show. >> that's great to say. your stuff is coming after it comes back from the cleaners. >> thank you, rachel. >> if you want to play the most awesome game on msnbc news. "weekends" with alex whit starts now. hey, everybody, good morning, i'm thomas roberts live at msnbc headquarters here in south cloiv carolina. it is roughly 7:00 a.m. polls across the palmetto state, who will survive into the final hours as we begin this moment in history. >> if the republican party had guts, they would have terminated cruz from that election. honestly, he cheated like a dog. >> i said that in the debate, he is literally making things up. >> the temperament is on

display. >> some 2500 miles away, la late into the night, stakes couldn't be higher. hillary clinton, bernie sanders, hoping to ramally potential caucus-goers in and around america's gambling capital. >> so let's go caucus tomorrow! let's get out of the past! let's win this election! let's make sure our country stays on the path of progress into the future! >> people will look back on what happens in nevada and say this was the beginning of the political revolution. >> and as we celebrate democracy in action. we also celebrate the legacy of a judicial lion in the nation's capitol. people of all political background say good by to justice scalia. msnbc starts right now.

this is the place for politics. [ applause ] >> hey, everybody, good morning. we are serving bricks and a lot of politics in the liberty tap room. this has been our headquarters in south carolina. the heart of columbia. we have been here all week following the ups and downs of the political campaigns. this promises to leave its mark in history than the skirmishes playing out in two states thousands of miles apart. here in south carolina, polling places are already opened. by the day's end, the winner can hold the clearest path to the gop nomination. in nevada, it was a bitter campaigning. the big question, could bernie sanders pull a huge upset? and then back east in the nation's capitol, a somber day is ungathering, justice antonin

scalia is laid to rested. a live report on. that first, tensions at the clinton and sanders' camps at a rally last night. former president bill clinton lashed out at for sanders. >> he had a lot of passion in his primary and it's fine with me. but hillary's opponent talked about how bad i have been for african-americans and poor people. well, let me say this, if that campaign has been remarkably fact free and a lot of the numbers don't add up. >> it's all on the line here. we bought the the republican side trying to use every last second they can to have their candidate win. we have this new robo-call by a pro cruz super pack first obtained by front runner donald trump on his position on lbgt

rights. take a look. >> it's fought about politics anymore. it's about mandatory celebration. it's about forcing people to bake cakes and photograph gay wedding, forcing clergy to officiate. it's about transgender bathrooms in your child's schools, about tearing down our judeo christian values, ted cruz for president now before it's too late. >> the robo-call is being conducted at a time when 86% of republican voters think trump can win in november. that's a few national poll by the associated press and gfk, joining me now, jeremy peters, politics for the fork times and francesca chambers white house correspondent for daily mail.com. i appreciate you guys getting up early for me. i know it's been a long trail so far. i want to show these headlines what folks are waking up to today. this is trump's race to lose,

question mark with a picture of nikki haley alongside marco rubio. this other image of donald trump riding an elephant party of who question mark. this has been a wild one to watch. we will know later tonight who will come out a declared winner. your assessment of this gop poll or a.p. pom, donald trump leading nationally. six in ten gop voters saying they have an unfavorable opinion of him. 54% said they won't consider voting for him in a general election. it seems there are more people willing to talk about they don't want to hold their nose and elect him. but here in south carolina, he has a commanding lead. >> he does. it's hard to see anybody winning other than donald trump. although, i would fought underestimate ted cruz and slippage we seen if recent south carolina polls, i think he has a decent shot at winning here. >> meanwhile, francesca, the

latest marist poll shows trump's rivals are closing in on the gap. the momentum here right now at least on the front page of the state newspaper, it seems to be marco moment item. people are feeling a different electricity from that campaign. >> you had could feel a new energy, sort of nikki haley injected excitement into his campaign. tray dowdy. popular politicians. two other polls show marco rubio rising. so i think tonight we could see him taking 2nd place over ted cruz and maybe even coming closer to donald trump than anybody would have to the prior to this. >> so the pro super pac and the stance on lbgt issues, do you see that as something that would work for voters that hear this robo-call and think twice about voting for trump? >> it's strong from that robo-call we just heard. nothing different if you had been to a cruz rally yesterday

and heard phil robertson talking about those issue, those sinners are essentially all the way to go down under it was really colorful language. so i think that's where ted cruz is going here for. a little of the shock value, trying to shock them into saying, hey, donald trump could get elected if you don't vote for me. hurry up. >> the super pac is allowing other feex to do the dirty work for you. there have beening a sakes of the dirty tricks of the campaign trail, marco rubio shaking hands with president obama. marco rubio is calling him a liar, i'm glad he said it first, now i can say it too. so they can tooind kind of team up with that narrative about him and the dirty tricks. >> they are, don't underestimate how deeply that can cut ted cruz. ted cruz is a candidate who has run on his integrity as a conservative. when he campaign, he often

stands in front of a banner that says trust ted. so if they can chip away at the notion he is somehow the only legitimate trustable conservative. that's probably what is responsible for what we are seeing in the deter your rakes. >> we are missing the t. they have certain letters highlighted one color. the ted part highlighted in a different color. we got john kasich out there doing well, running this feel-good warm hug campaign that's been nice to watch and comfortable to watch. he came inning is, didn't have a lot of name i.d. here. fran kiss ka, do you think he will be a dark horse to come through and punch a ticket out of south carolina to make it through to super tuesday? >> i think it was smart for him to shift away from south carolina and start focusing on the states he can win. we were ju talking about the

three people that will come out on top here. he's not one of them. >> that to again move to these other states will potentially give him another lifeline in this race. >> what about ben carson, jeremy? >> oh, ben carson, here's the thing, could he go onto the march 1st states? he probably has some money left to do that. money's never been a problem for him like it apparently is for jeb bush. i think that you have to start to wonder, though, what the future is for the carson campaign if he comes in 5th or 6th place. >> folks are waking up, getting ready to head to the polls. they are officially open with the first gop primary. halle jackson is outside a polling station in colombia, joins us right now. we see a live shot of a man cleaning the sleep out of his eyes. they're on site and ready to go. what do you see? >> reporter: i missed the guy selene e cleaning the sleep out of his eyes, it is early, people are showing up.

south carolinas are punktual if nothing else. this is a final push these candidates are heading out on. really all of them have something to prove, whether it's how dominant they can be or proving they can stay in this race. i tell you what, this morning, if donald trump is dominating the headlines against with new controversial comments. listen. >> this morning as the republicans blanket the state, the state of play looks like this, donald trump on top, raising eyebrows once again at a south carolina rally this time for telling general john pushing to shoot muslim prisoners a century ago. >> he took 50 bullets, he dipped them in pigs blood and they shot 49 of those people and the 50ing person, he said, you go back to your people and you tell them what happened. >> reporter: but according to rumor tracking website

snopes.com, there is no evidence it ever happened. trump's comments coming the same day he went on defense. >> i was against going into iraq for a long time. >> reporter: after months of highlighting his position on the iraq war, new interviews now unearthed seem to suggest something different. with howard stern before the war. >> are you for invading iraq? >> yeah, i guess. so. >> reporter: fox news now confirming this interview took place just after the start of the iraq war. >> he looks like a tremendous success from a military standpoint. >> reporter: the trump campaign responded saying mr. trump didn't say he supported the war. he commented on the invasion one day after it began. trump is now afternomping up hi attacks on ted cruz, cruz hiting back. >> it's easy to say, let's make america great again. he even printed that on a baseball cap.

>> a super pac supporting cruz slamming trump about new robo-calls about the confederate flag. trump talks about our flag like it's a social disease. >> reporter: cruz, campaign with phil robertson. >> imagine phil robertson as ambassador to the united nations. >> reporter: marco rubio is joined by south carolina governor nikki haley. >> we want to do for america what nikki haley has done for south carolina. >> reporter: his campaign warning supporters to watch for quote dirty tricks from cruz today t. two in a ferocious fight for 2nd. jeb bush not far behind. his mother by his side. >> amazing, 90-years-old, still going strong. >> he is hoping south carolina won't be his last stance. ben carson, thomas, is hoping he can surprise here in south carolina. john kasich, by the way, not in the state. he's up in vermont and massachusetts today, part of his

strategy to look past this primary to see where he thinks he will be able to do better on those march 1st super tuesday primary dates. >> i know we will be talk throughout the day. thank you. now we check in on the democratic side of things, we have the nevada caucuses today. kristen kel e welker is in las vegas. we saw the sharpening of attacks last night. >> reporter: indeed we did. just to put this into gambling terms. it's as if secretary clinton had a straight flush. now that has all but disappeared and sanders may have the winning hand. what happens here is going to have rip him effects for the rest of the nominating contest. it all comes down to turnout. hillary clinton and bernie sanders making their closing arguments in nevada friday night. >> i have a feeling, folks, we're going to make history tomorrow you are going to win here in nevada. >> we got a lot of work to do,

my friend. i think it's a privilege to do this work. but we got to do it together. >> reporter: and with the race deadlocked, they spend their final few days criss-crossing the state, courting latinos and african-americans, all critical to winning here. >> guess what, there's a caucus here in nevada! >> there is so much at stake in this election. it will be one of the more consequential decision you will make starting tomorrow at the caucus. >> reporter: the rhetoric is also heating up, with clinton accusing sanders of fought being a real democrat and sanders accusing clinton of playing politics with her whole heard embrace with president obama. >> we know that's trying to win support from the african-american community and with which the president is enormously popular. >> reporter: bill clinton getting into the game after sanders jumped over his

presidency. >> sanders proponents, that campaign has been fat free. >> reporter: nevada was supposed to be an afterthought for:her double digit lead evaporated to one point. 48 to 47%. political analyst telling andrea mitchell. >> there is no question both campaigns think it is within the margin of error, it can go either way. that's why you see all this activity on the last day. >> reporter: now on friday, secretary clinton picked up a key endorsement from top democrat and south carolina congressman james complyburn. that could affect that state. thomas could also hear in nevada. now, for secretary clinton, a win would be critical. it will regain her momentum she lost in new hampshire. for sanders, it would prove he is viable if these states that are larger and more diverse. so a lot on the line here in nevada. thomas. >> high stakes. nbc's kristen welker. thanks to my panel.

real quickly, headlines, could you carry nevada like you did in '08? if she doesn't, we will see it slip away in this whole election. it's happening here in south carolina, have you george bush and barbara bush campaigning for general.l it doesn't look like jeb will do better eater. >> did you do it like '08? >> i don't know, it's close, a new poll has her up by five. she's been tied within one. bernie sanders did get some support from the white house yesterday. the white house jumped in, said we are not taking sides in this race still, however, they will not say she's disloyal to the president. >> that could help there. >> marco rubio, nikki haley,

this is where the presidential primary got under way. 16 minutes ago. we see some folks on site getting ready to cast their ballots. ballots. back in a moment..

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you don't see that every day. introducing wifi pro, wifi that helps grow your business. comcast business. built for business. in a matter of hours, a historic good-bye in the nation's capitol, governor antonin scalia, the funeral will be held at 10:00 eastern. justice correspondent pete williams is outside the washington basilica of the shrine of the immaculate conception. give us more details. >> reporter: right the funeral will be there at the basilica. this is the largest catholic church in north america. they expect about 4,000 people

here today. 4,000 people turns out to be about the number filed past the casket yesterday. it was carried into the supreme court building past 100 of justice scalia's former law clerks into the great hall of the supreme court. so many people came to see that lying in repose that the court had to stay opened extra time. the president and mrs. obama came by to pay their respects. they were among the many people. those folks that came into the court waited for sometimes two-and-a-half, three hours, just to get ysidro u inside. justice scalia's son paul, a catholic priest if virginia, said a prayer on friday morning before the president and mrs. obama arrived. the prayer was for members of the family and the remaining eight justices. he will be the sal brant at the mass here at the basilica. >> that will be followed by the burial, which will be a private ceremony. as for a successor to justice scalia, president obama says the

justice is reaping out to tell them he intends to move ahead with the nomination. we don't phone when that can be. the senate's democratic lead, say it could take up to a month, thomas. >> nomination, no word on whether that can be confirmed. thank you, pete williams. we will have much more coverage today. we invite you to watch. brian williams will host, beginning at 10:00 eastern this morning time. back here in south carolina, polling places are now opened and for the next 12 hours, any register voeders, can cast a ballot in today's republican presidential primary. yes, it's opened. so i had a brief chance to talk with candidate marco rubio. his supporters about his future. >> is this the face of the new gop? >> is this the face of a new gop? >> this is the new face of the gop. >> he said it's like a benetof ad. >> they are passionate. they will do whatever it takes

to grow our party and stay as conservative and unique. >> reporter: what is south carolina doing tomorrow? >> we'll show people what we're made of. >> knee cap. what happened to your knee? >> i fell at a marco rubio event. it's one of the bruises i am willing to take. >> i think marco will do very well tomorrow him we'll wait to see what the voters say. we're excited. marco momentum is real. we will look forward to the results. we will see a surprise finish. >> reporter: what do you think donald trump is doing? >> i'm focusing on marco rubio not donald trump. as marco goes up the reality is other candidates will come down. >> so that was a moment on the trail yesterday. it want to bring in gavin jackson, state house reporter for charleston's the post and courier. gavin, good to see you this morning. i want to thank everybody at that event, a brief glimpse of the electricity they are creating on the campaign trail. do you think that is the face of

the new gop, that diverse collection? that's what we have been seeing especially with governor nikki haley, covering her in the state. she has been on the cover of "newsweek." i know she was speaking to that earlier last year, too. i think what you are seeing on that stage, i think it has quite frankly democrats worried what they are seeing out there. they see a great, you know, diverse crowd right there appealing to people. right now, they currently have two white candidates and you see the giant diverse field on the gop. at least one candidate on the gop. >> the governor characterized it as a beneton ad. i said, what does that mean? she says it's for the passion. it's the visual, stark contrast and diverse people that might not be typically friend in an alliance. >> vivid ads from back in the ''80s and '90s. for gen-xers, we know what that

means. will that turnout be impactful and all time high? >> i think it will be. we had a thousand people at the last primary. i know they were saying 650. i'm sure it will be higher because there has been so much attention on this race and i just don't see it going anywhere more than 650 and up. >> we show donald trump leading the pack. . is that the collection of the top three? except for donald trump being first? >> i'm pretty sure. i can't say officially, but i think marco rubio and ted cruz, that's obviously a race to watch. a lot of people are watching that. i heard people say watch marco take 2nd. if he does, that's very big. >> are there headlines or captions for that? >> i think other primary states, ben carson had good numbers out there, too.

i don't know if that's enough to carry it forward in talking to people, jeb bush. if he can't win south carolina, where will he win? that itself the big question. >> nice to see you, sir, from the post and courier. what would a victory mean from sanders? would an endorsement hurt his chances as we take a look at another polling station already opened here in south carolina for republican voters. it's quiet right now, you see folks getting checked in and ready. this is msnbc. the place for politics. much more coming up. stick around.

>> the polls are opened in south carolina for members of the zb op him actually, i opened. if are you a democrat, you can throw a vote somebody's way, there is a lot of data that shows a criss-cross like that. we have a major pre-primary for

hillary clinton, this as she earns the endorsement from congressman jim clyburn. i asked him about the timing. here's what he had to say about that. take a look. >> my heart has been hillary clinton from day one. >> you are hopie you hoping thi seal a victory in nevada? >> to be honest, i was on the phone with a few of my friends in nevada. they know the last four of or five election cycle, i campaigned a lot in nevada. i have quite a few friends there. a senator urged me to come forward now, exsfroming that it may help nevada. i certainly hope. so. >> so will it work? congressman clyburn's former spokesperson and executive

director of the south carolina democratic party amanda loveday joins me now. nice to see. >> you nice to see. >> you this was interesting yesterday to hear the congressman come out in advance an early endorsement for hillary clinton. we don't have folks here going to vote until saturday the 27th. >> right. >> that's a big advance lead. why do you think he is coming out? is it baked into the nevada caucus? >> i think a little bit. i think it's correct. he campaigns a lot in nevada. he has a lot of friends in nevada. when i worked for him, he was in nevada a lot. i think he wanted to make an impact here this weekend. >> she carried '08 over barack obama, he endorsed barack obama. >> not early. >> not essential, correct. >> but poed bill clinton. there was a fracture there. past and prologue how things are this time around. not coming out ahead of the caucus today. so clyburn is sending this his heart is in the right place.

as we know, our team put out a certain advantage among young blacks. if she maintains it, it will have implication with alabama, louisiana, mississippi, if clinton remains the candidate with younger and older black voters, she could run up big victory margins in the states. does she look weak if she doesn't have a definitive win out of nevada? eeking out iowa. losing in new hampshire. not a decisive, clear win today. >> i think what happens today in nevada will have an impact on south carolina. if bernie sanders wins or is a close margin loss, he will have momentum in south carolina. jim clyburn here in south carolina is twofold, one of the biggest impacts on hillary clinton's campaign. >> with him being the senior most member on the hymn, our folks, older folks will look at that as okay, i want to listen to him, because i know him, i love him. i like him.

but are younger folks inclined to do that? or do they want to make up their own minds because we seen that generational divide where millennials are interested in burning. from a minority or not, they are willing to listen. >> this cycle i think you may see a little more than that, millenials thinking more outside the box. we are seeing they were able to vote spec as the baby boomers. so if they turn out, it could be a big deal. but i think jim clyburn is the most popular and respected democrat in south carolina. >> they had a turnout in '08. >> i do not think. >> all right. we'll know later today and certainly tomorrow. great to have you. thank you for your time. we have this robo-call attacking donald trump for his position on gay rights. 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.

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hi, everybody, welcome back to our special election coverage this morning. 7:36 a.m. here in south carolina. the polls are opened. we are looking like at ale poing station in lexington, south carolina. this is where folks are going to be coming out all across the palmetto states today and cast their vote on the gop side of things. it is an open primary. the republican party set the record turnout, possibly 650,000 voters. i'm thomas roberts. we continue our election from liberty tap room in the heart of columbia. this has been our msnbc headquarters over a week now. then coming up at 8:00 eastern, we will bring a two-hour special edition of "morning joe." we have an array of guests as this primary unfolds right here all day long on msnbc. we will have the best coverage in the business for you. right now we want to talk about

how campaigns are using every last second to count. they have robo-calls from a pro cruz super ac attacking donald trump on his gay rights. the 60 second spot was sent to 180,000 south carolina homes. this is a portion of the call.

>> nbc's vaughan hilliard is here in south carolina, you have been covering this campaign. what do we know about this spot? >> the pro super pac. he does radio adds, robo-calls. he sends them to 180,000 people. south carolina is known for having these provocative ads. you have ben carson allege that ted cruz sent out robo-calls. donald trump allege that ted cruz sent out robo-calls and marco rubio. there are the questions, is it connected to the campaign, super pac. for this instance, we know who it is. he said, hey, i am fought running from anything. we are using donald trump's words in a place like here, they feel they actually the have a chance to pick off a lot of these voters. >> there was another robo-call about the confederate flag. i want to bring into our coverage now, scott hoffman, the professor of political science at winthrop university. you are based here. you know the cycles of south

carolina politics. is this dirtier than normal? or is this just regular dirty? >>. we have to get our cliches right. this is the bare knuckles politics of south carolina. we can go dirty. the whole flyers under windshields things. remember, there is where the bushes accused mccain of having a black baby as opposed to his adoptive daughter. this is par for the course. it's really not as much about converting people as about turning out the base that ted cruz needs. this will get people on the ens of what to do today off their duff out to the polls. so the people really concerned about these types of gay rights issues are more likely to turn out. it's not that suddenly they will say, wow, i was with trump until five seconds ago. it's turning out the bases. >> is that south carolina,

evangelicals? >> they make up 60 to 65% of the republican primary electorate in south carolina. you know that's separate from the normal evangelical who might go to church and not be political. these are people already politicized and viewing politics through the limbs of their faith, things like this can bring them out. >> insiders say marco rubio will pull off a win. i was at a campaign in colombia. there was an electricity to that ruling. for the folks that turned out to him. but for the insulation he has around him with nikki scott, tray dowdy. this image the gopments to present a new marco rubio. how important is that in south carolina? >> it is important. although, most millennials have no idea. >> gen-xers. we know what it is. >> we know what beneton is. the optics are great. they help the party nationally.

>> that establishment blessing. marco rubio has a 98% american conservative union lifetime rating. ted cruz is 100. he's no moderate. this is really a blessing by the establishment to say here's the popular tea party friendly guy in tim scott. he supported nikki haley. i think the most it does is toss water on jeb bush's attempt to push up and grab that establishment lane in south carolina. >> it's about the rear view mirror as opposed to the front shield, the windshield. bush may have related some of the folks. >> in fact, one of marco rubio's super packs has been sending out flyers. one of the flyers said, what do bush and clinton have in common? they're both fames from the past with ideas from the past. that's exactly the message they're trying to get out. >> that all stardz with sanders on the left, coming up, outsider, although, he's been inside for decades on the hill.

vaughan, into is to see you in person. scott, tavengs for your time this morning t. race in nevada's caucuses appear to be neck and neck. so tight. how could the minority vote be a be ig? that's next..

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see your doctor if your asthma does not improve or gets worse. ask your doctor if 24-hour breo could be a missing piece for you. see if you're eligible for 12 months free at mybreo.com. >> all right. so we got the democratic candidates engaged in a battle for the diverse vote. >> that is the black voting block and minority voters. hillary clinton sat down on tuesday in new york. clinton enjoyed some very strong support from the african-american community over the years, but in washington thursday, bernie sanders also met with some of those very same leaders. i want to bring in president and ceo of the national urban league. >> good morning. >> mark, you were at both of those meetings. right now, nothing is baked into

the sa the cake, who do you think has a better grasp for the issues for the future of this country when it comes to issues that face and concern minority groups? >> you know, i think that's a question the voters certainly have to decide. i think what this week represented was a clear understanding of a reflection by both of the candidates for the democratic nomination as to how important civil rights, social justice and economic justice issues are and how i think how they're at the center of so many of the issues being discussed, be it criminal justice reform, immigration, income inequality, economic growth. that's what this week was about. i think with hillary clinton, there's a long track record, experience and some very specific ideas, with bernie sanders has indeed a great deal of passion. so i think what we are trying to do, what we tried to do, organizations that do not

endorse is elevate in their minds, the importance of the agenda that we reflected. now, here's where we are, thomas. south carolina is the beginning of what i like to call march madness of american politics. and march madness will either be march gladness or march sadness for all of these candidates because this is going to be a rapid fire succession of primaries in which there's a very diverse group of voters that these candidates have to appeal to i think we will see some revealing things over the next several weeks. >> well, we know that hillary clinton has a stronger standing within the sec primary states. that's going forward as we forecast the calendar to super tuesday. we do have this endorsement from jim clyburn, this new ad a voice my morgan freeman. i want to play a portion of that. take a listen. >> after high school, she could

have joined a high profile law firm, instead she exposed races in alabama schools, voters in texas and provided legal aid no families in arkansas. her work has been about breaking barriers and so would her presidency. >> i mean -- >> it's so powerful. >> who doesn't love that voice and know it really well. we have for bernie sanders the fact that harry belafonte naacp the former president endorsing the senator. so is there a vision of among folks, and, mark, as you said it, about packs, bernie sanders demonstrates it. but is he not a pragmatic pick? >> this is what you see. this is so important a. lot of conversation is about a so-called african person voting block. the truth is, black america, when it comes to voteing is not

mon monolithic. doesn't work in lock step with any leader or groups of leaders. we see a competitive situation. that's good for the community. as this plays out, both candidates will pick up that a establish and educate people about hillary clinton's record. i think you will see efforts by bernie sanders to certainly do the very same thing. but, look, the community is not mo monolithic. it's going to be competitivcomp. it may be a bill lit of precurs precursor, states upcoming are different from iowa and new hampshire for many, many issues. the issues, the fabric, the diversity. this is what's important. ultimately, thomas, for any candidate, the ability to put together a general election coalition and appeal to broad swaths of the american population is what's necessary not only the win an election but to be an effect i presideive pr. a lot of that is being tested in

these upcoming primaries where the voting blocs are much more diverse than the two earlier states. >> we shall see how it all rolls out today with the nevada caucuses taking place fot democratics and then coming up here on the 27th with the open primary for the democrats in south carolina. marc, thank you. >> good to see you. get some good south carolina food now. >> i'm trying. i'm doing my best. drinking a lot of diet mountain dew. >> get some tea. is two polling places we got to look for you in what's going on this early as folks are waking up to get out. i've got columbia on the right-hand side of your screen. lexington on the left. they are ready to rock 'n roll and they will be open until 7:00 p.m. tonight. abdominal pain. urgent diarrhea. you never know when ibs-d will show up.

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carolina. precinct 18. voting has be gun there at 7:00 a.m. i'm going to head that way in a little while to check it out firsthand for myself. so we ask you to stick around as we cover all the movement here in south carolina. also nevada caucuses today. but joining me from our studios in new york, elise jordan, political analyst, former senior policy adviser to the rand paul presidential campaign. i want to talk about whose campaigns are going to make it out of south carolina. plit to had a report that bush staffers shopping resumes. campaign is denying that. does he have the fire to continue if he doesn't come in top three? >> jeb definitely needs to have a stronger showing than rubio. and if not, i think it's going to be very difficult for him to go on after another loss and especially if jeb is still in the single digits, which unfortunately for him seems likely with rubio showing strength after nikki haley's endorsement and it could be possible that rubio even breaks

into the 20s. >> well, we've got ben carson, too, as someone in single digits. he met yesterday in south carolina with cruz. there's been bad blood there. do you think this is a moment to break the tension and cruz drops outgoing forward to support cruz? >> i don't think that ben carson will ever really get over what happened with the cruz campaign in iowa. i think that that's going to be something that's going to stay with him for a while just because it was incredibly dirty and it was really pivotal moment for his campaign where what the cruz campaign did was highly unethical. so i think that's unlikely. but perhaps the rhetoric will calm a little bit between the two. >> all right. we're going the see who gets out alive as we countdown throughout the day right here on msnbc. watching the south carolina primary as well as the nevada caucus. political analyst elise jordan, thanks. ink that to all of you at home. this is going to wrap up this hour of msnbc live here in columbia, south carolina. thanks for our interns from the

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oh, my gosh. is this a bad time to eat my caramel cake? >> no. [ applause ] >> wow. >> yeah. we're doing that. >> willie, what are they doing? >> that is, yes, the beginning. good morning, everybody. come on in. it's february 20th. primary day for south carolina. picking who they want to be the republican nominee for president. what i have right here are vera lynn caramel cakes. she brought these years ago. and the mills