i'll see you back in an hour. good evening. i'm erin burnett. welcome to a very special edition "outfront." we are live from houston, texas. the five republican candidates for president are about to take the stage behind me in a crucial faceoff. this is the final debate before super tuesday when 12 states will vote and everything is on the line to want. center stage the frontrunner, donald trump. he'll be standing there. he has won three states in a row. in the lead by 65 delegates. ready to take him on his left and his right, the men running out of time to stop him. ted cruz is the only man so far to beat trump, but he's 0 for 3 after his iowa win and facing a must-win primary here in his home state. texas is going to be crucial.

then there's marco rubio. the gop establishment rallying behind him even though he is yet to win a single state. his campaign is preparing for a brokered convention. trump is fighting with two people who won't actually be on the stage tonight. last debate it was the pope. this time it is former mexican president vicente fox. >> i'm not going to pay for that [ bleep ] wall. he should pay for it. he's got the money. >> trump's response on twitter, vicente fox horribly used the f-word when discussing the wall. if i did there, there would probably be an uproar. that's probably true. romney claimed there would be a, quote, bombshell, in trump's tax returns.

there's a lot to get to tonight. first i want to get to jim acosta. this battle with the former mexican president just breaking late today when he is using the f-word to talk about whether mexico will pay for the wall. what do you think trump will be talking about tonight? >> he is asked about it, erin. i think he'll engage. this is not an endorsement coming from south of the border. now donald trump, as you said, is fighting with the former president of mexico, vicente fox. the former president of mexico was asked by jorge ramos about trump's vow to get mexico to pay for a wall. this is a constant we see out on the campaign trail. fox mocked trump's presidential campaign during this interview as being on the ultimate ego trip. >> what is trump? he is not a republican. absolutely not. those are not the republican

principles. he is not a democrat. he is just himself. he's egocentric. >> as he often does when he is attacked, trump fired back on twitter. put this on up screen. it bears repeating. former president of mexico vicente fox horribly used the f-word when discussing the wall. if i did there, there would be an uproar. we should point out a lot of top gop strategists, erin, will tell you this is not really backfiring on donald trump. this is sort of a gift for donald trump as any gop candidate would love to be in a dust up with the former mexican president given where the gop is on the subject of immigration. at the same time, donald trump will remind you -- he said this after the nevada caucus. he is actually performing well. or at least he performed well in nevada with latino republicans.

we might hear that one as well. >> right. he'll probably make that point. of course, all the republican support some sort of a wall. to jim's point, maybe there'll be a bit of jealousy. the brawl between trump and vicente fox would make for an exciting debate day. trump is also fighting with mitt romney who is attacking him over his tax returns. outfront, sara murray. is this becoming a distraction from donald trump? here we are coming into such a crucial debate. >> it's incredible. you would think just hours before this debate donald trump would be laser focused on the republicans running this cycle, but instead he is battling with the 2012 republican nominee. other campaigns are saying voters deserve to take a look at trump's taxes before he becomes the possible nominee. donald trump under pressure to release his tax returns.

>> i'm in no rush to do it. >> reporter: the calls are coming from an unlikely source, mitt romney. donald trump is firing back on twitter saying, mitt romney, who was one of the worst and dumbest candidates in the history of republican politics, is pushing me on tax returns. me thinks the donald doth protest too much, says mitt romney. hashtag, what is he hiding. >> it's my honor, real honor, and privilege to endorse mitt romney. >> reporter: now going to battle. >> we have good reason to believe there's a bombshell in donald trump's taxes. >> reporter: as trump tells cnn his taxes are complex and refuses to say when he'll release them. >> nobody has been bringing it up except for mitt romney. the reason he brings it up is he lost in the last election and lost very badly.

>> reporter: romney knows all too well how damaging the tax issue can be. >> he's refused to release his tax returns. the word is out he hasn't paid taxes for ten years. >> reporter: he faced fire for his low tax rate in offshore accounts. trump is not shy about his wealth. he says he has $10 billion in assets and raked in $362 million in income in 2014. voters know little about his tax tab. trump's tax plan would serve up big cuts to both the poor and the wealthy. candidates still insist billionaires like him will pay more. >> i will probably end up paying more money, but i think the economy will do better. i'll make it up that way. i'll end up paying more money. i believe in the end i might do

better because the economy is going to go boom. beautiful. >> reporter: there's an interesting side dynamic playing out in all this, which is that mitt romney has a deep affection for marco rubio. we expect mitt romney to eventually endorse rubio. for now the rubio campaign says marco will release his taxes in just a couple of days. erin? >> all right. thank you very much. joining me now amanda carpenter, she was communications director for ted cruz, and jeffrey lord, a donald trump supporter. jeff, let's start with both these issues. >> where do we start? so much, so little time. >> i cannot resist playing the ex-president of mexico one more time. here he is. >> i'm not going to pay for that [ bleep ] wall. he should pay for it. he's got the money. this nation is going to fail if

it goes into the hands of a crazy guy. what is trump? he's not a republican. absolutely not. those are not the republican principles. he is not a democrat. he's just himself. he's egocentric. >> i suppose listening to this again i hear him actually take the wall as a de facto thing. he's saying trump should pay for it. >> i'm waiting for the news to leak it that vicente fox is on the trump payroll. trump is blessed in the enemies that he attracts. to have the former president of mexico say the f-bomb in terms of the wall in the middle of the republican primary, i mean, god bless him. thank you, sir. >> what's really interesting about the events over the last 48 hours is that you have these big heavyweights in their respective fields throwing bombs

at trump. i think they're panicked that he could become the republican nominee. it is kind of interesting because trump has dominated the media headlines, controlled the media cycle. i think there's going to be more of an effort of people throwing bombs at him trying to knock him off his game. >> do you think this could lead to there be substantiing substa pressure to build the wall? >> seriously, what's important here is the message. that's how you communicate in politics. you could have 10,000 pages of detail. but when you're running for president of the united states -- ronald reagan did this all the time. >> he won't answer it substantively nor does it matter

when you do so. >> obama said he didn't have to talk about it. that's a bad theme. we're paying for it today. he's suffering the consequences. i would argue the democrats are suffering the consequences now. hillary clinton has a less chance of becoming president because obama was so bad over obamacare. >> there is a deep irony here in mitt romney calling on someone to put their taxes out when he fought doing it and then his tax rates were so low. he is certainly insinuating there is wrongdoing in trump's taxes. does donald trump need to release his full taxes to make this go away? >> this is standard procedure for a republican candidate to do. donald trump is using that as

ammunition against his fellow candidates, but he hasn't put his own papers out there. he's been criticized in the past for the donations that he's given to liberal organizations like planned parenthood. he said that's in the past. it could have been last year. >> do you think when mitt romney says bombshell it could be something like that? you have to keep in mind in terms of cheating on taxes, you would have to imagine new york attorney generals have been looking at donald trump for years and years. there could be some surprise in terms of where he's donated. >> the american people themselves are so furious at the irs. when they see the picture of donald trump signing a tax form with this little stack, they may not have the same kind of stack, but in their own lives they have that version of the problem. they get it. they're sympathetic. like the former president of mexico, to be attacked by mitt romney, god bless him. endorse marco rubio tomorrow

morning. >> under my tax plan my friends aren't going to pay more because he's going to close that crucial loophole. the loophole that mitt romney benefitted from. donald trump said, well, he'd pay more under there. he hass ean easy out. >> he's for tax hikes and tax cuts. who knows where he actually is? but the tax issue does matter. other politicians that run go through the vetting process. at the very least we should see how wealthy and successful he's been. >> senators who only earn a paycheck from the public payroll, that could become an issue as well. they didn't participate in the private sector. ted cruz did.

but marco rubio has earned most of his money from the public sector. that could be an issue there. >> where people want an outsider. thank you both very much. cnn learning tonight that marco rubio is preparing for a contested convention. will texas be ted cruz's last stand? i'm going to ask rick perry. he's going to be my guest. we are live tonight in houston counting down to cnn's republican presidential debate just over an hour away. think of it as a seven seat theater... for an action packed thriller. then your eyes may see it, differently.ave allergies. only flonase is approved to relieve both your itchy, watery eyes and congestion. no other nasal allergy spray can say that. complete allergy relief or incomplete. let your eyes decide. flonase changes everything.

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welcome back to a very special edition of "outfront" tonight. we are live in houston, texas. it's a beautiful stage. we've been talking about it. they've been polishing it and shining it. a preview of what we may see tonight. take a listen. >> everybody running for president tells you i want to get rid of obamacare. i'm the only one that's ever done anything about it. >> national polls show john kasich is the one who beats hillary clinton by 11 points. not marco rubio. >> there is only one campaign that has beaten and can beat donald trump. >> so far everybody who has attacked me has gone down. >> the state treasurer of arizona, jeff dewitt, he has

endorsed trump. and ron nearing and the national spokesman for john kasich's campaign. thanks to all of you. let me start with you, jeff. it's clear donald trump is the frontrunner, so i will start with you. with super tuesday just a few days away, is he going to try to play it safe tonight or is he going to be aggressive, be loud, and try to go for the kill? >> well, donald trump is donald trump. he doesn't need to do anything different than he's done. in every single previous debate the online polls and the polls afterwards, he won every poll. he's done very well. it is quite something when you consider he is not a professional politician when he is going up against politicians that have been media trained. it resonates with the people.

i don't expect him to do anything differently tonight. >> what do you say, ron? are you going to see ted cruz coming after donald trump aggressively? >> i think you're going to see a stark contrast between ted cruz and donald trump. whenever ted cruz moves closer and closer to donald trump, he says weirder and weirder things and tries the win the insults through cutting people off. i think we're entering the phase of the campaign where it is time for the circus and the clown show to be over. we want someone who has the conservative credentials that republicans are looking for this season. donald trump is not someone who has the temperament to be president of the united states. the closer that ted cruz is to him, the more he democrats that. >> it was a great lead-in to john kasich because he's the only one that's done all that

stuff. nobody can match his record of conservative achievement from balancing the federal budget and cutting taxes and doing that again in the state of ohio. taking a rust bucket state and creating 400,000 jobs. he's going to be able to differentiate himself and his record from all three other candidates. he's the only one left that's done anything. >> i want to bring in rory cooper, eric cantor. rory, what about marco rubio? he's trying to portray this as a two-man race, but we got a poll that came out today showing donald trump ahead and marco rubio's must-win state of florida. >> the polls right now don't mean anything because we have a few days to go before people start voting in those states on tuesday. what i think you're going to see tonight is marco differentiate himself. it is a two-person race.

it is donald trump and marco rubio. the path just doesn't exist for ted cruz and john kasich beyond tuesday. marco rubio will consolidate that anti-donald trump support. >> you have upset ron and trent. when he says it is a two-man race, you started shaking your heads vigorously here. >> marco rubio, who has yet to win a state anywhere and is running badly behind in his own state of florida, bypasses every super tuesday state and points to florida and nowhere else, it is a bizarre assertion to make. 60% of the delegates will already been allocated and that's when the marco rubio

campaign is going to start? >> the only person who is running -- >> it makes me laugh when everybody says, oh, if so and so gets out, that support is going to go somebody else other than donald trump. in south carolina donald trump won with 35% of the vote and marco rubio and ted cruz had 22% each. jeb bush got out of the race. yet all of that support went to donald trump. donald trump in nevada went to 45% and marco rubio and ted cruz basically stayed exactly the same at 22%. when everybody gets out, that support is going to keep going to donald trump. if one more person gets out, donald trump is over 50% and this race is over. i think if any of the other candidates cannot win their home state, they need to get out. if marco rubio cannot deliver florida, he has no business being the president of the united states.

>> hold on, rory. trent, go ahead here. >> john kasich can and he will win his home state. there was a poll yesterday that said kasich is the last, best, and only chance of stopping trump. with all due respect to rory, marco rubio has done 16 points in his home state. you need an advertising campaign to try to close that gap. he can not do it. a month ago senator rubio said by march 15th time to start winning states. he pointed to florida and ohio. he's trailing badly in florida and he's not going to win in ohio. kasich is the only one that can beat trump. >> you can ask rudy giuliani how effective a strategy that is. all of this talk today about preparing for brokered

convention, that's surrendering he's not going to win anything. >> rory, your turn. >> i would say the exact opposite. the rudy giuliani strategy is appropriate here. yes, you have to build support in more than one state. there are some states that are all or nothing and some states that are proportional. some of these candidates are trying to take on donald trump. right now, marco rubio seems to be the only person who seems to be able to start picking up delegates in key states, who has a strategy beyond a talking point over one poll in one state. you have to have a long-term plan, which has gotten him to this point where he is one of the last people standing. >> very quick, final word. >> marco rubio is leading in zero super tuesday state.

>> ted cruz has the lead in the second biggest state in the country. more than double what donald trump has racked up so far. >> i appreciate all of you taking the time. i'm sure your candidates will be duking it out as you were here. outfront next, ted cruz's campaign promising a fight with trump tonight, saying, we are not taking it on the chin anywhere. is it enough in his home state? the democrats are fighting for every single vote in south carolina. senator cory booker is outfront tonight. he'll be my guest. we'll be right back. your credit is in pretty good shape.

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welcome back to our special coverage. weav we're coming to you live at the university of houston in texas tonight. you can see the stage is set for tonight's republican debate. and the stakes for the remaining five candidates have never been higher. there are only going to be five of them tonight. donald trump has the momentum. he has won the last three

contests, but it is ted cruz who may have the most to prove tonight. this is the city where ted cruz lives with his wife and three young daughters. the texas senator will be fighting back against trump tonight. will it help him win his home state, which everyone says is a must win? >> after what has been an incredible year on the road, it is good to be home. >> reporter: pressing for a home field advantage, ted cruz may find texas is no longer a clear home run. cruz is in danger for an unexpected late in the game threat on his own turf. coupled with trump's raw momentum and rubio's super pac throwing money at the state. cruz has the upper hand.

he is ahead in the polls. the latest out tonight from monmouth university shows cruz leading in texas by 15 points. but far from the path the cruz campaign once hoped, making stakes tonight even higher. >> ted cruz's campaign will be on life support if he doesn't win this state on tuesday. he needs to win here strongly or his campaign falls apart. >> if he can't win his home state, how is he going to win the country? >> i hear a lot of trump. trump, trump, trump. i know it is a lot of negative things. i think it is working for him because he is in everybody's mouths. >> reporter: cruz has been ratcheting up the rhetoric. >> i shall never surrender or retreat. >> reporter: tonight he'll push back more aggressively on trump that cruz is a liar. we're not taking it on the chin

anymore says a cruz campaign spokesperson. a cruz adviser tells cnn they are feeling optimistic at their chances, but are leaving nothing to chance. >> we're competing hard for every vote here in the state of texas. >> reporter: in the six days between the nevada caucuses and super tuesday, cruz will spend four of these days here in texas barn storming the state looking for last-minute votes. that is such precious time invested in a state that should have been a layup for him. >> outfront now, rick perry. governor, thank you very much. good to see you in your home state. you just heard texans talking and one of them saying, look, he's got to win and he's got to win big in order to continue. if cruz loses texas, is that game over or not? >> i don't think so.

i don't think ted cruz is going to lose texas. this is his home state. he has a great organization here. his values are texas values. people know they are getting a consistent conservative with ted cruz. i expect he's going to do well here and continue this fight on. this is really an interesting election cycle to say the least. >> i would say. >> obviously, the american people are ready for an outsider. the question is going to be which one of these people really know how to go to washington, d.c. to destruct or turn the capital on its ear. who knows how to make it work? who knows the underpinnings of washington, d.c. well enough? senator cruz is it. if you want to see power devo e devolved out of washington,

d.c., these governors empowered to do the things they know they can do and respecting the tenth amendment, then ted cruz without a doubt is the individual on the stage that can do that. has the commitment, has the intellect, and has the know-how to make it happen. >> when you were governor, you welcomed then president vicente fox to the governor's mansion. the former president said something today that some people think is going to be mana for trump. here's how he said it. >> i'm not going to pay for that [ bleep ] wall. he should pay for it. >> the thing that makes me chuckle about that is he accepted the premise, as if it is going to be there, who is going to pay for it.

>> i sethe border can be secure. it doesn't take a physical wall. it takes a virtual wall. that's with technology and boots on the ground. the issue is not whether there's going to be a wall. it's going to be what kind of a wall. are we going to be successful in securing that border? we know how to do this. listen. senator cruz understands that. donald trump understands that. this is kind of one of those issues that you have to really understand the difficulty of building a 35-foot wall from brownsville to el paso, texas, which is what i think mr. trump tries to get into people's minds when it is about securing the border and making our citizens safe. >> you say donald trump understands part of it. you say ted cruz understands part of it.

you have endorsed ted cruz. he comes in tonight with donald trump and marco rubio criticizing his morality and ethics. >> this guy ted cruz is the single biggest liar i have ever dealt with in my life. i mean it. he will lie about anything. >> he's been lying. if you say something that's not true and you say it over and over again, then there's no other word for it. >> are these attacks having an impact? >> if you say something over and over again, it has an impact. it grew with marco rubio. ted cruz isn't a liar. if there's one person in this race who is telling the truth about washington, d.c. and about what needs to happen and has the intellect to be able to make a difference, it is ted cruz. listen, donald trump gives a whole new meaning to the word bombastic. that's fine. that's entertaining. the fact is we do need to hear the truth and we hear the truth from ted cruz.

>> all right. you hear the truth from ted cruz. something changed for you yesterday. charges against you for abuse of power have been dropped. they're gone. dropped. no merit to them. now that that's happened and there's talk of independent runs, an influential blogger came out and tweeted i would support governor perry in a third-party run. >> he is a wonderful fellow, but the fact of the matter is i think this campaign -- if there is an odd twist to it, it will be no one gets enough of the delegates to get the nomination. you go to a brokered convention. at that particular point in time it is a whole new ball game for everyone. >> that could be a new ball game for you. >> everyone. >> all right. governor perry, it is a pleasure to talk to you. >> good to be here with you. enjoy it.

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welcome back. we are live tonight at the university of houston right here in texas. the site of tonight's republican presidential debate. this is by far the most important matchup this election. it is the last chance for the remaining five presidential candidates to go before primetime cameras in front of millions of americas and make their case before next week's crucial super tuesday's contests. if history is any indication, one name we're sure to hear tonight is hillary clinton. she has the momentum heading into this week's south carolina primary. outfront now is senator cory booker. i appreciate your taking the time to be with me here tonight. i want to start with some breaking news. the editorial board coming out

with an editorial saying that hillary clinton should release those wall street transcripts. obviously, this is coming from the paper that has endorsed her and supported her candidacy. what do you say to "the new york times"? >> well, i haven't read the editorial, so i don't want to comment. i don't know what their logic is. i hope they're going to call for all candidates to release a similar kind of information because there is a lot of people in the field on both sides who have done a lot of speaking. if there is a standard that is set, i hope we're calling for the same standard for everybody. >> you would agree it's for everybody she should go ahead and release them? part of the thing people have had a hard time understanding is if there is nothing problematic, why don't you release them? if there's nothing wrong, put it out in the daylight. >> again, it's nothing that concerns me. i think it is a wild stretch to think there might be something in there that is contrary to

what her consistent public position has been. she's got a very long tradition of going up against large corporate interests whether it's been the insurance companies or calling for wall street reform. i think she knows what needs to be done to get this economy moving. we need to have fair tax rates where people aren't benefitting from things like carried interest. we had a mortgage industry that was out of control. rating agencies that were rating trash as treasure. these are all things we cannot let happen again. i'm confident in her. i'm confident in her determination to not only make sure we don't fall back into the kind of recession that was caused by this reckless behavi r behavior, but also that she has a vision beyond wall street. she's not a one issue candidate. she wants to see important things happen in the communities like i'm from. the kind of kitchen table economics and empowerment that

is so important in today's day and age in america. >> senator, how confident are you about her performance this weekend and of course on super tuesday? >> well, i just come from a school where you take nothing for granted. when i saw her today, to see the determination in her eyes, she's not leaving anything to chance. she still feels like she has to try to earn every single vote. this is something she told me at the very beginning of the campaign. she said this is not going to be an easy road. i'm going to have to work hard and earn every inch of ground i gain. she is still in that mode and she will be until she clenches the nomination, which is something i believe she is will do. >> on the republican side there are calls for donald trump to put his taxes out there. mitt romney says he needs to put his taxes out there in full.

he has not yet done so. do you think he should? >> donald trump has belied all the conventional wisdom i had. this was a guy i thought for sure was going to be done after he insulted a war hero, john mccain. dear god, he spent time in a prison camp, was offered a way out and didn't because he didn't want to leave his people behind. there is a lot of things i think donald trump should do. i'm just happy that we have candidates on the democratic side that are calling for more unity, appealing not to fears, not to divisiveness, but who are talking to the best angels of our country. i can't call shots on the other side of the aisle right now. i don't think many republicans understand what's going on. i think there's a crisis over there. the reality is we've got a lot of progress since the great recession. we need to do even more. i'm hopeful that hillary clinton

will be the president that will enable us to do the things that really need to be done in america. >> i think it's a fair point. a lot of them don't know what's going on either. senator, it's a pleasure. thank you very much. cory booker campaigning with hillary clinton in south carolina, a state she is significantly ahead in the polls ahead of voting on saturday. thanks again, senator. >> thank you, erin. outfront next, we're counting down to tonight's republican debate, a high stakes show down you're going to see right here on cnn. we're going to tell you the crucial things to watch for in just a few moments. we'll be right back.

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welcome back. we are live tonight at the university of houston for cnn's republican presidential debate. right behind me is where the candidates are going to take the stage in a few moments, a lovely theater, beautiful stage, beautiful. testament to our special events team here at cnn. this is the most significant matchup so far this election, with super tuesday only a few days away. and tonight, one issue this may dominate the discussion is trump's bitter back and forth with mitt romney over releasing taxes. trump, so far, has dismissed romney's attacks, but the one-time presidential nominee is not letting up, and he's doing it on twitter.

so he's going trump's way. here's what mitt romney tweeted today. me thinks donald doth protest too much, donald back taxes. hashtag what is he hiding? out front, our chief political analyst, gloria borger, and executive editor for cnn politics, mark preston. all right, gloria, obviously, mitt romney is going heavy on this. the deep irony, of course, is that mitt romney, who the taxes was it part of his downfall as a nominee, but maybe that's why he's doing it. it worked against him, so he thinks it will work against trump. >> this is exactly what harry reid said about mitt romney. what's he hiding? he's got to be hiding something. >> and something that was blatantly untrue. i have reason to believe that he paid no taxes. that was false. >> and romney said, there might be a bombshell in there. he didn't say there was. but what he's doing is he -- it's a technical term called stirring the pot, right? and that is what he's doing for

this debate tonight. >> and david chalian, he was very careful to say, that could mean he didn't pay enough taxes, or it could mean he's not as rich as he says. anything is a quote/unquote bombshell. >> it's that second point about net worth that set donald trump off. that's something he's very sensitive about, and he said, you don't get net worth for your tax returns. i've already filed financial disclosures that show my net worth and i'm very wealthy. he's already pushing back on that. there's nothing that upsets him more about money than when someone questions how much he says he's worth. >> that's true. mark, most important thing you're looking for on that stage? >> well, look, if donald trump is going to be in the middle of the stage and he could get caught in a cross fire between ted cruz and marco rubio. now, we're led to believe that marco rubio is going to try to take out ted cruz tonight, thinking that if he's able to do so, that the full consolidation will come together and get

behind his candidacy, as they try to stop donald trump. at the same time, expect ted cruz to go directly at donald trump, and then go directly at marco rubio. so in many ways, erin, you would think that donald trump, who will have a very difficult time doing this, might want to step back and see if these two senators, these two colleagues, take each other out tonight. >> donald trump has arrived. what are you looki ining for tonight? he's here. >> i'm looking to see whether marco rubio continues what he has started, a little bit this week, which is to take on trump more directly. because if cruz and rubio just keep going at each other, it elevates trump, and it helps trump. and i think what i'm looking for is rubio to directly attack trump, cruz to directly attack trump, and to see whether it has any impact whatsoever. >> could they team up? i mean, i know that's not directly teaming up, but it sort of is, david chalian. marco rubio and ted cruz both

believe the other one has to die for either to survive. so it would be a very big risk for them both to go after trump and not after each other, but do you think that would happen? >> i think it's possible. because they do -- yes, they believe they have to take each other out, erin. but they also clearly -- rubio has indicated it on the campaign trail. cruz has been doing it for some time in his advertising, as well. doing this frontal attack on trump. i do think they realize, there are only five podiums on that stage right now. those five lecterns up there, smallest stage we've had. there's not as much time anymore to not go directly after the front-runner. and the other thing i'm looking to see is the front-runner himself. does donald trump, as he's done in the past, use this opportunity to extinguish his opponent he deems a threat, or does he use this opportunity as the winner now, winning a lot of delegates, does he pivot to a more presidential moment? i think we're hearing applause for barbara bush -- >> yeah, everyone to know what you're hearing -- yes, we are, barbara bush and george h.w. bush have just entered the room

where we are to resounding, standing applause from the audience. george h.w. bush is in his wheelchair, barbara bush is beside him. >> david and i were kind of honored to run into them in the hallway, as they were on their way into tonight. and they seemed in a great mood. >> yes, and they -- we can now -- we do now -- you can see, george h.w. bush, a beloved ex-president now by democrats and republicans. a man that truly is beloved by many americans. we will be right back. when heartburn hits fight back fast tums smoothies starts dissolving the instant it touches your tongue and neutralizes stomach acid at the source tum, tum, tum, tum smoothies! only from tums i'm here to get the lady of the house back on her feet. and give her the strength and energy to stay healthy. who's with me?! yay! the complete balanced nutrition

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and good evening to you from the university of houston. what a night ahead. we are now just minutes away from the final cnn republican debate before super tuesday, with 661 delegates go up for grabs here in texas and all across the country. donald trump, of course, comes into it tonight with three straight victories, with a polling lead in most of those super tuesday states.