hello, everybody. you're watching cnn's election coverage. i'm john vause live in los angeles. >> i'm isha sesay. hello. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. >> indiana delivers the final blow to ted cruz's campaign and donald trump is now the presumptive republican presidential nominee. >> it's a decisive victory for trump with 53% of the vote. a bitter disappointment for cruz, who campaigned hard but got only 36%. john kasich is in distant third at 7%. >> trump needs 1,237 delegates to clinch the nomination.

is now less than 200 delegates away. for cruz, the writing was on the wall. he pulled out all the stops in indiana, but his poor showing in the must-win state was the final straw. >> from the beginning, i've said that i would continue on as long as there was a viable path to victory. tonight, i'm sorry to say -- >> no! >> -- it appears that path has been foreclosed. >> well, donald trump used the end of ted cruz's presidential bid to begin the process of uniting the republican party. he even commended cruz for pulling out of the race. >> cruz hthis has been an amazi evening. i didn't expect this. i didn't expect it. and what ted did is really a very brave thing to do and a great thing to do because we want to bring unity to the republican party. we have to bring unity. it's so much easier if we have

it. >> let's turn to the democrats now. bernie sanders have a victory over hillary clinton in indiana. it was a narrow win but undoubtedly gave him a little bit of mojo for the coming contest. >> 52% of indiana's voters supported sanders to clinton's 47%. but that doesn't help sanders much in the delegate count. >> right now, sanders has 1,443 delegates. clinton, 2217. those numbers include super delegates. a candidate needs 2,383 to win the democratic nomination. >> joining us now our cnn senior political analyst ron brownstein, also cnn senior reporter dylan byers. good to have you both with us. we just heard donald trump talking about unity. also heard the gop chairman reince priebus also invoking the same theme. he tweeted this a little bit earlier on. he said, donald trump will be the presumptive gop nominee. we all need to unite and focus on defeating hillary clinton. #neverclinton. that's easier said than done,

isn't it, ron, uniting this party? >> there have been a lot of divisions. you do get the sense that the new york primary was the point where the battering ram knocked down the door. i mean up until then, donald trump was facing really organized resistance. but since then, it's been a very different story. up until new york, he had not won 50% of the vote in any state. he's now won 50% of the vote in seven straight states. you do get the sense that among republican voters if not republican elites, there has been a change, a sense that the contest has been run. this is our guy. time to start focusing on the general election. >> i think ron's absolutely right. for republicans who either oppose trump or were sort of begrudgingly accepting trump, there was this question of when do we finally have to give in? when is the moment that we have to accept him as our nominee? and ted cruz obviously thought he could take it all the way to indiana. but i do think for a lot of republicans, they saw the fact that donald trump swept the northeast and that ted cruz had failed to win the south, which

was of course his first and most significant firewall or supposed firewall. he failed to do that. he failed to win the northeast and then of course in indiana the whole thing fell apart. >> in his victory speech a few hours ago, donald trump went out of his way to be very complimentary towards reince priebus, the chairman of the rnc. >> i want to thank and congratulate the republican national committee and reince priebus, who i just spoke to. he's doing a tremendous job. it's not an easy job when he had 17 egos, and now i guess he's down to one. i don't know. is there a second? i mean is there a second? i don't know. >> so, ron, this is the same republican that was rigging the system. the fix was in. >> the level of vitriol between trump and the party kind of structure has been unprecedented and going in both directions. what mitt romney said about donald trump, you know, the only precedent that people can find for a former nominee saying that about a prospective nominee may

have been al smith turning to the right against franklin roosevelt in the 1930s. i mean we have seen things we have never seen. even tonight john mccain's former top aide tweeting that he's with hillary clinton. i think you will see actually a lot of the most defections that donald trump will face will be from the national security side of the republican party. so there are a lot of wounds here to heal. on the other hand, the nature of the modern politics is we're in a deeply polarized system and there will be enormous pressure to fall in line. >> as you talk about that and the defections on the national security side, the point has to be made donald trump does deviate from the party platform on so many significant issues. i mean there are more problems down the road with the national committee, correct? >> yeah, no, there are absolutely more problems down the road. what donald trump is doing here reminds me of a boxer. a boxer goes tiny a fight trash talking his opponents just the way that donald trump has trash talked the republican establishment and the rnc. the fight happens. donald trump wins. he comes out of the fight and says how great was my competitor. he's such a great guy who i just

beat to a pulp. that's exactly what's happening here. i also think that donald trump is capable for brief periods of time of transitioning to being a general election candidate. he's thinking about framing this idea of himself as a unifier and by at least pretending or appearing to extend an olive branch to the rnc, he's setting up a scenario where the rnc sort of either has to fall in line with him, or they look like the ones who aren't willing to sort of rally behind a single candidate. >> okay. unify. he has a lot of obstacles ahead. he seemed to acknowledge that tonight when he spoke a few hours ago. >> i won with women. i won with men. we won with hispanics. we won with african-americans. we won with every -- virtually every category. >> look at the exit polls. exactly how did he win and what are the problems for him?

>> obviously it's a very different issue in the general election to win with these groups than those who participate in the republican primary. there are very few hispanics and african-americans voting in the republican primary. but within the context of the republican primary, he did have a broader and more consistent coalition than his rivals. the core of his support right from the beginning were two groups, men and non-college whites. those blue collar white voters who really rallied to him right from the start. if you go beyond that and you look add what happened, there are 26 states with exit polls. he won evangelical christians in 17 of them, more than ted cruz. he won non-evangelicals in 23. that was the core of ted cruz's problem. he only won them in one. he won moderates. if you go down the list, you will see he also won non-college voters in 22 of them. he won the moderates in 22. he won somewhat conservatives in 21 and men in 21. that tells you that donald trump's coalition replicated itself all over the country to a greater extent than what we see. candidates like john mccain, mitt romney, who are strong

along the coast but not in the south and heartland, and candidates like huckabee in 2008 and santorum in 2012 who are the reverse. trump's coalition held together in all parts of the country. in terms of the republican primary, that was a pretty dominating consistent performance. >> that's the republican primary. >> this is very important. ron's making a good point. trump has a very broad coalition among republican voters. he has won hispanics and african-americans the same way we are winning viewers who don't want television when it's dark outside. there aren't that many of them, and the general election picture is a drastically different picture than the republican primary picture. >> and that's what's wrong with people say that trump has been the ultimate teflon candidate. within the context of the republican party, it was largely true although not entirely true there. but beyond that, he is facing historically high unfavorable ratings among african-americans, hispanics, millennials and women. he has shown himself to be an agile politician. he's going to move in all sorts

of unpredictable ways to remedy that. the fact is he begins the general election in a ditch with big groups that are growing as a share of the electorate. >> bernie sanders had a good night tonight but not good enough. it wasn't the overwhelming win which he needed to get a lot of delegates. still he's staying in the race. >> any concern that by extending the democratic primary, that it's going to set democrats at a disadvantage? >> not at all. i have no doubt, zero doubt, that what we have done in this campaign, what we are doing now, and what we will do in the next six weeks is good for the democratic, and it will result in a higher voter turnout. >> again, at the exit polls in indiana, 50% of the people there, the democrats said that bernie sanders staying in was energizing the party. >> maybe, and certainly, you know, he has shown he has a very -- also has a very consistent coalition. he's now won voters under 30 in 24 of the 26 states with exit polls, independents in 23 of

them. he's beaten hillary clinton -- ask this may be the most concern for democrats -- among blue collar whites in every state outside of the south except ohio and i think tonight was his biggest single margin among them anywhere. so he has a clear coalition. he has every right to keep going. you know, this really isn't a mathematical path to surpass her. the problem is from a democratic point of view, her negatives are going up with the general public as this race continues and he raises sharper arguments against her. >> dylan, is it possible for him to stay in the race and do no harm? >> no. well, look i think he absolutely -- i think already the fact that donald trump won so decisively in indiana and ted cruz dropped out of the race while hillary clinton is still having to deal with this thorn in her side that is bernie sanders, in that way he's already doing harm. on the other hand, what he's doing is he said, look, there is a very important group of progressive -- a progressive coalition. i speak for that group, and you have to recognize them.

you have to take them seriously. and when we get to the convention, you're going to have to reconcile yourself to that part of the democratic party. and i think what indiana did by having sanders win indiana, what he said is like, we're here. we're not going anywhere. you can't discount us. and i think that's going to be really the story of the democratic convention. it's not going to be, you know -- look, hillary clinton is going to be the nominee. the point is, is that sanders and his coalition is going to have a big say in the sort of campaign that she runs in the general election. >> and the next few stops on the calendar probably give him more good nights. >> exactly. >> okay. ron and dylan, thank you. >> always a pleasure. >> thank you. all right. time for a quick break. more cnn special election coverage coming up. donald trump final live has some kind words for ted cruz. from lyin' ted to a great competitor. >> and a new york tabloid is now burying the republican party after trump's win in the indiana primary.

together we left it all on

the field in indiana. we gave it everything we've got. but the voters chose another path. and so with a heavy heart but with boundless optimism for the long-term future of our nation, we are suspending our campaign. >> now the republican field is down to two. donald trump scored a decisive win with 53% of the vote in indiana. ted cruz's 36% sounded the death knell for his campaign. though he captured just 7%, john kasich is vowing to stay in. >> bernie sanders won the indiana primary, he beat hillary clinton with 52% of the vote. sanders said his victim was narrow but he now has the momentum again. >> let's bring in andy dean.

>> also republican strategist rob stutzman with the top strump campaign. rob, i want to share with everybody the statement that has come from the never trump campaign they issued a short time ago. the fight goes on, they say. if nominated he, donald trump will lose in historic fashion. threaten down ballot campaigns and likely usher in a clinton presidency. this is indisputable when three out of four women view him negatively and solid red states like utah and mississippi are in play. when the chairman of your own party says donald trump is the presumptive nominee, isn't it time to move on? >> well, the chairman doesn't have much choice. he's in a rather perfunctory position on what he has to do. there are those of us who feel very strongly for the good of this party and those who have to be on the ballot with donald trump, we need to keep fighting on. if he going to be the nominee, at least create opportunities for those candidates to be able to step aside and not be so closely identified. we've already seen, for instance, in arizona john mccain is being attacked in commercials

because he said he would support donald trump if he was the nominee. and the worst that there is out there on donald trump, which is quite a bit when you put the stern show into the mix, is going to be used against republican candidates all across america. >> andy, what do you say to this fact that you may celebrate donald trump getting the nomination, but many say it has implications with down ballot races. >> i think if you look at the numbers, the turnout over the past six months of races in the republican party, turnout's up over 60% whereas on the democratic side, it's down by double digits. so with rob with this stop trump movement, it almost feels like he's been living in a fallout shelter with no access to media. i could understand if there were seven or eight months ago before voting started and he had no, you know, idea of what the american people thought. i mean rob would have a case. but now that he's talking like this when trump has over 10 million votes, that's the most any republican nominee has ever had in history, way more than mitt romney, and we still have

another five to six states to vote left. i don't know what rob -- who is he hoping will win this? i don't get it. >> what andy is not pointing out, though, is that trump will also be the nominee if he becomes that with the most votes against him through the primary process. i agree turnout is high. but you have to look at the polls there, and it's 20% of republicans who are voting in high turnout have a principled aversion to voting for donald trump in november. so you have a turnout problem once this goes to a general election. we have never had a nominee of our party who is so disliked not by just the general election voters but by voters within his own party. so what we need to start hearing from andy and then ultimately his candidate is what are you going to do to make conservative voters actually come adhere to you and want to follow along? because they're not just going to get in line just because

reince priebus says now is the time. >> right. well, one thing that he says is that so many voters have voted against him. trump is running against 16 people. so obviously you're going to have a lot of votes against you. as time has gone on, as we've seen in the last seven states that have voted, trump is winning 50%, 60%. as of may 4th, which is today, cruz is out. now it's time for the party to come together. of course there are going to be some wounds about things that are been said. but the dislike for hillary clinton is what's going to unite this party, and then donald trump talking about creating jobs and especially his -- >> how is he creating jobs? >> the republican's only route to victory is through the industrial midwest. donald trump can deliver that. it would be nice if guys like rob got on the trump side -- >> i'm going to sku, how is he going to deliver the industrial midwest? >> it's about being tough on x-rayed with china, m mexico. we need better negotiators, if

you look at barack obama, hillary clinton, these are people who have never run a business. they don't know what a payroll looks like. they've never signs the front side of a check. donald understands how business works. he understands international business trade negotiations. we need somebody tough with china. one last thing, the chinese middle class has grown by over 70% over the past ten years as far as wages. 70%. the u.s. middle class over the past ten years, income hasn't moved. there's something strange going on, and we're going to figure it out. >> donald trump talked about the barrage of negative ads which were thrown at him during this campaign in indiana. let's listen to this. >> 60,000 negative ads, most of which are absolutely false and disgusting. and i said how can anybody endure this? >> so, rob, the question for you is what else can be done right now? millions of dollars have been spent on negative ads against donald trump, and it seems his vote goes up.

>> well, actually not that much has been spent against trump compared to what's about to come land on his head once the democrats start going to work on him. look, in the midst of these ads that he claims have been running against him that have just been so disgusting and awful, he's the author of disgusting and lies yet it somehow defends him when it's done to him. he has become the most unpopular nominee our party has ever put forward if that's what he becomes. so these ads are having an effect. it's having an effect on the general electorate. it's having an effect on what our u.s. senators, who are in some very tough races throughout the country, are going to have to run through in order to try to get reelected. it's not enough to say for andy or reince priebus or anyone else to say it's time to get in line. there needs to be principled reasons that are argued as to why conservatives should support donald trump. >> it's time to get in line after the people have voted. the people have voted, and it's over. you need to understand this. you may need counseling. and if we go to the most popular

party choice like romney or mccain, which has been done the past two elections, we're going to lose again. you have to listen to the people, and we're going -- the trump campaign -- >> how does he turn around these high negative? >> he had high negatives -- >> how does he appeal to 58% of the women, which is what ron brownstein just told us he needs? >> he had high negatives back in june. everybody thought the candidacy was a joke. now we're seeing him win 55%, 60% of the vote. okay. he's going to move towards the center like -- >> in republican primaries. >> correct. then once he's got the nomination, like any candidate, whether you're abe lincoln or ronald reagan, you move towards the center to win the election. it's called politics. it's what every politician has to do to win. there's one thing that we know that trump loves to do and that's win. rob, we want you to join us instead of this weird crusade that isn't good for you. >> he's not like any candidate, andy. >> rob, you're throwing your weight behind john kasich?

what are you doing? >> well, in california, as long as john kasich is on the ballot, we'll be asking people to support him. we're hoping here that when people start to look at trump in the role of presumptive nominee over the next four weeks, that there's still time for them to have some remorse and possibly still cast different votes here in california. we acknowledge that's somewhat unlikely, but we're not going to stop trying to resist this disaster that is coming with trump as our nominee for our party. >> i just feel bad for the people, whoever are funding you, and it's just a sad investment. >> a very different tone from donald trump just hours after he was calling ted cruz lyin' ted. he got up there. he was actually quite gracious, surprised a lot of people in his victory speech. listen to this. >> ted cruz, i don't know if he likes me or if he doesn't like me. but he is one hell of a competitor. he is a tough, smart guy. >> he doesn't know if he likes him? well, let's hear from ted cruz.

this is what senator cruz had to say. >> this man is a pathological liar. he doesn't know the difference between truth and lies. he lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth. >> very quickly, how do you come together after such a brutal, bruising, primary campaign? >> the answer is a little time. time cures -- >> time heals all wounds, right? >> almost all. in a couple weeks, people are going to realize it's time to unite against hillary clinton and we have two and a half months to the convention, by the time the convention rolls around, the focus will be on defeating hillary clinton. >> do you want a cruicruz nomin? >> as far as a vice president? >> do you want him to support -- >> we'll take any support we can get. a ted cruz endorsement, for sure. >> andy, thank you very much. rob stutz man, we appreciate you fighting the good fight for both hours. >> thanks, guys. well, after a bruising primary campaign, donald trump now shifting his focus to the general election. coming up, we'll tell you how

hillary clinton's campaign will challenge his brash tactics. what's with him? he's happy. your family's finally eating vegetables thanks to our birds eye voila skillet meals. and they only take 15 minutes to make. ahh! birds eye voila so veggie good

welcome back, everybody. without any major opponent left in the field, donald trump is now the presumptive republican nominee. he won 53% of the vote in indiana's primary. despite a hard fought campaign, ted cruz just 36%. john kasich way back there at 7% but he's staying in the race. >> trump needs to win just 184 more delegates to clinch the nomination. >> after his crushing defeat in

indiana, cruz told supporters he decided that it was time to end his bid for the white house. cnn's sunlen serfaty was there. >> top aides to senator cruz described his decision to suspend his campaign as a very personal one, one that he only made on election night. very clear that he had no viable forward. it was very notable in his speech that he made no mention of donald trump whatsoever. this now turns into the key question for ted cruz going forward. will he put his support behind donald trump or not? i asked him as he left his concession speech tonight, and he would not take the question. got in his car and left with his family en route to houston to his hometown. this will again be the question that haunts him until he makes a firm stance. now, aides to the senator say it is very likely at some point he will make his choice known but in due time. sunlen serfaty, cnn,

indianapolis, indiana. >> bernie sanders is victorious in indiana's democratic primary. he edged hillary clinton with 52%. >> the narrow win gives him 43 delegates to clinton's 38. however, sanders is still trailing her in the total number of delegates. 1443 to 2217. that does include super delegates. >> joe zeleny is following the sanders campaign and brings this report from louisville, kentucky. >> louisville, thank you. >> bernie sanders winning the indiana primary over hillary clinton, a key boost of momentum for him. she had won five of the last six contests. now he is winning one more here. he said it boosts his argument that he is the democrat who can best take on donald trump. the challenge for bernie sanders is he will nearly split the delegates with hillary clinton. those are the democratic rules. it say proportional system that will nearly split the delegates. that means the race does not change overall she still leads in pledged delegates and super delegates. but this win for bernie sanders, certainly a big moment for him. she won the state of indiana in

2008. she tried to win it, but bernie sanders is victorious tonight. he says this gives him one more argument to keep going forward in this democratic race. jeff zeleny, cnn, louisville, kentucky. let's bring in eric berman. he's the vice chairman of the democratic party. >> also james lacy, gentlemen, good to have you with us. james, now that your man is the presumptive nominee, how does he different from the man we've seen in the race so far? >> well, you know, donald trump has shown a wonderful opportunity for republicans to be able to bring independents and more moderate voters over to our cause. we saw in pennsylvania, for example, over 200,000 democrats changed their party registration to republican so that they'd have the opportunity to vote for him. now, california, believe it or not, two years ago only 30% of eligible voters in the entire state voted. there were 17.2 million voters in the state. even though jerry brown won that

election for governor by a million vote, 17.2 million voters who were eligible to vote didn't vote. we think that there's a very strong target not only in california but in other states where trump might even have a better chance to bring these disenchanted, these disaffected voters over to support him. and, you know, trump, i think, is with the majority of people on many issues. 77% of americans believe that immigration is a problem. even in the hispanic community, 54% according to a pugh study a couple of years ago showed that hispanics care more about jobs than they do about immigration. that works very well for trump. >> same tone, same disposition? >> well, any candidate, republican or democrat, that gets their nomination has to understand if they're going to win the election, that they need to broaden their appeal. and i think that that time is coming for donald trump, and i think he'll be very successful at it. >> eric, as the vice chairman of

the democratic party here in california, is california in play this year? >> california is certainly not in play. donald trump has managed to aggravate, annoy, and harass more women, more latinos, more people who are struggling with the realities of life, with the visis tuds of life. but here's the reality. you know, mitt romney was going to shake his etch a sketch and clear away everything he said. we now live in the age that everything you say is documented, and we'll be showing his wall. we'll be showing him talking about calling immigrants murderers and rapists and drug dealers on through the end of the year. let's face another reality. when you win in a closed republican primary, that's not who votes in the general election. and the people who didn't vote in california, many more of them are latinos and people of color and low-income people. they're not going to donald trump. they're going to vote for hillary clinton or bernie sanders, who will stand up for the rights of everyday people, everyday working people without using that vile, sexist, racist,

eth nisist language. >> what about that point he makes that you can't just turn the page on what has been said, that it will come back and haunt him? >> well, i think that everybody has heard all of the negative stories about donald trump as we were saying in the earlier segment that could be said. jeb bush said that you're not going to be able to offend people on your way to the presidency, and look where jeb bush is right now. you know, ronald reagan was called a teflon president, and i think that -- and the reason he had that moniker was because he was able to say things that other politicians weren't able to say. i think donald trump is a completely different person. you know, what he is is he's a very successful business person that became an entertainer, that's become a politician that's en route to becoming president. it's a very different type of message, but i think it's one that's going to resonate with people who are tired of politics as usual. i've been involved in politics a

long time. i'm a conservative. i'm so tired of hearing cruz lecture me about the constitution and the bill of rights. you know, what we need in this country are jobs. we need international security. we've got a country that's just being completely run over. our foreign policy has run amok. we lose when we do these -- >> really quickly. >> 54% of voters in america will be women. and when we replay the megyn kelly conversation, when we replay the trash talk that donald trump has said about women, how do you think that's going to play? >> okay. it does now seem both candidates are focusing on the general election. trump took a swing at hillary clinton just a few hours ago in his victory speech. >> and we're going to get those miners back to work. i'll tell you what, we're going to get those miners back to work. we're not going to be hillary clinton, and i watched her three or four weeks ago when she was

talking about the miners as if they were just numbers. and she was talking about she wants the mines closed, and she will never let them work again. >> and on the campaign trail, hillary clinton actually had to apologize for comments which she had made in a debate when she was confronted with a voter. >> it was a misstatement because what i was saying is that the way things are going now, we will continue to lose jobs. that's what i meant to say, and i think that that seems to be supported by the facts. i didn't mean that we were going to do it. what i said was that is going to happen unless we take action to try to help and prevent it. >> are we in for a race to the bottom for the campaign? >> to be sure, this is going to be one of the moat aggressive races we've ever seen. america is more divided than we've ever seen it. people are angrier on both sides than we've ever seen. but here's the reality.

when you look at the record of a businessman who bankrupted his businesses four times, when you look at the record of a guy who goes on television and talks the way that he does, says the things that he does, embarrasses america in front of the world the way that he does, and you contrast that with somebody who has been on the public stage for over 25 years, who has had everything possible thrown at her and manages to stand up with poise and deliver positive suggestions and programs for how we can solve things in america, or even contrast that with senator sanders if he manages to pull it out and his solutions for the world, here's the difference. one is a positive, upbeat look at the world. the other is a negative. you know what, we don't need a president who says, you're fired. we need a president who says, you're hired, and hillary clinton is the one who will do that. >> james, briefly. >> the problem is that hillary clinton is the continuation of the obama presidency, which has taken away jobs. look, this is what your party's done in california. today california has the highest

poverty rate in the nation. one in four californians live in abject poverty. we not only have the highest poverty rate in the nation. we have very high unemployment. all of that's been created by a terrible economy, the obama economy which was going to become the hillary clinton economies that has seen the slowest growth of gdp, even gdp going down over the past eight years. let me tell you something. if you've lost your job, who are you going to be more offended by? are you going to be more offended by donald trump's language, or are you going to be more offended by the presidential candidate -- >> i've got to point out -- >> that caused the last republican governor left us a $26 billion deficit, and it was the democratic governor who closed the deficit with the help of the democratic team. and in point of fact, there's a reason why republicans are now at 27% voter registration in california. the people of california don't agree with what your party -- your party is so out of touch with what californians think.

come on, guys. be realistic. >> it's just that old saw that a tax cut proposition 13 passed, you know, in 1978 is somehow the cause of all the problems today. you know, your party has been in control of the legislature for over 20 years. both houses of the legislature. okay. so maybe, you know, arnold schwarzenegger was in there for a while, but everybody knows he was controlled by the california teachers -- >> there we must leave it. always appreciate the conversation. you know we'll do this again. thank you. >> thanks for coming in. >> thank you. all right. well, it takes sharp elbows to compete in the world of politics, but what in the world was ted cruz doing? yeah, that. the odd moment that's all over twitter. >> ouch. >> oh, my.

welcome back, everybody. bernie sanders is looking ahead to the big democratic primary in

california after his win in indiana. he took the state with 52% of the vote over hillary clinton's 47%. >> on the republican side, a turning point for donald trump as he wins more than 50% of the vote. he becomes the presumptive nominee after ted cruz suspends his campaign. >> joining us now, dave jacobson, a democratic strategist. >> also john thomas, a republican consultant and founder of thomas partners strategies. so good to have you with us, gentlemen. i know this is a good night for -- well, actually is it a good night for you? >> it is a good night because when was the circus going to come to an end? this is what we saw tonight. the party needs to unite if we're going to defeat hillary clinton. the longer this stretched on, the worse off it was for us. >> unity, you invoke that as is donald trump in recent hours and reince priebus. but we saw mitt romney post a statement on facebook. let's bring that up. he says this. thanks to ted for making a fight for conservatism, american

leadership and freedom. he's one of the elders of the party. he doesn't even mention donald trump. how are you going to unite? >> well, let's first of all remember that this is an antiestablishment election, so we don't necessarily need the establishment figures to unite our party. that's probably not what's going to happen. i think this is mitt romney going through the grieving process. he's not at the fifth stage, acceptance. he'll get there. give him a week. he'll come around. >> and, dave, we also have the situation that john kasich is staying in. we heard from his campaign, tweeting out, thanks to reince priebus for his hard work, declaring trump the presumptive nominee. but until someone has 1,237 bound delegates, there is no presumptive nominee. california, here we come. i mean when you look at this campaign, you know, it's the charge of the light brigade? isn't the last stand at gal iply. >> i think he's running for some cabinet position. the reality is there's no pathway, right? i think he's trying to make the case i can help the ticket. i can bring ohio. i'm the strongest candidate against, you know, the

democrats, likely hillary clinton. i think he's trying to position himself for some sort of cabinet position much he's got nothing to lose at this point. >> other than carry his home state, what has this guy done? marco rubio has more delegates. the problem you have in this problem is -- well, kasich has a low overhead so he doesn't need to raise money. he's not running tv ads. the problem is you become a laughingstock at a certain point and lose credibility to get on the v.p. ticket. >> do you have any concerns about the never trump movement saying they're going to keep move something. >> no. they've run out of oxygen. i don't know any major donor in the country that's still going to feed money into that organization. i think they're going to run out of steam, and then it's up to donald trump to shift his rhetoric to become a uniter. i think we saw that tonight. there really was a different donald trump. he was more in control. he was trying to welcome ted cruz to the endorsement bandwagon. we'll see if ted bites. >> i mean ted cruz was right about one thing. the party was looking for an outsider, just not him. >> indeed. and that was the challenge for

ted cruz is he sort of ran against the washington cartel. he was supposed to be the outsider in this campaign, and then he pivoted in wisconsin to kind of cole as es the establishment report. he hasn't had a conversation with the senate leader, mitch mcconnell, since he called him a liar. >> we'll take a short break. when we come back, we'll talk about bernie sanders, who's also sticking in the campaign, all the way to california, he says, and beyond. ♪

♪ california is an outrageously expensive state in terms of media. you're right. clearly we're not going to be spending $100 million or whatever it takes on media in california. so we have to decide the best way to allocate our resources. we're going to go to california, and when we go to california, you're going to see very large rallies up and down that beautiful state. >> dave jacobson and john thomas are back with us. do you want to put your head in your hands when you hear that the fight continues on the democratic side. >> i think it's healthy for the party. he's struck a nerve in this country. people are frustrated with the

way the economy is working. we've got low unemployment, but we've got high income inequality. i think as long as hillary clinton doesn't alienate the bernie sanders base before the convention, i think it's good for him to have a dialogue and a conversation and for him to excite and inspire young people to participate in the process. he's got the resources to compete all the way to california. >> with that in mind, i thought there were three races going on in the democratic side, for delegates, for money, and for the big crowds, the support. bernie was winning two out of three. but now he's losing the money race. the money is drying up. i think that really is a sign it's time. >> i think there are two important things here two look at on the democratic side. one is less about can bernie sanders win anymore, but why can hillary clinton not put it away? i mean that's one story. and the other is, look, if i'm bernie sanders, i stay in this thing because until the indictment is ruled out, who knows?>> if i can say one thing bernie sanders spent $2 million in indiana, and hillary clinton barely spent a penny. she wasn't up on tv.

she didn't pour staff into -- >> she should have spent money because she got hosed. >> it's a red state. >> look at how it broke down. >> hillary has math on her side at this point, but, look, i think senator sanders also wants to extract a meaningful policy pull from her like a promise to dem olish all the big banks. >> if you look at the math, he spent $2 million and walked away with five more delegates. that's not good budgeting in my view. >> that's liberal budgeting, right? >> let's very quickly to ted cruz. he's the big story of the night. he's dropped out. this has been such an awful week for ted cruz, the lucifer comment and everything that's gone wrong, and even up until the very end, it's all over twitter right now. he hugged his dad. his wife, heidi, was there. she caught an elbow to the head. you know, obviously it was unintentional, but, you know -- >> but the optics. >> optics of this. as a campaign, do you feel for these guys when you see this stuff happen something.

>> you do. they put their heart and soul into it. you also can't help but chuckle a little bit. his campaign is imploding. he's elbowing his wife. his v.p. pick is falling off the stage. i mean -- >> what happened to carly by the way? >> the shortest v.p. run ever. >> the shortest in history. >> very quickly, the thing about ted cruz, this is a man who is so universe alley despised, how does he get out of bed and keep going every single day? was that part of the calculation here? i can't do this anymore. he's arguing with protesters. >> when he went into this race pretrump, he thought he was going to be the antiestablishment candidate. he thought he was going to be the guy railing against washington. then there was a brigger louder person. ted cruz has never cared to be liked. i think he'll go back to the senate and be just fine. they can call him lucifer all they want. he doesn't mean. >> two weeks ago, he won wisconsin. we even said it was a turning point in the race. everyone thought he was going to get a jolt of the momentum that was going to help him peel away some of the trump votes in the northeastern part of the country. i think the challenge was he

wasn't able to cole es the establishment behind him. he was able to do in one state but not nationally. >> this was like watching people eat their vegetables. they're doing it but they don't want to. >> guys, thank you. >> thank you so much. all right. well, more election coverage coming up including a new york tabloid now burying the republican party after trump's win in the indiana primary.

well, the big news is bernie sanders is down but not out after winning indiana's democratic prierp. he beat hillary clinton 52% to

47% on tuesday night. >> and donald trump becomes the presumptive republican nominee after his big win in indiana. ted cruz suspended his campaign after getting just 36% of the vote. >> wednesday's front cover of the new york post celebrating donald trump's decisive win in the indiana primary. the new york businessman is now the presumptive republican nominee. >> and the post rival, the daily news, has a different take. they say it spells the death of the republican party. >> death caused by an epidemic of trump according to the newspaper. "the new york daily news" have gone after trump, you know, all throughout this campaign. they've had some hilarious front pages, some very much keepers in all of this. of course, now it's on to the election, at least for donald trump. for hillary clinton, she's still got to wrap it up against sanders. >> but the point to be made, the never trump campaign says they're still going to keep going no matter what that looks like. >> they're going to raise some money i guess and give it a john kasich. thank you for joining us. i'm john vause in los angeles. >> i'm isha sesay.

for our viewers in the united states, our coverage of the indiana we gave it everything we've got. but the voters voez another path. >> the cruz campaign over. donald trump wins indiana and overnight the republican party chair declares donald trump will be the presumptive republican nominee. >> i think we can pull off one of the great political upsets in the history of the united states. >> bernie sanders winning indiana. a big upset against hillary clinton, keeping his campaign and momentum alive. good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm christine romans. >> i'm john berman. it is wednesday, may 4th. 4:00 a.m. in the east. donald trump has knocked ted cruz out of the race. donald trump won the indiana primary. he won it