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good morning. i'm thomas roberts live from columbia, south carolina. we are here at msnbc election headquarters at the liberty tap room. we only have one table that has a hangover, working on my home what mimosas. next event on the republican calendar though, the first in the south primary we've got the big stage performance tonight with the pressure being on for the six candidates that are left in this race. and the candidates all meet tonight on the debate stage in south carolina in greenville. the first time since the new hampshire primary. and the last time before voting begins again. so we've got donald trump and ted cruz.

they're the top two contenders for the crucial evangelical vote. that makes up more than 60% of republican primary voters in south carolina. establishment favorite, jeb bush and john kasich, are the only ones holding events in greenville today. not wasting a moment to gain voters out there. and bush is hoping to build on his gains from new hampshire here. kasich rides momentum from his second place finish in the granite state but here he suffers from a lack of name id. another big question is whether or not marco rubio will be able to bounce back from his admittedly poor debate performance in new hampshire. nbc's halle jackson has the latest from greenville, south carolina, for us this morning, the site for tonight's debate. >> reporter: good morning, thomas. this morning the candidates are getting ready for tonight's debate. the stage, the smallest yet, you know, with just six people left in this race. south carolina has a reputation for being a pretty rough and tumble state and don't expect tonight to look any different on that debate stage. we're already seeing the

republicans looking ready to rumble. in front of a rowdy florida crowd donald trump taking aim at jeb bush. >> he's got that little vicious streak because he's a gutless guy. >> reporter: but online, a different target as trump warns ted cruz on twitter, if he doesn't, quote, clean up his act, stop cheating, and doing negative ads, trump will sue him for not being a natural born citizen. >> there is more than a little irony in donald accusing anyone of being nasty given the amazing torrent of insults and obscenities and vulgarities that come out of his mouth. >> reporter: cruz and trump battling to win over evangelicals in south carolina. as on the airwaves the ad wars intensify. this new one from trump on illegal immigration -- >> his killer, illegal immigrant gang memberer who just got out of prison. >> reporter: and this one from cruz hits not a republican rival

but hillary clinton. ♪ the ad spoofs the movie "office space" but it's a different kind of film that has cruz explaining why he yanked this spot off the air hitting marco rubio. >> maybe you should vote for more than just a pretty face next time. >> it happened that one of the actresses who was there had a more colorful film history than we were aware. >> reporter: that actress, the star of several adult movies who now says she's got no hard feelings. >> i have no ill will against ted cruz right now. he's got a job to do. and you know, i'm a middle class working girl and i had a job to do. >> reporter: and the job tonight for marco rubio, prove he can bounce back from his widely panned debate performance in new hampshire. rubio says he's ready. >> i think we have to have some perspective here. i had one answer that i would have done differently. and the rest of the debate was as good as any we've ever had r. rubio's campaign aide says he is eager for tonight, looking to

take on attacks directly and ready for any incoming fire with other candidates perhaps testing him to see if he's back up to speed after that performance in the debate last week. jeb bush meanwhile, watch for him to land punches tonight. he's looking for a south carolina comeback. john kasich hopes to keep up that momentum from his second place new hampshire finish. and he has a little bit of a different tactic, thomas, as you you know. he's trying to stay positive and stay above the fray. >> we'll see if that works for him. 50 delegates are going to be up for grabs when the republicans face-off here in south carolina one week from today. that's almost as many delegates as were allocated in iowa and new hampshire cobined. every winner of the south carolina primary since ronald reagan won in 1980 has gone on to win the gop nomination. it's a very important state in the race for the white house. and this year appears to be really no different. i'm joined now bebe panel i've

assembled here at liberty tap house. republican state representative, democratic strategist and cofounder of craig.com and chicago "sun times" bureau chief lynn sweet. thanks for being here so early. we have folks back here having a few drinks. i know you haven't had any. i can safely say to the people at home watching having breakfast with us right now in is a big deal. the first in the south primary. it is a reset in a lot of instances for certain candidates. but the electorate here starts to represent the country a little bit better. so let me start with you about what that means to these different campaigns moving forward. >> what it means is that new hampshire and iowa, tom, basically white voters. here, the name of the game, especially for democrats, is getting african-american votes. we have different parts of the states with. different kinds of interests, from charleston to greenville. different economies. you have a huge, huge military

component in this state. so i would say if you're looking at south carolina you have racial diversity, you have economic diversity, and you have massive military populations. big impact on the republican primary. >> jamal, we know that this isn't open primary, which makes it very interesting. >> yeah. >> south carolinians are picking prom dates because they like to throw curveballs in certain instances. the republicans have the advantage of going first. so is there a way for them to cut in to the important diverse vote that is more reflective here of what the rest of the country is? >> well, i think it's going to be tough for republicans, particularly go after african-american voters in the state. there will be some african-american who will still vote in the republican primary but not that many. the thing about the south that's amazing, i went to college in the south, i did most of my political career in the south, you talk about issues of faith, family, people are -- kind of emotional campaign. people want to engage on things

that are really important to what's happening inside their household. and it's not kind of the new hampshire talking point, intellectual back and forth. what you're going to get down here is what matters at the kitchen table. that's true whether you're a democrat or republican. >> meanwhile, we had the faith and family forum yesterday. >> yes. >> kasich and trump skipped that. kasich came out with two ads. one called 100 days, the other called healing. showing kind of the fist and the heart of what he represents. he's not a negative guy. but what does it mean that trump and kasich skip that event? is that poor choice on their part? >> you know, i think donald trump has already feeling like he's got a third of the vote. polls are very clear on that. i think he was just trying to avoid getting caught in a situation that could be the repeat of some that he's had in the past. look, he's out running his campaign. it's like no campaign anyone has ever seen before. and to try to box him in to the

conventional south carolina republican primary is just sort of ignore what donald trump is. he's the guy who goes that's the way y'all do it. i'm going to do it this way. i'm going to do it my way. it's been spectacular to watch. >> why do you think though he is resonating so well with the south carolina voters? >> i mean, i don't -- i don't think it's just south carolina. i think he's resonating with a whole group of republican voters. i think there are people who feel like they've worked hard their whole lives. they don't see the future of their children getting better. they're mad. now, i'm not implying or saying that's exactly the same group on the other side of the aisle that bernie sanders is tapping in to. but there is a well of resentment of -- maybe resentment is too strong a world. but there is a well of unhappiness with the way the game seems to be unfolding. >> i think what you have, thomas, is you have particularly economic angst. the president has done a really good job of bringing unemployment down, getting the

economy back in place but it's not going fast enough and including as many people. and so bernie sanders places the blame at wall street billionaires and says they're the ones who are the problem. donald trump thinks to blame mexican-american immigrants and say they are the problem. people are pointing the finger to accommodate the fact that we live in a brand new economic world and none of these candidates are talking about how americans are going to compete and do well now that the economy has changed. >> income inequality is a big issue here for south carolina. it suffers as one of the worst educational systems in the country. and that is a -- probably the people get bernie sanders are interested to hear what he has to say about higher education. but tonight, lynn, for the debate, let's talk about that. who needs to show up and deliver the best performance to help punch their ticket for south carolina? >> well, let me frame it this way. there's a few if alternate universes going on right now. the big one is what people are seeing on tv ads for and going

to the debate which will foreshadow it. one 73-minute period yesterday i had 33 commercials, most republicans. sanders and clinton spots yesterday were basically pitching themselves, positive. so if the spots had the super pac and the jeb bush allies going after rubio, that's i think what we're going to see tonight. foreshadowing their punch. who is the true conservative? that's the message? paid advertising and i think you're going to hear tonight from him the conservative you can trust. i think none of these candidates based on their advertising really know how to deal with trump so they're kind of leaving him alone. you'll hear a lot that cruz is the one who if you want the real thing he's it. that's where, since the game plan i think is obvious, the opponents have had time to figure out how to chip that away and say, uh-uh, you're not the

only one. >> yeah, trump is such a disrupter. anything you throw at him is like a bizarre windmill and you don't know where it's going to go and how it's going to splatter. >> for the moment it might be just a race for second place. >> and lynn said trust. one of these candidate s do you trust to look out for you and your family when nobody else is around. >> i'm going to ask you to stick around because we have a lot going on here over the next two hours. grab a cup of coffee. not a mimosa like that table. favorite table that's here. shrimp and grits is on the menu this morning. coming up next are the exit polls new hampshire is sound any alarm bells for the clinton camp. caucuses, a contest which ch she was heavily favored to win. we're back after this. ♪ ♪

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democrats, they are going to be facing off in next week coming up in nevada caucuses which is why hillary clinton is going to be campaigning there later this morning going to henderson, nevada. outside las vegas. her campaign focused on solidifying support among young people and women after her defeat in new hampshire. now, among the startling numbers came out on tuesday from new hampshire, clinton lost voters under the age of 30 by 67 points. she lost women by 11 points. that's a key constituency for any democratic campaign. so as we look ahead to nevada and south carolina, what will hillary clinton need to do to improve on those new hampshire exit polls? joining our panel now is maccay coppen, buzzfeed news and author of "the wilderness, inside the republican parties combatic quest to take back the white house." is title is not look enough pips

not long enough. >> i applaud you forgetting through the subtitle. >> that's it. you've eaten up all my time. no. we've got lots to talk about. let's get to this first interesting numbers of nevada and the fight for the latino vote out there. we've got 44.7% latino voters in the nevada being millennials. 50.6 are women. as we look at the exit polling coming out of new hampshire does that foreshadow concerns for the clinton camp in nevada with bernie sanders easily coming up to give polling out of nevada a concern for her? >> well, you certainly seem to hear that from the clinton camp and her allies. i think that after iowa and new hampshire they're redoubling their efforts to reach out to those constituencies that they haven't done as well with. the nevada caucuses. even more so than a iowa caucuses are extremely difficult to poll, extremely -- it's kind

of an arduous process. i think the clinton camp, their focus should be more on the ground game, more on actually just literally getting their voters to the polls as opposed to trying to, you know, make some grand efforts to change minds or win people over. in nevada it's really all about just getting your supporters to the caucus sites. and i think the clinton camp thinks they have an advantage there. >> we're like bipolar in how this is unfolding because we focus on nevada. nevada caucus for the democrat on saturday. closed caucus on saturday 20th. south carolina republican one is open. then we get the reverse later down in the month with nevada for the republicans, closed on tuesday 23rd. for the dems here, saturday the 27th. >> so that's something i want to point out here because this is the first state where you have different dates for the two primaries.

>> yes. >> so the democratic campaign has a lot longer to gestate, to adjust for things to be different. there's a reason we saw a lot more republican commercial on right now because they do go first. that could influence the dynamic a little bit because right now bernie sanders is just really starting his first african-american push. hillary clinton has had staff here since april, from almost weeks since she began. he now has a little time to work it. much better than if he had a vote coming up. >> put our attention back and forth between nevada and south carolina. and we look from what happened at the last debate where everybody was, you know, trying to attach themselves to obama's legacy. hillary clinton doing a better job of that and being able to carry the torch further. tomorrow we look at the new polling from nbc news in south carolina. 60% of likely democratic voters are african-american.

clinton leading among them at 74%. joy reid caught up with two men in south carolina at a barber shop this week. that's where you go to find out the real deal of what people think. take a listen to what they said. >> are people generally leaning bernie, leaning hillary? what are you hearing? >> we have a lot, the older clientele. they're learning towards hillary. the younger, they are all leaning towards bernie. so you know, i mean, the younger, they're feeling their student loans. you know, bernie is saying things they can relate to. i guess hillary is saying more of the things that the older crowd can relate to but the older crowd, they don't realize we need more. we need more as a people, you know. >> and it sounds like you agree with that. >> every bit of what he's saying, i agree. >> so there's this generational divide, jamal. bernie older than hillary but the younger folks like him better. why is hillary clinton struggling with having that type of trust and recognition with her legacy? >> bernie sanders is a little

bit like mork and mindy t-shirt, urban hipster. a throwback. people love bernie factor. >> vinyl. vinyl. >> it's like vinyl. >> but also i had a conversation with uber driver yesterday, uber poll wherever i go in the country. 50 something years old. he and his wife were clinton supporters. now he's leaning toward bernie. trying to learn much more about him. i think there are more african-americans who will come along the bernie side than one may think and hillary clinton campaign is a very wide in the african-american community. i'm not sure that it's very deep. i was hearing from some people on the ground here last night that she's had a couple of staff here but she hasn't had that many people in as many places and now bernie has flooded to state from people from all over and canvassing the state and starting to move people. i don't know. it won't be a 60-point win if he wins here. it will be 20 or 30 from the african-american community. and if he wins white liberals in columbia, you can see this thing get pretty tight going into the

election. >> for example, bill clinton is in south carolina today. and this is -- >> florence. >> yes, in florence. bernie sanders, you know, everyone has surrogates. everyone will have their hip -- young endorsers, their older establishment endorsers. so they could run the table on that. but bill clinton is here. the other thing is this is -- i would be interested in everyone's views. south carolina, when you talk about a young vote there is an abundance of historically black colleges here. so you have another dynamic. hillary clinton has been doing a lot of reach out to that, sanders has a stake there. there's a lot of different opportunities for democrats here to make their pitches. >> let me give you the last word. >> yeah, i would just say that the sanders camp has been spinning and they have a recent poll to back them up. that they actually do -- they are winning among younger black voters. but i would point out just to keep that spin in check that younger black voters make up a very small or relatively small

portion of the national black vote. and that's where hillary clinton still has a much bigger lead. >> okay. thank you so much, maccay and thanks to the panel. stick around. we have a lot to talk about. as we hear about those surrogates coming out, listen to this. because this there is a big name coming to south carolina on monday. we've got former president george w. bush preparing to hit the campaign trail with his brother here. coming up next, i'm going to be joined by jeb bush campaign senior adviser who is going to explain why he thinks that's going to turn the tide for the former florida governor's campaign. really help reset this race for him moving forward. we're back after this. (male vo) across america, people like basketball hall of famer dominique wilkins are taking charge of their type 2 diabetes with non-insulin victoza®. for a while, i took a pill to lower my blood sugar. but it didn't get me to my goal. so i asked my doctor about victoza®. he said victoza® works differently than pills. and comes in a pen.

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room in columbia, south carolina. jeb bush will have this event two hours northwest of us. it comes ahead of a big night for jeb bush. it is the republican debate and it's last one before next saturday's primary. right now the former governor of florida is in a battle with marco rubio and john kasich to see who can emerge as the establishment alternative to donald trump. and bush lags rubio by five points in the latest nbc news poll of south carolina. and to help turn things around bush is bringing back a familiar and popular face in south carolina. former president george w. bush is going to be hitting the campaign trail with his younger brother for the very first time monday night in north charleston. i asked governor bush about this news right after the campaign said that the former president would be here on monday and here's what he had to say. >> i love my brother, love my dad, love my mother. it's part of who i am. i have a record that i share. obviously as governor of the state of florida.

and i'm focused on the detailed plans i've laid out, lift our economy up and keep us strong. so my brother will be part of that story. i'm proud of the fact that he's coming and honored. this is the first time he's really kind of stepped out and in the political realm since he was president. i think it will be interesting what he has to say. >> joining me now is michael steele, former secretary to house speaker john boehner and now senior adviser to jeb bush's campaign. michael, great to have you with me. i had an opportunity to see the governor that night. this was fresh off the news that the former president would be here on monday night. the interesting optics though we hear about the fact that he is proud to be a bush. we stand in front of a big jeb sign. but talk about what it means to jeb bush's campaign to have his brother come here, who holds such a popular ranking in this state and you this could help reset the race for jeb bush. >> well, look, south carolina is probably the most military friendly state in the country. it has huge veterans population.

i think the contest here is going to come down to who can make the best case for being commander in chief. jeb bush has a record of leadership in florida as commander of the florida national guard through eight hurricane, four tropical storms in less than two years. he's laid out detailed plans to confront and defeat isis in the middle east. he's endorsed by 12 medal of honor recipients, two from here in south carolina. over 40 former admirals and generals. he is making the case that he is the best. candidate to be commander in chief and president bush, the last republican commander in chief, tremendously popular figure here in south carolina. obviously is a huge validater for that argument. >> how -- and how does the campaign feel about this because you talk about what jeb bush did as the governor of florida. people will be reminded by some of the errors of president bush failing the folks in new orleans because of katrina or invading

iraq and now the situation that we have with isis. is that going to throw people into the past instead of throwing them into the forward vision for what bush is trying to paint for his presidency? >> not at all. first, just to set the record straight. when president bush left office there was a fragile but stable peace in iraq. the rise of isis has been under secretary clinton and president obama. this campaign is about the future. that's why the first two policy rollouts that governor bush said were reforming the v.a. to talk a care of our veterans and give them the care that they difficudeserve and to confront and defeat isis with detailed specifics on how to get that done. >> we've got this bloomberg politics national poll out taken last november. it shows bush 43's approval rating of 77% among republicanss. listen to what john kasich had to say yesterday about the bush

43 years. >> and i watched them blow the whole surplus and i asked people, who do you think was in charge of blowing the $5 trillion surplus. they say, it's the democrats. i said, unfortunately it was republican house, republican senate, republican president blew the whole thing. >> so as we look at what the campaigning together, the brothers coming together, does this seem to put jeb on the defensive as he's going to have to answer for his brother's presidency? >> not at all. governor kasich has a real problem here in south carolina because some of his positions, particularly expanding medicaid under obamacare and serious deep defense cuts are vastly unpopular here in south carolina. i think that's why you see him on the attack in this way. governor bush is proud to be campaigning with his brother, who as you know tremendously popular with republican primary voters. ultimately this is about jeb. his leadership abilities and his

plans for the future. >> you said that he's going to be honored to have his brother with him to discuss his virtues. he also said his brother is not going to be critical of anybody, just there to talk about the support that he has for his brother's vision as president. and we know a lot of people are looking forward to seeing the former president out on the campaign trail. michael, what do you think is going to happen tonight and the performance pressure that's on jeb bush to have a strong performance, to show those leadership skills to convince the voters here in south carolina? >> well, he's excited about tonight. we think he had a great exchange in the last debate taking on donald trump, gop front-runner. eminent domain. the issue of basically donald trump tried to kick an elderly woman out of her home to pave it over and build a parking lot for limousines attached to one of his failing casinos in atlantic city. i think tonight is a great opportunity for governor bush to talk about what real leadership is. you know, under president obama

we've had economic -- the weakest economic recovery since world war ii. governor bush has a plan to double that economic growth. 19 million new jobs, rising middle class incomes, fixing our tax code, fixing the mess in washington. a balanced budget amendment, term limits. i think we've got a lot to talk about tonight and he's looking forward to it. >> we look forward to it as well. jeb bush campaign senior adviser michael steele. thank you for your time. coming up next, the race for the democratic nomination where one of the emerging talking points right now is the current democratic president but hillary clinton and bernie sanders are saying about president obama just on the other side of this break.

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stage in greenville tonight wand the primary here only a week away, we've got this fight night just hours away and all of those candidates are going to be facing off tonight. only two are out this morning with campaign events. that is governor jeb bush and governor john kasich. the rest are all in debate prep mode. this is also a big weekend in the fight for the democratic nomination. we've got a slew of new ads and endorsements as the candidates make their play for both south carolina and nevada, the next state on the democratic calendar for a caucus. nbc's kelly o'donnell has the latest on the face-off that's taking place. good morning. >> good morning. i'm jaem u jealous. you've got quite a crowd there in south carolina. >> we have mimosa drinkers over here. mimosa drinkers behind me. >> i amtraking the democratic race. partly of what we see today and this weekend, thomas, is the importance of nevada being in our election season conversation. we are going to see both hillary

clinton and bernie sanders in nevada today and they will be doing that very important part of getting the ground game out, talking about getting out the vote because nevada is a caucus state and we saw that for hillary clinton she narrowly beat bernie sanders in the iowa caucuses. then when it was straight ballot voting in new hampshire it was sanders who had an unexpectedly large victory there. and so now it's about moving to the west, the mountain west and some of the different dynamics. there's so much of the travel industry in nevada which means a lot of unions for hotel and service workers who are a part of keeping las vegas a destination you have a changing demographic in terms of a larger latino population. so getting out the vote is critical. the latest we've heard from both candidates was in a slightly different macplace, in minnesot with where they invited both clinton and sanders to address

an annual event as a fund raise ersz for the state. it was a sellout. about 4,000 people there for what's known as the humphrey mondale dinner. each gave a speech. a lot of it was their standard message and stump speech. but you begin to see what stands out and that is, in part, how they address their relationship with president obama differently. in terms of their political message. so sanders poked first. then hillary clinton. and as you listen to these two clips, you you will get a sense that sanders, while acknowledging the president, is not going quite as far as hillary clinton who clearly wants to embrace him and his legacy. >> well, we have come a long way in seven years. we should be proud of the accomplishments of the obama and biden administration. [ applause ] but, we have got to be honest

and to acknowledge we still have a very, very long way to go to create the nation that i know all of us believe we can create. >> i think millions of americans are better off because of his presidency, so i, yes, will build on the progress he's made because i am a progressive who actually likes to make progress. >> so in sanders' comments there the word "but" was the key that he's acknowledging the president's legacy on terms of economic issues, but not feeling satisfied enough. much more enthusiasm from hillary clinton to embrace the obama record. and that of course is important when you're looking at trying to get out sort of the active democratic voters many of whom have strong ties to the president, believes strongly in what he has done. so to different appeal. both will be in nevada today

trying to get their voters signed up and ready to get out next weekend when the caucuses take place. thomas? >> kelly, thank you very much. appreciate it. our kelly o'donnell there. as you said, at a lonely white house. i'm sorry, kelly. we'll send some mimosas your way. >> that would be nice. coming up next, just a week before the third nominating contest, it's already too late for the republican establishment rally, to rally around a single candidate, or isn't it? we're going to examine that. the remaining ones as the field has started to narrow. all that and much more when we continue live from the liberty tap room. stick around.

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rubio's dismal fifth place showing, and jeb bush cracking the double digits, what some had forecasted to be a three-man race between trump, cruz, and just one establishment candidate, many assumed would be rubio, is still essentially a wide open race. talk of a brokered convention is once again risen to the surface and here's how marco rubio addressed that possibility on thursday. >> that could happen. i mean, that's not -- we're plan for anything. we're ready for that. we're ready for a long primary process. we're ready for a more traditional way. nobody can predict this year. it's completely unpredictable. >> with the republican party unable to focus efforts and coalesce against one establish emt candidate does that lead the path to the nomination wide open for a donald trump candidacy? i want to talk more about that with maccay coppins in greenville, south carolina, as well as our panelist onset at the liberty tap room. maccay, you delve into this with your book at the chaos hats happening in the party and

living through it live right now about the heart of the gop, how it can be captured and how that can then go on to take back the white house. is it so fractured right now that donald trump is the only person that seems to have the esteem necessary to get the nomination? >> certainly looks that way at the moment. though i would, you know, caution against drawing too many conclusions from iowa and new hampshire. that said, you know, you're absolutely right there new hampshire was supposed to be the place that kind of anointed a savior for the republican party. right? at least for the establishment. they believed that whoever won the kind of establishment lane, whether it was rubio or bush or somebody else, would be able to consolidate support among the establishment, come into south carolina strong, and get kind of the rest of the establishment field to drop out so there would be one candidate who is the standard bearer able to take the fight to donald trump and ted cruz. but instead, i mean, john kasich

would be coming in second place was basically the most chaotic possible outcome because now you have three candidates who believe that they can win the nomination. marco rubio's camp, by the way, i can report is not the only one talking about the possibility of a brokered convention. when you talk to people in ted cruz's camp, talk to people in jeb bush's camp, they're not willing to go on the record and be quite as forthright as others but they also say that, you know, look, we believe we have the best chance at winning this thing and we're going to stick it out as long as we possibly need to. if that goes to the convention floor, then we're willing to do that. and that is a recipe for prolonged chaos, i think, in this primary fight. >> yeah. well, and you brought the standard bearer phrase. right now trump is leading his republican rivals with 17 delegates. ted cruz in second with 11 delegates. marco rubio a close third with

ten. trump's lead can be a little bit deceptive as we look at iowa and new hampshire, only garnered enough percentage of the vote, 35%. really tracking in a similar nbc news poll as well. he is the front-runner. i mean, you can't deny that. south carolina could help punch his ticket further and the confidence he needs to go further. but who do you think from the establishment can breakthrough tonight? people love -- i was talking to the kids over here. they love to watch donald trump for the entertainment factor. but there is someone of an adult establishment background that's going to breakthrough tonight, who is it going to be? >> you know, i think that the way i would approach it is maybe the other way. donald trump's got his third light now. ted cruz needs to solidify his position as the solid number two. if he doesn't do that i think people are going to keep asking questions. if rubio has another down event,

i think his ability to recover from two bad showings becomes difficult. kasich has got a great story but clearly ohio and south carolina are not similar places. if bush is ever going to do it it needs to be tonight. this is his big chance to come through but i think that you're really seeing is while there are six people competing we don't have two people, as the democrats do, that are fighting it out and are going to fight it out all of the way to the end. >> yeah. >> so while there is a lot of chaos, it is not the anchor amongst two individuals that i see developing in the democratic contest that could really be problematic long term. >> we'll all be watching tonight. chris christie is not in this race anymore. he was marco rubio's debate kryptonite. see if anybody picks up that angle this evening. thank you for joining us this morning. appreciate it. we'll have much more here from the liberty tap room from our panel coming up. but he calls himself the former voice of trump. coming up next, we're going to

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i never thought we would see the day in our country when a communist, because that's really, you think about it, when a communist is the leading democrat -- we're going to have a communist against an entrepreneur. i like the entrepreneur. what do you think? >> so there we have donald trump at a rally last night in tampa, florida. his free wheeling speeches, we've all been witness them, helping propel him to the top of the polls where he remains as the republican candidates battle it out ahead of next week's primary here in south carolina. and that's the next contest on the republican calendar. we got fight night this evening for the gop as the remaining six take the sdanltage. it was this week as we saw former donald trump ghostwriter speaking out about his

experience writing for him. joining me now, the man whose job it once was to be the voice of trump adam. adam, good morning. >> hi. how are you? >> i'm good, thanks. explain when you were working for trump university, you say that you were the voice of donald trump, writing blog posts. how were you able to channel donald trump's voice in to that business narrative that voice? >> well, i basically immersed myself in all things trump and the office was -- there were about 12 of us in the cramped office at 40 wall street, the trump building. and the place was actually postered with eight-foot high posters of trump. you couldn't really avoid it. so it was really a matter of diving in head first. and at a certain point i just realized, i think this is something that is kind of possessing me.

and they agreed. my boss said, yeah, i think you got the voice of trump. he was the one who said, you know, i did something wrong. i wrote something that wasn't the right tone me said, you have to find the voice of trump. and i set out to do that. and eventually i did. >> what do you claim as your most famous trump line then? >> the glamour and the grandeur of my buildings rise above the new york skyline. i am the of new york, the stride of buildings that bear my name. that last piece is mine actually. he wouldn't say that. it's just -- i think -- >> i didn't want you to imitate i'm. i wanted you to give me the recitation of what you wrote but your trump i'mn impersonation good. he wrote, if you stop cheating

and doing negative ads. i have a standing to sue him for not being a natural born citizen. i know donald trump. this sounds like him and twitter has become one of his best friends in campaigning. how do you think that that has helped to channel his voice in 140 character or less? >> well, trump university's pre-twitter. i was writing a blog and he really didn't have this presence that he has now. i think he's taken to it. i think it serves his purpose. it's unfiltered. it's unfiltered trump. if you want trump any way, i think it's unfiltered. >> yeah, and i think that's why he is resonating so well. he's the outsider that is just telling it like it is. adam eisenstat, thank you. we're going to have more from south carolina straight after this. we will go also to nevada, that is the state where we have a week from now the democratic caucus. stick around. we're back with much more after

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hey, everybody. top of the hour. 9:00 a.m. on the east coast. 6:00 a.m. on the west. remain live here in columbia, south carolina. i'm thomas roberts. this is msnbc election headquarters, liberty tap room in columbia. just one week voters in the republican presidential race will get to make their choice. tonight the six remaining candidates for president will meet on the debate stage for the last time before voting begins again. so that's this evening in greenville. it's about 100 miles northwest of me. it's been a week of brutal attacks being levied against donald trump as he battles ted

cruz for south carolina's crucial evangelical vote. nearly two-thirds of the republican electorate here identify as such. this hour we're watching as jeb bush will be holding a campaign event, 9:30 a.m. the rest of the day is going to be spent doing debate prep. this is as bush fights for resurgence here in south carolina against the establishment rivals. john kasich comes in with some nice headwinds out of new hampshire because he came in second. and we have marco rubio who has some fans here, but who shall see how it all place out tonight because of his poor debate performance last time he's promising to deliver tonight. halle jackson has the latest on what we can expect from toon's showdown. >> good morning from a chilly greenville, south carolina. this morning the candidates are getting ready for their big night tonight. this debate stage will be the smallest it's been with just six people left in this race. and at the center of the stage you're going to see both donald

trump and ted cruz. the two of them already look ready to rumble. trump i'm sure you saw took to twitter, to hit cruz for being a liar, threatening to sue him for being born in canada. cruz dismissing that talk is what he calls a torrent of insults from donald trump's mouth. let's take a look at the other candidates. marco rubio you've got looking for a bounceback after his widely panned debate performance last go around. campaign aide tells me rubio is eager for tonight, he is ready for incoming fire if, in fact, he does face it. the other candidates may be poking to see if rubio's ready for facing some of that. you've got jeb bush looking to land a punch as he looks for a south carolina comeback. and john kasich hopes to keep up momentum, thomas, after that second place finish in new hampshire. kasich as you know has a little bit of a different tactic. he's trying to stay positivend stay above the fray. we're looking for some fireworks tonight. south carolina's a rough and tumble state. so it looks like that's what

we'll see on the debate stage, too. back to you. >> voter here's like bare knuckle politics to go with their shrimp and grits. thanks so much. while republicans prepare for tonight's debate here in south carolina, the democrats are out west where they will compete next in the nevada caucuses. hillary clinton campaigning today in henderson. that's just outside of las vegas. she holds a sizable lead in nevada according to real clear politics. is that lead in the silver state safe? joining us now is msnbc political analyst john rosin, a man who knows nevada politics better than anyone and remaining we many here at the liberty tap room state representative kirkland fin lay, chicago some times washington bureau sweet, and in the center, cofounder of create.com jamal simmons. great to have you back with me for this hour. john, nevada is a state where hillary clinton won over barack obama back in 2008. is there any reason to think that she won't repeat the

victory there or is bernie sanders narrowing the gap? >> i think he is narrowing the gap. i think sanders surge out of new hampshire, thomas, is real. you can feel it here, too. there was a poll that came out that's more recent than any of the past ones pap they' sones. they were all taken last year indicating the race is tightening. people criticized that poll because it was taken by a conservative outlet. it's clear the clinton campaign is worried. they came out of new hampshire immediately reversed what they were saying about nevada which is that it was a much more diverse state than either iowa or new hampshire. 80% white electorate here which is just false. it's not that way at all. the democratic caucus electorate could be 40% minority. the clinton campaign is formidable here. they set up last spring. they hired all the right people. people who worked here in 2008 in the obama and clinton campaigns. but sanders is making a run at her. he's gotten some endorsements now in the latino community.

he's had some big rallies here. so i think that they're worried about the momentum coming from new hampshire to nevada one week from today. >> so bernie sanders though, john, had an embarrassing incident last month in las ve s vegas. that's where some of his staff members posed as union workers to get in worker dining rooms. his camp apologized for this. we know the culinary union is huge and they have yet to endorse. are you hearing anything about which way they're leaning? >> it's interesting. i've been covering politics here since 1986, thomas. i've never heard of anything like what those bernie sanders operatives did, to essentially sneaking into an employee dining room wearing the culinary union pins. the culinary union leaders here were upset about it. they chided them. the question is will the culinary come out now in favor of hillary clinton, because of that? i don't think so. i think that the leadership is leaning toward hillary clinton but the problem is is that they stayed out so long now they

would have to have a good reason to come in before the caucus. but i have to believe that there are phone calls being made to tip the scales in her favor, to get the culinary leadership off the sidelines in this race because the clinton campaign i believe thinks that sanders is closing because, as you pointed out, the culinary union is so huge here, it is the latino turnout organization more than half of its 55 to 60,000 members are hispanic. so with them on the sidelines not really doing a turnout operation, that really hurts hillary clinton. >> jamal, you wanted to say? >> in 2008 when we were out there working on this caucus for the entire time, i tell you one thank that happened is the culinary union endorsed barack obama late but hillary clinton still ended up winning more votes in that caucus. now, obama ended up with more delega delegates. it's a weird system out there with the caucuses. i think that's going to matter. >> again, we split the date for the caucus there with the democrats going on saturday and then we have the republicans

going on tuesday the 23rd. kirkland, let me get you in here because we have the las vegas review journal, billionaire sheldon adelson owns that paper. he's endorsed marco rubio. do you think that's going to give rubio the boost a he needs to survive going forward and getting through super tuesday, getting through florida? >> sheldon adelson has demonstrated a willingness to invest huge sums of money in candidates that he cares about. i think what we're going to see is can rubio prove to him like gingrich did coming out of south carolina the investment is worth it. >> lynn, last word. >> i want to see the oddsmakers. >> out of vegas. >> where are they? >> john, get me some -- what's the board say? >> do you have any odds? >> my odds are that druconald trump, if he does well in south carolina is going to do well here. that endorsement from the adelson newspaper i don't think means that much. what means a lot though for rubio here in nef nef is he's

got a really good organization here. they've reached out in a very potent way to the mormon community which you guys remember is very important in a republican caucus. there was about a quarter of the turnout the last two times. of course, mitt romney is a mormon. but marco rubio was briefly a mormon when he was a kid growing up here. so his campaign is full of some prominent mormons, that could help him. i'm telling you everything that i've seen out here anecdotally and private information shows that trump is dominating. the problem is the caucus, you think the democratic caucus here is goofy, jamal. the republican caucus out here is goofier. doing it on a tuesday night with different start times and different counties. they had 7% or 8% turnout in 2012. there's no reason to think that it's going to be much bigger than that. so you have -- anything could happen which is what rubio is banking on. >> you said it, not me, goofy. great to see, you buddy.

thank you, shir shirr, the impo of bernie sanders victory in new hampshire being over stated? we're going to tackle the superdelegates issue coming up next. stick around. nobody move! get on the floor!

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thank you, new hampshire. and now it's on to nevada, south carolina, and beyond. >> bernie sanders. here we are back live at the liberty tap room. although bernie sanders took it home handily he didn't take home the number of delegates, the metric that decides who wins the nomination. they split the state's delegates 50/50. each coming out with 15. that's because clinton was

endorsed by members of congress, the new hampshire governor, and other party leaders in that state. the so-called superdelegates. the organization moveon.org will track all 712 superdelegates who have a vote at the democratic national convention pledging to launch, quote, accountability campaigns against superdelegates who don't pledge to support will of the voters. joining me now is walk director of moveon.org and moveon has endorsed bernie sanders for president. i want to starts with this because dnc chair debbie wasserman schultz said the suber delegates exist to make sure the elected officials don't have to be in a position where they're running against grass roots activists. so we have clinton getting support of over 360 of these superdelegates. sanders with fewer than 20. so if this exists and this is the structure that gets the nomination, at what point does this lead become insurmountable

for sanders? >> great to be with you, thomas. the key thing to remember here is the superdelegates can decide up until the last moment of the convention who they're going to support. what you're seeing right now is the current state of the tides. i think the key question is will these superdelegating ax actually follow the grass roots of the party and go where the energy is when it comes time to nominate a democratic nominee or thwart the will of the dem ek electorate. we're asking them to pledge when it comes time to vote to go whichever candidate won the primary and caucuses so the democratic nominee is the result of a democratic process. >> lynn sweet? >> ben, what this really is is a pro-bernie move because if the delegate count is close going into the convention, what move on is doing is trying to tell the superdelegates, if your state went with sanders and your pledge to clinton, they want to

create pressure to have them pay a price if they don't switch. so that's what's going on. i'll just kind of analyzing it and kind of make it sound a little innocent, ben, but this really is just a political play to help sanders, isn't it? >> how do you respond to that, ben? >> i would say the important thing is that all the superdelegates and the caucusgoers and primary voters want the nominee to be the person who has the most grass roots energy, who has the most passion who can turn out voters and win the general election. so right now there's a sense in which superdelegates are endorsing, you know, people who they might support at this point. but as the primary goes on, you might see what you saw in 2008, where superdelegates wind up going where the energy is. and we're asking superdelegates basically to pledge as soon as possible to go with the eventual winner so they're not thwarting the win of the democratic electorate down towards the end. i think they will do the right thing when it comes down to the final vote.

>> you sads it's undemocratic and fundamentally unfair? correct, ben? undemocratic and fundamentally unfair. >> i think it's unfair for the nominee potential to be decided by something other than the voters of the democratic party. >> all right. >> i just analyzing, but you know, it's a -- this is politics. we're here to talk politics. it's an interesting political play. >> superdelegate, they want clinton back in '08. do you think hillary clinton risks losing the support among superdelegate it is there's this type of challenge, if there's this type of grass roots energy? is there something -- >> i'll put it in a different way, which is this is the bigger challenge for bernie sanders is he's got to overcome this big institutional lead. the difference about '08 was barack obama and hillary clinton basically split the superdelegates. so that wasn't -- it was a tie. whatout want to do is hold those superdelegates in place and get enough popular support to overwhelm it. this time though bernie sanders is so far behind in the i understand stugal support he's got to have an upsurge from the people that it overwhelms those

institutional delegates. mo mo mo moveon.org, thank you. coming up next, why john kasich may be the candidate to watch in the coming days right here in south carolina. is he the wild card?

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welcome back to columbia, south carolina. we are live at the liberty tap room where we continue to host most of our broadcasts. this is msnbc election headquarters now. we got a good crowd behind us. still drinking mimosas. ohio governor john kasich is in grinville, south carolina. he's getting ready this hour to meet with voters and former clemson quarterback at a local barbecue joint, barbecue being big down here. he's drawing larger crowds than anticipated because he comes here with great wins after new hampshire. he has jumped six points in south carolina since last month.

new polling now puts him ahead of ben carson, in fifth place. i want to bring back in the conversation state representative kirkland finlay. you spent time with the former ohio governor. >> two or three times. >> do you think he can break through here? >> i think this is a strum right now. who knows other than donald trump, anybody could -- anybody -- the fight for second could -- >> does he have the cash to sustain it? >> i haven't kept up with his donations. i can tell you this. he is a good man. he's an interesting play for the republican party long term. i mean, he is a republican governor in a swing state that's become increasingly blue. he's got, you know, 70% approval in ohio. >> from a state that only gets you to the white house because you've got to take ohio. >> got to. >> want to talk about these two campaign ads released yesterday to help raise name id and profile. not negative ads. ads showcasing him up one is 100

days. the other is called healing. take a look. >> i discovered my purpose by discovering the lord. i believe the lord put us on this earth to use the gifts that we've been given to bring about the healing. and that's the motivation for me. >> so kirkland, he talks about this in this ad the fact he lost his parents in a drunk driving accident. this shows the heart of the governor, the 100 days, more the fists. that's the tough side and then the personal side. and i think for people here in south carolina that might be sampling and still in the marketplace because you guys are picky about your prom dates, he could resonate and people could say, you know what -- >> he is incredibly genuine. i mean, just look at his outreach to christians. it's a very different message. it's subdued. it's thoughtful. >> he's not willing to go negative but south carolinians like a little bit of -- >> a little humility. >> no, you guys like to see a

little blood, too. yes or no? >> everybody likes the occasional cage match. but what everybody -- when it comes to christian, you know, statements like he just made, there is a lot to be said for humility and there is a lot to be said for being a good guy. i think some of the other republicans in this race who are not trying to drape themselves in their christianity pick up a lot of support. >> right. it would be a more subtle about their faith and that can resonate with people because it seems much more genuine authentic. jeb bush has been attacking kasich all week. most recently his super pac releasing an ad yesterday accusing the former governor of ohio supporting massive defense cuts. we know how important the military is with so many veterans and active duty here in south carolina. i want to play a short portion of that attack ad. take a look at this. >> jeb spent all this time being negative. h is he worried about all about

his legacy? everything is trashing people. he needs to start being more positive. >> all right. forgive me we didn't have the ad but that was the governor's response to those ads. is that going to play well with the voter? i mean, if kasich can't stand up and deliver a punch back and just says, you know what, he's being negative. he needs to be more positive. do we need to see some strength out of him to say, you know what, jeb is wrong. i support this, that, and the other thing. i'm not going to cut and run when it comes to the military. here's why. >> i was just discussing this on another incident that while the republican electorate maybe doesn't want to see a fistfight, they do want to see exactly what you're saying, i think, which is some pushback. this is who i am. but this is why you're wrong. and i don't appreciate it. there's got to be some more -- several of the candidates need to push back in a definitive way. >> so if the governor started with bless his heart.

>> bless his sweetheart. >> yes. >> and then gone in, yes. >> swagger matters, thomas. >> when day hillary clinton has swagger. it's one of the things that works in her benefit and i think george bush in 2000 was a compassion eight conservative but also deliveres a lot of punches. >> bless all their hearts. in the middle of the fight for south carolina and nevada we're also only 2 1/2 weeks away from super tuesday. that's when 11 states will vote. up next, a preview of that day and what it could mean as it could finally define who the real front-runners are. i take pictures of sunrises. it's my job and it's also my passion. but with my back pain i couldn't sleep... so i couldn't get up in time. then i found aleve pm. aleve pm is the only one to combine a sleep aid plus the 12 hour pain relieving strength of aleve. and now... i'm back.

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all right. broadcast here live in south carolina. this is where republican voters will go to the polls one week from today delivering the verdict in the critical contest, the first in the south primary. all eyes on greenville, south carolina, today that's the site for fight night for the gop as

we get another republican debate. jeb bush is set to arrive. he's one of the only candidates out on the trail today. meet and greet with the voters. john kasich is going to be courting the same voters in greenville a few hours from now for famous south carolina barbecue. candidating are going to spend mores of their day prepping for tonight's debate. they want to have their lines ready. but as marco rubio learned last week, not too ready, not too prepared. you want to seem a little more organic with what you've got memorized. south carolina and nevada both next but campaigns are also looking ahead at the avalanche of contests on super tuesday. and that's just 2 1/2 weeks a y away. republicans and democrats will vote in 11 states march 1st. republicans will also head to polls in alaska and wyoming as with democrats in american is a mow. 1500 delegates up for grabs. ten times the number of awarded by iowa and new hampshire. bernie sanders and hillary clinton will both making plays

for supervisor tuesday voting. tonight in colorado voters at a state party dinner in denver. former president bill clinton is going to meet with voter in atlanta this afternoon. super tuesday is known as s.e.c. primary because so many contests are in the south. bill clinton is also appearing today in florence, south carolina, on behalf of his wife. so let's talk about who punches their ticket through. first, lynn, let's talk to you about how important it is to get through south carolina on the right, how do you see a win knowikno next owing of the race. who won't make it to super tuesday? >> ben carson who is basically on life support now. won't probably qualify for whatever next round of debates. doesn't have the national campaign. i think the others can survive until super tuesday no matter what. now, even if the official consolidation doesn't happen after the republican vote here where there's an anointed one to

be the number two, you know, they have the resources to go on. and i think i want to put in combination super tuesday arond the big march 15th primaries because in combination that happens in all the midwest states which plays to the strengths of the establishment. >> we know hillary clinton has been forecasting toward that group. >> and early voting has started already in om some of these places. >> kirkland, your essential analysis on who you think can punch their ticket through south carolina and who doesn't make it. >> well, i think the diagnosis that mr. carson, dr. carson, is probably out after this or should be is correct. and then i think we're rolling two weeks later and it's going to become money. to your point, it's 14 states. i don't know that anybody else drops out after south carolina, but i think march 2nd it's a very different republican field. >> okay. so as we look at the states that look good for hillary clinton coming up, jamal, which are the targets that bernie sanders can make the most inroads?

>> well, i think certainly nevada is going to be a tough one for, i think, for both of them. i see this being a contest between the two of them for a long time. and the divisions that exists between both of these candidates are real. i mean, they're older, more established democrats who are really big hillary clinton fans. there are younger, more rebellious democrats who are really big bernie sanders fans. and the two of them are going to to go at each other state by state by state. we'll see how it shakes out. >> all right. but they've got the money to stay in this. lynn, as you talk about the tv ads you've been watching. you just got in yesterday. and as you were flipping around -- >> 33. >> 33? >> 33. but tv ads become a lot. and they'll calm down here in south carolina in a little while and all that money and tall the ads get pushed elsewhere. how pivotal are the ads becoming now? >> there are a lot of ways that people communicate now that

didn't exist, including twitter. look what donald trump does with 140 characters. he probably could do as well with half of that. so you have the ads still survive though as the medium. not everybody watches everything. but there are also influential because they influence the political conversation, so even if you have other ways of communicating, even though this goes on a multiple ways, you -- if you have the money, you don't want to leave a flank exposed. speaking of money, another advantage bernie sanders has, we all know he's doing well with small donors. he doesn't have to take the time. most precious commodity of the candidate. so in the middle we're talking about the super tuesday. on wednesday in chicago hillary clinton is coming to do three fund-raisers and a get out the vote event because voting started. those are hours he doesn't have to spend. >> kirkland, how do you think it plays for south carolina voters to hear donald trump self funded? is that important to know that there's not money backing him to

the voter here's and that he is free of that type of connection? >> sure. everybody likes that, you know, that self affirmation that he is investing in himself and his own campaign. but i don't think that's what is going to make people decide one way or the other. i mean, there are five, six candidates now. there's enough for everybody. i don't think self funding is in the top five things that -- >> not having to owe anybody. not having to feel connected to some type of payback for access. is that important to the south carolina south carolina vovoter? you made a point before newt gingrich and sheldon adelson dumped a whole bucket of money to see him survive. it wouldn't work out but that money is important. >> what did i say, money is the mother's milk of politics? back to your point, without the money you can't buy the ads. you can't organize. but while i think it's important, i think people are going i want somebody who is with me on gun control or

religious freedoms or tax policy. maybe it's because it's so rare but that's never -- i've never seen a poll that says that is in the top five things that -- >> who know, it might be the greatest thing as we move forward. i had the interesting opportunity to go not too far away from here, stone's throw, to the university of south carolina and sat down with some of the college kids to find out about the temperature of the youth vote. boy, oh, boy, did i get an earful about how they feel. their favorites in all of this. they have different feelings, different passion, like free public college for all and marriage equality. whatever topic their candidate was the right person for the white house. take a look. >> by a show of hands who is going to be voting in the democratic primary here in south carolina. okay. and this leaves everybody else for the republican primary.

who is your candidate and why? >> right now my candidate that i am supporting the mr. jeb bush. his record and the record is the best out of everybody on that stage. >> i'm supporting senator sanders. i feel like i trust him. i feel like when he says this is what i believe, this is what he means. >> why don't you like hillary clinton? what is it about her candidacy or her as the potential president that you're not a fan of? >> i don't trust her, to be honest. any candidate under fbi investigation is alarming to me. >> i'll be vote for marco rubio. having a fresh, like a fresh young person in the white house who looks the way he does. he is articulate. >> who is your topic this primary. >> ted cruz. i'm very pro-life. i don't agree with abortions and i don't think that i should be voting for anyone that does. >> how important are social issues in this election season? >> very. >> very. >> very important. >> very. >> i am a proud gay american. also supporting donald trump.

>> what do you think he thinks about marriage equality? >> i think -- i would love for him to come to my wedding. >> you would love for donald trump to come to your wedding. >> abs lootly. that would be the best. let's talk about senator sander, his plan for free college tuition. >> free college sounds like a great deal but let's lock at the facts. it's going to cost money. who is going to pay for it? are we going to raise tax snes. >> it's a delusion. there's no way to pay for it. do you think that this building was free? >> i don't think that is fair that you tell someone that just because they don't have money to pay for college that they can't succeed in life. >> there's a perception from other folks about your reality. >> i have been asked some of the oddest questions that no one else of another nationality or race would be asked. for example, i've been asked, oh, did you get a scholarship to come here? i actually didn't. why would you assume that i did. i've been asked, oh, is your dad in a home? i've actually been asked that. no, my parents have been married for 22 years. i'm 20. >> i'm sorry. that just shocked me. >> oh, yeah. >> to no end.

i'm so sorry. i am not white. i am not black. but even so, i've never been asked anything like that. >> the american dream, is it dead? >> it's not dead but there are more obstacles to overcome. and with that the american dream is more motivation to achieve that dream. >> for some people i think it is. definitely changed, definitely more obstacles. but i'm optimistic. >> the whole idea of the american dream is slowly fading away in our culture these days and just like donald trump, making america great again. we will evolve with the times. >> the american dream for some is on its knees. a lot of us up here, we have a strong foundation and that's why we are here at usc, that we have parents to back them. but for a lot of -- i would say the majority of our nation, they don't have that strong foundation to bounce off of. >> passionate, opinionated and well read in. we appreciate those students at the university of south carolina taking time to talk with me. coming up next, live to

greenville, south carolina, the site of this evening's republican debate. the last time they meet on the debate stage before republican primary voters go to the polls here. and they are looking to -- anyway, south carolina is known for it, to shake up a race? they have reset presidential contests before. will tonight's debate be a game changer or voters here? ♪ give me miles, lots of miles, ♪ under starry skies above. ♪ ♪ don't fence me in. ♪ let me fly any time, ♪ any airline that i love, ♪ don't fence me in. ♪ give me a mile and a half ♪ for every buck i spend. ♪ double my miles when the first year ends. ♪ ♪ no annual fees, ♪ no blackouts, ♪ let the fun begin. ♪ don't fence me in. get the discover it miles card. if you have high blood pressure many cold medicines may raise your blood pressure. that's why there's coricidin® hbp.

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fifth place finish in new hampshire. that debate performance that was widely panned. this is his chance to really bounce back from that. over the past few days he has been trying to reinvigorate his campaign, to get back some momentum. he's had a warm reception here in south carolina. yesterday during the faith and family forum, evangelical voters seem to respond really well to what he was saying. but today expect jeb bush to go after him quite a bit. they're both fighting for that establishment lane of the party. and jeb bush who had his campaign reinvigorated by marco rubio's poor performance in new hampshire, this will really be a test to see if he can make a dent in his former protege's campaign. the two have a long history. marco rubio, he is trying to shift the focus from his poor debate performance to foreign policy and national security experience. of course jeb bush saying that that argument falls flat. a he really doesn't have the experience to be president. and again, his family has huge

political ties here in south carolina. his brother george w. bush is planning to campaign for him on monday. so he is really look to having a huge debate here. a lot at stake here for marco rubio and jeb bush, especially, thomas. back to you. >> gabe gutierrez in greenville, south carolina. gabe, thanks so much. we know that marco rubio is in debate prep all day long. only two are on the trail today using the critical time left to meet and greet the voters out there. as we mentioned we've got jeb bush and john kasich. they're the only ones holding public events today. jeb bush this morning and john kasich coming up at lunch time. the rest are in prep mode forth republican debate and the ramifications for the last debate in new hampshire are still being felt, raising the stakes for tonight. rubio is vowing not to be taken down this time around after suffering a poor performance last time. >> seven of those debates, if you want to believe the coverage of it, i did very well in those

debates. in fact, in seven debates -- 7.95 debates i did very well. i had a bad incident in the beginning of this debate and it clouded everything else we talked about. i feel great about everything else we did in that debate. but that one moment is going to capture the attention and, you know, it's on me. we're going to make sure that doesn't happen again. >> all right. so he's saying that it's not going to happen again. kirkland, what do you think is the one thing marco rubio needs to do tonight, maybe to be self depricating or to make some type of humorous remark about this, to shake it off as opposed to look like he's on defense about it? go on offense. >> self depricating. tv is a tough medium for that to work, he needs to say i screwed up and he needs to land a punch. he needs to say i made a mistake which people love hearing. they love hearing that politicians aren't always perfect. >> what was his mistake though, being canned and that he's kind of too preproduced and he can't

really speak organically on his own? what's the mistake? i think people do -- everybody loves redemption. but what's the mistake that he's owning up to, that he's not prepared? >> that he had a bad debate. >> okay. >> you're running for president. i mean, you're a leader in a free world. you can't have bad debates. to his point, i had one bad debate out of eight. i'm not going to do it again. i'm here to win. and go out and pop somebody. >> so is everybody going to be looking at him though as vulnerable kid that's on the stage. >> yes. >> yeah. okay. >> i mean -- >> we know who is school yard bully is. as we look at donald trump now threatening to sue ted cruz and his standing, kirkland likes this, but his standing, he has it, legal standing, lynn. this doesn't have to go through any legal courts. it can play out on twitter. >> oh, i think with his candidate thing, it doesn't matter if he's filing a lawsuit or not. and by the way, with marco rubio tonight he has to show, and i'm

paraphrasing his line, marco rubio has to show he knows exactly what he's doing. he could even make fun of himself. but i think if trump has been suggesting people should file the lawsuit, to hold it over him as a threat is extortion. right? you know if you have to layoff me or else i file. if he thinks there's a need for a lawsuit, trump should file the lawsuit. we'll see if he's pressed on that tonight. >> all right. so jamal, let me ask you about the establishment candidates because you can say it's really make or break for jeb bush and also for john kasich. we talk about marco rubio. performance pressure for him for sure. but it's a different category for a jeb bush that really needs a strong showing here because kasich can live a little longer out of new hampshire and ride those tail winds. jeb bush, maybe not. >> well, especially because of the bush family history in south carolina has been so strong, so for bush to come here and not do

well is going to be a real rejection for him and his family. i was struck by one of the earlier segments that we did when his spokesperson was talking about what bush was for. it sounded so remarkably, frankly, like hillary clinton. 2 strongest candidate, most qualified commander in chief. resume points one would make but that's not how people are making a judgment about president. they want somebody they connect with, they trust. that's the question for bush, can they get that connection with the voters. >> the cult of personality seems to be an issue for both sides of the democrats and the republicans. i want to thank all three of you. i think you can now go to the bar. >> pancakes. >> pancakes. >> pancakes. shrimp and grits is on the men few. i think i have some waiting back there. don't touch the polls. perhaps you will have more faith in the oddsmakers. if so, stay with us because coming up next we're going on the joined by a legendary vegas

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[ cheers and applause ] i think we have some bernie supporters behind me. donald trump is the odds-on favorite. hillary clinton is the leader for the democrats. minority turnout may make the best one to bet on. but with seven days, anything could happen and the odds could dramatically change. we're bringing in the best the business to handicap the races,

legendaryjimmy vacaro. so we have some bernie fans in the house, and the proper bet in nevada and the best bet sis on hillary clinton right now. is that what you're hearing? >> sounds like super bowl sunday right here. >> that's what we're trying to capture here, super bowl sunday magic. >> was the biggest handle on super bowls we had here, $132 million. that was the first point of business, the second point is people were picking up the odds sheet on who would win the nomination and presidency. it was as busy as i've seen. people coming up to me before the game started talking about it. you're right, odds have changed. a few months ago hillary clinton was the carolina panthers, you saw what happened at the end. make no mistake about it. in this case she's still the favorite. down from 15-1 to 5-1, here

comes bernie sanders creeping up the left-hand side. on the other side, it's trump, rubio and cruz. kasich had his day in court, and i think jeb bush is spending a lot of money for nothing. the people have spoken. i would just guess from talking to all the people last weekend, i would put it this way -- 35% of the people on both sides know exactly who they'll vote for if the election were tomorrow, barring anything catastrophic. there's a 30% in the middle which are millions of votes and they'll decide who will be in the white house come next january. i can tell you hillary is coming to town. i can tell you like obviously she's slipping here in nevada but still the leader. right now she's the leader to get the nomination. she's still the leader to win the presidency and trump is real close behind her. >> i want to ask you about that. las vegas is a trump territory. with his hotel not far away from where you probably are right now. is he the safe bet or is there an undercard that people are feeling more confident about?

>> well, i would give bernie sanders a bigger shot than a few weeks ago. he has to win a portion to expand his catching up to hillary. hillary is in henderson, nevada today. supposedly will be here for a while. but it's going to be interesting. bernie, he's made a little dent in nevada, make no mistake about it. once he was an out-party, now it's 3/2 that she wins the culinary vote, but once again, sanders is sneaking up very aggressively. >> what about donald trump? where it stands on the right. is that safest bet for how the general match-up is going go, that trump is going to be the one to punch his ticket for the gop nomination. >> i think so. when i opened this up i always knew if we put trump on the

ticket anywhere, he would draw the excitement. he has made a hail storm out of it in a good way. he's getting people to obviously for the first time in a long time look at all the candidates. this is not just like a stamp. i believe it will come down -- yes, anything can change in politics, i would say it's hillary versus trump. at that particular point in time, hillary will be the favorite, not a big one. maybe a 7/5 favorite which is not a lot when you talk about odds to win the white house. >> vegas oddsmaker, jimmy vaccaro, thank you. >> thank you for having me. that's going to wrap things up for today's show. thank you very much for joining me live at the limited taproom. i just got some shrimp and grits. this is on the menu tomorrow. tomorrow i have to head back to new york for weekend "nightly news." hope you tune in tomorrow night. keep the conversation going on social media. don't go anywhere. my colleague picks up our coverage next.

she'll have the latest on the democrat democratic race and senator cory booker will be here. you are watching msnbc, the place for politics. be good.

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app-connect. from the newly redesigned volkswagen passat. right now you can get $1000 presidents' day bonus on new 2015 or 2016 passat, jetta or tiguan models. >> good morning, we are now just one week away from the republican primary here in south carolina. and the remaining republican candidates are gearing up to face off tonight in their lone debate before voters cast ballots. the candidates have been making their final pitches to potential voters with jeb bush hosting an event in greenville, south carolina earlier this morning. john kasich holding an event that's scheduled to start in about two hours. the south carolina primary will be the first contest since the gop field thinned out a bit after tuesday's new hampshire primary results with the departure of new jersey governor chris christie fresh from his mugging of