over the course of small talk he mentioned to one of them that after his time this president is over, he and his family might not leave washington. >> by next week winter will be over in d.c. i've been in chicago like here, basically, you can't really count on that until the middle of may. >> took a long time to get started this year too. >> it always feels good being closer to home. >> that's hawaii, though. >> feels really good to be there. >> hawaii is home for me. i spent almost 30 years in chicago, it's where i met michelle and where she grew up. where our daughters were born. at this point --

>> you going back to chicago? >> we haven't figured that out. we'll have to stay a couple of years. >> overheard casually chatting with some nice folks in milwaukee and first about the weather and his plans to stay with his family in washington for a couple of years so his youngest daughter's time in high school will not be disrupt bid a big cross country move. that would make him the first u.s. president since woodrow wilson to not leave washington, d.c. after his time as president was over. that's fascinating. it wasn't an announcement.

he was trying to small talk and the press happened to overhear it. we got expected but still rather dramatic news from the last person who tried to be president. donald trump responded to mr. romney's criticism today with what appeared to be maybe a sexual reference to mr. romney's previous attitude toward mr. trump when mr. romney was the one running for president. >> mitt is failed candidate. he failed.

he failed horribly. the third -- he failed badly. that was race, i have to say, that should have been won. that was a race that absolutely should have been won. i don't know what happened to him. he disappeared. he disappeared. i wasn't happy about it. i'll be honest. i'm not a fan of barack obama, and that was a race that i backed mitt romney. i backed him. you can see how loyal he is. he was begging for my endorsement. i could have said, mitt drop to your knees. he would have dropped to his knees. he was begging. >> the previous republican presidential nominee criticizes donald trump. donald trump responds with the on his knees reference. i could have said mitt, drop to your knees and he would have dropped to his knees. see how he got dropped to his knees twice in a sentence. make of that what you will or just pretend it didn't happen.

there's also news on the democratic's party turn out issue in this campaign and whether democrats should be concerned about that. there's also new news ahead about the name that's been leak ed by the white house as a potential supreme court nominee. we have the possibility of a third party entrant into the 2016 presidential race. things aren't complicated already. that's all ahead. we'll get to all of that this hour. we start with this amazing kid. he's 6'2", 170 pounds. he runs the 40-yard dash in 4.51 seconds. he would have placed in the top dozen wide receivers for the nfl draft this year. this kid is in high school. he goeses to high school in louisiana. he's a wide receiver and one of most heavily recruited wide receivers in the country.

in november, this young man, his name is jonathan jones, this remarkable young athlete got an offer from the biggest and most important cultural institution in louisiana that's not named mardi gras or jazz. he got an offer from a big time college football program. when louisiana tech gave him the offer in november and jonathan jones accepted a committed he would play football for louisiana tech, it made headlines all across the state. it was a huge deal for this promising young man, this young football player. it was a huge deal for louisiana tech. it was a huge deal for louisiana. there were interviews over the press how this wide receiver was coming to louisiana tech and it have a coup for the school's program. a couple of months later, a few weeks ago the same young man, jonathan jones uncommitted. he decommitted from louisiana tech.

he put out a statement that sent a little shiver down the spine in louisiana, even down the spine of people who are not college football fans. i hear there are a couple. explaining why he was decommitting. he said i'm grateful for the blessing and the community to receive an offer from louisiana tech university. in light of recent political events, i must with a heavy heart rescind my verbal commitment to the louisiana tech bulldogs. when he cited recent events in taking back his statement, what he meant by recent political events was this guy. bobby jindal. he was the governor of louisiana for the past eight years. when he came in as governor in the first place, the state had big budget surpluses. by the end of his first year in office, that was over. thanks to his economic genius about how to run the state.

every year after, the state went deeper and deeper into a financial hole. his policies were such a financial catastrophe, by the time he was running for president last year, promising to do to the united states what he did to his home state. by last year, one of the big ideas the bobby jindal administration came up with to scrounge up money somewhere to run the statement government was to start selling off the cars used by the state government. literally, selling off state owned vehicles at auction. obviously, it's a wasteful thing to have cars in the state government. state workers need to get somewhere, obviously they can hitch or jog or save up and buy a skateboard. they thought they could get a

million dollars or so and they started to sell them off. at one point the state of louisiana won a settlement in a lawsuit. that's a one time thing. that's not the sort of thing you can count on year after year but they decided to use that settlement to run the state govrt for a while. the pawnshop approach to state assets doesn't turn out to be a long term path to fiscal stability. by the time he left office, at the end of his two terms he had gotten himself a failed

presidential campaign but put his state into the worst financial crisis the state of louisiana has ever faced in its history. you want to know how bad it was? it was this bad. >> that means you can say farewell to college football next fall. >> that is the new governor of louisiana. democrat named john bell edwards who took over from bobby jindal this january. after a few weeks in office he was so shocked and horrified by what he found when he got into officer, so shocked and horrified by the scale of disaster that bobby jindal left that he gave this remarkable, televised prime time crisis address to the people of the state of louisiana to sound the alarm, to alert the state that what bobby jindal had done was worse than anything the state had been through.

he will consider closing hospitals, and even football. those are the events that led the promising wide receiver to uncommit to louisiana tech after he decided to go there. this young football player doesn't appear to be any sort of political activist. he doesn't have any evident interest looking from the outside. he's really good football player. if you had other options and really good promising young football player, would you commit to play football at a college that might get shut down this summer? >> tonight i speak to you as no other louisiana governor has ever spoken to our state. the challenges have never been so great nor the impact so severe for all of us who live, work, or go do school here. since i took officer one month ago today, i have met with business and industry, working

parents and educators to share the news of our crisis to speak their ideas and share my own so we can get down to the business of solving this massive problem as quickly as possible. the largest budget deficit in our state's history. this is a historic fiscal crisis. the likes of which our state has never seen and candor is required. our health care system is on the verge of imploding. the health care systems in jeopardy mean the difference between life and death. that comes on the heels of the largest disinventment of higher education in the nation over the last eight years. if you're a student attending one of these universities, it means you'll receive a grade of incomplete. many students will not be able to graduate and student athletes

will be ineligible to play next semester. you can say farewell to college football next fall. join me in praying for our state and asking you pray for me and for all of our elected officials. >> usually elected officials finish a speech by asking god bless our state or god bless the country. john bell edwards did that too but you know it's serious when the governor is asking for people at large to start praying for the state and to start praying for him as the governor of the state. that is the gravity of the situation when you're in such a financial catastrophe you're talking about unplugging people from dialysis machines and ending hospice care. people who are in the process of dying no longer get pain relief and supportive care. that's serious stuff.

that is louisiana right now. the presidential campaign heads to louisiana in two days. that means, to a certain extent, the national media is thundering into louisiana now focused on the number of delegates at stake and the demographics of the electorate. that's great. that's all good. no problem with that. let the record show, let it be a notice to the national press thundering down to baton rouge to cover this election that until quite recently the louisiana secretary of state's office was warning the state would not have enough money to hold this primary. they didn't have enough money to hold this election on saturday until recently. i guess they did find that. bobby jindal pawned a few state cars. they're in a full blown crisis because of him and his policies. there's a special session that's been under way in the louisiana legislature trying to figure out how to keep hospitals open and

schools open. the best plan he had seen for state education would render half the football team ineligible to play next year because they will have incomplete on their report cards. there will be no summer school options to maintain their athletic eligibility. he said that's the best case scenario. that's what bobby jindal left behind in his state. when bobby jindal quit the presidential race this year and endorsed marco rubio for president, marco rubio called bobby jindal, one of best governors in america. really. marco rubio big football fan. on the same day as the louisiana primary this weekend, voters are going to be turning out to vote at the presidential nominating caucuses in the great state of kansas.

he called it a live experience. his state has gone from budget surpluses when he took over to the worst financial crisis they've had in kansas state history. kansas had the credit rating downgraded. kansas school districts last year ended up having to cut short the school year. in some school districts in kansas last year, they sent kids home 12 days before the school year was supposed to end. not because the kids learn fast but the district ran out of money. they called the school year over before it was done. kansas never had a financial disaster like this one now.

sam brownback has endorsed marco rubio as his choice for president. it's interesting. louisiana and kansas are two of the states that will be voting for presidential nominees this weekend. then, of course, there's the next big one. the biggest prize after super tuesday which will be the great state of michigan. it's lucky enough to be governed by rick snyder. you have this unprecedented disaster. you have this unprecedented disaster and right after those states they're going to disaster zone michigan where the biggest political question ahead of that state's presidential primary on tuesday is whether governor rick snyder will last that long or whether he would have had to resign. as more as more documents have come out showing awareness of the flint disaster and involvement by all of governor

snyder's top aids for months and months while he professed total ignorance. rick snyder has to go. he has to resign. he can nod effectively lead the state for another three years. he's not resigned yet. over the next few days that race will come through louisiana and kansas and then michigan on tuesday. there's this big collision between that national political calendar and what just happened to be some of the worst disasters in failed governance in modern american history. because of these catastrophic failures by bobby jindal and sam

brownback and rick snyder, they are all in crisis. they are all going through something unprecedented and unprecedentedly bad. the political campaigns, the presidential campaigns will be thundering through. it's one thing to rail in the government and wish government away and derive as stupid. it's another to be living there. it's poisoning your kids.

badly run government is really bad. that fact is about to get real for all these candidates. get one of our right best deals ever.... ....for just $9.99 you can get any large pizza with up to five toppings pile on your favorites with up to five toppings for just $9.99 better ingredients. better pizza. papajohns.com ...another anti-wrinkle crea in no hurry to make anything happen. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle rair works... ...in one week. with the... fastest retinol formula available. it's clinically proven to work on fine lines and...

...even deep wrinkles. "one week? that definitely works!" rapid wrinkle repair. and for dark spots, rapid tone repair. neutrogena®. "see what's possible."

time machine time. john mccain of arizona was elected to congress the year that "eye of the tiger" took over your radio. the same year that olivia newton john was an actual thing. ask your mom. john mccain arrived when this is what a really great computer looked like. john mccain has been congressman and then senator mccain for going on 30 years now through two house elections and four elections for the senate. nobody has ever been able to beat him. in the political season we're all acid tripping through together this year, he's become test case number one for democrats new strategy, not just for unseating him but trying to

unseat republicans up and down the country from coast to coast. the democrats this year have one strategy that they are counting on. one strategy they think will work against every kind of republican there is. it's going to be kryptonite. if it doesn't work, huh. hold this thought.

republicans have posted record turn out in 14 of the 15 states they voted in this ri mare season. that shows how much turn out was up in each of the states.

look at that. texas up 95%. minnesota up 78%. arkansas up 73. republicans have set voter turn out records everywhere they have voted so far this year except vermont. maybe a little crossover voting for bernie, do you think? democrats have seen turn out down in every state they voted in so far this year when you compare it to the last contest ed primary in 2008. you'll be surprised to hear about the record republican turn out numbers, donald trump believes that donald trump is the reason why those numbers are happening. >> we'll be a much bigger party. our party is expanding. all you have to do is take a look at the primary states has won. that hasn't happened to republican party in many decades. i think we'll be more inclusive, more unified. i think we're going to win in november.

>> the unifier. the expander. donald trump says republicans should love the idea of him at the top of the ticket. he says it's him who's turning out record numbers in all of these states. not only is he donald trump going to win, the republican party as a whole will win up and down the ballot because of him and these new voters drawn to the lamp of liberty that's donald trump. the repeating narrative that says if he's in nominee then he will definitely lose the general election and republicans are doomed thanks to they too will have an r next to their name on the ballot that looks like the r next to the name donald trump who will lose. that narrative, the beltway believes it.

that's why the effort to elect senators this year said the party nominating trump would hang in albatross around the necks of republican senators. that's why senate republican leader mitch mcconnell has given senators his blessing that i would run ads against donald trump during their own re-election bids the they need to. when another former republican presidential nominee, mitt romney, criticized donald trump today, senator mccain jumped on board and issued public criticism of mr. trump today. in john mccain's case, that may be too a little too late, at least of his likely opponent this fall has anything to say about it. it's expected when he run for re-election he'll be running against congresswoman ann kirkpatrick.

she's running this ad against john mccain. watch this because congressional and senate races over the country are about to have ads like this. anywhere that the republican candidate can be tied to donald j. trump. >> donald trump is dangerous for america. >> i could stand in the middle of fifth avenue and shoot somebody and i wouldn't lose any voters. no matter what donald trump said, john mccain would support him for president. >> i'd like to punch him in the face. >> donald trump. >> you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. >> even mitch mcconnell is distancing himself from donald trump. not john mccain. an after trump said. >> he's a war hero because he was captured. i like people that weren't captured. >> i vote for the republican nominee.

i'm a loyal republican. >> there was a time when country mattered more than his political party. 30 years in washington has change john mccain. we need leaders to stand up to donald trump. >> aapprove this message. >> if donald trump gets the republican nomination and maybe even if he doesn't. will that work? hold that thought.

you've been asked a million times, if donald trump was the nominee -- >> i've given up answering that question. it's on the record. to ask me again after i've answered it 50 times is not something i'm going to spend my time on. >> that was john mccain today. responding to the latest in a long line of questions about whether he would support donald trump. for the record, he would support him. that is being used against him. it's being used against him like a first rate run from the reporters kind of scandal. the you support donald trump

accusations is expected to be used against donald trump all over the country. is it likely to work nationwide? i don't know. maybe we can start to tell whether it's likely to work against john mccain who appears to be the first u.s. senate candidate facing ads on this subject already. joining us now is national political reporter for the arizona republic. it's real pleasure to have you here. thanks for your time. >> thanks. great to be here. >> senator mccain is a political fixture. there's nobody else like him in in politics. it's impossible to imagine politics without him. it wasn't 100% certainty he would run for re-election this year because of his age. >> right. >> what are the odds of anybody unseating him? >> i think mccain goes into the race with an advantage. big financial advantage. given the chaotic atmosphere,

he's in the taking any chances and i think a lot of political observer who initially viewed this race as sort of a snoozer are taking a second look at it. >> do you see an impact on the calculations you made of the presidential race. is ta going to change the calculus about various candidates? >> i think a lot of republicans are worried if trump is at the top of the ticket that it could put a red state like arizona in play for the democratic nominee. i think mccain, when he have asked early on, i think he was hoping that the nomination process would make take care of trump but it's pretty clear that trump will stick around. it's going to come back to haunt him. >> what do you make of the argument that you look at the republican turn out numbers in the primary where republicans

are breaking records all over the country and the democratic turn out numbers are down and maybe donald trump is not going to be toxic to the republican party. maybe he will bring out new voters and that will not only get him across the finish line, it will help other republican candidates. i can tell you a lot of republicans don't buy that. maybe it will work out that way. it makes them nervous. i don't think they want to take the chance. >> in terms of ann kirkpatrick as a specific candidate against john mccain, we're not up to the primaries yet. i can't say she's going to be the candidate against him, but is she expected to be a stiff challenger for him? >> i think she's pretty much the best candidate that democrats could hope for. he'll not really well known in maricopa county where most of the voters are. >> thank you for letting us get

the arizona perspective on this. appreciate you being here. >> thanks. >> we have much more ahead including some unsettling news about what appears to be some political violence or the prospect in the great state of texas. we'll be right back with that story. stay with us. wiback like it could used to? neutrogena hydro boost water gel. with hyaluronic acid it plumps skin cells with intense hydration and locks it in. for supple, hydrated skin. hydro boost. from neutrogena

get one of our right best deals ever....

....for just $9.99 you can get any large pizza with up to five toppings pile on your favorites with up to five toppings for just $9.99 better ingredients. better pizza. papajohns.com this is a bit of a disturbing story. beaumont, texas is on the far southeast side. this is political season if from big national election to very local contests. in beaumont, the local sheriff is retiring after 19 years on the job. he's a democrat. it's predominantly blue. the leading candidates are african-american. either would with the first african-american sheriff of that county, ever. one of them, she would also be the only female sheriff ever lekked in county history. it's an interesting election.

then something terrible happened. on monday night, super tuesday eve, zena and two dozen members of her staff were at her campaign headquarters when a white man in a jeep pulled up outside, leaned outside the passenger window of his vehicle and started shouting racial slurs at them. police say seconds later the man pulled out a gun and started shooting. it shattered the glass door. fortunately, nobody was hurt. >> i don't know whether the individual that did that was trying to divide the community or stop the election or stop me from running for sheriff. none of that will happen. i'm still part of this community. i love this community. it's just senseless ignorance. >> a few hours after that shooting police arrested a local man who they say confessed to the shooting. police say they recovered two weapons from inside his jeep.

one was a bb style gun and the other was a rifle. they don't know which gun was used in the attack. as of tonight, the suspect is behind bars. he's facing charges of deadly conduct for that shooting on monday night. on tuesday, right after the shooting after her office, zena went onto finish first in the democratic primary. she'll be facing the other african-american candidate in a party run off election in may. the election continues in beaumont, texas. we've been talking a lot about race in politics but not quite like this.

people lining up to get into the audience of the republican debate had a bit of a surprise. they were greeted with this scene on the street outside the theater where the debate was held tonight. it was snowing in detroit tonight. it was an kpietsing evening but it was not exactly the kind of excitement i think the republicans were expecting. there were tons of protesters outside the republican debate

venue as the audience members were arriving to get in. they were right outside the entrance to the fox theater in detroit. they dame from a whole bunch of organizations and demanding action on a bunch of issues. a lot of people wanting to raise minimum wage. a will the of people with comments and signs about the flint water crisis. there was a light brigade group that turned up with an arrest snyder sign. as of now, it appears the protests have died down. it was a striking scene in detroit as people were convening. stay with us. whatcha doin? just prepping for my boss' party in a couple weeks. what are those? crest whitestrips. they whiten way better than paste. crest 3d white whitestrips... whiten 25 times better than the leading whitening toothpaste. i'd say... ...someone's making quite an impression. crest 3d white whitestrips.

the way to whiten.

mr. trump is directing our anger for less than noble purposes. he creates scapegoats after muslims and mexican immigrants. he calls for the use of torture. he calls for killing the innocent children and family members of terrorists. he cheers assaults on protesters. he applauds the prospect of twisting the constitution to limit first amendment freedom of the press. this is the very brand of anger that's led other nations into the abyss. here's what i know. donald trump is a phony, a fraud. his promises are as worthless as

a degree from trump university. >> former republican presidential nominee mitt romney today unleashing a whole speech worth of criticism against republican presidential front-runner donald trump. interestingly, governor romney did not, himself, say he would jump into the race to try to beat mr. trump nor did he endorse any of the candidates who are currently running against mr. trump trying to keep him from getting the nomination. he is not throwing his weight behind anybody in particular. he's not said he will jump in. maybe he's hoping someone will ask. maybe at the convention. on a similar note, nbc reports that former mayor of new york city, michael bloom berg is watching and waiting to see what develops. chuck todd is reporting that mike bloomberg has rented office space in texas just in case he has to start gathering petition signatures to get on ballot

there. with ben carson kind of sort of announcing his campaign doesn't have a path forward, we were finally going to be poofing this massive field that started at 17 candidates down to something more manageable. we started with 17. we have now poofed, perfected the animation of getting rid of presidential candidates. now with this romney show and this bloomberg possibility, we may have to figure out what the opposite of the poof is. we can figure out what we're supposed to do on the graphic in order to add people back in the race in march after 15 primaries and caucuses have already happened. joining us is host of the michael medshow. to help us get our head around this chaos. it's nice to see you. thanks for being here. >> thank you. great to speak with you. >> we have talked about the anti-trump efforts within the

republican party and within the conservative movement. there's increasing noise about the possibility of somebody who is not in the running against him right now joining the race somehow and complicating the problem or solving it. what do you think about that prospect? >> i think it comes down to one primary election. if marco rubio catches up with trump and actually beats him in the florida primary which is a winner take all primary, 99 delegates and you win them all if you win the state then i think trump will be stopped in his march to the nomination. what probably would happen in that case would be that he falls below the delegates he needs.

that means on the second ballot delegates are free to choose anyone they want and i'll tell you what i hear in the party is the one candidate who really could unify the party and win the election is the honorable paul ryan who is so refreshing and not petty, the way so many candidates appear to be right now. >> do you think that it's -- i know there's some logistical issues about bringing in somebody even on a second ballot who has not earned any delegates, there's a slightly different process you have to go through. do you think those kind of hurdles would be less important than the factor of bringing somebody in, paul ryan or somebody else, who wasn't soiled by the republican presidential primary at all?

>> yes, i think it is do able and the reason it's doable is the republican national committee can change the rules and particularly on a detailed rule lake that, a procedure rule like that, they do that at will. i'm not saying there are not trump loyalist and true believers that will scream and shout, but this is the best possible outcome for the republican party because the other reality of donald trump as our nominee, there are many, many, many republicans who agree with me that it is impossible to vote for this man. you just cannot do it. really, there has to be someplace for those republicans to land. now, michael bloomberg, if he runs, i think the danger is he takes more votes from hillary than he does from trump because in issues that a lot of conservatives really care about a lot like second amendment

rights or pro-life or marriage issues, michael bloomberg is probably more liberal than hillary is. if bloomberg runs, i hate to say this because it complicates matters, there will probably be a fourth candidate if it's trump, clinton, bloomberg there will be a fourth candidate representing people who hold conservative points of view on the social issues, on the economic issues and on the national security issues. trump is not a conservative on national security and that's not conservative. >> i'm on the math there with you in terms of a third candidate not necessarily making it more likely that donald trump will be denied the presidency, i think that's true about bloomberg and a lot of people who might get in who have not currently been part of the process. thank you, sir. >> thank you. great to talk to you.

>> more ahead. stay with us.

get one of our right best deals ever.... ....for just $9.99 you can get any large pizza with up to five toppings pile on your favorites with up to five toppings for just $9.99 better ingredients. better pizza. papajohns.com ...another anti-wrinkle cream in no hurry to make anything happen. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair works... ...in one week. with the... fastest retinol formula available. it's clinically proven to work on fine lines and...

...even deep wrinkles. "one week? that definitely works!" rapid wrinkle repair. and for dark spots, rapid tone repair. neutrogena®. "see what's possible." >> hello, friends. so i have a whole script prepared for this block. i have a whole segment produced ready to talk to you about mitt romney denouncing donald trump today, the previous republican nominee denouncing the man who looks like he's going to be the current republican nominee and what the press dense are for that both in terms of american political history and in terms of the political history between donald trump and mitt romney which is a hilarious thing and maybe we'll get to that. i am putting that aside and i do not have a produced segment here that i'm doing. i'm just talking to you

one-on-one and i'm about to break a rule because there is a republican candidates debate that's going on right now on another channel and the way these things work is we're not allowed to broadcast the debate. it belongs to the company that is putting it on cable tonight and then once the debate is over we have access as a competing network to limited amounts of clips and time. it's their property and we can't access it at all while it's on and we're only allowed to access it in small chunks once it's over. there is an exception to this rule, which i think is widely accepted within the news industry and that is if something news worthy happens it's not longer just coverage of the debate, it's actually just news so that has happened tonight.

so maybe i'll get in trouble and maybe i won't, but this is genuine news. you may have notice fd if you've been paying attention to the republican race that it has descended not into the just viktive that has dismade a lot of people, we've had an unusual thing happen in the republican presidential primary this year where the personal has evolved from donald trump and marco rubio, one of his challengers. it's devovled into personal insult with the two of them deriding one another for their height or lack thereof, they've talked about the size of each others ears and hands. mr. rubio went further into the gutter than mr. trump had gone when he talked about trump having become incon ent and wet his pants with nervousness is what he was accusing him of.

mr. rubio followed that up by talking about mr. trump's hand size for the size of his genitals. well tonight at the start of the debate in detroit mr. trump responded i guess in kind. this seems to me like news. >> look at those hands. are they small hands? and he referred to my hands if they're small, something else must be small. i guarantee you there's no problem. i guarantee you. >> behold, the republican contest to nominate someone to be the next president of the united states, the way they are competing with one another now, including out of the mouth of the front-runner is by bragging about the size of their genitals and that's how we're supposed to pick the next president of the united states. the two parties are not the same, the two parties are not mirror images of one another. the republican party has become something very different.

that does it for us tonight. if you want to get me in trouble over this, you can reach me at rachel @@msnbc. it's friday, march 4th. right now on "first look," it was loud and raucous motor city showdown. >> he referred to my hands as they're small, something else must be small. i guarantee you there's no problem. >> in fact if you went to manhattan you said i'm lying to the american people, the people have a right to know. >> no you're the one. >> this little guy has lied so much about my record. >> here we with go. the personal attacks. >> people say everywhere i go, you seem to be the adult on the stage. new disclosures about the investigation into hillary clinton's e-mails and the former aide granted immunity. preparing for closing arguments in the erin andrews na