bring some of that back to me because i have a lot of sins. >> and all of the panel say -- >> amen. >> that is it for us tonight. i'll see you back here tomorrow at a special [ applause ] good evening. welcome to town hall night again here on "360." last night donald trump and his family. right now his leading rival ted cruz and his family only six days before the primary. >> tonight, he says he's winning and donald trump is whining. >> yelling and screaming. i'm sure some cursing. a lot of whining. >> no love lost between the candidate who slammed new york values and his new york opponent. >> donald has no solutions to the problems we're facing. >> and it's gotten personal. >> i don't get angry often, but you mess with my wife, you mess with my kids, that will do it every time.

>> he's defending his wife and counting on her help. >> i've said many times heidi is my best friend, and she is. >> a race that could go right to the convention. this is an anderson cooper "360" republican town hall, candidates and their families. voters seeking answers before making a choice that could make history. [ applause ] >> good evening, everyone. we're simulcasting live on cnn, cnn international, sirius xm satellite radio channel 116 and westwood 1 radio network. welcome to all of you joining us. we're here with texas senator ted cruz. his wife heidi will be joining us shortly.

in the audience, new yorkers. i'm going to ask a couple of questions myself as we get started. this is a chance for voters to hear at length from the candidates and from the people closest to them. before we bring out mrs. cruz, i want to start with the senator. thanks for being with us. so last night donald trump was sitting here in that exact same speech and he told me the rules are stacked against him. you've heard this before. he's been saying it a lot. the rules are stacked against him by the establishment, there are shenanigans going on, the whole process is rigged, the rnc doesn't want him to get the nomination. do you think that's true? >> anyone that knows anything about washington knows the establishment is not rooting for me. they have been battling me every day i've been in the senate. but the rules are simple. the way your get elected is you win a majority of the delegates in elections. what donald is unhappy about in the last few weeks there have

been elections in 11 states. he's losing at the polls. he thinks what he should do is complain and attack the voters. i think the way you win is make the case to the voters and earn their votes. >> does he just not have the ground game? he said even if he had more people in colorado, even if he had a different -- >> oh, he's right. he would have lost. for the last three weeks he's lost over and over again. donald has a hard ceiling in boast states of 35% or 40%. he did well early in the race when there were 16 other candidates because all the other votes were dispersed. now the field has narrowed, we're seeing that republicans are uniting behind our campaign and we're beating him over and over. take utah. three weeks ago. we won with 69% of the vote. it was a landslide. take north dakota. they had their convention. we won 18 of the declared delegates. trump won one.

>> in louisiana, he won the popular vote. you got more delegates out of it. he says the will of the people is being overruled. >> actually in louisiana, he won the early vote. on the day of election day i beat him significantly. he narrowly eked out a total popular vote victory. we tied in terms of delegates under the rules. and the rubio delegates have come to us. that's the way the process works. >> if trump emerges with more votes in the popular vote but at the convention in a second round you get the delegates, you get the nomination, will the will of the people be subverted? that's what trump is saying. >> it's a ludicrous argument. there's only one way that you earn the republican nomination. that is you earn the votes of a majority of the delegates elected by the people. going back to 1860 that's been consistently how the republican party, how we've picked our nominee. if donald can't get a majority and the reason he's throwing such a fit is the odds are

looking more and more like he can't get a majority. then we're going to go to cleveland. if it's a contested convention, i'll have a ton of delegates, he'll have a ton of delegates. in that situation we're going to be in a much stronger position, i believe, to earn a majority of the delegates and to continue uniting the party. >> his new convention manager says your folks are using what he called gestapo tactics. >> it is bizarre. donald and his team, it's almost like they are subjects in a clinical course in psychology. they are all sorts of different behaviors they display but one of them is projection that the conduct they do regularly they accuse everyone else of doing. so literally in the last few weeks, donald's team, roger stone, his chief political adviser, was threatening to out

the hotel rooms of delegates who dared to cross trump so they could be intimidated. they are acting like union boss thugs. in colorado, i spoke yesterday to the chairman of the republican party in colorado. trump supporters put out his home address, his phone numbers. he got thousands of phone calls, death threats. trump supporters were telling the supporters go to his house and bring their guns. look, violence doesn't belong in democracy, and the trump campaign encourages it over and over again. in indiana, police are reporting threats of violence against delegates from the trump campaign. >> roger stone officially has left the trump campaign. >> that's what he says but he planned the campaign. he's been -- >> you believe he's still working with the campaign? >> i think he's their outside henchman. they use him for their dirty work. he's the one actively encouraging putting out -- we shouldn't be intimidating delegates. this shouldn't be controversial. what's donald doesn't like is that he keeps losing elections, whether it was losing in utah,

losing in north dakota, or let's take wisconsin. wisconsin just about every media pundit said that cruz could not win in wisconsin. it was a perfect state for donald trump. upper midwest state. not a very large evangelical population. heavily industrial. working class, union members, supposed to be perfect for trump. the day before the election, trump predicted a, quote, big victory in wisconsin. well, instead we saw a landslide. i won the state with 48%. we won men, women -- >> you got the endorsement of governor walker. >> we were ten points up before governor walker endorsed. we were grateful to get his endorsement. what we saw was the party unifying coming together. that's what it's going to take to win the nomination and the general. >> you compared donald trump to the lead character from "the godfather." he needs to understand he's not michael corleone. he needs to stop threatening the voters and delegates.

do you think he's threatening voters and delegates? you have no evidence donald trump is doing that. >> i was very glad this morning to walk up that's i didn't find a horse's head in my bed. that was comforting. i think it is grotesque to have a campaign that engages in threatening voters. donald trump himself from his own mouth at his rallies when there are protesters has told his supporters punch that guy in the face. i had protesters at my rallies. i don't ask people to punch them in the face. usually i'll engage them in civil discourse. they are american citizens. i'm running to be their president. even if they are liberals that disagree, i'm still running to be their president. if they are disrupted, law enforcement will remove them. you don't have a right to silence another speaker. >> you believe donald trump is encouraging violence? >> he stood at the podium and told his supporters punch that guy in the face. he said we'll defend you if you do it. that's not funny. it's not funny when roger stone,

who organized and put together trump's political campaign, is telling delegates in cleveland, we're going to make public your hotel room so people can come and threaten and intimidate you if you dare vote against donald trump. that is -- you know what that is behaving like? that's behaving like democrats in 1968 in chicago, and we're not democrats. we're not interested in behaving like union thugs. and donald trump needs to learn that. >> corey lewandowski, we just found out, donald trump's campaign manager, is not going to be charged for his run-in in florida with a reporter from breitbart. that is the right call? you said the incident was consistent with a pattern from the trump campaign. >> law enforcement there made a determination about whether to proceed. i'm not going to second guess their judgment. that's the way the system works. law enforcement determines whether a crime should be prosecuted. what i'm focused on is earning the votes to win the nomination and win the general. and one of the problems with the

circus that comes from my opponent in this race is it distracts from all the issues people care about. as i travel the state of new york, what people care about is jobs. what people care about is bringing jobs back to america, seeing their wages rise. people are scared. just today i was in erie, pennsylvania. person after person talked about ge shutting down jobs there, about manufacturing jobs leaving america, about young people who are scared and want a better opportunity. that's what my focus is. bringing high-paying jobs back to america but not engaging in this circus back and forth. >> let me ask you. you've slammed trump for playing fast and loose in the delegate fight. you sent out an e-mail monday telling your supporters they could become, quote, card carrying deputy delegates if they paid $35, but they had to act within 48 hours. what is a card carrying deputy delegate? >> listen, hi want to say -- >> that makes it say like they have some power and can come to the convention. >> that's was a fund-raising e-mail.

i was very glad to see the trump attack machine push out our fund-raising e-mail. >> isn't that misleading? >> thank you to you and cnn. i'll point out all of you can go to tedcruz.org and contribute $35 and, listen -- >> why do you have to call it a card carrying deputy delegate. you sound like a deputy sheriff which doesn't have any power? >> my kids have gotten deputy sheriff badges. when you buy cracker jacks you get -- look. we have gotten over 1.3 million contributions. >> that's a lot of deputy delegates. >> and you know what? i would be thrilled to have 5 million or 10 million deputy delegates. >> but they have -- you are just saying that's just a fund-raising thing. they have no power. you don't want people to believe they have some sort of -- >> it was obviously a fund-raising e-mail asking people to contribute and what we've seen, when you have over 1.3 million contributions, our average has been about $60, people that go to tedcruz.org,

they contribute, that is what has enabled us to remain in the race and to prevail over candidates supported by all the lobbyists, big corporations, all the big money. our support is the grassroots. and that's what's also enabling us to win race after race after race. >> marco rubio just yesterday said he hopes, quote, they'll nominate a conservative and the only one that fits that criteria is you. is there a chance we could see a cruz/rubio unity ticket? the two of you could cut a deal in which he gives you his delegates? >> i think very, very highly of marco. i appreciated those kind comments he made. he's an amazing communicator. one of the best communicators in the republican party. and he ran a campaign that inspired millions across this country. it inspired me. when he ran for senate in 2010, his underdog race in florida inspired me. it was one of the inspirations that led me to run two years later in texas. i think the world of marco. >> is that really true?

you had tough words during the campaign. is that part of how it works? >> it's a campaign. he was trying to beat me. i was trying to beat him. that's what happens in a campaign. i consider marco a friend. he's someone -- >> could you see a cruz/rubio ticket? >> anyone would naturally look at marco as one who would be a terrific person to consider for vp. we're in the process of considering a number of different options. >> you aren't ruling it out? >> he would be someone you'd be a fool not to look at seriously. he's very, very talented. and, you know, you asked if marco and i are friends. let me tell you a story. so last year i wrote a book call "a time for truth." in the book, one of the chapters is talking about the year i spent as a law clerk at the supreme court. it describes -- the chapter begins with me watching pornography on the internet with sandra day o'connor, which was a bit of a bizarre experience.

it was the first of the internet porn cases to go to the court and the court librarians were showing the justices what the internet was and they'd pull it up and the story i told, i was clerking for chief justice rehnquist. they paired the chief justice and justice o'connor and their law clerks were in this little room looking at this computer screen that pulls up hard-core porn. and justice o'connor leaned forward and squinted and she said, oh, my! but the marco piece of this, so the book comes out and there were some reporters thought that was a funny story. they wrote about that story. and i'm on a plane and marco texts me and says, holy cow. you watched porn? our researchers missed that. now that was funny. he's got a good sense of humor. i laughed when he sent that text. >> you told our dana bash last week and every poll shows you beating hillary clinton.

you beat her in only one and the polls taken since february 4th you win two, tie two and lost in a seventh. why do you think you are the best general election candidate? >> because we'll beat hillary clinton. if you go back starting from december, there's been poll after poll after poll that has shown me beating hillary clinton. most of the polls. either show me beating her or tied with her. >> but not in the last two months. >> that's not true. three weeks ooh fox news showed me leading hillary clinton by three points. >> that was the only one. >> but there are a whole bunch of them that were just a few weeks earlier. but beyond that you go state by state. ohio just a few weeks ago. i'm leading hillary clinton by two points, 47 to 45. let's take wisconsin. wisconsin in presidential races is a blue state. hasn't gone republican since 1984. marquette university did a statewide poll.

trump loses to hillary in wisconsin by double digits. hillary and i are tied in wisconsin at 44/40. let's take pennsylvania. trump is behind hillary in the general election. hillary and i are tied to pennsylvania. another historically blue state in presidential races. i believe in the general election we're going to compete and beat hillary in pennsylvania. we're seeing that across the country. iowa, another swing state. i'm leading hillary clinton in the state of iowa. donald trump is behind. and one final point, young people. obama won young people in both elections. right now i'm 14 points ahead of hillary clinton among young people. if the democrats are losing young people by double digits, hillary clinton is not winning the general election. when we come back, questions from the audience for senator cruz and his wife heidi. that and more when our "360" republican town hall continues. look at 'em!

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welcome back to our final republican presidential family town hall. we're here with senator ted cruz. joining us is his wife heidi. also their daughters are in the audience in beautiful yellow. welcome to both of you. wonderful to have you all here. let me ask you, mrs. cruz, when you first -- when was the first time you thought that ted cruz might actually run for president? was this a conversation you had long ago or is this just something new? >> well, i guess the first time we talked about it was the summer before last.

so it depends on what you think by long ago. and ted had an incredibly effective senator for texans. and i think at the beginning as a professional myself when i thought about doing this for ted, i had to think about that. we support each other unconditionally. we've just been through a sete race. he was doing a great job as a u.s. senator. when i thought about our country and the crisis we're in and the talent ted has, it struck me i needed to be part of this for our country, not for ted, but for all those other families out there that need a strong leader that can return us to a period of prosperity. >> it's a huge sacrifice. you have two young daughters. they are very -- they are very, very young. what was the calculus going in, just as a family, as a wife? >> sure, i think you do have to consider a lot of things. but any time you are doing something that's so much greater than yourself, it's incredibly humbling. and so we worked hard as a family to think about what this would mean.

we've been really blessed to have our girls with us on the road. it's an incredible learning experience to have the opportunity to travel this country, to meet so many other families across this country in different states that share the same values is really an incredible blessing. >> let's meet some of the voters here in new york. this is lindsey blazek, a teacher in bellport, new york. welcome. [ inaudible question ] >> we had an audio problem. for the viewers at home, one day she may run for office but she's curious, especially as a mom, what is it like to have your family in the spotlight? >> i hope you do run for office. the more principled people we can have in public office, our country will be a better police. and i'm always inspired by women who run for office and take on the candidacy. >> would it --

>> i would say to answer your question, i don't know that i'm suited to give you advice. you'll do just great yourself, but if i could offer one thing it would be to just be yourself. i think people and voters want to see genuinely who the candidate and their family. is being genuine with who you are and telling the truth about what you are running on and what you're going to do for them has been what we try to do and what people appreciated. >> how do you balance having your kids on the campaign trail but also protecting them from too much attention and the rough and tumble of a campaign? >> we have given them a lot of choices. and they wanted to come on the road with us. they wanted to be part of this. they understand that it is something bigger than our family, as i mentioned. and they are really excited to be part of something that their dad is doing, that their parents are doing. and they know it's for others. we talked about that from the very beginning. why would dad run for president? it was to make this country a better place for other kids as well. so they were really excited to see what that meant.

we have -- any day we go on the campaign trail, on the bus or driving around in a car, we let them choose what events. we have must dos and a lot that are not must dos. they ask us, what are the must dos today. >> this is another voter. joe caldererra who supports donald trump but has a question for senator cruz. >> good evening senator and mrs. cruz. welcome to the big apple. there are many values in this town that are uniquely new york. and i know i speak for all of us here tonight when i say that we're proud of those values. that being said, recently you've expressed distaste for new york values or at least liberal new york values. and as you know, many republicans in new york may not be as socially conservative as republicans in other parts of the united states. if you are our nominee, do you have room for new york republicans, and new york values in your party? >> well, joe, thank you for that question. congratulations on being in law

school. good luck to you. >> thank you very much. [ applause ] >> the phrase new york values has been a phrase that folks in the press have been talking about a lot lately. it's actually a phrase that originated with donald trump and the reason i made that point is that donald did an interview with "meet the press" back in 1999 where he was explaining why in that interview that he supported partial birth abortion. and his explanation in that interview he said i'm from new york. those are new york values. they're not iowa values. and that was literally out of his own mouth his explanation for why we supported partial birth abortion. i was doing a radio interview right before iowa and i said donald says he has new york values and not iowa values. that was his description. folks in the press reacted like i lit their hair on fire screaming what a terrible thing and donald said you're attacking the police and firefighters of 9/11, which was utterly absurd. the police and firefighters and

first responders that rushed into those buildings were heroes that every american cheered for and celebrated. and i'll tell you, you know, since then, people often in politics want you to run away from something so you get reporters, reporters yell questions over and over. i said listen, when i talk about new york values what i'm talking about are the liberal democrats who have been frankly hurting the people of new york over and over again. i'm talking about people like bill de blasio. one of the first acts when elected mayor was go to harlem and try to shut down charter schools that were educating low-income african-americans and hispanics because he was in hock to the teachers unions. i did a meeting last week in the bronx. it was with a series of hispanic and african-american pastors. and the individual that hosted this meeting was senator rubin diaz. he's a democratic elected

senator and he explained to me in spanish, he said he brought up the new york values. he said i know exactly what you mean by new york values because he said i'm a democrat. senator diaz. and my democratic governor andrew cuomo says if you are pro life and believe in traditional marriage, believe in the second amendment, you have no place in the state of new york. and senator diaz was offended by that. and i'll tell you, i think the clearest illustration of new york values has been mayor de blasio's repeated pattern of standing with the criminals and the rioters and looters instead of the police officers. and that moment when the brave men and women in blue of the nypd stood up and turned their backs on mayor de blasio, cops across this country and americans across this country cheered. and so i look forward to representing the people of new york, to working to earn the votes of the people of new york and to fighting for the

hard-working gritty -- new york is an immigrant city, a gritty city. heidi and i have lived in new york. it's a city that attracts the best and brightest and people that want to conquer the world. that can-do spirit we need more of. but the liberal policies of democrats that are hurting new yorkers, we need less of. >> let me ask you this -- [ applause ] you spent -- you've lived in washington. worked in washington. lived here in new york. went to princeton university undergraduate and harvard. are you more a product of the northeast or of texas? >> look, i am very much a product of texas. i am a cuban irish italian texan, which is an odd mix to be sure, and you know, i remember when i went off to harvard law school my dad jokingly referred to it as missionary work. listen, i've been blessed to have had some amazing educational opportunities.

when i was admitted to princeton, i was coming out of a small private school in houston, second baptist high school. i had 43 people in my graduating class. nobody from the school had ever gone to an ivy league school. nobody in my family had ever gone to an ivy league school. wasn't a world we knew about. the world we knew about, i talk about how my dad came from cuba nothing. he'd been in prison and tortured. he made his way washing dishes. my mom, who is irish italian, was born in delaware. she was the first in her family ever to go to college. she went to rice university, majored in math. and so to be admitted to princeton was an extraordinary thing. it was a world, frankly, i didn't know when i arrived there. it was a scary place. a lot of young people who were the children of ceos and titans on wall street and people with fame and wealth and power.

my parents went bankrupt when i was in high school. so when i showed up at princeton my parents were coming out of bankruptcy. i had to work two jobs to help pay my way through. it was a world i didn't know, but i felt incredibly blessed to have the opportunity to get an amazing education. and i remember when i got the clerkship to work for chief justice rehnquist, a couple of years after i graduated from law school, it was the only time i ever saw my father cry. and it reduced him to tears that his son would go and work for the chief justice. and the other time my father cried, i didn't see it, was when i was sworn into the senate and he was up in the chamber. i think all he could think about as he was looking down was, remembering back to being in austin in 1957 washing dishes. and that teenage kid who couldn't speak english never could have imagined his son would be sworn into office as a senator and now to be running

for president. it has been -- it has been an amazing journey and a journey that can only happen in america. that's the opportunity of this great nation. >> let's meet more voters. this is shawn heinz. he is from new york. he supports you, senator cruz. >> a wise man. >> shawn, go ahead. >> thank you, senator cruz and heidi. my question is a little -- i'm curious, where did you two first go on a date together? and what were your impressions of each other? >> great question. >> well, we met on january 2nd of 2000. we were both working on the george bush campaign. we were down in austin. our first date was just three days later, january 5th. and we were in cubicles about 30 feet from each other. and -- about 9:30 at night i sauntered over to her cubicle trying to pretend i was cool and

said, you know, hey, have you had dinner yes. it was a campaign so at 9:30 at night, neither of us had had dinner. we went to a restaurant called the bitter end. just a couple of blocks. we had a dinner that lasted three or four hours. we shut the restaurant down. and it was a wonderful dinner. it was a dinner that we talked the whole time, and it was -- i got to say with us, it was love at first sight. it really was, you know, i remember at that dinner i asked her, tell me the history of your family starting with the birth of your grandparents. and it was just -- both of us had been coming out. we'd had pretty serious long-term relationships. she had a serious boyfriend. i had a serious girlfriend. we'd both broken up just a couple of months earlier. we were both in our late 20s, at a point we were looking for someone and it was -- she was my soul mate.

and, you know, she was at the time in her second year of harvard business school and had a month off in january that they didn't have classes. and so that january we dated and then the end of january i drove heidi to the airport. i'm dropping her off at the airport and i said what do we do? and she says, i want you to call me every night. and i said, well, i'm getting home at like 2:00 and 3:00 in the morning. she'd been on the campaign. she knew that was true. she said, i don't care. call me then. i'd call her at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning east coast time. we'd spend an hour on the phone. a bunch of nights one of us would fall asleep on the phone. i'll let heidi tell her story which may be totally different. >> well, i let ted answer that question because he loves to answer that question. and so i always let him tell his version. >> she kind of knows my stories. >> but it's very accurate. it really was love at first sight.

one thing i want to add to that that i think is worth noting is that ted is an incredible listener. ted cruz is an incredible listener. i want all voters to hear that. and one reason is he really cares. he really cares about what you are saying. he really cares about what's on your heart and cares about the context. not just a fact or figure but really the context around it. i remember one thing i told you that night. you asked me -- maybe even a few days later, what were some of the things that i particularly liked. a necklace or some flowers. and to the actual venue, not more than a couple of weeks later, appeared in the snow of boston, some beautiful red roses on my doorstep from the exact florist that was very difficult to find. ted is a great listener. and my daughters have said many times that, at home, off the stage, mom does all the talking and dad listens. so ted has many, many qualities and thoughtfulness is right at

the top of the list. >> i heard in an interview recently where you talked about your wedding night and cans of soup. those who didn't see that, can you explain this? >> i will explain. this was an experience at the beginning of our life together. i did recount it to megyn the other day. i grew up in california in a home where my parents spent a lot of time outdoors. we grew our own vegetables and my mom did a lot of things homemade. when i married ted, we got back from our honeymoon. he went off to the store and came back himself and i was shocked to see that he arrived back with literally 100 cans of campbell's chunky soup. i never bought 100 of anything. >> all the same? >> well, different -- >> different kinds. some chicken, some beef. >> this was shocking to me. so we had a tough conversation about it. i said you don't buy 100 of anything, much less canned soup. we can't do this. i'll be making things.

he said, no, i know you. you won't be making things. the next morning i loaded up our car before he woke up and returned every single can and when i got home, i called my mother to make sure i'd done the right thing as a newlywed. she emphatically disagreed with me. when ted opened the pantry, i had to tell him that i'd go back and buy those cans. she said are you going to cook every night? we were both working at the time. i'm really not a good cook. i've tried. i've burnt most things. >> we're both terrible cooks. that is not a skill either one of us has. >> she said wisely it's not your strength. i cleaned my mother's house growing up. i can clean a house like nobody's business but i'm not a great cook. since you probably won't cook a lot for him, you should let the man eat his dinner. >> all right. this is jeffrey lax, a college professor at kingsborough community college. he's leaning toward voting for you. >> more than leaning.

>> okay. >> thank you. >> as a father of two little boys who are around the same age as your two little girls, i really respect and admire the way you've engaged your family throughout this campaign. and i also know as a parent that we do a lot of really annoying things to the kids. what would your family say is the most annoying thing about you? >> now, jeffrey, that's a very good question. let me ask you. what do you teach? >> i teach law. >> it would certainly vary in any family. it would depend on who you are talking about. i would suspect if heidi were listing something she'd say my iphone. she hates my iphone. and i will admit i'm addicted to my iphone and play iphone games a lot. i'm either on twitter, e-mail or iphone games. and heidi can't stand it. she's many times wanted to throw it out the window. the flip side is the girls love the iphone and we fight and play

candy crush and all sorts of games on the iphone and it drives mommy crazy. the girls, it -- we have something of a game where to get a hug and kiss from the girls, i usually have to do about four laps chasing them in the living room. one will go one way. one will go the other way. i have to tackle them. they usually get their good night hugs hanging upside down by their feet. and we have fun. i don't know what the girls would say is the most annoying, but i suspect that's what heidi would. >> that's a good answer. and i guess you could ask them, although it might be risky. >> let me ask you, on twitter, do you follow donald trump on twitter? >> i do. >> you do? >> although the truth of the matter is you could sit alone in woods in the middle of nowhere and still hear donald's tweets. >> i want you to -- we're going to have another voter is david fetahov here?

oh, no. actually, i'm sorry. let's go diane? >> megan. >> you're megan. i'm sorry. megan, i'm sorry. i've lost your card. tell us about yourself and your question. >> sure. i'm megan loney. i'm undecided currently although i'm very much enjoying this evening, so who knows? >> well, good. >> i'm a junior talent agent and live in spanish harlem. >> what's your question? >> my question is, i think you are just fantastic, heidi. i think it's great to have a strong independent woman out in front of young girls. my question is, if you are first lady, what will be your platform? >> thank you so much for that generous question. i have to preface my answer, and i will answer your question, by stating the obvious, which is we are in the middle of a primary that is tough. there have been a lot of wonderful candidates that we've been working around and so we are traveling the states.

so our campaign is spending 100% of our effort on winning this primary and on ted winning the nomination. so not a lot of time or resources have gone into what would be a first lady's platform. that being said, i think to voters, the family is important and what we represent. and one of the reasons that i've been excited even to campaign with ted alongside him is because of the opportunity to serve others. and there's so many other things, so many needs we have in this country. my daughters asked when we launched the campaign. their biggest concern was mommy not going to the office and what did that mean? they asked what is a first lady? i said it's the wife of the president. and caroline had never heard an answer like that. so she said, oh, mom, come on. let me ask again. what is a first lady? what are you going to do? she had the exact same question. so i described to her some of the things we could do together.

i think one of the great joys would be doing something for kids. my two daughters a are so near d dear to my heart. i'd love to do something that focuses on young girls, their self-esteem and leadership. my parents had my brother and i start a business when we were 8 baking bread. i learned so much through that process. something around the concept of entrepreneurship. and a cause ted and i have always shared that's near and dear to our hearts, one of the most important in this country for kids is school choice. and i would work very hard to ensure that's every child in this country had a fair and equal opportunity at a quality education. >> thank you for your question. this is david fetahov. he is a student. he's leaning towards supporting you, senator cruz. >> thank you for coming out. and i just recently -- let me put it this way. i originally wanted to vote for marco rubio and unfortunately,

we saw how it turned out. one of the reasons why, though, is because he didn't really engage in any personal attacks. and even when he did for that brief amount of time he instantly regretted it, said it was bad for his family. i'm aware that recently there's a battle of the wives debate happening. and i understand that you might not exactly want to engage in this, and my question to you is, do you believe that -- do you believe that having personal -- that attacking somebody's family personally is okay to gain a little more leverage in the political world? and if not, then would you be willing to make a truce with mr. trump right now? >> so, david, thank you for that question. and i very much agree with your sentiments. it not okay to attack anyone's family or spouse. the attacks we've seen in this campaign have been really

unfortunate. i don't think they belong in politics. the approach that i've tried to take throughout this campaign and indeed throughout my time in the senate has been when others attack, that i don't respond in kind, that i don't attack their character or impugn them directly. now policy differences are fair games. we can talk about differences on immigration or tax policy. that's what politics should be. when you talk about the disputes among the wives. melania trump is a beautiful woman. she appears to have been a wonderful mother to their kids. i have never and would never say anything remotely negative about donald's family or kids. on my end there's no truce to be had because we shouldn't be engaging those attacks. we should be talking about substance. and frankly what we ought to be doing is having debates. remember we had republican debates? >> it was a great time. >> this should be a gathering with anderson moderating and donald here.

but donald is not willing to debate. he doesn't want to talk about the substance or the issues. instead he wants to tweet attacks. i agree with you. it shouldn't go into the gutter. i can't control what others do, but i can control that i'm not going to respond in kind. what we're spending every day frying to do is unify republicans. the stakes are though great. we need to bring our party together to win the nomination you have to unify republicans. to beat hillary clinton in november, the stakes facing this country are enormous. and if we don't unite republicans and bring together independents and libertarians and even democrats, that's the only way to win. so my focus is on a positive optimistic, forward looking, conservative agenda for this country that's focused on jobs and freedom and security because that's what the american people want. >> did you ever think you would have been brought into this by another candidate?

to be in the middle of this has got to be surreal, to say the least. >> as i mentioned to megyn the other day, i don't tweet and that has huge advantages. i save a lot of time not tweeting. and so i have just been blessed to not really be impacted by it. i think we should be talking about the issues only. and ted has such an optimistic forward looking message for this country, focusing on jobs. focusing on our constitutional liberties, freedom. that's what's makes people proud. not, you know, silliness that people don't care about. it's freedom that people identify with. and lastly, the issue of security is so critical in this country right now. my brother lives just a mile and a half from where those san bernardino attacks happened. these security threats have come to our doorstep. i as a working mom in houston, texas, feel less safe than i did eight years ago.

we're spending 100% of our time on that, and i have the simplest job description i've ever had in my entire career and that is telling the american people about ted cruz and why we should be electing him right now. and it's a fun thing to do every day because all i have to do is tell the truth. >> meet diane atkins from brooklyn. she said she's voting for you, senator cruz. >> i think the two of you would make america proud as the president and first lady. so impressive. i saw yesterday on another network. you were fantastic. god bless you both. my question is kind of fun. to senator cruz, when was there an instance when you knew you should have taken your wife's advice on something but you didn't and then lived to regret it later? >> hmm. >> that's an awfully good question. >> no pressure. >> i'm going to learn something tonight. >> to be honest, there are very few times i haven't taken her advice.

one of the things -- one of the things about our relationship that is fun, and it actually, because we started out long-distance, it was actually a great way to build a relationship where you spend the time on the phone talking constantly. and so we became best friends in the process of falling in love. and so heidi now, even when we're on the road she's in one city, i'm in another city often, and we'll call two, three, four, five times a day and talk about what's going on, what we're doing, and we usually reach decisions collaboratively. i'm failing to come up with an instance when i haven't followed her advice. >> mrs. cruz, do you have one? >> she may have a longer list. >> i can add something in here. >> if you took a list out of your pocket right now. >> ted does always do what he says he's going to do but doesn't always do what he's told. there's a distinction. sometimes you don't take out the trash when i ask you to. that's some advice.

one thing that's interesting about ted that i love about ted is he is very -- like i said, thoughtful in a personal way but also very thoughtful professionally. and ted does not make the mistake of saying or doing things he doesn't own. he's an amazing listener, has an amazing team around him. this is an individual prepared for leadership because he takes responsibility for his actions. and so i usually sleep pretty well at night knowing that he's thought it through. >> thank you for question. we have to take one short break. we'll be back with the cruzes, maybe a few surprise guests here on stage right after this. ♪ ♪ those who define sophistication stand out. those who dare to redefine it stand apart.

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we're back now with more questions for ted and heidi, heidi cruz. there are some special guests the cruzes want to bring on stage, their daughters caroline and katherine. how old are you, caroline? >> i'm 7 but my birthday's tomorrow. >> tomorrow? wow! that's awesome. [ applause ] . >> katherine, how old are you? >> 5. >> when is your birthday? >> october 27th. >> so what are you going to do for your birthday tomorrow? what do you want for your birthday? >> i wanted the american girl doll julie, and i'm going to have a build a bear party. >> do you know what kind of a bear you're going to build? >> no. >> katherine, are you going to

build a bear, too? you're not? >> yes, you will. >> yes, you will. >> maybe that rainbow -- >> i don't want you doing the same bear. >> what kind of cake are we going to have? what did we plan? >> chocolate cake. >> that's my favorite. >> what's it going to look like? >> it's going to look like one of my rainbow bears. >> so you like bears, i'm sensing? >> actually, it's a rainbow jaguar. >> it must be fun. as you said earlier, it's got to be an amazing experience having them on the campaign trail. >> they learned a lot. they have a game on their ipad called stack the states. >> i completed it in less than a month. >> what do you have to do?

>> so you answer questions, then you get a state and you have to get to a point. and usually it's about that high but every level it gets higher and higher and you -- every time if you get more than 60% of the game, then you earn a state and it doesn't matter, they're all different questions. it doesn't matter which state you get. and after you get all 50 states stars pour down. >> it's kind of like running for president it sounds like. >> and she matches the states to where they go in the united states. >> and then i figured out after you match all the states, you can do a second round it have and you can have 2x and my 2x state was florida. >> do you want to tell anderson what your favorite state is? >> no. >> she told me today that her favorite state is new york. >> have you done anything fun

here in new york? >> what? >> have you done anything fun here in new york so far? >> i like going to the american girl doll store. >> well, you're in the right place for it. let's start to go back to some of the audience questions. thank you so much for coming up here. do you want to stay up hereor go back down in the audience? >> stay. >> let's go to our audience. bruce jenson is a construction manager from new york. he's leaning toward supporting you. >> senator cruz, the last president who had a son was george bush sr. all the presidents after him have had daughters. is there a secret to raising daughters that will get you into the white house? >> look, it is a great question. i will tell you raising daughters is a wonderful experience. it is so much fun. little girls are so much a joy. i remember -- so i'm glad caroline's 8th birthday party we're doing build a bear because

her 6th birthday party, i remember very well that she had a princess sleepover party and she had 11 of her classmates come over and their favorite game at the sleepover party was attack the daddy. and i will tell you having 11 6-year-old girls dressed as disney princes, it's out of "lord of the flies," it's terrible. there are moments of humility that being the father of daughters instills in you, such as, you know, more than once they have put every one of their hair ribbons all over daddy. we don't allow photographs of that. that is a rule. and indeed just a couple of days ago i was back for caroline's daddy/daughter picnic at school, which featured all the dads running and playing games and --

>> my favorite. >> your favorite was that she got to dress up daddy in like this pink boah and pink goofy looking underwear. >> and that was on a videotape the whole time. >> uh-oh. >> and now it's a class video that they're sending out to all the parents. >> oh really? hmm. >> but it does -- now, i will give you the flip side. i talk about these girls all the time. they're very different. katherine is sweet, caroline is rascally. katherine is like her mommy, caroline is like her daddy, poor girl. but i will tell you a funny story about this sweet one. so we're flying and i wanted to get a hug from caroline and caroline did like she usually does, she runs away. and katherine comes up and says, "daddy, would you like a hug?" she gives these hugs that she calls marshmallow hugs.

and she said, "daddy, who do you love better, me or caroline?" i said "i love both of equally." she said "but caroline wouldn't hug you but i did." >> i want to say there's nothing more than the confidence that daddies can give to their girls. it's so important for daughters to feel the love of the men in their lives. >> david has a question. welcome. >> thank you for being here this evening. this is a question for either of you, caroline or katherine as well. you're hoping to move to 1600 pennsylvania avenue in a little over five months. who do you most want to invite to dinner?

>> you can answer it. who do you want most invite over to dinner? >> katherine say it. >> the girls would love to have their first guest be taylor swift. >> what's your favorite taylor swift song? >> i like all the songs. >> yeah? >> my three favorite is "bad blood," "blank space" and "wildest dreams." >> and they both have matching karaoke machines and it's a little frightening with the two of them singing taylor swift together. >> we don't sing sometimes. >> that's true. you do sometimes. >> i stopped singing because she

oversings me. >> i'm sure many families can relate. >> i would love to hear you singing on the campaign bus. >> hi, mr. cruz. thank you for being here. >> in response to a question regarding his weaknesses in a redebate, your husband said i might not be the guy that you want to get a beer with but i'll be the one to drive you home. he recognized that likability was a potential problem for many supporters. a lot of the polls have shown that -- recently have shown about 60% of respondents say they have an unfavorable view of your husband.