thank you. that is going to do it for this h however msnbc live. i'm steve kornacki. "mtp daily" starts right now. if it's thursday, can't believe we're saying this again, unprecedented fight for the soul of the republican party, 2012 nominee unloads on the 2016 front-runner. this isn't just mitt romney playing party elder. he's clearly raising his hand to say, here i am, call me went you're ready. this is "mtp daily" and it starts right now. good evening. i'm chuck todd in washington. welcome to "mtp daily." take a breath, folks. every day i think it can't get any stranger when it comes to trump versus the republican

establishment and yet today happened. in just a few hours, donald trump will walk into the lion's den in detroit, where ted cruz, marco rubio, john kasich are likely champing at the bit to tear him apart in the debate. but do they have a tough act to follow. we saw something quite unprecedented today. the republican party's most recent presidential nominee unloaded on his own party's front-runner for this year's nomination. ripping open the civil war of a trump's candidacy. and take a guess, do you think trump was ready to respond? quite frankly, all hell broke loose today. we're just getting started. right to what happened. began when mitt romney, the party's 2012 nominee, delivered a scathing attack on the front-runner, donald trump, today at university of of utah. needless to say he pulled no punches. >> he's not of the temperament of the kind of stable, thoughtful person we need as leader. his imagination must not be

married to real power. think of donald trump's personal qualities, the bullying, the greed, the showing off, the m misogyny, the absurd third-grade theatrics. donald trump is a phony, a fraud. his promises are as worthless as a degree from trump university. [ applause ] >> that was the warm-up act, folks. romney ripped trump's business record bit by bit. >> but you say, wait, wait, wait, isn't he a huge business success? doesn't he know what he's talking about? no, he isn't. and, no, he doesn't. he inherited his business. he didn't create it. and whatever happened to trump airlines? how about trump university? and then there's trump magazine. and trump vodka. and trump steaks. and trump mortgage.

a business genius, he is not. >> reporter: finally, blasting trump as a flip-flopping empty suit. >> there's plenty of evidence that mr. trump is a con man, a fake. mr. trump has changed his positions not just over the years, but over the course of the campaign. and on that ku klux klan for three days if a row. playing the members of the america public for suckers. he gets a free ride to the white house and all we get is a lousy hat. >> romney began saying he was not going to announce his candidacy, not today anyway, but if you watched him speak the message was clear, basically telling the party, here i am, i am ready when you want me. because the most telling part of the spoech weech was lack of endorsement of the trump alternatives. his message, i like them all. translation, you may want them to stay in. why? he may prefer a contested convention when perhaps, just

perhaps, anyone could become the nominee at that point. look, privately there is grumbling from nontrump candidates and supporters that romney isn't asking publicly for a coalescing around one. they had no problem jumping on the rip trump apart bandwagon. and it worth remembering, romney helped trump go mainstream in 2012 when he sought trump's endorsement. you can't forget this moment four years ago. >> it's my honor, real honor, and privilege to endorse mitt romney. governor romney, go out and get 'em, you can do it. >> donald trump has shown an extraordinary ability to understand how our economy works, to create jobs for the american people. >> quite a different mitt romney today, huh? perhaps this is romney's attempt to scrub away his original sin. he mainstreamed him. as i mentioned, we saw the rip

trump bandwagon in full effect today. john mccain, gop nominee before romney, rallied to the cause saying i share concerns about donald trump my friend and former nominee described his speech today. i want republican voters to pay close attention to what the party's most respected knowledgeable leaders and national security experts saying about mr. trump. ted cruz saying, quote, romney made a strong case why trump shouldn't be the nominee. we are glad more people are speaking the truth about the disaster that trump would be as our candidate. marco rubio's campaign put out a statement saying, quote, great to see mitt romney help explosion donald trump for being a con artist and fraud. john kasich argue with himself over romney's comments. well said, mitt romney. he signed the tweet, john. an hour later, kasich told reporters that he hadn't had a chance to see what romney said today and then said this --

>> i already told mitt i don't think you beat trump by personal attacks. the guy in chick api is not interested in name calling. >> guessing, staffer took over the kasich account and got a bit over the skis, i believe they call. we'll talk with the kasich campaign in a moment and ask about that. chris christie, though, held a press conference in new jersey, where lo and behold, he came to trump's defense against romney. >> i have great respect for governor romney and i'm sure there's others in the race who wish he would make an endorsement and get out and try to help someone but he's chosen not to do that. i've known donald trump for 14 years, i know much more about him than governor romney does. so, you know, i have a different view. i have a different view. >> but then came the heavy artillery in responding to romney. trump himself, he was waiting all day for his moment.

he held a ral i in portland, maine, and called romney a quote choke artist for losing 2012, a disaster, as a candidate, bringing up the 47% comments, and then he reminded the audience that romney sought his endorsement in 2012. >> i backed him -- you can see how loyal he is, he was begging for my endorsement. i could have said, mitt, drop your knees. he would have dropped to his knees. he was begging. sure. >> wow. trump said romney, quote, chickened out of a run in 2016 because of him. >> i will say this, he probably had a right to turn because nobody could have been nastier than me in getting him not to run by saying he's a choke artist and i will say the reason i did that, he was going to run, i love our country too much. if he would have run, and even if he would have run, it would have been bad. he doesn't have what it takes to

be president. >> folks, we haven't seen chaos like this in the republican party in more than 50 years, when the parties moderates led by rockefeller revolted against the nominee, barry goldwater. tensions boiled over in '64. rock rockefeller assailed the goldwater movement on the convention floor. >> there is no place in the republican party for such hawkers of hate, purveyors of prejudice, extremists feed on fear, hate, and terror. they have no program for america. no program for the republican party. >> it wasn't just rockefeller fighting the party's right wing in '64. mitt romney's father george, then the governor of michigan, george romney spoke to nbc's john chancellor from the convention floor in opposition to the hard-liners aligned with goldwater. >> certainly in conducting our

michigan campaign, we're going to avoid any spreading of hate or creation of fear and i'm hopeful that the national campaign will proceed on the same basis. >> two romneys, two generations, appears to be the same issue. joined by bob vander plaats president and ceo of the family leader and cruz supporter. >> good to be with you, chuck. >> let me ask you, i heard chris christie say this about governor romney publicly, he said this earlier, saying it would be nice if mitt romney endorsed somebody to help i guess accelerate an anti-trump candidate. i've also heard it from supporters of ted cruz, supporters of rubio, others, that there is a disappointment that romney, while doing -- wloil they look what he's doing against trump they wish he would take it another step.

what do you say? >> i think romney did a great job of giving the message of why you don't want trump. as a matter of fact, chris christie in iowa and new hampshire gave the same message why you don't want trump. centering around the judgment and temperament to be president. mitt romney, the messenger, the gas roots, those supporting strufrp, they're not fans of mitt romney but two, i think mitt romney had to give a solution because if you're going to beat donald trump you can't beat him with how bad donald trump is. you have got to beat him with somebody. it would have been good for mitt romney to say unite around the guy that can beat donald trump and everybody knows that is ted cruz right now. >> do you believe, you know, it funny, it's like if you stop donald trump, do you believe coalescing needs to happen now or do you think it better off because of the way the numbers work, everybody stays in as long as they can within their hope

states? >> i believe uniting is the best. it would show cause for the country of one's self everybody a great deal of humility needed in leadership and polls show cruz head to head with trump beats him everywhere. and so, cruz is right there in the delegate hunt with trump. i think that uniting needs to take place. cruz needs to cast that message tonight in the debate. we need to unite as republicans. we can't tell people how bad donald trump is. we need a solution. i believe the solution is ted cruz. >> it does seem you can't unring the bell, right? everybody's been so harsh against donald trump, can you imagine a scenario where somehow the party comes together around nominee donald trump? >> no, as a matter of fact, i said in one of my tweets today that donald trump is a uniter of the republican party. he's got mitt romney, john mccain and lindsey graham agreeing with rush limbaugh, ben sass, you name it, with the

#nevertrump. he's uniting people but it about not donald trump. that is a huge red flag for someone to be the nominee against hillary clinton. >> and tonight, does ted cruz need to make his case against trump or make his case for unity. >> i think both. i think one is if ted cruz keeps itten 0 policy, if he keeps it n issues, vision, gives the compelling case, as he did in the last debate on the issues that separate. what people are saying is that donald trump, a great entertainer but not a conservative, cruz needs to make that message tonight and tell people unite around my campaign, we can beat him. >> we'll be watching tonight. bob van d vander plaat. mr. duffy, good to see you. >> how are you, conduct? >> help me clear up confusion today on what governor kasich

tweeted about mitt romney, then saying he hadn't heard the speech, then sounding critical here. can you clear this up? >> sure, chuck. he was agreeing with mitt romney when mitt romney said that john kasich should win ohio because kate's going to win ohio but he also was doing what he's done throughout the campaign saying we can't insult our way to the presidency. i think one thing john kasich has been saying, we better get a seat belt and buckle up because it's a wild ride. we might need a crash helmet by the time this is over. john kasich will lay out his message, there's only four conditions left. he's going to have a bigger platform to talk about his record and distinguish that for the other candidates that don't have a record. >> do you agree with bob vander plaat who said one of the flaws to romney's speech it didn't provide a solution? >> well, i'm not going to critique governor romney's speech. i think what the numbers show, i think you're alluding to it earlier, chuck, only way to stop trump denying him 1237 that he

needs to clinch the nomination and you do that by winning ohio and winning florida. senator rubio still lagging by double digits in florida. that's real trouble. john kasich were to depart and trump wins ohio with kasich out that gift wraps the nomination for trump. there is math that has to go on here. kasich feels, and we feel good, where we are. we have a bus tour through michigan, he's with arnold schwarzenegger in ohio sunday. things are starting to turn our way. >> new head of "the apprentice" for governor kasich. let me ask you, are you participating in a nonaggression pact with rubio? essentially saying marco rubio, don't -- if you don't campaign in ohio, we won't campaign in florida? >> well, no. look, i mean our polls show that senator rubio would do poorly in

ohio, i don't think you're going to see him there. and that's what john kasich's focus is on. >> florida polls show that you guys wouldn't very well well in florida but any votes you get probably would come at the expense of rubio. >> well, look, we can have that discussion if you want, rubio probably did take votes from us on tuesday in vermont, certainly. but look, what this is about is about winning the nomination for president and that's what john kasich is focused on. he's got more debates to show his positive message, job creation. john kasich shook washington up in 1990s, balanced the budget, cut taxes, got america moving again and he hasn't been able to tell that story. the more time he gets to be able to tell that the more positive we feel going forward. >> one thing he hasn't done, he's been stubborn, if you go after trump, you have to insult him, but he's not made any attempt to distinguish himself

from donald trump at these debates. does that change tonight? >> well, no, he's certainly tried. he didn't get near enough time from the houston slugfest that we saw. that is going to change tonight. he is going to distinguish himself by the record that he has been able to compile because he's the only one that knows how to shake up washington. we don't need to blow up washington. that's what isis wants to do. we need to shake up washington and that's what kasich has done. it looks like the snow is coming down. flurries. >> sure is. yes. march madness. >> you got it. next, what is the road ahead for republicans? we'll talk to two southern state chairs from the next round of fights, louisiana votes on saturday, and mississippi tuesday. it's a creole day here on thursday. and later, this hour, rubio supporter and arkansas governor, asa hutchinson. stay tuned.

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we've been crunching numbers all day today and the chance for some republicans to stop trump is very real. here's where we stan now, according to the nbc delegate count. with almost all of the super tuesday delegates allocated donald trump leads ted cruz by fewer than a hundred. break it out by percentage, trump won 45% of all delegates available. cruz won 33%, rubio has won 16, kasich, 4. so, we're going to use that as a baseline to calculate what could happen over the nebs two week before march 15th. ten more republican contests, with 356 delegates up for grabs. you divide those up, 357 by the same proportions that exist now. here's what happens, trump's at 45, cruz 355, rubioing 174, kasich 41. trump's lead grows to 130. this is a rough statement, state

by state delegate rules are tricky business and maybe trump underperforms a bit because there's a lot of closed republican primary contests. we'll see what happens. some upcoming contests trump has a big advantage, think mississippi, and some are tougher places like caucuses. so, but that's a rough estimate. that brings us march 15th, winner take all states of florida and h. ohio, home states of rubio and kasich. if trump wins both and gets 45% of rest of the delegates the scoreboard would look like this. trump, 7411. cruz 422. trump would need to win 50% to get to 1237. it trump's most effective and efficient path to the nomination and very realistic. what if rubio or kasich wins at home? if trump wins florida but kasich wins ohio the numbers would look like this. trump 675, cruz 422, rubio 356.

but if rubio wins florida and kasich wins ohio, then it gets tough for trump. he would need to win 66% of the remaining delegates to get 1237. that's a scenario, trump 576, cruz 422, rubio, 305. it hypothetical but obvious that trump needs least one of florida or ohio if he wants to have a realistic path to 1237 before the convention. these primaries no longer look like luxuries for trump. one of themes a necessity. we'll be back.vironment, mpanies. but one thing should remain constant - a financial relationship with someone that understands and cares about your business. pnc corporate and institutional banking offers strategies tailored to yo company's needs. know that our dedicated teams of local experts offer insight to help you achieve

your business objectives. see how working with pnc can help your company grow at pnc.com/ideas ♪ unless you have allergies., then your eyes may see it differently. only flonase is approved to relieve both itchy, watery eyes and congestion. no other nasal allergy spray can say that. when we breathe in allergens our bodies react by over producing six key inflammatory substances that cause our symptoms. most allergy pills only control one substance. flonase controls six. and six is greater than one. complete allergy relief or incomplete. let your eyes decide. flonase. 6>1 changes everything. all eyes on the march 15 republican primaries and big winner take all contests in florida and ohio. plenty of delegateses on the table before that. a lot of delegates that conditions would be mistaken if he skipped these contests. between march 5th through march

12th, 356 delegates up for grabbed compared with 367 march 15th itself. candidates aren't writing off these states because every delegate matters. louisiana one of four republican contests saturday to close republican primary. marco rubio canceled his louisiana rally to focus on kansas caucuses. in mississippi, 40 republican delegates in the open primary on tuesday. donald trump is looking to re-create his performance from neighboring alabama, where he won 43% of the vote and carried every county on super tuesday. joining me to talk about both contests, louisiana republican chair roger vilry from new orleans and mississippi republican party chair from jackson. let me start with you, roger your contest is first saturday, the difference between open and closed primary, a lot of the

cruz and rubio people believe this is the most fish way to beat trump when there are closed republican primaries. give me your assessment of the trump support. is it less so because it's registered republicans only? >> no, we see a lot of people that really favor trump, but cruz, rubio, kasich, all have been active in louisiana but trump has a tremendous organization, cruz probably has the deepest organization in the state and most active. but trump last poll we saw leading all of 0 the polls. we expect big crowds when he comes in on friday and as well as cruz, going to have large crowds when he comes in on friday. >> joe, in mississippi, you have an open primary. you look at some of the neighbors states that took place super tuesday, it's hard to imagine anything changing that is taylor made for trump. tell me why i would be wrong

thinking that. >> well, i'm not sure you are wrong. he has a great organization here from what i can tell from traveling around the state, similar to what roger was saying about louisiana. he seems to have supporters who are determined to support him no matter what. they're committed. of course, the other candidates do, too, john kasich was here last night and you know other ones have been here as well. we're going to have mr. trump here on monday. so, it's everybody is campaigning here and paying attention to the state, but as far as the way things stand here right now, we had a poll come out today that was released that showed donald trump with a significant lead. so anything can change between now and tuesday. certainly he has a similar scenario today as he has some of

the other states. >> both are leading state parties where you've had your own internal fights, pretty high profile ones, joe, you had the highest of profile ones two years ago with the mcdaniel/cochran race, felt like insider/outsider race. the governor's race created c conser nation. what's your advice to the national party dealing with this insider/outsider issue as you dealt with. roger, i'll start with you, your race was most recent with david vitter. >> we had a lot of contention. a lot of people running against one another. it was really a tough fight and what i would tell rance what he has to do is be neutral, try to work with all conditions, get all of them, as much as they can, not keep attacking one another. i thought romney made an extremely bad mistake today, attacking the front-runner. >> did you? >> i was getting calls all day

today wanting to know what romney was doing. it was like cruz paid romney to attack him because it just whipped up the cruz -- the vote for trump. i think a -- >> you think it backfired? it helps trump? >> at least in louisiana. i think in louisiana it's going to help trump tremendously. it backfired, i think. >> interesting. joe, you? first i'd like you to respond. do you have the same take on romney? >> well, you know, look, i think this election is the same as fi other election. i think it's more form over substance. every election you have people attacking other folks, candidates for somebody someone day, against them the next. and i think this has been different in form. i think it's the same in terms of substance. as far as how we handled this, to try to make sure people are confident it will be a fair process is just that, remain

them of than we've been traveling the state, look, the person who wins the most delegates is going to be the nominee. there's not any nefarious plan to strip the nomination away from somebody that gets a majority of the delegates. if they don't, we'll follow the rules. so, i know it sounds corny, but the key is to make people understand we're going to have a process and we're going to follow that process. >> quickly, romney, do you think romney was helpful or hurtful to the cause of if you believe you have to stop donald trump? >> well, i am similar to roger, i don't know the answer to that but i've heard more from people who were unhappy about it than happy about it. >> roger, state party claire for the republicans, joe nosef, both guys got prime mars. we'll check back in. joe, nice to have you on again. tomorrow on "today"

exclusive, matt lauer will sit down with mitt romney in studio, i believe. he'll be answering some questions about this react which hasn't been so great from some republicans. still ahead -- new details on the investigation into hillary clinton's e-mail server. what does it all mean? what does the immunity deal mean as well? vo: across america,

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welcome back. amid the is no of trump v. romney a new development in the investigation into hillary clinton's use of a private computer server and it broke last night. brian pagliano set up the server in 2009. "the washington post" reports that he's now just been grant the immunity by the justice department, and he'll cooperate in questioning with the investigation. last year he pled the fifth during the house benghazi committee's inquiry. the clinton campaign are pleased pagliano is cooperating.

today's clinton's press secretary said pagliano's immunity is no cause for alarm. >> too much has been made, in fact, i think it's misinterpreted that he has sought immunity. lawyers, very frequently, will advise their clients to do that out of an abundance of caution to preserve all of their legal options. it doesn't at all tell you that they believe their client did anything wrong. brian didn't. >> "new york times" reports that officials said it would be wrapped up by may. overall investigation. clinton herself prepared to answer questions from the fbi, if asked. no indication if prosecutors have convened a grand jury. the state department released last batch of e-mails on monday. that does not put an end to the issue. for clinton or for the campaign. when it comes to the retroactive classification of some clinton's e-mails the problem isn't mishandling information. no one risks any real penalty for using the classification

stamp. the only punishment comes from not using continue result is overclassification. writer of the op-ed is here, abbie lowell, chief investigative council for the house democrats during president clinton's impeachment trial. thanks for coming on. >> my pleasure. >> when you hear immunity, why would mr. pagliano, give me reasons he would want immunity before talking with investigators. >> it means that he and the government have good lawyers. the government's side you want to not slow it down, delay it, he's going to not testify without it you want to get his information. it's very good lawyering to give it to him because he's not the subject of this. from his lawyer's point of view, if you can get ultimate 100% assured protection for your client you do it. it never means your client's guilty of anything. it means given what the law lets you get you got the best that you can get for your client. >> people's imaginations run

wild when they hear this and hear immunity. >> that's right. >> could the concern be he inadvertently participated in putting a system that allowed for classified information? >> his concern being his lawyer's concern? >> is that -- >> look, i mean, the rule books and statute books have so many laws some prosecutor could bring a case against anybody for doing virtually anything. as a lawyer you want to be sure to give your client the ultimate protect. it doesn't mean that he's worried somehow he was inadvertently involved in something that could violate the law. i haven't interviewed his client. but his diesire to get what the law allows you to get, it's good sense, from the investigator's point of view, they're not trying to delay, they're trying to get the information. >> there seems to be two things that should be of concern to clinton in all of this. on e-mails front, the issue of does it matter if you knowingly

or not knowingly mishandle classified? isn't technically it doesn't matter if you unknowingly mishandle classified information? >> actually -- >> what is the difference in the law? explain that. >> it is complicated. we throw it out there. >> knowingly is bad, we know that. but the unknowingly isn't guilt-free. >> i think everybody's used to seeing, from watching television or movies a document that has a clear red stamp that says top secret. >> right. >> you have such a document and you leave it on your coffee table or put it out to the press you know you've taken a piece of classified information, you've disseminated it, that's what leaked cases are about. many documents don't have the stamp and yet as we now know contain some that somebody will say was classified. and in the secretary's case people are saying it was classified after the fact. the knowing part of that is that there's no stamp. >> okay. >> the question will be, whether or not the information was such in and of itself anybody viewing it would know it had that

classification status and it's more complicated as you can see simply -- >> objective. >> so subjective that let me point out, as my article did, that i have in my cases seen lots of examples where there's almost the identical paragraph in a document unclassified and a document marked classified. >> there is a separate lawsuit that, to me, is just potentially politicking damaging and that is this idea that the server was used to knowingly avoid freedom of information act disclosures. and that's separate. that's judicial watch case. how much of a concern do you think that should be? >> well, i think the following about the -- we'll call it the sunshine aspect of this, it's way different than classified, it's not criminal in any event and it's subject for political discussion. what i think we've learned if that's the case, she's not alone, we've seen one or two other secretaries of state. >> it doesn't make it right. >> well, yes, but it doesn't mean it's fair to single her out

or any of the other secretaries out. there should be rules about it going forward. but as lon as we have a practice that some public officials do it, it seems we have to get the law -- >> you don't think -- she is not under any penalty of law if she essentially set this up to avoid? >> let's assume, in your hypothetical that she set up that way and it was a purposeful event and it did do something to violate the freedom of information act, it's not a penalty in that you pay a fine. it like injunction, don't do it. so i don't know what the lawsuit is seeking. it different than the classified. >> right different situation. >> it's different than the criminal aspect. it's a different subject matter. but what i think all of this has done has made it good we have a public discussion of what's classified, what should be in the sunshine, what shouldn't, should there be private servers, did other secretaries do it. it's healthy. >> abbe lowell, i have more questions but i don't have more

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served to fuel trump, that it didn't do what was intended to do, which is to raise doubts about him. >> well, we'll wait and see. certainly in many parts of the country this will anti-establishment flavor influences the view of mitt romney coming out and sporting an al teternative to donald tru. raids the ire of those that believe we shouldn't have anyone speaking for the establishment engaged in this debate. i listened to mitt romney's speech. first i think he was speaking from his heart he cares about the party, conservative movement in our country. and secondly, some of the language used may be overshadows the policy concerns that were expressed, 35% tariff that donald trump advocates, the fact that it could instigate a trade war, hurt consumers. those are issues raised, the security concerns that mitt

romney raised about donald trump's policies and some of the things he said. these are critical matters. i hope he will pay attention to. >> you know, the last debate senator rubio led the way and beating the living daylights out of the donald trump, some of it was lowbrow. do you expect the same tonight or is senator rubio going to elevate the discourse a little bit? >> i think you'll see a very aggressive attacks on policy, debate on the serious issues. but less improper characterization back and forth. i think it will be a high level debate but it will be on policy. that's my hope and expectation. people are paying more attention to debates than ever before. >> right. >> i think tonight, with the field narrowing, they'll continue to do so. >> you didn't just endorse senator rubio. you did a tv ad for him. >> i did. >> he didn't win arkansas. regrets? >> no, not at all.

i guess my only regret i'd like to have started that earlier, my endorsement, my effort for him. i endorsed him one week early. he came in twice. a lot of momentum in the campaign. but obviously finished third in arkansas. he has momentum now. but the door has not closed. i think marco rubio's opportunity through florida and tonight's debate will be important. >> governor, i'll leave it there. good to talk with you. >> thank you. >> got the panel coming up. vo: know you have a dedicated advisor and team who understand where you come from. we didn't really have anything, you know. but, we made do. vo: know you can craft an investment plan as strong as your values. al, how you doing. hey, mr. hamilton. vo: know that together you can establish a meaningful legacy.

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only way stop trump by denying him the 1237 that he needs to clinch the nomination. >> i thought romney made an extremely bad mistake today, attacking the front-runner. >> he seems to have supporters who are determined to support him no matter what. >> just sound from the show today's mixed tape. now time for "the lid". senior fellow at manhattan statute, washington columnist, ruth marcus. let me start with you, you've done work with rubio, no longer

associated with the campaign. assume still supportive? >> yes. >> did you find mitt romney helpful or hurtful. >> i think it was helpful the thing about mitt romney that he can do uniquely, because he's not running, you have your hypothetical whether he might, he's not running he can make critiques of trump if a way the competitors to trump in the nomination process can't. what the credibility. >> i don't buy -- i mean, i agree that he put together an indictment today. >> a terrific indictment. >> that we did not ever hear from any other candidate. i don't know why jeb bush didn't make that speech three months ago, for instance, or marco rubio, or ted cruz. >> well, it was a very powerful, i thought, indictment, whether it convinces trump supporters is highly unlikely. whether -- and the question is, what is the goal of the indictment? the goal of indictment didn't seem to be helping one of the existing candidates. >> that seemed to be the frustration, i've heard, from the campaigns, some of it was

voiced, bob vander plaats voiced it but i've heard this from other campaigns. >> both eating at trump support and trying to unify another candidate. i'm in the camp i think it's too late to unify behind a single candidate. say marco rubio drops out today, his vote didn't going to singular -- >> no, i think everybody is back in the other direction realizing -- >> everyone has to stay in, win home states. >> nonaggression packs. >> convention strategy is -- >> the goal is convention strategy, and sort of allowing trump to be at least theoretically stopped at the convention and then raising the question of who to which i think there was an obvious implicit anners today from the person giving the speech. >> to me, though, this is -- i have been thinking about this, talking with others, if you're going to deny him the nomination, if he's a leading vote getter, short of majority you better hope number two and

three together could put together a majority. only most democratic way to quote take it away from trump is if number two and number three together have more -- have the majority and then it feel like a democratic decision. >> one thing that's gotten lost in the news cycle houston debate when rubio and cruz pummeled trump. >> worked together. >> the next day it would have been all about that except the chris christie endorsement. the question after tonight, they will attack him again, there will be something else up trump's sleeve to address the news cycle of trump criticized again. >> that's what front-runner campaigns do. a smooth move. >> one thing we've learned, there is always something up trump's sleeve. >> but there was movement in the polls, right? look at the polls a week before houston and of super tuesday, trump underperformed, and so the question is, if they continue to attack, now that they're attacking him, does it make a difference? >> as you heard, governor hutchinson seemed to imply a

different rubio, different, it's not schoolyard kid. >> yeah. >> i think that impact on rubio. >> i think for rubio supporters, rubio stay who you you are, not try to get -- if you try to play trump's game -- >> i get why they tried that, though. nothing else had stuck. >> no, i mean he never tried the alternative, which wasn't -- people asked, was it too little too late. the problem was it was too much too late. he -- having dialed things dialed on rosie he dialed it up -- he went full trump. he never tried the middle setting. >> tonight? >> romneyesque setting. >> you've been in debate prep meetings. you think a middle ground tonight? >> i'm not going to comment on marco's debate strategy but he has tried critiquing on media c stuff. >> i think there's a middle

ground. for example, critiquing on trump, i found to be particularly convincing right. >> what's interesting on the attack like trump university and business deealings when they se someone shortchanged or short end, i think some think if they're on trump's side, that's a good deal. if they're not the one that america's going to be one on that side. >> he ripped them off. >> we're going to rip off china, mexico. >> hiypothesishypothesis, how m is romney trying to wash away original sin? >> i don't think he feels guilty about that. i think he's concerned about the direction of the party as many people are. >> but that did seem to be a regretful guy. >> i mean, not sure it was his original sin. there was a reason romney craved

trump's endorsement the at time. you can see how sheepish he looked. >> never comfortable. he never was comfortable. thank you all. we'll be back tomorrow with more "mtp daily." all. we'll be back tomorrow with more "mtp daily," but "with all due respect" will start right now. i'm mark halperin. >> i'm john helemann. with all due respect to mitt romney, you can criticize donald trump for a lot of things, but the hat, it's really not that bad. happy motor city, rock city, motown madness day, sports fans, we are here at the fabulous fillmore, downtown detroit, just a block away from the fox theater, where they'll take the debate stage later tonight. preview that impending broul in just a moment. first the other brouhaha of the y.