thank you guys so much for your hospitality. it's good to be home. "mtp daily," up next! if it's friday, is it closer than we thought in south carolina? our new numbers say it's down to single digits. win, place, or show, five candidates have a lot on the line saturday. this is "mtp daily," and it starts right now. >> good evening and welcome to "mtp daily." it's primary and caucus eve. we may call it shake up saturday, when all is said and done tomorrow. two different states, a huge day for republicans in south carolina. and a pretty significant one for democrats in nevada. bernie sanders hopes to pull off an upset against the firewall

the clinton campaign thought they had with voters of color. and clinton is hoping to underscore the point she made to us last night at the msnbc telemundo town hall. the idea that there's only one long-standing and tested democrat in this race. we'll dig into the democrats in a few minutes, with top advisers for both the clinton and sanders' campaigns. but first, let's look at what's at stake for the republicans in south carolina. because tomorrow's result will have a huge impact. not just on shaping the race, but on probably winnowing the field. and you have to wonder, is some dirt finally sticking to the teflon candidate? donald trump's lead in the south carolina primary has shrunk, according to our new nbc news/"wall street journal"/marist moll. before new hampshire, trump led by 16 points in south carolina, but now cruz and company have closed the gap to just five points. it's less cruz going up than trump coming down. marco rubio, by the way, is sitting in third, just ahead of jeb bush in fourth.

there's every chance that the poll could be an outlier. we've seen other polling in south carolina conducted before that debate last week, that indicated trump having a larger lead. but something clearly happened this week with trump. that's a fact. but we don't know what's going to happen with the pope and there's a lot going on. so, it did start with that saturday debate, when he started getting booed. it ended with a tussle with the pope. somewhere in between included a stepped up threat to sue ted cruz. a polling drop actually should have been expected. and by the way, the clash with the pope might not end up being a drag on donald trump. instead, don't be surprised if it's something that could help him stop the slide and maybe even give him a bump. why? just remember this. when something as controversial as immigration is brought to the forefront, trump does well, no matter what the conversation tone on immigration is. for the vatican's part, a spokesperson now says the pope's remarks were not a personal tack on trump or an indication of who

to vote for. as for trump, he does sound happy to move past the pope and pit cruz and rubio against each other. >> this is ted cruz. this is the biggest liar i've ever seen. even -- i'll tell you what was good. even marco rubio said, he's a liar. and when a politician says another politician's a liar, i've never heard that before. i felt so good! for cruz, his gains are crucial for a campaign that cannot afford a third-place finish. the texas senator needs to display and appeal to broader part of the electorate than his evangelical base. otherwise, he may face the obscurity of past iowa winners, like mike huckabee and rick santorum. and today, there are reports of a robo call that slams trump and governor hailey for their position on the confederate flag. >> trump talks about our flag like it's a social disease. >> respect whatever it is that you have to respect. let it go. put it in a museum.

>> donald trump's bankrolled nearly every major democrat in the country, he's funded our enemies, he's ridiculed our values. >> respect whatever it is that you have to respect. let it go. put it in a museum. >> on saturday, send donald trump and his new york values back to manhattan. ted cruz for president. >> now, the recorded message is not affiliated with the cruz campaign. obviously, it's somebody that supports cruz. now, remember, a third place victory narrative that rubio had in iowa, it's not going to work this time in the palmetto state, and frankly the rubio campaign knows it, with a slew of high-profile endorsements in and out of the state, he still is yet to put a "w" on the board. he definitely needs to finish ahead of cruz to gain any kind of moment out of success. then there's john kasich. he has plans to leave south carolina before the results roll in. his hopes aren't high for this contest, but a single-digit showing could dial back some of

that momentum he gained in new hampshire. and then there's jeb bush. did seem a bit dim today. he hit the trail with his mom again. a poor finish in south carolina. a state where the bush brand is perhaps its strongest could mean the end of the royal. even bush loyalists are conceding the end could be near. another article out today echoing others that have come before it, but a south carolina finish below rubio for bush could be the last chapter. one last factor to consider. south carolina has a legacy they'd like to hold on to. nearly every winner of the past primary side has gone on to win the nomination. the only black republican in the u.s. senate colonel serving both threw their weight behind a cuban american candidate. that picture alone is a fresh look for the republican party that many critics say is desperately needed. but it's not the one leading the polls. will that matter to voters? our reporters are all over the trail today. hallie jackson in west columbia, with the cruz campaign.

they'll have a rahlly later thi hour. katy tur in north charleston, south carolina, where trump will rally at 7:00. hallie, you know the cruz campaign. they got an endorsement from congressman mark sanford today. who knows whether that stuff moves the needle, but i think it's clear the cruz folks, i think, are looking over their shoulder as much as they're looking at trump. >> you know it, chuck. they've kind of got eyes in the back of their head, looking at rubio, eyes up ahead looking at donald trump, as it appears this race may be tightening in south carolina. and you are seeing cruz all week long, really, in south carolina, chuck, hammering both of these candidates. we heard him talk about donald trump today, talking about how his positions on israel are not right for the republican party. we heard cruz hitting trump on making america great again, only being on ball caps and cruz saying, you've got to do more than that. you also saw him slamming marco rubio. this is something where we are seeing this race potentially tighten and get, as befits south

carolina's reputation, a little bit nasty. cruz right now focusing on his get out of the vote efforts tonight and then tomorrow, over the last three weeks, they've done some hundred thousand door knocks in this state. we were out with a couple of volunteers earlier in the week, including one man who actually moved from iowa to be here in south carolina, just to be knocking on doors for ted cruz, because he believes in cruz's message. you're seeing that in a lot of different campaigns. but for ted cruz, there is a lot at stake here. his campaign, even before new hampshire, was talking about, hey, we're going to do well in south carolina, we're going to do well as we look ahead to those s.e.c. primary states. so this state is a place where cruz has to come and play hard and prove that he can, in fact, appeal to this broad swath of the electorate, like he did, for example, in iowa, when he got those big numbers behind donald trump. >> we shall see. we know he cannot afford third place, that's for sure. let me go to katy tur with the trump campaign in north charleston. katy, on one hand, they've got to be glad that the pope spat is behind them, but i can tell you,

in talking to all the other campaigns today, all of them biting their nails, thinking the pope didn't hurt trump. they think the pope may have helped him. >> well, the pope could have potentially helped them. we talked to a lot of supporters at his rally right after that and they said they couldn't believe that the pope was getting into politics. they believe that trump was in the right in this situation. today, he's been really confident out on the trail, talking about his great poll numbers, except for that one poll, that "wall street journal"/nbc news poll that shows him only five points ahead of ted cruz. but he's also a little bit on the defensive, talking about that 2002 interview with howard stern, where he said, i guess so, when it came to the invasion of iraq, whether he supported. he said, "i guess so." he said that he might have been supporting of it then, the first time anyone asked him of it, but before the iraq invasion, he was against it. but buzzfeed is just now reporting that there is an interview with fox news, neil cavuto, one day into the iraq invasion, where donald trump said, it appeared to be a

tremendous success from a military standpoint. something that no doubt, he will have to respond to, as well, because he's been touting the fact that he says he is -- he was against the war in iraq, against the invasion, this entire campaign season, using it as a barometer for his judgment, saying that he was against the war, he knew better when all of these other politicians didn't. certainly, an interview like this does not bode well for the campaign, chuck? >> that's for sure. we'll see if this stuff sticks. teflon donald, you never know. katie, thanks very much. now let's head out west to the democrats in nevada. kasie hunt is with the sanders' campaign, on their way to sparks. obviously, plenty of metaphors there. they're hoping for a nevada spark. how confident are they that they're going to pull this off? >> hey, chuck. we just arrived in sparks, actually. the golden nugget, as you know with, the nevada campaign events are some fun ones. at this point, the sanders' campaign is pretty confident

that they're there'll going to get something out of nevada that they didn't necessarily expect to a week ago. they believe that things are very, very close, obviously, it's pretty difficult to poll here in nevada, trying to figure out the university of caucusgoers is pretty difficult. but they feel like they're in the position to deal another blow to hillary clinton at this point. and there's a lot, more than, i think, we expected riding on this for both sides. because if sanders does, in fact, have a poor showing here, after people have talked so long about it being close, it's going to say a lot or at least, we're going to read a lot into whether or not he can, in fact, ache inroads with those minority communities. but on the flip side, if hillary clinton ends up not doing well here after being so far ahead, after making so much of this caucus strategy, saying they learned so much from what happened here in 2008, she doesn't pull it out, that sends them into south carolina with momentum on sanders' side, and just a handful of day before we head into those march 1st voting states. so a lot of already looking

ahead on the part of the sanders' campaign and the clinton camp into places like texas, oklahoma, massachusetts, and elsewhere, chuck? >> kasie hunt, all of a sudden, the candidates are going to be all over the country, i think, in the next 48 hours, i think. kasie, thanks. so what will happen in vegas? a lot on the line for clinton and sanders tomorrow, shake up saturday. plus, vocal support. the actor who has played the voice of god blesses hillary clinton with his narrative endorsement. we'll check in with both campaigns. stay tuned. ♪ ♪ it was always just a hobby. something you did for fun. until the day it became something much more. and that is why you invest. the best returns aren't just measured in dollars.

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a short time ago, president obama and first lady michelle obama paid their respects to the late supreme court justice, antonin scalia, who is lying in repose in the supreme court's great hall. we also just learned that while at the court, the obama's met privately with members of justice scalia's family. as is tradition, the justices' former law clerks will take

turns standing vigil at scalia's casket throughout the night. scalia's son, paul, who was a priest, held a short prayer service this morning. a funeral mass will be held tomorrow. msnbc will bring you that mass, starting at 10:00 a.m. we'll be right back. and energy to stay healthy. who's with me?! yay! the complete balanced nutrition of great tasting ensure. with 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. ensure. take life in! until one of you clipst da food truck..

then your rates go through the roof. perfect. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. liberty mutual insurance. folks, this much we know. a loss for either sanders or clinton in the silver state could actually be a serious blow, have huge implications for the race going forward. for clinton, a loss would mean sanders can outperform her when the electorate isn't 90% white. it would mean another week of each campaign trying to one-up the others and appealing to minorities and another week about the clinton campaign, dysfunction, message problems, blah, blah, blah. but if sanders is going to puncture the idea that clinton is the inevitable nominee, nevada is a state for him to do it. and if he can't win under these circumstances, then where can he win with a diverse electorate? so if you want to see the gravity of what these campaigns are dealing, just look at last

night's msnbc town hall in las vegas. we saw clinton go for the jugular with sanders when it came to his criticism ovf the last two democratic presidents. >> maybe it was that senator sanders wasn't really a democrat until he decided to run for president. he doesn't even know what the last two democratic presidents did. and you know, i'm -- well, it's true. >> there is one of the two democratic candidates here who actually ran against barack obama. it wasn't me. all right. >> as you saw there, sanders trying to deflect those lines of attack, but he also seemed to stand by all comments that he made about wanting a primary challenger against president obama in 2012. >> overall, i think the president has done an outstanding job. and the idea that there can be a primary where different ideas get floated and debated, i don't think that that is terrible. >> so you actually still think he should have been primary -- >> look, this is a media issue. >> here's why nevada, though, is

so crucial, appealing to minorities is the battle ground in this race. nevada is the first contest on the democratic side with a more diverse lrkt. and it sets up the big one in south carolina, one week from now. for clinton, that contest can't come soon enough. we've got new numbers from our nbc/"wall street journal"/marist poll from voters in south carolina. clinton is still up big. the lead narrows a little bit, but it's still a big lead. she actually had a lead closer to 40 points a month ago. so he's narrowed it some. but she still holds a big lead all across the board. much of her strength comes from the state's large share of black voters. she leads sanders by a truly astound margin of 68-21. and today, clinton nabbed the coveted endorsement of the senior democrat in south carolina, congressman jim clyburn. >> i learned a long time ago that hillary clinton is a fighter and that's what we need

in our next president. >> the clinton campaign is also out with a new ad in south carolina, featuring the voice of god himself, morgan freeman. >> her life's work has been about breaking barriers, and so would her presidency, which is why for every american who's not being paid what they're worth, who's held back by student debt or a system tilted against them, and there are far too many of you, she understands that our country can't reach its potential unless we all do. together. >> don't you -- you hear morgan freeman and you think, can he narrate the most mundane things in my life and make it sound interesting. for sanders, his big opening with minorities may be clinton's big trust issues within the party. clinton continues to struggle with those questions. we saw that last night. >> you talk about leveling with the american people. have you always told the truth km >> i've always tried to, always. always. >> some people are going to call that wiggle room that you just

gave yourself. always tried to. i mean, jimmy carter said, i will never lie to you. >> you know, you're asking me to say, have i ever? i don't believe i ever have. i don't believe i ever have. i don't believe i ever will. >> joined my senior strategist to the clinton campaign, joel benenson. welcome back to the show, sir. >> thank you, chuck. >> let me just start with nevada. how badly do you need a win? do you need this win? >> i think we always want to win. we're playing hard to win. we've got a good ground game there. we've had 9,000 volunteers there since april. i think -- and we've been saying this for a couple of weeks. nevada's important, south carolina's important. but really looking at the long-term through the month of march, which is when the majority of the pledged delegates are going to be contested. so each of these is important for some piece of this, but we've got a long field ahead of us, heading into march 1st, 8th, and 15th. >> i want to ask you, is the biggest problem she's facing, is it questions of trust? is it not ideology?

is it really on trust issues, when you look at the new hampshire exit polls and look at some of the national polling, the repetitive headlines that you get when she gives an answer like she gave to scott pelley. is that something she's got to fix? to secure this nomination? >> look, i think that, you know, you say, is that something she's got to fix? hillary clinton is running a very strong race. we have split the first two caucus and primaries. we're going into nevada in a very good position, i think, and a good position where, you know, going to depend a lot on turnout. we look very strong in south carolina and we look very strong in super tuesday. i think the voters are assessing both of these candidates and coming to the conclusion that when it comes to who they can count on to make a difference in their lives, to break down all the barriers that are holding them back and reach their full potential, and make america reach its full potential, the answer to that question is hillary clinton. and i think as we go forward here, we're going to contest that over the next few weeks, and we're very upbeat about how

that stacks up. us against senator sander. >> you know how momentum works in these things. so even though, yes, there's more delegates in two weeks, is that what nevada and south carolina are about? is it setting a little bit of the momentum -- i mean, look. we've seen in the national polls. iowa, new hampshire, what happened there had an impact on democrats nationally. >> well, look, i think every race has some impact, but it's not transformative. i think we saw this the last time we had contested primaries in the democratic field in 2008. and we saw it in 2012. but in both of those races, candidates won irrespective of what happened along the way in any one state. and i think, you know, i know that we're obsessed with nevada today and we'll be obsessed with south carolina next week, rightly so. they're the only game in town those days. but you really have to accumulate delegates throughout the month of march, and that's where the playing field is going to take shape in finality.

i don't think any one of these states have outsized proportion. i think they influence the conversation until the next state comes. >> let me ask you quickly on the immigration front, you guys have been hammering bernie sanders today and yesterday over a vote he made in 2007, against that bill. you know, barack obama was also somebody that didn't like that portion of the immigration bill. does that present a little bit of a contradiction for you guys? >> i don't think so, at all. i think, in fact, if you look at senator sanders' comments in the town hall last night, i think he's continually not being straight with his comments at senator obama. he says very con genely, oh, i have some disagreements with him. he called senator obama president obama while he was facing re-election and a bevy of attacks from republicans weak, he said he was a disappointment to millions of people when he called for that primary. i think that he's got to be straight with the american people about his criticisms. he's got a blurb on a book right now called buyer's remorse, how obama failed progressives.

i think you just have to be straight with people. if you don't like president obama and didn't like him, you ought to just say it and own it. don't try to paper it over by saying, we just had some agreements, when in fact you called for a primary against him, he was in the heat of battle against a vehemently aggressive republican party. >> all right. joel benenson, i'll leave it there. joel, thank you very much. let me turn to the other side of this campaign and this primary campaign. tad devine, senior adviser to the sanders' campaign, he joins me from las vegas. i imagine he was just listening, just now, to what mr. benenson just said. so, tad, let me ask you to respond, but i want to ask you, at least shape it a bit in a question. there is some ambiguity here. what was the line of criticism versus praise? because it is -- i'm confused, at times, at how critical he wants to be versus how much praise he wants to throw on the president. >> well, chuck, you know, i'm

not confused. you know, bernie has said repeatedly, he thinks president obama, vice president biden have done an outstanding job. they came into office when our nation was losing 800,000 jobs a month. we were on the brink of a second great recession. we were involved in two wars, one in iraq that both bernie sanders and barack obama opposed. hillary clinton did not. so, they had to deal with a profound mess. and they cleaned it up and the only reason we're in a position today as a country to think big and move forward is incredible job they did. now, have they disagreed on issues like trade and other issues? yes, they have. and bernie's been up-front about that. but he thinks the president has done a great job and has said so repeatedly. >> how important is a nevada victory to your campaign? what does it mean -- i know, look, i know you guys don't want to say you have to win, but what does a victory mean? >> well, chuck, we're working hard to win. you know, here, as we did in iowa, as we did in new hampshire. i think it would mean a lot. but i think we're going to prove a point here, which is bernie

sanders can win votes in a diverse state like nevada. i think you'll see a lot of support tomorrow from the latino community here in nevada. i think you'll see a lot of support from the coalition that bernie's been building, young people who he's bringing into the process, independents he's brought into the primary. i think they'll come in here tomorrow. so, we've just got to build. and listen, i agree with joel. this thing isn't going to end tomorrow or next week. it's going to go on for a while. and we think that's good for us, because the more people get to know about bernie sanders and his message and his background and his life, the more they support him. we want to keep this going for as long as we possibly can. >> i want to ask you about something that senator sanders' brother is quoted as saying in the daily beast today. he says this of bill clinton, quote, this is larry sanders with, the brother of bernie sanders. the media have a lot to answer for, i think. you don't get that detailed discussion. you get, is hillary a nice person? is bill really such a terrible rapist or a nice rapist?

it's at that level of discussion. so you could imagine that people could have a pleasant opinion, but not based on the actual policies. some harsh words there from senator sander's brother. does the senator stand behind that? >> chuck, you know, bernie loves his brother very much. his brother has lived in england for 45 years. his brother, larry, does not speak for bernie or for the campaign and bernie absolutely disagrees with his brother's characterizations of president clinton. >> so he does not believe what he called president clinton in there? >> no, he disagrees with that characterization. >> all right tad devine, i'll leave theit there. thanks for coming up. we'll turn back to the republican race now. top advisers from the trump, cruz, and rubio campaigns will all be here together at the same time to make their cases on the south carolina showdown. it's shake up saturday. stay tuned.

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it's primary eve in south carolina and there's a major fight for first on the republican side. top supporters from the top three campaigns all here together next. but first, here's susan li with the cnbc market wrap. >> stocks ended the day mixed, capping off their best week of 2016. the dow and s&p finished slightly lower, but up 2% for the week, at least. the nasdaq up nearly 4% on the week. we had a tough session today for nordstrom, which sank almost 7%. the company's results missing estimates and guidance also disappointing. then we also have had heavy equipment maker deer, a decliner in the session, its earnings better than expected, but revenue fell short. that's it from cnbc, first in business worldwide.

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. if the republican party had

any guts, they would have terminated cruz from that election, because honestly, he cheated like a dog. >> well, he's lying. and i think it's disturbing. i said that at the debate. he's now literally just making things up. >> saturday night at the debate, his temperament was on display. >> yeah, it's getting a little heated, huh? welcome back to "mtp daily." we're less than 14 hours from polls opening in south carolina. we're talking to the campaigns, from the three major contenders tonight. katrina pearson is the national spokesperson. jason rose is senior adviser for the rubio campaign. welcome, all of you. ron, i want to start with you, because i want to get you to respond to, let me play a little snippet of this, a cruz supporter has a robo call out on the confederate flag and donald trump. let me play a quick snippet and ask you about on the other side. >> trump talks about our flag, like it's a social disease. >> respect whatever it is that you have to respect. let i go, put it in a museum.

>> donald trump's bankrolled nearly every major democrat in the country. he's funded our enemies. he's ridiculed our values. >> respect whatever it is that you have to respect. let it go. put it in a museum. >> on saturday, send donald trump and his new york values back to manhattan. ted cruz for president. >> so, ron, i want to ask you, officially, is that your campaign behind it? >> certainly not. and as a matter of fact, if you take a look at, you know, the issues that are raised, either how the people of south carolina deal with their own flag and that issue, which has been resolved here in the state, you know, i think what you see now in the final hours as we close in on voting taking place here, is a lot of mud being thrown. i think you have donald trump, who has a lot to lose tomorrow, i think you have marco rubio, for whom this is a make or break election for him. he's told his donors that his 3-2-1 strategy that he needs to win in south carolina.

so, who knows what type of things people are going to wind up saying over the course of the next, you know, 24 hours. our campaign is focused on our message. that is, that uniting the conservative base, making sure that our party has a candidate that can win the general election going into -- against hillary clinton or bernie sanders, whoever the democrats come up with, and that remains our focus. >> do you repudiate that robo call by this un -- it's a -- is this something that you repudiate? is this something that you don't want your campaign associated with? >> i haven't seen this before, so i'm not aware of it. this is the first time you're showing it. and it's not sympathetomething e of at all. >> katrina, let me go to you. obviously, there's been a lot of back and forth on cruz. where is donald trump on the flag issue? >> well, you know, i thought the ad itself was quite interesting, particularly promoting a candidate like senator ted cruz, who supposedly overwhelmingly

supporting the tenth amendment, i think it's onge to support a governor after a state has voted and support the governor on that and support the people in that state. i'm not quite sure where that was. and that's all mr. trump was doing. >> jason, let me go to you, you heard from ron, he called it make or break for you guys, how important is it for you to finish first or second, given all the advantages you've had this week in this campaign? >> well, you know, i was actually delighted to hear from ron that the campaign cruz is running is going to be focused on their message, because i missed that, because they spent more time talking about marco rubio and donald trump than anything i've heard coming from them. the reality has always been, we've got to be in the top tier, and we're not going to define that, but whether it's win, place, or show, it's within the context of what we do. but after south carolina is done, only 4% of delegates will be have been awarded. we're only halfway through the first quarter of the match. we have a long way to go before we define who's in or out at this point. >> jason, the only endorsement

you don't have in south carolina is strom thurmond, because he's passed away. you've got every major endorsement you would want in south carolina. how do you defend third place? how do you define that as victory? >> i think strom has a couple sons around here that are supporting us. people don't win based on endorsements, they win based on the vision they have for this country. and so far marco rubio has been the only candidate really laying ought his vision of leadership from where we're going to go. he's not spending time with robo calls, misrepresenting other people's records, putting up phony websites with photoshopped photos of other candidates. he's talking about his vision for the future of the country, and let the other candidates talk about us. >> ron, look, you guys -- >> but if i can add to that? >> katrina, let me get ron to respond, because everybody's been piling on cruz here. so let me get him to respond, ron. i'm sure you feel a little piled on. >> i mean, give me a break. the reality here is that marco rubio's campaign directly has said, over and over again, they have told their donors over and

over about their 3-2-1 strategy that they have to place third in iowa, that they have to place second in new hampshire, and they have to place first in south carolina. so far, they have a 3-5, and, you know, you know, who knows what it's going to come out tomorrow, but it's not looking too good for them, to meet their own expectations that they met. and i certainly hope they didn't tell their donors they were going to eke out a victory in south carolina just by screaming and yelling and making an issue out of other candidates, when, in fact, they've just been challenged on their own record. marco rubio ran as an insurgent candidate, as a conservative in florida. he betrayed that. he went to washington, d.c. he cut a deal with charles -- with chuck schumer. he teamed up with barack obama to introduce the rubio/schumer amnesty bill. and at the end of the day, that's not a record that is selling too well. and that's why he's in third place right now. this is a make or break by the standard that his campaign set directly. >> all right. katrina, i knowed up to jump in. let me let you jump in. >> well, i just wanted to point

out the difference between the three campaigns. the trump campaign doesn't have super pacs, the trump campaign is not -- does not have people in a room, figuring out how to smear other people. they're not doing fake photos and facebook ads and even negative ads, for that matter. mr. trump is focusing on his vision. he will respond when he's attacked. and i find it interesting, with the cruz campaign, particularly, with the fake website they put up, hitting marco rubio for hitting fastrack obama trade when senator cruz was the one who went out there with paul ryan, by the way, to push this through. so this is the problem that we have. we have two senators arguing over policies, trying to hold one against the other. when you have a guy who is out there, has been out there for decades, creating jobs, that have been opposed to these globalist trade bills, which is, by the way, worst than nafta. and that eliminated a third of the jobs in south carolina. donald trump is ahead in the polls, because people know that he can go out there and do what needs to be done. >> jason, let me ask you this.

do you believe that donald trump was helped by the pope? that a refocusing on immigration actually helps trump? >> well, i think it's a pattern of donald trump doing something that gets all the media attention and people start focusing and talking about those things. and it makes it difficult for the other candidates to get their messages out. i actually think that we've done a very good job in the local media of continuing to push our message, about what marco wants to do for the country. and so, you know, that's the position we're in, of selling marco, and not talking about the other candidates. >> and ron, look, if there's been a criticism of the cruz campaign this week, it's, has he been too focused on everybody else and not focused on his own message, what do you say to that? >> well, i have to take issue with what jason just said. because the marco rubio campaign strategy of the last week has been, wherever marco rubio is challenged about his liberal agenda in washington, d.c. on immigration or not showing up for work in the united states senate, he just turns around and says, no, no, no, liar, liar, pants on fire.

and that's not really a strategy at all where you're taking responsibility for his own record. marco rubio should stand up and take responsibility for his own record and explain why he doesn't show up for work in the senate, why he has the worst attendance rating of any united states senator, and why it is that he turned his back on the people who elected him in that florida republican primary, and co-sponsored the most liberal piece of legislation on immigration and then did everything possible to try to turn that into law. a massive blanket amnesty that he specifically said he would not support. and on the issue of sovereignty in the united nations, only one president for candidate of the united states, ted cruz, challenged the world court of the united nations in court before the united states supreme court and won that case, 6-3, even though the president of the united states, george w. bush, at the time, was on the other side of the issue. that is the type of track record of conservative leadership in washington, d.c. and as solicitor general of texas that we need right now. and that's why senator cruz is looking stronger as we go into

tomorrow's vote. >> i have to say, this has been enlightening. katrina, very quickly, the question i asked to jason, do you believe the spat with the pope actually helped your candidate? >> well, i do. and this wasn't something that mr. trump brought up. this was brought up by the pope himself. and, you know, the vast majority of republicans want to build a wall. they want to get immigration under control in this country. so i think a lot of people took offense to that. but now you have the pope on immigration going after mr. trump, along with barack obama and hillary clinton, so looks like mr. trump is on the right side of the issue. >> well, we shall see. i have to say, the three of you, this was very enlightening. i might get out of a job and they might hand the three of you this show for an hour. thank you all. good luck tomorrow. stay safe. enjoy what is a great campaign and a great race. quick programming note, ahead of tomorrow's republican primary, lester holt will anchor our "nbc nightly news" tonight from columbia, south carolina. up next, a hashtag hang up. did britney spears backtrack on

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requests from the united states' government, but from the chinese, russian, and iranian governments. >> but count me in as somebody who is a very strong civil libertarian, who believes that we can fight terrorism, without undermining our constitutional rights and our privacy rights. >> first of all, apple ought to give the security for that phone, okay? what i think you ought to do is boycott apple, until such time as they give that security number. how do you like that? i just thought of that. boycott apple. >> yeah, people are going to stop using their iphones. good luck with that, donald. presidential candidates are weighing in on apple's battle with the fbi. and here's something interesting, by the way, about trump's new call for an apple boycott. this is a twitter photo from our producer, anthony terrell, who is on the trail with trump. it shows a new campaign t-shirt stand in north charleston, south carolina, right now. look closely. notice the i-pads used as registers. trump's not yet calling for a boycott. pretty hard to boycott apple when you have to use it that much in day-to-day commerce.

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you know south carolina pretty well. you know southern politics pretty well. we have this new poll that shows a much more narrowing race. everything you hear behind the scenes indicates there is something to our poll, even though people in the public want to say -- what say you? >> i think there is a lot of strategic voting going on. jeb bush has had a bad week, after a good -- they want to make a difference, help decide the winner of the state. a potential boost for marco rubio. but all the candidates seem to be bunched up from what i can gather. any out come among the three is possible. >> interesting, susan. donald trump, i had multiple campaigns not named trump say the worst possible thing that could have happened to them was this pope spat, because it actually forced trump to get the message for the first time in a week.

he's been talking about bush and iraq. he had been bleeding all week and then all of a sudden, the pope gets him back on the one issue that got him to the front. >> who would think you could get attacked by the pope, and would benefit your political -- >> maybe. >> talking about immigration, a good issue for him. fighting back, which is his brand, and also, in south carolina state, which has a lot more evangelicals that catholic, and that's a help. >> the old catholic prejudice of the south is not what it used to be. there are not a lot of republicans. >> it's not the same thing if it happened in rhode island. >> or pennsylvania or ohio, where there are a lot more republican catholics. there are fewer in the south. >> there are. this is something bigger, i think. that's when donald trump stopped seeking the republican nomination. he has attacked planned parenthood, he has supported planned parenthood and the individual mandates, israel and the pope. that's not a guy trying to get

50% republican primary. >> he also this week, brad, laid out which we all knew was coming, well, if they try to block my suit of ted cruz, that would suggest they're not playing fair with me. the groundwork has been laid for months and months. if donald trump wants to run as an independent, if he decides he wants to, he's going to. well, did he that thing with rights. he signed it. if somebody printed it off the internet. >> there is a deadline for this. it is approximately the 1st of march. >> yep. >> the sore loser law for him, but gathering signatures to get on the ballot. >> and money alexander if he wins tomorrow night and that's the most likely scenario, isn't he in really good shape to get the nomination? >> why wouldn't he be? >> i don't think so. >> i'm interested to hear this. >> i think he gets 50% of the struggle for him. i think he can get 35% in any

state for as long as he wants. if he goes with less than 144 delegates, he is a loser. he has to have more than enough delegateds before he gets there. >> i agree, but i did the math. math is an english major for me. i think, look, some of this is weird stuff like does kasich stay in until ohio. because poe ttentially he could rubio a lot of good. wins or take all. that's up in the air. brad is right he has to be over the number before the convention. but i don't know that he wouldn't be. he is ahead right now, 13 states on march 1st. is he ahead in 13, 12. >> will it change. >> will it chalk if he wins? >> it is shakeup saturday. we know on the republican side. how much of a shake up on the

democratic side. >> sanders victory means. >> hillary clinton didn't win with decisiveness. you know, by a hair in iowa. so that just delays that she needs to like win something, right. i think while she is still in a very good position in south carolina, you've got to assume she wins in south carolina. does it give sanders some momentum even going there, and of course to the states that follow. >> i have a contention that actually nevada a must win for them. if you can't do -- >> right. >> because this is tailor made. if they can't win here, where will they win. >> if he doesn't win in nevada, he is not winning in south carolina. >> we know that. >> how do you win tminnesota caucus, but is it offhand. the hard thing for sanders, let's say he wins nevada. that will raise the stakes for

going forward, but i don't see he is the nominee. it looks like she can't be the nominee. i don't think the party is going to say, the democratic establishment -- >> final word, ten seconds. >> if she can't win in the states where the unions control the process, where can she win a caucuses. >> she won't win any caucus. >> ten in march, by the way. >> all right, thank you all. this was a good one. good way to end the week. we'll be back with more "mtp daily," sunday, it's meet the press, right after shakeup saturday. you don't want to miss that. "with all due respect" starts right now. i'm mark halperin. >> i'm john helemann. >> and i'm jim clyburn, with all respect to my friend bernie sanders, i'm with hillary. that's pretty good there, right. >> not bad. tgif sports fans. presidential candidates might be