. i think there's a sense in jeb that he really is personally

offended by the tackics that donald trump uses. jeb comes from the much more thoughtful schoolp republican politics. jeb's problem this year is the republican party wants somebody who can bang on the take and change things. it's not the right cycle for jeb in that case and i think that's why his performance early didn't work. >> i was just talking to conservative writer matt lewis and we were talking about why he thinks all a sudden jeb bush has emerged as this -- he just appears here in new hampshire really comfortable in his own skin, you know, seems at ease. there's been video of him tossing snowballs. he says that's because jeb knows he's going to lose. he wants to take down marco rubio tonight, that is priority number one, but beyond that, he's going to lose and so he's feeling okay. would you agree with that? >> i was in politics for 21 years. what always happen, as you get closer to the election day, every candidate loosens up. they finally reach the point

where they just say, i don't care what's going to happen, it's up to the voters now. i want to win but i'm going to be me. then you get to see the more relaxed, more natural. >> so much money is at stake. if you look to all the money that the jeb bush superpacs have raised, can you really just say, all right, push that to the side, i'm just going to be me? >> well, of course. what works in politics is authenticity. everything else, it's always fraught with risk and danger. what the voters really look for, where they see you live on tv so often is who are you, can i trust you, do you have strength, do you have a spine. that's especially the case this cycle where people are so frustrated and fed up with all things in washington, that's the only reason donald trump can be successful, is because of the throw them all out move of the republican electorate and looks like the democratic electorate in new hampshire is in. >> you're right, authenticity is everything. let's talk about this potential

curve ball. and former new york mayor michael bloomberg. this is back in the headlines today because he talks to "the financial times," saying he is quote/unquote looking at all the options, considering running for president. a, do you think he should? >> i sure hope he does. because it will really throw the election to the republicans. he will steal so much more from a democratic base than he will from a republican base. he's just culturally a northeast liberal. that's going to really hurt him in much of the rest of the country. so he said he won't run if hillary is the nominee. that also tells you something, that he is close enough to hillary ideologically, temperamentally, that he won't throw his hat in the race if she's a nominee because she's fine with him. that tells you a lot as a republican. if it's sanders and trump, cruz will get in, that tells a lot. i think he will be a republican dream come true. >> moving on, you wrote this

opinion piece in 2014, in "the washington post," essentially mapping out how republicans could win back the white house. some of what you vote, specific and positive agenda, act in a more open and inclusive manner, win back hispanic voters. do you think these republican candidates are listening to your advice or are they doing just the opposite? >> donald trump sure isn't. the question for donald trump, he is likely going to get the lowest percentage of hispanic and african votes. can he make up for it by pulling up so many blue collar democratic workers who will leave the democratic party to vote for donald trump? but there's an opening for whoever beats donald trump to be able to say, i took donald trump on, took on the man who said he would ex-shrewd muclude muslims coming to the united states. that in itself is a credential you can use to go back to the general electoral and make your

case that you are open, you are inclusi inclusive, you are that type of republican. the demographics are daunting for republicans. ideologically is the single most important factor to winning. they think you have the ideological north star. but secondarily, you have to make people like you. if people think you don't like them or want them in this country, they will never be for you. something republicans have got to be mindful of in a country that's increasingly less white, more hispanic and increasingly african-american in terms of turnout. the one kicker here is with the african-american vote, same proportion it has in the last two cycles without obama on the ballot. that could change the math of election turnout as well. >> ari fleisher, thank you very much. we'll see you at the convention, if not before then. thanks. >> thank you, brooke, see you soon. coming up, should we expect the unexpected when it's already been this totally unpredictable

election cycle? we'll talk to the experts what they think will happen tonight. >> this is far from over. we have work to do. this is going to be incredibly close, everybody. nobody, not me, not jeb bush, not john kasich, not marco rubio, not ted cruz, have the first idea of what's going to happen tonight.

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> we're back here in

manchester, new hampshire. it's decision day in what will be the first of many presidential primaries to come. turnout we're hearing is steady, may even break records. that's what's anticipated according to the new hampshire secretary of state. something to remember as we wait for polls to close in some hours, new hampshire voters are known for their strong independent streak. so what should we watch for as these votes come in? joining me from washington, our cnn political director, mr. david chalian, and cnn's chief political analyst who you will see also until the wee hours tonight, gloria borger. so great to have both of you on. david chalian, to you first, what are the top three things you will be watching for? >> well, start, brooke, with what you just read there in your intro, which is independents. i believe that -- one of the first things i'll look at is to see how independents split here. in our last tracking poll, they

were splitting between the two parties. they can choose to play in either the republican or the democratic party. which one do they choose to play in and how does that affect the trump and sanders vote totals? those are the candidates that have been drawing from the independents. so that is the first thing i'm watching for. i'm also watching for what the voters tell us they're looking for. this is the head versus heart argument. i want to see, are new hampshire voters coming out tonight to back the person they think has the best chance of winning in november or are they out there to express their anger and back the person they think most closely shares their values. then of course i am looking on the republican side to see slot number two, number five. what is the distance between second and fifth place? because of all those folks are bunched up, that is going to be a muddled mess the republican party's going to have to sort out in these contests ahead. >> yes, ari fleisher just told me, he called it the muddle in

the middle. was essentially saying if they're all so close they could truly all continue on, meaning it could still not winnow down. >> sure. look, i think the one thing, you know, to pick up on where david left off is this question about the so-called establishment lane and the question of whether marco rubio, whom we were all talking about coming out of iowa after he got the bronze in iowa, whether he can distinguish himself from the rest of that establishment lane. or whether somebody like a john kasich or a jeb bush could, you know, move ahead of him. and what the margins are among those folks really, really matters. also going to look for donald trump and what his margin is. i mean, he has been ahead in the, what, last 20, 30 polls? i can't even keep count anymore. we have to see whether his margin has been as high as,

what, 31%. we have to see how large that margin is and how far behind that second place finisher would be. also, i think we have to look at cruz here, whom we seem to be forgetting these days, and see whether he's got enough staying power in this race. he doesn't want to turn into a huckabee or santorum who won iowa and then went on into oblivion. cruz has to show even though new hampshire is inhospitable to him with a low number of evangelicals and very conservative republicans, he's got to show that he has the staying power to raise the money, to compete well in the south, which i believe he's going to do, but then on into the midwest, and as a general election candidate. >> what about we mentioned a second ago john kasich. listen, there's been a lot of sniping, especially recently, between certain candidates. for the most part, he hasn't

done a lot of mudslinging. with regard to the ohio governor, do you think down the road a positive campaign can actually work? >> i think positive campaigns work until they need to go negative. i think john kasich is not in a one-on-one race now so i don't think going negative will serve him all that well. look at what christie did against rubio at that debate the other night. i don't think that did chris christie a huge favor. until you get into a sort of one-on-one contest, the way that trump and cruz almost were in iowa, and how they may be in south carolina, that's when sort of taking down your opponent may help you out. when there are all these candidates, there's much more risk than going negative. i think if john kasich does well and gets validation even though he received the onslaught of a lot of negative advertising in new hampshire, which he did, if he was able to just respond with mostly positive messaging and still do well, he will certainly make note of that. >> the people who spent millions

on negative ads on marco rubio were doing kasich's work for him, right? you had jeb bush spending millions against rubio. kasich didn't have to do it. you know, cruz spending millions against donald trump. kasich didn't have to do that. so he didn't have a huge amount of money to begin with, so why waste it doing that? >> gloria borger, david chalian, thank you. we will see you through the evening. >> it's going to be fun! >> it will be a fun night, brooke. >> it will be awesome. >> really great. >> thank you. a reminder, this thursday, in addition to watching all of this tonight, thursday, cnn will simulcast the pbs "newshour" democratic presidential debate live from milwaukee here on cnn and your local pbs station. next, we talk so much about the voters, let's talk to the voters. they're the group making tonight's primary so unpredictable. will they turn out? who might they rally behind?

i have two independent voters who are about to join me here on set. talk to me about who they're supporting and why. don't miss this very important conversation next. >> when you win big in dixville notch like i did, there's nothing else to say, i mean, it was huge. i just saw trump, i said, trump, i crushed you. he go, yeah, you did, you killed me. ♪ look how beautiful it is... honey, we need to talk. we do? i took the trash out.

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if you have ever wondered why there is so much hype around the voters of new hampshire, it may have to do with how unpredictable they can be. i'm looking at my voters next to me looking at them. nearly half of this northern electorate is filled undecided voters. with the presidential race like this one, every vote counts. here with me, they have driven through the snow to get to me here in manchester. i am so grateful. i have bruce mccracken from will

burn, new hampshire, and sara frances thomas. this is what fascinates me. how many candidates have each of you met in person? >> in person ten. >> ten? >> i've been to 12 rallies. >> 12 rallies, ten candidates in person. sara? >> i attended about five different events but met three of the candidates in person, which i appreciated. got to ask them questions up close and get a feel for who they are as people. >> let me stay with you. who are you voting for? >> i am voting for trump. >> tell me why and tell me who you were torn between? >> originally i started off supporting rand. >> and paul. >> yes, rand paul. i tend to lean a little libertarian and i really appreciated his republican sort of perspective on that. i felt that he would do a good job of sort of bringing people together. i ended up with trump because despite how you feel about his over-the-top personality, you

either love him or you hate him, you cannot deny that he is an incredibly smart and success l businessman and we really comes from outside of that establishment politics zone. i think that's what our country really needs right now. >> okay. trump for you. bruce, for you? >> i voted for kasich. >> kasich. >> although i normally vote democratic. >> this is the incredible part about new hampshire. >> well, i think both democratic candidates will do very well running the country. i could live with either one. i can't say the same about the republican candidates. i definitely like some more than others. >> so hang on. are you one of those voters who really, you would be voting democrat but you're voting kasich to keep a vote from potentially another republican. >> no. >> no? >> well, i voted for the republican that i felt would best run the country should the democrats lose the election. i think kasich has executive experience, he shows some compassion, he shows ability to work with others. i certainly disagree with some of his policies and issues, but

i think other republican candidates, he is far and away the best one. so i really voted for kasich as sort of an insurance policy. >> an insurance policy. >> that the country would be in good hands if the democrats lose. >> okay, okay. strategery. why did you go out of your way to go to 12 different rallies? >> when you see the candidates in person, it's very different than seeing a 60-second sound bite or a debate where there are being questions fired at them and they're all tense. they get a chance to talk and answer questions and take their time. you see them as real people. there are candidates that i had negative feelings about and came out, well, they're decent people. i might not agree with them and might not vote for them, but they're decent people. >> they come pounding on your doors, they call you on the phone. why, though, when we talk about independent voters who will decide this primary, why is it

such a last-minute decision for a lot of people, do you think? >> well, because we do have an opportunity to meet with so many of the candidates, i think that we really try to get out there and attend as many events as we can. woe take things very seriously here in new hampshire. we know our responsibility as being the first primary in the nation and that really sends a strong message across the country. we want to make sure that we're making the right decision. so we don't see a few political ads or watch one debate and say, oh, that's my guy or girl. we really think it over and take the time to, you know, think about it and figure out who's going to be the right choice, who we believe will be the right choice for the country. >> have you already voted? >> i have not. i'm actually heading to vote. >> there's still time if you want to convince on live national television. either way, boy the way, i'm just being fair. i'm kidding, i'm kidding. were you making -- >> no, i'm heading out to vote right after this. >> okay, okay. at the end of the day, 60

seconds, what is it about new hampshire that -- reading what the secretary of state has said when other states dare move their primaries up, he'll move the primary in new hampshire to make sure you're the first in the nation primary because it matters. why? >> well, for one thing you're a small state and you can do the kind of retail politics people talk about. so you feel a real responsibility. it's an honor and a responsibility in new hampshire, so we do take it seriously, as she said. >> half the population of iowa, i was reading the stat this morning, yet almost triple the number of people come out today to vote. bruce and sarah, thank you so much. i really appreciate it. >> thank you. >> and we have special live coverage of the new hampshire primary, officially starting minutes from now right here on cnn. don't go anywhere.

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and now a very special edition of "the lead" live from manchester, new hampshire, on primary day just hours away from the polls closing. on the republican side it's still fluid. i'm jake tapper and this is "the lead." good afternoon and cheers from the foundry restaurant in manchester, new hampshire, i'm jake tapper. welcome to a special edition of "the lead." we are just hours away from polls closing here. the granite state known for surprises. with nearly a third of republican voters still undecided in these final days of campaigning here, there are very few certainties at this hour. for three republican governors