captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. and i'm gwen ifill. on the "newshour" tonight: super tuesday is finally here. voters head to polls and caucuses as the candidates prepare for a critical turning point in their campaigns. >> ifill: and, we break down the numbers on how candidates can secure the delegates that will put them over the edge. >> woodruff: plus, mark shields and david brooks are here to give up-to-date analysis as results pour in from across the u.s. >> ifill: also ahead, we continue our series on the integration of special education programs in los angeles schools. tonight, why some parents and teachers believe it could hurt more than help. >> i would say that their job is to educate my child and my job is to socialize my child.

a safe environment is important and many of these other schools just aren't safe. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> lincoln financial-- committed to helping you take charge of your financial future. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

>> woodruff: all signs point to a big super tuesday for the leaders of the republican and democratic presidential packs. they're hoping to roll up so many wins tonight that party opponents will fall by the way side. in turn, those opponents spent their day hoping just to hang on. >> today is the big day. today is the day we've been waiting for, for a year. >> woodruff: and the prize at the end of the day: more than 860 delegates for democrats and almost 600 for republicans. but g.o.p. frontrunner donald trump was sure enough of his super tuesday showing that he turned to states that vote in the coming days and weeks. in columbus, ohio, he again took jabs at republican rivals; marco rubio: >> marco rubio, i call him little marco, little marco. >> woodruff: and ted cruz: >> lying ted. anything you do-- you take a

position and then you see him on television when he's not around you and he says exactly the opposite of what your position is. >> woodruff: the two senators, hoping at least to slow trump's momentum, answered in kind. cruz voted with his family in houston, and appealed to his fellow texans. >> if you don't want donald trump to be your nominee; if you're among that 65% of republicans that recognize that donald trump could be a disaster as the nominee, i ask you to join us. >> woodruff: rubio sounded the same theme in andover, minnesota, this afternoon. >> today, the frontrunner, at least according to national polls in the republican primary, is someone who is preying on anger, someone who is preying on fear. and there has never been, in history, a great movement based on fear and anger. donald trump will be an embarrassment to america, will be an embarrassment to anyone who supported him. >> woodruff: on the democratic side, with hillary clinton out in front, senator bernie sanders

went home to vermont to vote, and assess his chances of holding back the clinton tide. >> i am confident that if there is a large voter turnout today, across this country, that we are probably going to do well, and if there's not, we're going to be struggling. but i hope that there will be millions of people coming out, participating in what i call the political revolution, which is >> woodruff: but the leaders in the two races are increasingly turning their gaze on each other as likely opponents in november. trump laced into clinton today, and the continuing furor over her handling of e-mails as secretary of state. >> hillary clinton cannot do the job, number one. and number two, she should not be allowed to do the job because what she did is a criminal act; she shouldn't be allowed to run. >> woodruff: a few minutes later, clinton fired back in minneapolis, and again condemned trump's initial refusal to reject endorsements by white supremacists.

>> i was very disappointed that he did not disavow what appears to be support from david duke, and from the ku klux klan. that is exactly the kind of statement that should be repudiated. >> woodruff: back in washington, that same issue weighed on republican leaders, eyeing their party's prospects if trump leads the ticket. >> senate republicans condemn david duke, the k.k.k., and his racism. that is not the view of republicans that have been elected to the united states senate, and i condemn his comments in the most forceful way. >> if a person wants to be the nominee of the republican party, there can be no evasion, and no games. they must reject any group or cause that is built on bigotry. this party does not prey on people's prejudices. we appeal to their highest

ideals. >> woodruff: house speaker paul ryan said he still plans to support the eventual republican nominee. but an associated press survey found more than half of g.o.p. senators and governors are not yet saying if they'll do the same. >> woodruff: we'll get reports from key states voting today, and analysis, after the news summary. >> ifill: in the day's other news, president obama and senate leaders met face-to-face over the vacancy on the u.s. supreme court, but resolved nothing. the president laid out his thinking in the oval office session, but republicans remained opposed to any nomination this year. that drew a new blast from democrats. >> and we're going to continue beating the drums. all we want them to do is fulfill their constitutional duty and do their job. and at this stage they've decided not to do that. i think they are going to wait and see what president trump will do i guess as far as a

nomination. >> ifill: back at the capitol, republicans said they're not budging, and they rejected the democrats' criticism as so much political point-scoring. >> think a democrat majority in the senate would be confirming a republican president's nomination in the last year of his term? of course not. this is going to be decided by the american people and the next president, whoever that may be, will fill this vacancy. >> ifill: the white house said the president is reading files on potential nominees, but does not yet have a "short list" of candidates. >> woodruff: another big swing on wall street. stocks surged higher today, after construction spending in the u.s. jumped in january, to the highest level in eight years. the dow jones industrial average gained nearly 350 points to close at 16,865. the nasdaq rose 131 points, and the s&p 500 was up 46.

the battle between the fbi and apple over unlocking a terrorist's iphone played out before congress today. the two sides argued their points before the house judiciary committee, as hari sreenivasan reports. >> the tools you are counting on us to keep you safe are becoming less and less effective. >> we're doing this because we think that protecting the security and the privacy of hundreds of millions of iphone users is the right thing to do. >> sreenivasan: fbi director james comey and apple lead counsel bruce sewell used the hearing to lay out the cases they're making in federal court. the fight centers around an apple iphone used by syed farook last december in san bernardino, california. he and his wife, tashfeen malik, shot dead 14 people. federal agents have been unable to access the phone's content due to apple's encryption, and comey says it bespeaks a larger problem. >> all of our lives are on these devices which is why it's so important that they be private. that also means all of the

criminals, pedophiles, terrorists lives are on these devices. and if they can't, they are warrant proof, even a judge can't order access to a device, that is a big problem. >> sreenivasan: a federal magistrate in california has ordered apple to create special software that will help unlock the san bernardino phone. comey acknowledged today that would set a precedent, he argued it would be limited. but apple c.e.o. tim cook has warned it could be used to compromise hundreds of millions of other iphones. again, bruce sewell. >> the tool that we're being asked to create will work on any iphone in use today. it is accessible, it is common, the principles are the same. so the notion that this is only about opening some lock or is there is some category of locks that can't be opened with the tool they're asking us to create is a misnomer. >> sreenivasan: apple says it's prepared to take the fight to the u.s. supreme court, if need be. in the meantime, the justice

department is also seeking court orders for 15 apple devices in other cases. yesterday, a federal magistrate in new york ruled in favor of apple, in a drug prosecution, saying the government is trying to gain "impermissably absurd results." >> woodruff: separately, attorney general loretta lynch warned against letting apple alone decide the outcome of the encryption debate. she spoke in san francisco, and called for cooperation between silicon valley and washington. >> ifill: the international criminal court has brought its first-ever charges for destroying ancient cultural sites. a radical islamist, ahmad al- faqi al-mahdi, was formally accused today. the case stems from the july 2012 destruction of ancient mausoleums at timbuktu, in the african nation of mali. al-mahdi's defense lawyers suggested they'll try to justify his actions on religious grounds. >> woodruff: in pakistan, tens of thousands of conservative muslims protested against the execution of a policeman. he was hanged in rawalpindi for

killing a governor who opposed a law that mandates death for insulting islam. mourners walked for miles through the streets of rawalpindi today amid tight security. they chanted support for the police officer, and for the law against blasphemy. >> ifill: the migrant crisis in greece grew ever more dire today, and the u.n. refugee agency warned of humanitarian disaster. james mates of independent television news traveled to the greek border with macedonia, where growing numbers are stranded. >> reporter: outside and looking in, almost 10,000 refugees and would be migrants, whose dreams of a new life in northern europe are now blocked by razor wire and armed police. only a few weeks ago, they would have been waved through this border crossing, and basked northwards towards austria and germany. when the austrians started saying no, the domino effect rippled back towards greece.

"open the borders," they chant, as they sit across the main north-south railway line. but those days may be gone for good. well, it's past midday now, we've been here most of the morning and so far not a single person has gone through this gate. no explanation as to why it's shut. yesterday, these people rioted. today they're waiting patiently, but it's not getting them any further. and judging by the military hardware that's been rolled into place, the macedonians are serious about this. and we saw czech, slovakian and austrian police here reinforcing their macedonian colleagues. every country on this balkan route seems to want it shut down. we met the behar family. six young daughters who've been here for 10 days already. their tiny cousin andy has spent precisely half his life in this camp. and they want him out of here

quickly. they don't speak much english, but know what they want most. >> please open the door, macedonia. >> please. open macedonia. please. open macedonia. >> reporter: and still they come. along the railway lines, and by foot on all roads leading northwards. a bottleneck becoming more congested every day. at some point, something is going to have to give. >> ifill: meanwhile, nato's top commander in europe, u.s. air force general philip breedlove, warned the refugee flow is "masking the movement" of islamic state militants and others, and setting the stage for an attack. an update the a story we reported last night. late today the governor of south dakota vetoed a bill that required transgender students to use the bathroom of their birth sex. the legislative fight had gained national attention.

>> woodruff: and, astronaut scott kelly returns to earth tonight after setting an american record for the longest continuous stay in space. kelly handed over command of the international space station yesterday. he's been in orbit 340 days, and sent back a gallery of out-of- this world videos and photos. a russian, valeri polyakov, holds the record for longest space flight by any human, at 437 days. >> ifill: still to come on the newshour: full coverage of super tuesday, from reporters on the ground. and, in-depth analysis from mark shields and david brooks. plus, the challenge of educating students with special needs without holding other students back. >> woodruff: the focus today is obviously on the states voting, but both parties' frontrunners

are already looking ahead to the march 15 contests, including in florida, and will end the day in that critical battleground state. it also happens to be where we've sent our new newshour correspondent, john yang. welcome, john. we sent you to florida on your second day on the job, and i guess it's no coincidence that the two front-runners are heading there, too. >> that's right, judy. you know, on a night like this you can really tell a lot about how a campaign is feeling by where they are. this was not a super tuesday state, as you say, but here in miami is where hillary clinton will be, and just a little bit north of here in west palm beach is where donald trump will be. both very confident, a sign of confidence about how they expect to do tonight. if donald trump can sweep all the states outside ted cruz's home state of texas, he will be poised to put this contest away

in two weeks when there are big contests, including here in florida. and, judy, on the democratic side, hillary clinton hopes to pull away from bernie sanders in the delegate count in a very big way. sanders didn't even really compete in the delegate-rich states of the south, focusing on other states where the voters, the voting population had a lower percentage of african americans. here in the south, that african american population is expected to give clinton an edge. if clinton does have a good night, expect when she comes out here tonight that she'll sound a lot more like a nominee rather than a candidate for the nomination. judy, gwen. >> ifill: john, let me add my welcome to the "newshour." florida is so often the key to the lock of who wins these elections, whether in a general or in the primary. so why is it that it is already

leap-frogged over so many other states that we're watching tonight? >> well, for partly one reason, on the republican side, it's the home state of one of the candidates, marco rubio, who is also returning here to miami tonight. he has only been on the ballot here once before, statewide ballot. that's why a lot of the republicans i talked to said to their chagrin that it is likely rubio will not be able to win his home state in two weeks. on the democratic side, it goes back to the mantra of florida, florida, florida. this is a state that's going to be crucial to both sides. i think that hillary clinton, as she makes the pivot toward a general election campaign, toward going after the republicans, wants to really stake out the ground here in florida. >> ifill: john, we look forward the hearing from you more later on tonight when we begin to get results. thanks. >> ifill: we move north to

georgia. with the second largest number of delegates at stake for both parties in tonight's contests. we explore the political landscape in the peach state now with celeste hardlee of georgia public broadcasting in atlanta. celeste, give us a sense of what you're going to be watching and what we should be watching in georgia tonight. >> i think the biggest thing to watch is turnout. bernie sanders has taken a risk in playing for the young vote here, especially young african americans, young hispanics. if they turn out for him, he could do better than expected. if they don't, then as the polls suggest, clinton will take the race here for the democrats. and donald trump has a sizeable lead in the polls, as well. if the polls are accurate, donald trump and clinton will take tonight in georgia. >> woodruff: celeste, it's judy woodruff. tell us how georgia differs from its next door neighbor, south carolina, where clinton and trump both just absolutely wiped out the opposition.

>> well, you know, georgia is a very diverse state. georgia is really on the leading edge in the change of demographics in this state. clarkson georgia is known as the most diverse square mile in america. this, however, is also the place where the tea party really got a lot of its momentum, as well so there are a number of forces pulling and pushing. also in reference to the black vote, which really helped carry clinton in south carolina, this is martin luther king's home town. this is a place where the question of whether clinton can carry the block vote nationally will really be tested. if clinton comes away with the vast majority of the black vote here in georgia, that means she can probably carry it through the rest of the nation, neighbor georgia, the bulk of the democratic party is made up by african-americans. so that's really something to keep your eye on here. >> woodruff: celeste hedlund with georgia public television. we thank you. much further north, senator bernie sanders is hoping to

score a home field advantage in new england, with contests in massachusetts and his home state of vermont. we turn now to emily rooney of public tv station wgbh in boston. hi, emily. so tell us, we know bernie sanders does have a big advantage in vermont, but massachusetts is a little different, isn't it? >> yeah, i mean, i don't think massachusetts people have really paid that much attention to bernie sanders until recently, of course the new hampshire primary, but there has been a huge, huge media push here, radio and television, and it was locally oriented. it wasn't national advertising. it was local. and either other advertisement, all doing the oscar, a.m. radio, every other commercial. so personalized, local, and i think very effective. about 20,000 democrats, who were enrolled as democrats, have switched their party affiliation. that could be because they want to offset what's going to happen on the republican side, but interesting that it's leveling the playing field a little bit.

>> ifill: emily, it's gwen. i want to ask you about the elizabeth warren moment where someone fabricated a "new york times" front page that suggested that elizabeth warren endorsed bernie sanders. that did not happen, i want to be clear, but everyone has been watching the shadow of the very popular progressive senator from massachusetts and the fact she seems to not have gotten into this at all. >> no matter how hard you push elizabeth warren, she stays silent. that's been our experience. she's not weighed in on this at all. even charlie baker originally endorsed chris christie, he hasn't endorsed anyone right now. there has been a big push from the editorial pages for both of them to support someone, but neither one of them has. >> ifill: well, thank you very much, emily rooney. as always, you stepped in for us up there in new england. we appreciate it so much. >> ifill: we turn now to virginia, a key swing state this fall, where a mother and daughter see the democratic race

through diffeerent, generational, lenses. >>i'm 19 years old. i live in falls church, virginia, and i'm advocating for bernie sanders to be next president of the united states. >> i'm the mother of four children. i'm voting for mrs. hillary clinton. i feel like she has plenty of experience. me and my daughter, we like to talk a lot about issues. we have more than a mother and daughter relationship. we are friends. >> i go to george mason youth. i'm in my second semester, freshman year, and i'm a government and international relations major. it took me about an hour and a half to get to school. lots of time i like the read my textbooks, which i try to do, but if i get bored, i read the newspaper. i definitely would love to be like a senator or someone high up. there i get this rush when i hear about politics and watching the news. it's my passion.

>> i'm a stay-at-home mother. my day starts early in the morning. i have to do my job at home, cleaning, cooking, preparing their beds. when i came to the united states, i did not have any health insurance. >> we'd go to the doctor, but i would never see you at the doctor and dentist. it makes sense now. >> now i feel happy to have obamacare, very important issues that mrs. hilly is talking about. >> a lot of my friends are government majors. we sit and discuss what's going on around the world. we're advocating for what we think are solutions to the main problems around the country. >>ly do everything that i can to rid this country of the ugly stain of racism. >> bernie sanders came to george mason university. there was a girl who went up there and asked him about the rhetoric, and he embraced her in a way that made me feel like he was embracing me. it's kind of scary, going to school wearing a scarf.

there's always this paranoia that follows you around. when he was speaking, he was like, that shouldn't exist. i have a friend whose dad works over 70 hours a week at taxi driver. as someone who needs a job for extra expense, it's hard to know why we're not living comfortably. >> i want every kid in america to know they will be able to go to college regardless of the income of their families. >> bernie, when he says he wants the make college free, it's a very personal issue, because i think education is important for everyone. >> hillary clinton has realistic ideas. she does not say she will make college free. she says she will make it affordable, which is easier to believe, right? yeah. uh-huh. >> i am a proud, lifelong fighter for women's issues, because i firmly believe what's good for women is good for america. >> as a future politician, of

course i try to change my mom's mind. i want her to believe what i believe in, but i think it's great she has her own opinions as well. it is really important to see a woman in the white house. it doesn't have to be hillary. i could be the hillary of tomorrow. >> woodruff: and now we turn to hari sreenivasan to see what social media data may reveal about today's super tuesday vote. >> sreenivasan: thanks. today voters raised their votes. will their demographics give us clues on how they will vote? according to the kreb suss, more than 06 million americans are old enough to vote in super tuesday states. that's more than one quarter of the country's voting-age population. in many ways these voters offer the widest cross section of america that we've seen so far this election cycle. for example, the states voting tonight include a wide range of incomes. alaskans have a median household income of $71,000. while arkansan households earn

on average a little more than $41,000, far less than the national median household income. what information are these households searching for and talking about? according to data from google's newslab, donald trump was the most searched republican candidate across super tuesday states. when people in today's contested states were searching for information on the democratic candidates, more people were searching for bernie sanders than hillary clinton. search results also showed a geographic split. sanders' information was sought in states that were north and west, such as vermont, minnesota and colorado. even texas and oklahoma. while clinton was being searched for more in places like arkansas, georgia, tennessee and even virginia. as in contests past, what's on the mind of the voter and the conversations they share across social media depends on where you look. across the deep south, christianity was the biggest conversation driver on facebook and n relation to politics this election cycle. among facebook users in super

tuesday states overall, the most talked about topics were racism and discrimination followed by christianity. if you look north and to the states west of the mississippi, the biggest concerns were wall street and financial regulation, while facebook users nationwide weren't talking about this issue, they were concerned about the economy and jobs. and further north the most significant topic to alaska's facebook users was border security. >> ifill: and now, a bit of a history lesson. william brangham reports on how super tuesday has come to play a critical role in the presidential nomination process, and why it can make or break candidates. >> brangham: you know what day it is. >> hello, virginia! >> i love you. i love georgia. >> minnesota can make history. >> god bless the great state of texas. >> brangham: super tuesday, the single biggest voting day in the 2016 presidential primary contest. what makes it so big?

well, it's been known to effectively seal the deal or signal the end for candidates vying for their party's nomination. >> the primary voting day finally arrived today. >> brangham: first modern-day super tuesday happened in 1988 when a whopping 20 states, mostly in the south, held primaries on march 8th of that year. the idea was inspired by a group of moderate southern democratic governors who were frustrated by what they felt was their lack of influence in national elections. larry sabbado directs the center for politics at the university of virginia. >> they wanted to move the democratic party more to the center so it could win a national election. that was the origin of super tuesday, to put the southern states in the early part of the calendar so that ideally, in their view, a more moderate candidate would receive a big boost from that particular day's voting. >> brangham: but the plan backfired. the southern governors hung

their hopes on al gore, but he split votes with jesse jackson, but that led michael due dukakis to first place finishes in texas and florida, and he became the nominee. >> the unintended consequences of reform. their plan didn't work, pure and simple. i think they were surprised that gore didn't do better than he did, and that weren't too keen on michael dukakis, who was boosted at least as much by super tuesday as any other candidate. >> brangham: since this super tuesday and the momentum that comes with it has been a good predictor of eventual party nominees. >> i think the only tuesday more super than this tuesday will be tuesday november 5. that's going to be super. >> brangham: in 1996, then-republican senator bob dole swept the field and forced his then-rival businessman steve forbes to withdraw two days after their super tuesday matchup. and in 2000, then-vice president gore did the same, with 81% of democratic delegates up for grabs on super tuesday, he

effectively locked up the nomination. >> ifill: gore's victory was a sweet one. he swept all 11 primary states and five contested party caucuses. >> brangham: and then 2008, the super duper tuesday where more than 20 states voted. the results only predicted the nomination for one side. >> woodruff: democrats hillary clinton and barack obama are pretty much in the same position they were when super tuesday began. >> brangham: then-senator barack obama narrowly edged out then-senator hillary clinton on the all-important delegate count, but not enough to clinch the nomination. that same day senator john mccain emerged as the clear front-runner for the americans. >> we're going to win today, and we're going to win the nomination and we're going to win the presidency. >> brangham: on this super tuesday, ten states have both republican and democratic primaries or caucuses with delegates at stake, and, yes, they're mostly in the south. republicans also have a caucus in alaska, while democrats will also caucus in colorado and american samoa.

>> this is one of the most important days of the calendar. it has come at a moment when both parties are poised to move in a certain direction. >> brangham: on the democratic side, hillary clinton has widened her delegate lead over senator bernie sanders, with her dominating win in south carolina last weekend. and donald trump boasts a double-digit margin over the rest of the g.o.p. field. >> it certainly will be a milestone along the way toward a trump nomination or alternately toward having one of the other candidates, possibly marco rubio, begin to suggest that he can catch up to trump or at least force a contested convention. >> brangham: a contested convention? remember, super tuesday was designed to prevent just that. while that may be working for the democrats, for the republicans, this super tuesday may do just the opposite. for the pbs "newshour," i'm william brangham in washington, d.c. >> woodruff: and it would not be

super tuesday without the analysis of shields and brooks. that's syndicated columnist mark shields and "new york times" columnist david brooks. welcome, no comments about hair or anything else. david, we've heard about past super tuesdays. what are you looking for tonight? >> well, trump is the story. trump is one of the biggest political stories of our lifetime. so the fact that, well, i'm supposed to be objective, but a bigoted buffoon may get the nomination of major party is a big deal. everywhere i go all around the world, people are fixated on this fact. if he does what the polls suggest, that's major event in political life. if he takes this gigantic step toward the nomination of make party. >> ifill: mark, i wonder if that has something to do with where we are now. by creating a super tuesday that was supposed to come up with a predetermined result that it's back firing now. >> i think it has. unintended consequences, the law thatoff. it was organized by chuck robb,

the former governor of virginia, son-in-law of president johnson to, really stop the democratic party from drifting to the left. as william described beautifully in that piece, jesse jackson nearly showed how it could be done and became the model. he upset the applecart when michael dukakis in 1988 was able to run what they called a four-corner strategy by winning florida and texas and the state of washington and the northeast, as well. but it has become the difference between super tuesday and the events that precede it, all of iowa, new hampshire, even nevada, they see the candidates up close. they can touch them. they can listen to them. now it's strictly wholese politics. it's what voters conclude from what they read, see, sense, communicate about them, and i think that's... donald trump has shown depth and strength in

three different states in winning new hampshire and nevada and south carolina. he's showing a breadth now that is really rather remarkable. if he carries alabama and massachusetts in the same day, it's been a long time. mitt romney did not do as well on super tuesday, nor did john mccain, the last two nominees, as it appears donald trump is poised to do. >> woodruff: but david, can we really blame the calendar and super tuesday? is the argument that if donald trump had more time he wouldn't be as appealing as he is? >> i've been saying that for eight months, so, you know... >> woodruff: you have not been proved right yet. >> it's coming, sometimes in eight years when he's out of office. no, it's... i don't... you know, he's just dominant. he's dominant with moderate voters, he's dominant with downscale voters. he's beating people among latino voters, at least those who vote

in republican primaries. he's just amazingly dominant. it's fascinating, the whole media world is hating on him, john oliver and everybody else, it's having no effect, no measurable effect. >> ifill: to get back to that. it seems interesting to me, david, that republicans are becoming more conservative, democrats are becoming more liberal, and the point isn't meeting here at all. >> though trump shows there is more ideological flexibility than we would have thought. he's praising planned parenthood. policies on health care are almost sandersesque. bobby jeb dal is gone. ted cruz is the closest thing to an orthodox candidate. 23 cruz loses texas, he's done. if he win, he hangs around. georgia and virginia, maybe some hope. there we may see somebody with a strong second-place finish, but if the polls are anywhere close to correct, we're just looking fur strong second-place

finishes. >> woodruff: but, mark, the question people keep asking is what else could ted cruz or marco rubio or any of the other candidates who dropped out on the republican side, what could they have done to have nipped or stopped or slowed down donald trump? >> they could have engaged him. let's be very blent. jeb bush, now departed from the race, was the only candidate who showed really any courage and any directness in confronting donald trump. rubio did in an act of desperation, very well, don't get me wrong, he did a donald trump on donald trump. that's what he did. i mean, when we start to get into the size of hands as a question of presidency qualifications, i mean, then we've really descended. we can't say that donald trump has not elevated the discourse in this. i mean, so i just think they gave... the rest of them were sniping at each other. cruz was at rubio. they were back and forth. and at jeb and so forth.

but nobody other than jeb bush took him on, and now the questions have been raised, whether it's trump universe, it's all been out there, judy. it's not new information. if somebody... the research of every campaign had it, but no one wanted to beard the lion or however you want to describe it. >> woodruff: our friend amy walter was here last night. among other things she said that if donald trump does as well as people expect him to tonight, it will be an implosion for the republican party. it will no longer be what it ever was. do you agree, david? >> yeah. i mean, we've never seen a candidate at all like him. he's not a conservative by any principles. he's not a policy wank. he has no policies and proposals. and he has frankly racial attitudes that remind you of the ugliness of an earlier era or a different country. so that's just a gigantic shift for a party. and people are upset with the

establishment, i realize that, but that doesn't mean the solution is the solution. but there has been a rising set of authoritarianism in the american people which has been measurable in polls for a number of years, and now it's finding its political stage. >> woodruff: hillary clinton is looking like she's in solid shape. but bernie sanders says he's in the walking away. he says he's staying in this race until the end. he's been running around the country campaigning everywhere. what does he represent for her at this point? >> well, he represents her hope and salvation. hillary clinton was a great candidate in 2008 when she was beaten. when she was an underdog, fighting back against barack obama, who was headed as a steamroller toward the nomination. that brought out... the clintons do not do well in political prosperity. they don't do well when unchallenged. and she became a better candidate after she lost new hampshire. bernie sanders raised $40

million. i mean, that is phenomenal. that is almost three times as much as hillary clinton raised in the month of january. i mean, so he represents i think a hope for her in the sense that there's a competition that continues. if he wins a couple states tonight, which they're holding out hope that they can, he's still certainly alive. he's got intense and passionate following. and i think it's... she's now referring to him again as her esteemed colleague, which is an indication... >> ifill: because she's attacking trump instead. >> but the reason she has this big league because the democratic party is the equivalent of the house of lords, which is what the superdelegates are. if you were once the democratic leader of the city council in minneapolis, you're going to be a super delegate. for no other deserving reason. so she's got an enormous lead among them. she's leading among the house of

lords. the question is can you win primaries. she's done pretty darn well recently. >> ifill: are democrats hoping for and are republicans fearing the potential third party that republicans say we can't have, as some leaders have said this already. ly not vote for either of them. and finding someone to anoint and come to the rescue and democrats, of course, would love that. >> i still don't think it would happen. obviously michael bloomberg is the obvious case, but the states are basically partisan. the parties... people are basically locked into their party. even if donald trump is the nominee. so the idea that bloomberg or some third-party candidate... >> ifill: mitt romney? >> that would be a total implosion. i doubt even he could carry any states, and even if he did it would get thrown to the house of representatives. a body made of entirely of republicans and democrats will not elect a non-republican or democrat. >> woodruff: but isn't it not really clearly which part of the republican party donald trump doesn't represent, because you hear very conservative

republicans saying they don't like him, and you hear more moderate republicans saying they don't like him. so who do you run to satisfy the rest of the republican party? >> i think that's a very legitimate question. he is... whatever else he is, he's his own man. he walks where he chooses to walk. he doesn't chuckhole before any particular constituency in the republican party, i don't care who it is. so in that sense it's a strength. the problem that republicans, the sense of panic among republicans in washington is that he'll be a disaster in november and take with him the republican control of the senate and a lot of... put in jeopardy a lot of moderate republican house seats. so that's what they're anxious about. they think this is not a man who is going to win a majority of the country in a presidential election in november. >> ifill: winners or losers aside, how would you guys assess the tone of this campaign in the last couple weeks? it's certainly nothing like we've ever seen, and i wonder if you think that's for good or ill. >> woodruff: and woe won't let

you repeat anything you've heardful. >> ifill: nothing. >> it's for ill. the democratic side is fine. you have a normal race. you have sort of moderate versus a lefty, but the way the republicans are going after each other and the screaming, to me there was a pivot point which is why i think this was such a big moment. it was first debate. donald trump had already attacked carly fiorina for the way she looked. he turned to rand paul and said, i'm not going to attack him for the way he looks, but there's a lot to work with there. at that moment a lot of taboos crumbled and dissolved. we entered a new world. as i said, donald trump has spent 25 years to the world of professional wrestling and he just brought that style and it happened to play. this is not about policy. he was against the manners that we've assumed to be the manners of public discourse and he's dissolved them all and it's paid off so far. >> woodruff: in the end it wasn't just him. >> absolutely, they had to go there. >> rubio got bigger crowds and

more enthusiasm and more reaction when he started doing it, too. i would compare it to the impeachment, the language. you almost had to get the children out of the room when the news came on. >> woodruff: you mean bill clinton? >> bill clinton's impeachment and all the surrounding events and testimony there. but that was mercifully over. you know, it happened and then it was resolved and then we didn't... this is heroin in the bloodstream because politics is the most imitated of all human activities with the possible exception of political journalism. and, you know, people win elections and it's... you use a blue bumper sticker to win, my goodness, i'm going to use a blue bumpersticker. this is going to be it. donald trump is going to be, you know, you steal a hot stove and go back to the smoke. you're a child molester, whatever else. he's just kind of taken all standards and removed them. >> woodruff: and it's working. >> and it's working.

that's it. that's why i say success is emulated. >> woodruff: okay. well, mark shields, david brooks, we'll be talking to you and watching you, i don't know, eat your words or whatever. thank you. tune in tonight for more shields and brooks, as i just said, plus the latest results this super tuesday. we'll have special pbs news hour coverage at 11:00 p.m. eastern. >> woodruff: finally tonight, we take a break from politics. four decades after the federal government established special education services for students with disabilities, school districts around the country are still trying to live up to the law. last week, we showed you some of the progress. but there are still big challenges ahead, and in some cases, questions about how well those efforts are working. special correspondent john

tulenko of education week has the second of two stories he filed from california, part of our weekly education series, making the grade, which airs tuesdays on the newshour. >> reporter: in los angeles, the nation's second largest school system, it took a class action lawsuit filed in 1993 to bring attention to the failures in special education. teachers weren't trained, records weren't kept and thousands of students were not receiving services. sharyn howell, the district's special education director, says progress has been made. >> we've come a long ways. even at that point in time in los angeles school district and in other school districts, special education, it was still thought of as this was a very separate group of students and most of them were in segregated classes someplace. >> reporter: but not anymore. today, many of the problems have been resolved, especially when it comes to inclusion.

in 2003 about half of all students with disabilities were taught alongside their non- disabled peers, for majority of the day. now it's 90% for students with learning or speech and language disabilities. for other special education students, there's still a ways to go. 17-year-old leo villegas who has down syndrome, spends most of his day in a separate classroom. but even that's beginning to change. >> i want leo to be included in the community. i don't want leo to be segregated all the time, i mean come on! >> reporter: rosie villegas is leo's mother. >> i want other students, other people to see leo and accept leo the way he is, even if it doesn't work, to try. >> reporter: at his mother's insistance, leo is in a few general education classes like economics, but not without support.

>> reporter: monet gothard is with leo all day, to help with his behavior, and class work. >> i was reading a story to him and then he was answering reading comprehension questions. >> reporter: how often is leo doing the same things as the other students in class? >> well, for it to be meaningful for leo at the level that he's at, the work has to be modified. >> it's a good buzz word, gen ed, it's good to put the kids in gen ed, gen ed; i don't know if it's for everybody. >> reporter: most of the time, leo is in ross kramer's class together with other students with intellectual disabilities. >> i don't myself usually send kids to general education unless it's part of the meeting and the parents insist on that happening. >> reporter: why? >> because i don't think they

could access the curriculum as well. a lot of the work is being spoon-fed and done to them, what are they retaining, what are they getting from that? >> reporter: others see it differently. >> that young man, when he leaves school he's not going to a special education job. he's not going to a special education movie theater. it's important for our students to be in that community of individuals that they're going to spend the rest of the their life with when they leave us. >> reporter: with that in mind, los angeles has been phasing out schools that serve only students with disabilities, like mcbride special education center. there we met brandon buschini. would you like to go to a regular high school, yes or no? brandon, a 20 year old high school senior, has physical and cognitive delays that prevent him from walking and speaking. he's been at mcbride since he was three years old.

so you would like to stay here for school? >> yes. >> reporter: his mother agrees. >> i'm not against inclusion at all. i actually wanted him to be in a "regular school" when he was small. it's just that based on his needs, it's not the appropriate place for him. >> reporter: brandon requires a full time health care aide in addition to other assistance. >> he needs an occupational therapist. he needs a speech therapist. he needs a teacher that's working with a speech therapist to be on the same page. he needs an environment that he can access with his wheelchair. and you don't find that anywhere else. >> we can make all those things available in a general education campus. why would we not give those students an opportunity to have exposure to their general education peers.

>> i would say that their job is to educate my child and my job is to socialize my child. a safe environment is important and many of these other schools just aren't safe. >> reporter: many buildings aren't even accessible, lacking basic accommodations like ramps. fixing that could cost over a billion dollars, twice as much as what's been budgeted. brandon's school is already equipped. but what about academics? what are your education goals for brandon? >> working with the right teachers to actually access brandon because brandon is fully capable of understanding in real time what's happening, but due to his developmental delays it makes it difficult for all of us to communicate with him. >> reporter: so brandon is fully there, shouldn't he be taking regular classes? >> it depends on the teacher and it depends on the services.

that's where it becomes a little bit tricky. >> reporter: because getting services isn't easy, even for parents who support inclusion. >> constantly there is a fight with the school district because they're saying, "yes we are providing service," when they're not. for example, leo has an hour speech a week. first i call and say, "what is the day that my son is going to be getting service?" i go there and the speech therapist is not there. >> what you're raising here is outcome 13. outcome 13 is the measure the school district has not been able to achieve. >> reporter: david rostetter, who was brought in by the courts to monitor special education here, is referring to the final requirement of l.a.'s long- standing lawsuit: at least 85% of students must receive 100% of their services. >> the best the district has been able to do is to be on average with service provision, 72% of the students receive 100% of-- is absolutely, completely

unacceptable. >> reporter: speech therapist ashley hall has 55 students between two schools-- that's about 11 students per day, plus at least an hour on paperwork, parent meetings and not to mention lunch. >> so there are days that we have to accommodate the children in different ways. so maybe a child who you would see 1 on 1, or 1 on 2, ends up being in a group of children with 4 or 5, and they don't necessarily get the time that they need. >> lowering caseloads would be a significant help. i had about 36 students when i was at a private clinic, and we saw success much more rapidly. >> they lose speech therapists every year over this. you can't perform in that environment. >> we know that no matter how much work we do, there are always going to be teachers or administrators or parents who are going to push us and say what you're doing is not right,

and that's okay because it makes us think about what we're doing and it makes us really make sure that the programs that we do have meet everybody's needs. >> reporter: for brandon buschini's family, it's imperative he receive services. his mother and other parents have turned to the courts to keep schools like his open. >> this kind of speaks to the level of the law breaking. >> reporter: l.a. unified declined to comment on the lawsuit, which is awaiting a court decision on whether the case will move forward. in los angeles, california, i'm john tulenko of "education week," reporting for the pbs newshour. >> woodruff: on the newshour online: one out of 10 americans has what the national institutes for health classifies as a "rare disease." but caring for a family member with a rare condition, and

finding support and proper care, can be daunting. we spent time with a maryland couple who are fighting that battle on behalf of their two- year-old. read that story on our home page. and of course you can follow our website all night for breaking news and live video from the election trail. all that and more is at pbs.org/newshour. >> ifill: and that's the newshour for now. i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. join us for the newshour's special coverage of super tuesday later tonight at 11:00 p.m. eastern. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪

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