surprise there. but mostly it rebounds into the summer. for the entire year, the federal reserve sees 2.2% economic growth despite the first quarter stall and what you're hearing on the campaign trail about the economy, four fed chiefs agree the u.s. is not on course for pay major reception. janet yellin in a rare appearance with fareed zakaria and three former fed chiefs, a rare gathering, she calls the u.s. economy strong. this is an economy on a solid course, she says, not a bubble economy. pamela? >> christine romans, thank you very much for that. i'm pamela brown in washington. i'll see you back here at 7:00 eastern. "smerconish" starts right now. ♪ i'm michael smerconish. just 100 days, that's all that's

left between now and the republican convention in cleveland. and a week later the democrats gather in philadelphia. and still, nobody knows what's going to happen. but we are here to try. where do all the disaffected voters go who have been rallying to trump and sanders if their candidates don't get nominated this summer? and why are many college students who support donald trump literally afraid to show their faces? plus, how one trump supporter's unhappiness with the system led to new voting rules in new york that could undermine trump's chances there. but first, this weekend, colorado republicans are caucusing. by last night ted cruz already had taken the majority of the state's delegates donald trump, john kasich, had none. this is a troubling sign for trump. colorado's system is unusual but similar to most states in that delegate selection is different than the presidential balloting by voters. and here's why that's bad for trump.

often delegates selected in state caucuses and conventions are longstanding party members. they're being rewarded not for their loyalty to a particular candidate but for loyalty to the party. and for party faithfuls, the paramount goal is finding a candidate that can win the general election. new york is the next big prize on april 19 and a rule change last year by its republican state committee allows the party, not the candidates, to select who will be the delegate. so even if trump wins the primary, if he falls shy of a majority on the first ballot at the convention, the 95 new york delegates picked by the party could be a potent force if they decide to move away from him as a bloc. and then comes pennsylvania on april 26 where 54 of the state's 71 delegates are elected by voters without any indication of who they support and no requirement that they follow the will of the electorate. so who are they usually? savvy political members.

they know how to get chosen. and then 14 more get appointed by the state party chair. who will they be? they'll be party loyalists. they'll be donors. they'll be elected officials. no wonder then that this week trump hired a veteran political insider, paul man i for, to play the role of his convention manager. but if this all sounds nefarious, as if the deck was being stacked against donald trump, i would argue not. i remember the words of a professor i had at lehigh who often told us, political parties exist for one purpose, and that is to win. now for a different take, pat buchanan has advised several republican presidents and has run for the white house himself. in his latest column "can the gop get together in cleveland," he rights this. if the gop establishment does

collude to steal the nomination from the candidate who has won the most states, the most delegates, the most votes, not only could the party be crushed in november, but that establishment itself could be discredited in perfect purpose . thank you for being here. >> delighted, michael. >> i think the role of those who come together in cleveland is to select a winner, and in your most recent column, you're fearful instead of a unified ticket behind the front-runner, donald trump, the boogeyman, as pat buchanan sees it, is the establishment. explain. >> well, look, the establishment of the republican party is what has been repudiated and rejected by the voter s of the republica primaries and caucuses this entire year. if you add together the votes of ted cruz, not beloved of the establishment, and donald trump who is outside the establishment, you're probably going to have 80% of the delegates there at cleveland and you've got an enorpmous componet

of a necessary coalition to win the election. this is why it's my belief that even though it sounds like an impossibility now, if you have a trump nomination and cruz as number two and you could bring the establishment in, those are the elements of victory in november. but i do not know how you bring about a victory in november by having the establishment really reject the two largest vote getters calling the whole primary process a fraud and imposing their own candidate upon the party. >> but, pat, i don't know how you come out of cleveland if trump doesn't get to 1237 on his own, having embraced a man who has a 73% disapproval rating among females. isn't it incumbent upon a delegate to say this man can't win. who can win among us? >> i think what's going to happen here, i agree with you to this extent, michael. if trump doesn't win on the first ballot with 1237, trump is not the nominee because his

delegates who are republican, generally they're more republican than trump will fade away once they're freed from their commitments. but then i think the party moves to the number two candidate, cruz, who's only got two senators endorsing him, even though he's a member of the united states senate and one of them is endorsing him as the lesser of two evils. i think if cruz is nominated, it's hard for me to see as an analyst for nixon and regan, hard for me to see how he wins those swing states say up in michigan and pennsylvania and even new york and some of the others where trump has some appeal. what you've got in the republican party, michael, is this. you've got the trump-ites, populists and nationalists. you've got cruz which is the right wing of the republican party and tea party and you've got the bush establishment. all three of those together can win. they can beat hillary. they can take over the congress, supreme court, everything. and my feeling is and my hope and belief is somehow you can

get them all together. but do i know how to get the mixture together right now? no. >> patrick, you referenced pennsylvania. they say all politics are local. that's my home state. i want to show you some data. this is the current matchup among republicans in pennsylvania. donald trump is in first position, 39, cruz at 30. take a look at kasich, he trails by 15. however, in this same quinnipiac survey, when they did matchups for all pennsylvania voters for a general, kasich is the only republican who defeats any of the democrats. he's ahead of hillary 51-35. he's ahead of sanders 46-40. pat, you know if you win pennsylvania as a republican you're going to win the white house. so to go back to my old professor who said that parties exist to win, isn't that evidence, exhibit a, how john kasich really should get serious consideration? >> well, he's been getting serious consideration, and he's won only one state, his home state of ohio. the republicans don't want him.

the republicans who want change, the republicans who trump is bringing into the party basically on an issue of economic nationalism and foreign policy nationalism, these folks want something new and something different. the point is, people who look very good on paper right now may look good simply because they're putting them up against the democrats and hillary whom they know and don't want. but if kasich is the guy, why can't kasich do better in his own party, use these polls to persuade the republicans to nominate him? he hasn't been able to do that and he's won only one state, his home state of ohio. you tell me, michael. where do all those people go? where do the tens of thousands, scores of thousands coming out to the rallies? are he they going to rally to john kasich? >> what happens if donald trump gets to cleveland and is 50 or 100 delegates shy? >> i think he's nominated. i think -- i mean, if the

establishment starts moving against him then to take it away from him, what worth is it going -- of what worth will it be? i mean, to take it away, frustrate, anger and enrage all these people and trump who had the most votes, the most delegates, the most states, the biggest crowds, the most excitement and energy? take and pull the nomination away from him? frankly, then try to confer it on paul ryan? or john kasich? i think that's a formula for the end of the party. >> i think you place too much stock in the idea that the establishment can function so cohesively and with such competence. >> well, it hasn't shown -- you may have a point here. >> final question for pat buchanan as one used to having his speech parsed, you know that ted cruz caught a lot of flak in new york this week because he made reference to media and money when talking about new york values.

people read into that antisemitism. your thought? >> well, no, i didn't read any semitism in it at all. what i read it as is really new york values, and i think that's one of trump's best answers. he said new york values, how about all these people coming together at 9/11 in that horrible tragedy and what we went through and also because cruz comes in i think a little bit like an outsider and almost snobbish about it. >> right. but why reference money and media? it's one thing to talk about a classic liberal model and talk about abortion as he did and to reference those other issues. but to make that reference all of a sudden, the antenna goes up. >> maybe it's going up with some folks in new york, but i think on ted the antenna are already pretty high up there on him. i think and i would predict he's going to come in third in new york and your candidate, john kasich, will come in second. >> what do you mean my candidate? i'm sitting here hypothetically

and just talking about different scenarios. pat buchanan, as always, thank you so much. >> thank you, my friend. >> tweet me your thoughts @smerconish about what pat buchanan just said about the gop. by the way, i just started the ball rolling. here is a tweet i sent, hey at real donald trump when you again watch my cnn program and tweet about it as you often do, please use the right hashtag, that would be smerconish. now, funny thing. everything that pat buchanan just said about the establishment falling apart, same exact phenomenon has been happening across the aisle. liberals unhappy with the establishment's boonment of core principles has rallied to an outsider. bernie sanders won seven of the last eight state contests and there's nobody better to talk about liberal discontent thant author of a brand-new book, "listen liberal." whatever happened to the party of the people. you'll remember thomas frank

because he wrote "what's the matter with kansas." thomas, you are a liberal who blames liberals for the sake of the country. why? what's the case? >> we have a very liberal president in the white house right now and when he first came in, he came in faced with this sort of 1930s, 1932, '33 style situation. we all thought he was my generation's franklin roosevelt and look what happened. inequality has grown worse and worse under his watch as it grew worse under bill clinton's watch back in the 1990s. so a lot of people -- >> wait a minute. barack obama, to his critics, is a socialist. that's what the republicans have been saying for eight years. and you're saying what? >> it's highly ironic. >> you're saying he's not liberal enough and bill clinton wasn't liberal enough? >> that's right. there's liberals and then there's liberals. the kind of liberals i'm talking about is a very different animal. you know, it's been extinct in

democratic party councils for a long time, since the 1970s, 1980s. >> bill clinton was in philadelphia this week, and he was challenged by some protesters in the audience. and when the subject came to welfare reform, thomas frank, listened to what he had to say. >> they say the welfare reform bill increased poverty. then why do we have the largest drop in african-american poverty in history when i was president? the largest in history. >> doesn't he make a good point? i mean, wasn't that the net effect and isn't he deserving of some credit for that? >> for the nasdaq bubble? yeah, that was awesome. maybe we can get that back. look, if bill clinton was really good on economic issues, if that's what we credit him for and look back and say he was a great president because the economy was doing so well, then the greatest president of all time was calvin coolidge, you know, who had the greatest stock market bubble of them all,

right? he left office just before it exploded, the same as with clinton. look, clinton said something else when he was confronting those protesters. he was talking about the 1994 crime bill. this is a subject that i go into, that i researched in some detail for "listen liberal." the whole story isn't out there yet. you know, people have not really grasped exactly what happened back then. it's much uglier than people think. >> right. but you heard bill clinton say this week again in that speech in philadelphia that the very people whose lives he was protecting is now he's not being given credit for those who shoeld a shine that says "black lives matter." >> right, he's also apologized for what he did. that's how history works. you say you're sorry and everything is hunky-dory. one of the things we don't remember about the crime bill, it's an extremely draconian -- do you remember the crack versus powder cocaine sentencing disparity? i wonder if anybody remembers. 100 to 1 and something like 80%

of the people sentenced for it were black whereas cocaine, you know, this was another yuppie crime, right? who cares? and clinton by a weird sort of quirk in the law about a year after the law was passed had to sign off on this personally, and he did. he signed that. i mean, he is -- you talk about -- when you want to talk about mass incarceration of a generation of black kids, this is the moment. >> so here's what i'm hearing from thomas frank, that bill clinton was insufficiently liberal, that barack obama is insufficiently liberal. >> right. >> i'm sure that you will tell me that hillary clinton will be insufficiently liberal. here's what i want to ask you. if, in fact, bernie sanders doesn't get the nomination but donald trump does, is there any appeal in what donald trump has been saying in some of his positions that you could find attractive? >> he says a lot of things that are attractive, but, unfortunately, the things he says that are bigoted and

outrageous, they kill the deal. there's no way he can appeal to liberals like me when he goes around the country insulting group after group. >> what is your -- >> i want to go back to what you said. >> quickly. >> these people are insufficiently liberal. there's liberalism and then there's liberalism. the old-style liberalism basically isn't representing in the administration anymore. >> 30 seconds left. what is your beef with martha's vineyard? we went there as a family three summers ago and rode bikes. it was beautiful. >> if you want to find the place where money and liberalism intersect, that is the mace. place. i went to see how that worked. >> i don't have money nor regard myself as a liberal. i just enjoyed the beaches. thank you, appreciate it. >> they are nice. >> there you go. >> be sure to tune in this thursday night because my

colleague wolf blitzer will be moderating the crucial new york democratic debate live from brooklyn right here on cnn at 9:00 p.m. eastern. free speech in danger on college campuses across the country, most of all for students who are openly supportive of donald trump. i've brought some into the studio. but on this program, i'm open to hearing what everybody has to see via twitter. let's see what's coming in. oh, i like that. sounds like smerconish needs a safe place and a blankey. not until after the show. thank you. when you think about success, what does it look like? is it becoming a better professor by being a more adventurous student? is it one day giving your daughter the opportunity she deserves? is it finally witnessing all the artistic wonders of the natural world? whatever your definition of success is,

helping you pursue it, is ours. t-i-a-a.

♪ ♪ (laughing) there's nothing like making their day. except making sure their tomorrow is taken care of too. financial guidance

while you're mastering life. from chase. so you can. while you're mastering life. type 2 diabetes doesn't care who you are. man. woman. or where you're from. city. country. we're just everyday people fighting high blood sugar. ♪ i am everyday people, yea, yea. ♪ farxiga may help in that fight every day. along with diet and exercise, farxiga helps lower blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. one pill a day helps lower your a1c. and, although it's not a weight-loss or blood-pressure drug, farxiga may help you lose weight and may even lower systolic blood pressure when used with metformin. do not take if allergic to farxiga or its ingredients. symptoms of a serious allergic reaction include rash, swelling, or difficulty breathing or swallowing. if you have any of these symptoms stop taking farxiga and seek medical help right away. do not take farxiga if you have severe kidney problems, are on dialysis, or have bladder cancer. tell your doctor right away if you have blood

or red color in your urine or pain while you urinate. farxiga can cause serious side effects, including dehydration, genital yeast infections in women and men, serious urinary tract infections, low blood sugar and kidney problems. stop taking farxiga and call your doctor right away if you have signs of ketoacidosis, which can be serious or life threatening. farxiga. we are everyday people. ♪ i am everyday people, yea, yea. ♪ ask your doctor if farxiga is right for you and visit farxiga.com to learn how you can get it for free. is it safe for college campus supporters of donald trump to come out of the closet? apparently not for many students at liberal colleges the angry and divisiveness of the election cycle has spilled into their quads generating more hostility and even fear. remember i covered the bitter controversy at emory university caused by some pro-trump

graffiti written in chalk? now student trump supporters on many campuses say they're actually afraid to openly voice their views, they're being called names and off the ra sized. three of them join me, dylan pereira and -- are students at nyu. ryan bells is chair of students for trump at penn state university. hey, ryan, i was once chairperson of the regan/bush effort at lehigh university. my enemy was apathy and here is a flier that i used in the fall of 1980 to try to gin up support for regan bush. i threw a kegger. i was charging $1 a head and literally no one came to my party. so how have things changed, ryan? what kind of a workout do you get when you go out and try to spread mr. trump's message? >> it's a heck of a workout spreading mr. trump's word throughout campus. i was shocked at the number of

studz students i was able to garner into our students for trump group at penn state. we have around 50 students right now and it's growing every day. but just walking across campus i get students ridiculing me every day just walking to lunch and walking to our meetings. >> what have they said to you? >> i was walking to grab lunch the other day, and i wear orange quite frequently, as you can tell, and they said, hey, you, in the orange and he said hey, yo, f you. i was so shocked and surprised and appalled but part of it doesn't shock me because there is such that divide but at the time, i was very shocked about it. >> anybody say "f" you to either of you because of your support for donald trump, brandon, what's been the reaction at nyu? >> i haven't had anything that severe but definitely if you try to engage in political discourse and have conversations, you're just dismissed right off the bat. if you say you're a trump supporter. so usually i actually plan to have a meaningful political conversation, i have to wait and slide that in later after i've

already made my points. >> well, how do they know you're for mr. trump? do you wear the hat? >> i do have a hat and i've worn it in the past. and i do talk about it a little bit more openly now. but it's still the dismissal as a lesser and for some reason i'm of lesser intelligence or something because i support donald trump. just those type much insinuations. >> dillon, does it drive you trump supporters underground or are you still out there wearing your trumpism proudly? >> it's changing recently. more and more they're coming out of the closet, i've been meeting so many more trump supporters. the number has doubled. it was originally 30, and now it's closer to 60. we're a growing movement. people are no longer afraid. they are coming out. there is still a stigma. the other students of the campus get aggressive. i got yelled at. >> what happened when you were yelled at? >> this girl just started screaming at me, called me a

racist, a fascist. >> because you were doing what, wearing a button or something? >> no. it came up in a conversation. she asked who i supported for the presidential election, and i said i support mr. donald trump. and that's when it went crazy. >> hey, ryan, do any of the negatives about mr. trump, the comment about mexico sending us its rapists, the misogyny, as some would say it, the way he mocked the disabled reporter with the "new york times." you know the negative stuff about your guy. that doesn't slow you down at all? >> not one bit. with his business background and what he's been able to do with the trump organization just shows how much energy he's willing to put into this country and turn the economy around, turn this country around and put us on the right step forward. and especially for my generation, we'll be the ones dealing with it for years upon years. so i believe it's important to get someone, specifically mr. trump, in there to put us in the right step forward. >> brandon, what's the appeal for you? >> i really like that he's had

executive experience. i've seen a lot of presidential candidates come out of the senate or out of congress. i don't think they have the executive leadership experience. i think a lot of the skills that donald trump developed through his business are transferrable to the presidency, and his experience with dealing with people, being a good manager. i think's a great leader and that's what we need as a president. >> i'm thrilled to have the three of you here. i appreciate the way you dressed for the program. that's how i knew you were republicans. probably in favor of mr. trump. there were some we invited that wouldn't come on camera and that makes your point. there was one that i had in particular at penn that i had an exchange. he's a senior. and he said he's worried about his career opportunity if all of a sudden in a google search you can bring his name up in connection with donald trump. i said, man, that's a sad state of affairs if you have to worry about talking about politics. do you have professional concerns? >> i did.

i don't care anymore. donald trump has put his life on the line and evening on the line and the least i can do is support him and tell the people not to be afraid. that we need to get behind this guy. >> do you think into the future, hey, i wonder if i'm going to go to a prospective employer and it comes back to haunt me? >> you know, i was a little bit concerned, but i think it's more important to open up this conversation about the lack of political diversity on campuses. i think that is worth it, you know, a potential job in the future. >> is bernie the candidate i would think at nyu, to the extent you can get a feel for the pulse of the community, it would be bernie. >> 100%. >> even clinton supporters feel oppressed because the bernie supporters are so large in number and so aggressive about any opposing view. >> maybe there's alliance there. you and the hillary supporters can work it all out? >> we'll see what happens. >> ryan, serious thought, i wonder if this is evidence of a bradley effect, meaning there could be a hidden trump vote. people are driven underground, and i don't mean just college

campuses. but the electorate in general, they don't want to admit to ray pollster, i'm for donldz trump. so maybe there's strength in numbers you don't know you have. >> that's definitely the case where that silence majority but we're not so silent anymore now that we have mr. trump out there being the face for saying what we've wanted to for years. and been not afraid to not be politically correct anymore. >> give me the weather forecast for state college because i understand that's your career path. go, you have 20 seconds. >> that's my career path. we actually just saw some snow move through the state college area last night, got a nice coating throughout the area so winter is still hanging on throughout much of pennsylvania for the next few days. >> you are hired. dillon, brendan, ryan, thank you so much. appreciate you being here. good job. tweet me your thoughts at smerconish and i'll read some later in the program. still to come, what happens if trump doesn't win on the first ballot at the gop convention? new rules in new york brought about in part by one of his own campaign workers may undermine his chances. and there's a lot of concern about the convention, but is the

tumult actually good for democracy? oh, and this just came in. let ales all take a look together. smerconish, hey, dude, doesn't the will of the voter matter? doesn't democracy matter? i guess that's in response to me saying that political parties exist for one purpose, and that is to win. each day was fueled by thorough preparation for events to come. well somewhere along the way, emily went right on living. but you see, with the help of her raymond james financial advisor, she had planned for every eventuality. ...which meant she continued to have the means to live on... ...even at the ripe old age of 187. life well planned. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you. ugh! heartburn! no one burns on my watch! try alka-seltzer heartburn reliefchews. they work fast and don't taste chalky.

mmm...amazing. i have heartburn. alka-seltzer heartburn reliefchews. enjoy the relief. ♪ the sun'll come out for people with heart failure, tomorrow is not a given. but entresto is a medicine that helps make more tomorrows possible. ♪ tomorrow, tomorrow... ♪ i love ya, tomorrow in the largest heart failure study ever. entresto helped more people stay alive and out of the hospital than a leading heart failure medicine. women who are pregnant must not take entresto. it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren. if you've had angioedema while taking an ace or arb medicine, don't take entresto. the most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure... ...kidney problems, or high potassium in your blood. ♪ tomorrow, tomorrow i love ya, tomorrow.♪ ask your heart doctor about entresto. and help make tomorrow possible.

♪ you're only a day away ♪

. ♪ the tumultuous presidential nominations seem destined to be determined at this summer's conventions that begin with the republicans in cleveland in 100 days. is there precedent for what is about to unfold? joining me are two who have been

there. carol simpson and veteran network political analyst jeffrey greenfield. jeff, i followed you on twitter. you recently tweeted if you're reading analysis of who will win states and not how the delegate math might break, you're being misinformed. explain. >> this is one of the many sins of coverage that drives me crazy. you always hear, who is going to win new hampshire, win iowa, win this. particularly this year, particularly with republicans, what matters is delegates. so if trump wins in new york but wins by a smaller margin than the polls indicate, that would be a defeat because it will put him in the position it will be harder for him to get to the magic number of 1237. i've noticed in the last month a welcome shift that the papers and the tv networks are beginning to really focus on that. antdz the reason is this hasn't mattered in 40 years. because we've only had consensus first balance ballot, no real

problem. >> right. >> this time -- >> it matters. >> we'll have to drag journalists out of old age homes to say, grandpa, what was it like in the days of second ballots? >> i don't want to date carol simpson but you were there in chicago in '68. so what was it like? >> it was horrible. i don't know how to describe it. it's one of the strangest periods of time. i was a young local reporter covering hubert humphry at the '68 convention. and my god the streets of chicago were tear gas, fifth army with bayonets, and you're like, we're in america? and the convention was crazy and mayor daley cursing at abe rib acough. it was just frightening. it really was frightening. >> but, jeff, it's also a remind herb that pre-'68, and we of

course pray there is no violence and it's orderly. but it used to be the conventions that made these determinations and people sometimes don't realize that. >> you hit the essence of this debate. both sides have a good argument. the folks who want the convention, this is what conventions were about all the time people came with plurality but not a majority. and we as a party institutionally gathered at convention to figure out who is our best candidate, who can win. but the other argument, yeah, that was 40 years ago and for the last 40 years voters have decided. that's what empowering voters meant after the '68 tumult that carol for example consequentelo. you got this clash and the big problem, no, one of about 100 big problems is if they choose to have a convention, there are are going to be millions of people that will say, what was the last four months about? you're going back to an era that is past. and they're going to say, this is what conventions are about. your conclusion will be based on what you want to be the nominee. >> carol, my glass is half full. if there's no violence but

there's tumult, with all the interest, is this not a good civics lesson for adults and children alike? >> i don't think so. and as we hear all the talk these days about delegate hunting and it's all about the delegates, i'm afraid that come november people are thinking, my vote doesn't really count. all that matters is delegates. and that would be bad for the country. i think people are just so mystified by what's going on and don't understand the political process, and the delegate thing is i think really changing their minds about what their vote is. >> do you agree with that, jeff? >> i think she has a very valid point. and one way to think about this is, let's say that you don't like donald trump. so go back to '72. imagine if george -- as almost happened -- mcgovern opposed by

the party insiders came to the convention with more delegates. if in fact the anti-mcgovern forces had succeeded in defeated him, a lot of people on the left would have said, this is an outrage. and the hard part here is to separate your feelings about trump and cruz from the process. if the republican party turns to a nominee that 70%, 75% of the republicans never voted for or nobody voted for, the people who voted for trump and cruz, whatever you think of their politics, to me have an interesting argument. >> right, yet, carol if 73% of women view donald trump unfavorably, don't those delegates gathering in cleveland, isn't it incumbent upon them to take that into consideration when they pick their nominee? they want somebody as i discussed with pat buchanan who can win. that's the objective. >> i don't know what's going on

with women. people my age, contemporaries of hillary clinton, want her to be president and are going to vote for her. the young women i teach in college and i'm teaching the primary season this semester and we've been studying this, my young 20-year-olds don't understand why they should vote for hillary clinton. they're bernie sanders supporters. but they're this millennial generation that feels entitled and everything will work out, everything is open to them. what they say matters. and then they're not going to sorrow up at t show up at the polls because they're the worst demographic group in terms of voting participation. so i don't know what's happening, and i don't know why women don't think hillary clinton ought to be the first female president. >> it's interesting. there doesn't seem to be the yearning that there was the

people of color to break the glass ceiling. to carol's point, on the phone calls i field on my radio show, i don't sense the enthusiasm among women to make sure the white house is finally captured by one of theirs. >> you can regard that as a triumph for feminism, that these young women are saying, no, no, the issue is not gender. the issue is who i think best fits my politics and i'm sufficiently comfortable with the idea women are in positions of power, not to feel that is necessarily the key. just one other point, what we are likely to see at the democratic convention is not the same as the republicans because the math suggests that clinton will come up with the majority. what are you going to see i think is strong platform fights. >> final question for you, you have an apartment nearby. when i reference media, money and new york, do you think jewish? >> not anymore. i think 20 years ago it would have been a dog whistle. i really think cruz's age explains why he said new york

values -- and i still think it was an insult. >> but not with malice aforethought. >> not the way it would have been a generation ago or it would have been absolutely clear what he was saying. >> two pros, carol simpson, thank you so great to have you here. jeffrey greenfield, wonderful to have you in studio. still to come, why donald trump's co-chair in new york got the delegate rules change d and how that could now hurt trump's chances. and keep on tweeting me at smerconish. the mail bag is heavy today. let's see what this is. smerconish brags about taking advantage of rules as a businessman, i think that's for trump, and now the rules are unfair. #crybaby. interesting, jeff.

hey, we're opening up a second shop and we need some new signage. but can't spend a lot. well, we have low prices and a price match guarantee. scout's honor? low prices. pinky swear? low prices. eskimo kisses? how about a handshake? oh, alright... the lowest price. every time. staples. make more happen. and clean and real and inside jokes

and school night. good, clean food pairs well with anything. try the clean pairings menu. at panera. food as it should be. people are taking charge of their type 2 diabetes with non-insulin victoza®. for a while, i took a pill to lower my blood sugar. but it didn't get me to my goal. so i asked my doctor about victoza®. he said victoza® works differently than pills. and comes in a pen. victoza® is proven to lower blood sugar and a1c. it's taken once a day, any time. victoza® is not for weight loss, but it may help you lose some weight. victoza® works with your body to lower blood sugar in 3 ways: in the stomach, the liver, and the pancreas.

vo: victoza® is an injectable prescription medicine that may improve blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes when used with diet and exercise. it is not recommended as the first medication to treat diabetes and should not be used in people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. victoza® has not been studied with mealtime insulin. victoza® is not insulin. do not take victoza® if you have a personal or family history of medullary thyroid cancer, multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if you are allergic to victoza® or any of its ingredients. symptoms of a serious allergic reaction may include itching, rash, or difficulty breathing. tell your doctor if you get a lump or swelling in your neck. serious side effects may happen in people who take victoza®, including inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis). stop taking victoza® and call your doctor right away if you have signs of pancreatitis such as severe pain that will not go away in your abdomen or from your abdomen to your back, with or without vomiting. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take

and if you have any medical conditions. taking victoza® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. the most common side effects are headache, nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting. side effects can lead to dehydration, which may cause kidney problems. if your pill isn't giving you the control you need ask your doctor about non-insulin victoza®. it's covered by most health plans. mobility is very important to me. that's why i use e*trade mobile. it's on all my mobile devices, so it suits my mobile lifestyle. and it keeps my investments fully mobile... even when i'm on the move... ahhh. if donald trump wins the crucial new york primary april 19, he won't be allowed to select the delegates who represent him at the convention, which means if he doesn't win on the first ballot, these party-appointed delegates might not feel obligated to stick with him. and that's because of a new rule

change caused in part by my next guest. according to the syracuse news, in 2012, tom datety wanted to be a delegate for mitt romney but instead was an alternate delegate because an insider was made a full delegate. he was angry enough to have an altercation with romney's state campaign manager. pretty ironic that datety now a co-chair of donald trump's campaign and the new rule he helped create might end up hurting his candidate this summer. thank you so much for being here. what happened if that hotel bar in the last cycle? >> michael, thanks for having me. we are very excited that donald trump is doing very well here in upstate new york. back in 2012, there was some discussions about how the delegates were selected. the romney campaign, for example, one of the delegates in onondaga county was a mother-in-law of the campaign manager and going forward the state party wanted to have more

say in the delegate selection. so we did change our state party rules, and, after the primary on april 19th, the state party will meet and select the delegates. and i'm very optimistic that i will be hopefully a delegate and donald trump, i mean, our focus right now we're focused on winning 27 congressional districts because there are 81 delegates up for grabs in the congressional district and then another 14 at large based on the overall vote of the state. so right now we're focused on winning 27 congressional districts and winning as many of those delegates as we can to strengthen donald trump's delegate count and lead going into cleveland. because i am very optimistic, michael, that once we get to cleveland, donald trump will have secured that magic number and he will be the nominee of the republican party. >> i just find it ironic and i think i totally get it. you're a guy who has paid his dues to the party for a long time. four years ago they made you an alternate, the mother-in-law named a full delegate.

you didn't like it. the rules get changed, but now those 95 delegates of new york, they're going to be party appointed, not necessarily trump loyalists on the second ballot a third ballot, fourth ballot, that could come back to haunt your candidate? no? >> no, michael. first of all, i don't think weesh going to have a contested convention because i think donald trump will get to that magic number, first. number two, donald trump is from new york. he has a lot of support here in upstate new york. he has a lot of support in new york city. i was down in long island on wednesday night for the campaign kickoff. there is a tremendous amount of enthusiasm for his candidacy in his home state of new york. he's going to do very well on primary day, and the folks that are selected as delegates are going to be loyal to donald trump and we're going it win this on the first ballot. we're going to get to 1237. >> but there's a consistent theme to the program today talking about, what is the purpose of a delegate? i've been here to advance the case that your job as a delegate, if you're a delegate

in this cycle, is to pick a winner. am i wrong about that? >> no. we're going to pick a winner. donald trump is that winner and donald trump is going to take it to hillary clinton in november and he is going to be the next president of the united states. you're going to see an inauguration in january where president donald trump is sworn into office. >> tom dadey, i appreciate your being here. good luck. >> your tweets are coming in fast and furious today like this one about my earlier guest pat buchanan. america needs more americans like pat and donald trump and less superhero wannabes like smerconish and two-faced clinton. hey, i resemble that remark. we're back in a sek. oh, that same pat buchanan changed the presidential race in 1992. the campaign that's the focus of the series finale of cnn's "race for the white house" airs tomorrow at 9:00 p.m. eastern. and here is a sneak peek. >> he is yesterday, and we are

tomorrow. we will put america first. >> his guard down, bush gets blindsided. >> and so i am today declaring my candidacy for the republican nomination for president of the united states. >> when it was announced, we were caught with our pants down. >> still to come, best and worst tweets, like this one. how fast is it? plenty fast. but it's not how fast you mow, it's how well you mow fast. it's not how fast you mow, it's how well you mow fast. it's not how fast you mow, it's how well you mow fast. ...it's how well you mow fast! ...it's how well you mow fast. even if it doesn't catch on, doesn't mean it's not true. the john deere ztrak z535m with our reengineered deck to mow faster better. to find out more about the accel deep mower deck, go to johndeere.com/mowwellfast

sfx: leaf blowers the yardley's. dad! sorry. spring is on. start your trugreen lawn plan today. trugreen. live life outside.

and ca"super food?" is that recommend sya real thing?cedar? it's a great school, but is it the right one for her? is this really any better than the one you got last year? if we consolidate suppliers, what's the savings there? so should we go with the 467 horsepower? ...or is a 423 enough? good question. you ask a lot of good questions... i think we should move you into our new fund. sure... ok. but are you asking enough about how your wealth is managed? wealth management at charles schwab.

the new craftsman pro series riding mowers. ♪ now available with power steering. so you can turn with ease. available with the tightest turning radius in the industry. and powerful v twin engines with up to 26 horsepower. because the beer you drink after you mow your lawn tastes better than the beer you drink after someone else mows your lawn.

craftsman. when it matters. show show me more like this. s. show me "previously watched." what's recommended for me. x1 makes it easy to find what blows you away. call or go online and switch to x1. only with xfinity. i always say you can follow me on twitter if you can spell smerconish. kudos for not pushing your kasich agenda on these intelligent trumpians. there is hope for you yet. hey, i thought the three campus trump supporters were terrific.

that was me 30 years ago. tie and all. so i was honored to have them. another tweet that's come in during the course of the hour. this says, smerconish, i was the entire reagan-bush campaign at prairie view a&m. reagan was different from all republicans today. i'm a democrat now. i remember those lonely days. i really did throw -- do you have that brochure? this is something that i created in the era of xerox to try and bring reagan-bush supporters together at lehigh for a kegger and i was there with the beer alone. finally, there was this which came in. "smerconish, gop party bosses have picked wrong 6 out of the last 7 times. who wants to trust the election to them? not me." i thought jeff greenfield made a really good point, which is to say that this i the way candidates used to be selected. i think there's like a nefarious connotation to the idea that we're going to get together, the party is going to get together in cleveland and come out with a nominee who might not be any of

the three, but throughout american history, that's largely the way that these decisions were made. and i would argue that there's something to be said for decisions being made in smoke-filled rooms by individuals who know politics and can select a winner. i don't know how donald trump, if he's viewed disfavorably by 73% of american women, can win a general. i'm just saying i think that's fair to be taken into consideration when they are picking the candidate in cleveland. anyway, keep them coming. @smerconish. big election coming up in new york on the 19th. wolf blitzer coming up with that great debate. just keep it here on cnn. that's the point.

♪ ♪ (laughing) there's nothing like making their day. except making sure their tomorrow is taken care of too. financial guidance while you're mastering life. from chase. so you can.

you're in the "cnn newsroom." i'm pamela brown in washington filling in for poppy harlow. a huge day