decision day in the big easy. live pictures from a polling place in louisiana. one of five states where voting is underway on this super saturday. good day to all of you. i'm alex witt here in new york city at msnbc headquarters. today marks the first day of a critical two-week stretch that could all but resolve the presidential nomination for both parties and just a short time ago, donald trump highlighting the bitter conflict for the heart of the republican party. >> you know, the republicans are eating their own. the republicans are eating their own. they got to be careful. we have to bring things together. >> and the nature of protesters in the nation's heartland,

kansas. >> thank you, mr. protester, i never saw a protester drop so fast. i said, sit down. he sat down. that was the end of the protest. okay. thank you. i like that protester. that's somebody we can reason with, all right? >> meanwhile, ted cruz, marco rubio and john kasich already zigzagging the map rallying support for voting today and tuesday and looking to the other vote today, the c pact straw poll. we'll take you there live for that conservative gathering. we will also take you here. [ gunshots ]. >> a gun range in michigan. one of the key primary states tuesday. we will take an informal poll, who do the gun toters favor? all that ahead right here, this is the place for politics. ♪ ♪ welcome, everyone, once

again i'm alexwitt. we're about to give you a live picture in maryland where any minute marco rubio will speak at the conservative gathering running about 35 minutes late or so. donald trump who was supposed to address the group there earlier this morning instead held a precaucus event for the group of supporters and a caucus site in kansas. >> you are going to caucus. we are going to win. you're going to say that was one of the great mornings of your life, and in two years, three years, four years, you're going to say wow, has our country changed for the better and we're going to win so much, you may, i jokingly say you may say please, please, we just can't stand it anymore. we're winning too much. >> ted cruz is also holding an event in kansas and will travel to idaho. trump is heading to orlando, florida for a rally set to begin in about two hours. marco rubio will hold an event in jacksonville for you. john kasich is in michigan.

hillary clinton and bernie sanders in michigan ahead of a debate in flint tomorrow night. within the last hour, hillary clinton wrapped up a meeting with a group of black ministers in detroit where she focused on the water crisis in flint. >> what was so just inexcusable and inexplicable to me is how people and authority knew about this and just dismissed it. we have work to do to knock down these barriers and to remedy the ills that have come from neglect. >> msnbc is following the candidates as they scramble across the map. jacob rascon is in florida ahead of the trump rally. kristen welker is in flint previewing the debate and gabe gutierrez is with the rubio campaign and talking about issues important to voters but

we'll begin with our friend, cal perry joining us live from new orleans where the voting is well underway for the past four hours or so. welcome to you. how busy has it been at the polling site where you are? >> reporter: it's been pretty busy and picked up throughout the day. we seen a lot of parents with kids playing soccer, soccer saturday and that's been an influx. let me explain quickly, this is a city of 17 wards. we're in the middle of ward four. you can see ward four and the precinct that gets you down to the neighborhood. here is your ballot. here is your louisiana state ballot for today's primary. you got your presidential nominees for the democrats, presidential nominees here for the republicans. in the middle, your parish executive committee, your local leaders very important issue here in louisiana, a place with a billion-dollar state deficit. that's something that a lot of people are talking about. the other thing we're hearing from, the tone of the election. the people here in new orleans, this is a liberal city, a democratic city, a dot in a sea

of red, alex, but people telling us they do not like the tone of the election. take a look what sole of the vo voters told us. >> i became a democrat for this election. i'm not a traditional bernie supporters. i'm not a free college guy but i believe the money that some of these companies are making off of school isn't right. >> i think it's really important that we keep a via media course in this country and keep down the hate, keep down the people that are coming out and making the country vulgar, getting behind republican candidate that says things that might, you know, my 5-year-old grandchild i wouldn't allow that. >> reporter: those comments today come on the heels of some very tenuous i would say rallies yesterday. ted cruz and donald trump holding rival rallies here in new orleans and some protesters broke out that led the local news, i think that's why you're hearing that tone. interesting enough, marco rubio

deciding to skip this state yesterday and focus on march 15th in florida. we'll have to find out later tonight if that hurts his chances, certainly the favorite on the democratic side will be hillary. alex? >> cal perry thank you from new orleans, the fourth ward, i believe, is where he said you were, thanks. let's turn to kansas where the state's caucuses are underway. a short time ago, donald trump wrapped up a rally in wichita, kans kansas employ kansas em ploring supporters to vote. >> so foolish. the republicans are eating their own. the republicans are eating their own. we have to be careful. we have to bring things together. now i hear if we, not me, if we win. look at these crowds. >> nbc's jacob rascon is in florida where mr. trump has a rally later today so he's clearly on route from kansas to where you are. what are issues trump will be focussing on there? >> donald trump wants to win florida. this is really big for him. he wants marco rubio to lose so

that marco rubio drops out as we expect might happen. in past rallies, donald trump will go after marco rubio for what donald believes are flaws like he doesn't show up a lot for some of his votes. he calls him a lightweight and has other names for him. he talks about how in his words, he supports amnesty and talks about issues wherever he is. here in florida, he's going to hit that very hard. he'll boast about polls, of course, all of the polls putting him in the other candidates in florida he is ahead even over marco rubio by double digits and something important to think about is well, in florida, ted cruz is now said he's going to come in and campaign hard in florida. he's going to spend money on ads. he doesn't necessarily believe that he will win florida. he said as much yesterday but he wants to make sure that marco rubio will lose this state because ted cruz believes that if he can make it a two-man race, he can be more competitive against donald trump. this rally, this area, stadium

holds about 10,000 people. donald trump thinks that they will fill it all up and donald trump is doing well in florida. so he'll expect to get a very crowd that's aligned for him, that's really excited and then of course, we'll see a bunch of protesters. this is going to be donald trump as we usually see him, alex? >> jacob, really quick, this is the first come first serve or is it assigned seats in the auditorium. as we're pointing out at the bottom of the screen, that rallies doesn't begin for 2.25 hours plus and there is a bunch of folks there. >> reporter: yeah, people have been in line since early in the morning, 6:00, 7:00. initially the rally was going to start at noon and they pushed it back to 2:30. that may have been the reason they were so early. when we came in here, there were thousands of people lined up outside and it's first come, first serve except for the seats right behind him and in front of him.

there is some vip seating. >> that would include you, you're a vip that's for sure, for us. joining me from detroit. joy reid and from washington d.c. national politics reporter for "the hill" kate martel. joy, before we get to the voting, i want to get your perspective on the strange days we've seen this cycle for the republican party. [ laughter ] >> is donald trump right, joy? are republicans killing their own? >> well, you know, it's interesting, strange is such a nice way to put it because i think for the republican party, part of it is the fact that they actively corded and benefitted from frankly the anti obama energy and furry that we saw starting in 2009 with the beginning of the affordable care act. they actually harnessed that wage and anger particularly among white working class voters quite frankly and southern voters to win the house of representatives and take back congre congress. it benefitted them in midterms.

the problem is is in order to get the vote, they made a lot of promises, they would defeat the president and push back the affordable care act. 50 votes. they couldn't deliver on the things they were promising. they are reaping what they sew. they are hardly unpredictable. >> okay. kate, just stand by for a moment. i know you've been covering c pact. we'll do that live. let's take you to at least listen to part of marco rubio starting there late at c pack. there he is. >> for america now is what kind of country is this going to be in the 21st century? [ applause ] >> the thing that i always enjoy about c pact is the incredible number of young people that come to these. [ cheers ] >> younger americans. [ cheers ] by younger i mean anyone younger than 44 although i feel 45 because i had the flu.

anyway. thank you. what we ask is what will this country look like? will it look like when my 16-year-old daughter graduates from college? will it look like when my 13-year-old daughter starts her first business or my 10-year-old son starts his family or my 8-year-old son buys his first home. i can tell you what it's going to look like if we stay on the road we're on now. they will be the first americans, you will be the first americans that inherit from a previous generation a country worse off than the one that was left for your parents. that is the road that we are headed on now. and if we remain on this road, we will have to explain why, our children and grandchildren did not inherit what we did. to get off the road, we must embrace the principles that made us the greatest nation to begin with. that's why the theme of this gathering our time is now forces us to answer a second question and that is what does it mean to

be a conservative in the 21st century. buying a conservative can never be about being an attitude. it cannot be about how long you're willing to scream, how angry you're willing to be or how many names you're willing to call people. that is not conservative. [ cheers ] >> conservatism is never about fear or anger, not at its best. do people have a right to be fearful of the future right now? yes. because for over two decades, neither party have solved the problems before us. the people have a right to be angry about not just the political class but every institute of society, absolutely but neither anger nor fear will solve our problems and conserve to motivate us but will not solve our problems. what will solve our problems is a specific set of ideas built on

bedrock principles. applying those principles to the unique challenges of this new century. it begins with a notion that this nation was founded on a powerful spiritual principle that our rights do not come from government. our rights do not come from our laws. our rights do not come from our leaders. our rights come from god. [ applause [ applause ] >> our government does not exist to decide these rights nor to grand them. our government exists to protect them. and that is why we have a constitution that limits the power of the federal government to a few specific but important things and we have abandoned that. we have abandoned it in both political parties. we have reached the moment in history where we think every problem in america has to have a federal government solution.

every problem in america does not have a federal government solution, in fact, most problems in america do not have a federal government solution and many of whom are created by the federal government to begin with. [ applause ] >> and so to move forward in a better direction, it does mean reembracing and following the first amendment for what that stands for, not just the right to believe anything you want but the right to live out the teachings of your faith and every single aspect of your life. [ applause ] >> it means understanding that the second amendment was not a nice suggestion, a constitutional right to protect yourself and your families from terroris terrorists. >> it means adhering to the tenth amendment in which power if it belongs in government is reserved to the states, not because we don't care about hour

problems, but because we care we know when the federal government tries to solve these problems, it often makes them worse, not better so let's return power back to the states. [ applause ] >> conservatism means reembracing true free enterprise, true free enterprise which i believe in not because my parents were wealthy, not because i inherited millions of dollars because i did not but when i walked onto the stage today i walked through the kitchen of this hotel and the met the people and shook hands of people who are doing the jobs my parents once did. [ applause ] >> you know why they have a job? you know why they have a job? you know why my parent s had a job? someone created those jobs and with those jobs they are able to feed their families, the best

economic system in the history of the world because it is the only system where you can make poor people richer and you don't have to make rich people poorer. [ applause ] >> it means conservatism means believing in a strong national defense not because we want war but because we love peace, because history taught us a painful lesson that weakness is the enemy of peace, that weakness invites violence, that weakness invites war. [ applause ] so conservatives believe the u.s. military should be the most powerful on earth because the world is a safer and better place when america is the strongest military in the world.

conservatives believe we stand behind allies like israel. they are the only proamerican free enterpriseemocracy in the middle east. conservatives believe we need to defeat radical islam, not because we want war but because isis and other radical islamist are enemies of peace ask thatnd why we need a president in the best intelligence agencies in the world will find terrorists and the best military in the world will destroy them and if we capture them alive a president will bring them to the united states and grant them a court-appointed lawyer and send the terrorists where they belong to guantanamo bay, cuba. [ applause

[ applause ] >> and conservatives believe we take care of our veterans because we have a sacred obligation to take care of them after they have taken care of us. it's something that's not happening now. [ applause ] and yes, conservatives believe in traditional values, not because we want to impose our views on anyone but because to abandon those values would be to ignore our history. americans are not the most generous people on earth because our laws make us generous. people do not contribute to charity in this country in record amounts because we have a tax break from it. we do so because this nation has been shaped by christian principles that teach us that we have an obligation to care for one another. and we believe in traditional values because without them,

without belief in a powerful god, the very founding of this country is meaningless. our rights come from god and if there is no god where do your rights come from? you do not understand america and you do not understand our history if you do not understand the role the faith community played in making us the greatest nation in the history. [ applause ] >> so i'm preaching to the proverbial choir on this issue. why? because i think there is a growing amount of confusion on conservatism and it's time for us to understand it's not built on personalities. conservatism is not simply built on how angry you might seem conservatism is built on

principles our nation desperately needs at perhaps the most important moment in the generation. for over 200 years this has been an exceptional country. i know this personally as so do many of you because for me america is not just a country i was born in. it is the nation that literally changed the history of my family. but we have to remember that what made that possible was not an accident. america is not a special country by accident. it did not happen on its own. it happened because for over 200 years each generation before us did what needed to be done. for centuries, each generation before us confronted and solved problems. they embraced opportunities and americans have never had it easy. this was independence for the most powerful empire in the world and a nation that faced a bloody civil war, two great world wars, a long cold war. the 1960s were difficult for this country. the civil rights movement divided us regionally.

the vietnam war divided us generationally. americans never had it easy but each generation before us confronted challenges and solved problems and that's why each generation before us left the country better off than the one left for them. my fellow conservatives, the time has come for this generation to do its part. the moment arrived for us to do our part now and the stakes could not be higher because the future of the greatest nation on earth is at stake and i want to speak specifically to the younger people here today. because i know there is a lot of negativity out there. i know that times are difficult. i want you to know that i believe something with all my heart. i believe that today's young americans are on the verge and have the chance to become the next greatest generation in american history. [ applause ] >> i believe, i believe that the

21st century, the 21st century is taylor made for america. they want to buy things from you. they want to trade with you. they want to partner with you and collaborate with you and these young americans are the best collaborators in the history of man kind. these young americans are the most technologically advanced people that lived on the campaign trail, unless you're under 25 no one knows how to use your camera phone. these young americans have a chance to fulfill an incredible potential and destiny but we have to give them a chance and they won't have a chance if a hillary clinton or a bernie sanders is elected and they won't have a chance, and they won't have a chance if the conservative move tment is hijacked by someone who is not a conservative.

[ cheers ] [ applause [ applause ] >> and so -- [ cheers ] [ applause ] >> and so, i'm already over time so let me close with this. i got to answer questions. i get to answer questions now in a moment from dana bash. i know all the news today sounds bad and by the way, for young americans, the one thing true about history is every generation believes the next generation is really messed up. [ laughter ] >> i want you to believe and know if we do what needs to be done, i want you to know what history is going to say about you. i want you to know what history

will say about us if we make the right choice. this generation of americans lived in a very difficult time. the world was changing. and we struggled to keep pace and it will say the truth. we almost got it wrong. after eight years of barack obama and one crazy election, we almost got it wrong. we came this close. but then we remembered who we were. then we remembered who america was. then we confronted our challenges and embraced our opportunities and because we did what needed to be done in 2016, our children became the freest and most prosperous americans and because we did what needed to be done the american dream didn't just survive, reached more people and changed more lives than ever before because we did what needed to be done, the 21st century became the greatest era in the listry and became a new america century. this is what we have the chance to do together and the time to do it is now.

thank you. [ cheers ] >> thank you. >> a 15-minute speech by marco rubio addressing cpac and resounding applause multiple times throughout that speech. let's bring back joy reid you've been covering cpac, that hit all the conservative talking points. what are you thoughts and how do you think that played out? >> this is a very important speech for marco rubio and looking at donald trump that skipped cpac or skipping it today to be in kansas and shows donald trump may not be as confident in the state of kansas. look, there is 155 delegates at stake today and that's more than the entire month of february combined and i think that donald trump is now realizing that he's going to need to do well in those states. so he's adding some of the events. from people i talked to on the ground at cpac they were furious donald trump skipped it.

some of them could see supporting marco rubio and ted cruz. what was most interesting is talking to some of the conservatives at the conference seeing they could still see voting for a donald trump candidate and the reason why, the reason that brings them together is they feel like they lost social issues like same-sex marriage and abortion and think that donald trump could be the candidate that could help them with other issues being the outsider from washington. >> interesting. joy, i want to ask you, the line that got just resounding applause and people standing on their feet by marco rubio was the conservative movement must not be hijacked by someone whose not a conservative. he was speaking right to donald trump right there about him rather to the crowd. do you think that donald trump knew that this might be a not that friendly -- despite what kate said, some people in the crowd might be looking to possibly support donald trump but not necessarily the bread and butter group going to be supporting him. is that ultimately why you think he backed out?

>> absolutely. i think that part of what we're seeing here in the donald trump phenomenon is a disconnect between what movement conservatives think their base believes and finding out that that base isn't married to conservatism at large or the republican party. they are there for convenience. if you want to go in a worm hole and we love to, i'll give you the ultimate worm hole. cpac was created by the american conservative union founded in 1964 after gold water gets wiped out in the presidential election after saying extremism in the name of vir virtue is no vice. founds the union, it gets taken over in 201 1. the chairman is this guy al. al is the ultimate buddy of jeb bush and a former mentor to marco rubio. the current guy, matt shlap who took over in 2014 is the guy

leading the never trump movement to try to save conservatives from what you could say is a berry gold water take over where the elites want something else. there are so many worm holes we could go into but no, this was not a friendly donald trump crowd. >> although, i love the worm hole. thanks for that. marco rubio said he would take questions and he's talking about donald trump not showing up. >> i get that anger and frustration. i really do. let me tell you something, i said this before, it is not a coincidence that there are peop people in their 40s, 50s, myself, paul ryan, nikki haley. why, why? we grew up in the error of regan and looked nothing like donald trump. and -- [ cheers ] >> and look at the democrats. who is the young and up and

coming democrat? bernie sanders. [ laughter ] >> senator, let me ask you a question about that, though, and i asked ted cruz about this this week, as well. you're stepping up your rhetoric big time against donald trump on the question of whether or not he is a true conservative and started doing that at cnn's debate and calling him a conartist and fraud. if you believe those things, why did you wait until now to say why? >> for much of the campaign i've been fighting off other people attacking me that takes time and i didn't get into this to beat up on other candidates. i didn't. i hoped voters -- if you told me a year ago the front runner at this stage in the republican campaign would be a supporter of planned parenthood that doesn't stand with israel and has a long record of supporting government sponsored health care, i said what planet would that be the republican front runner but it's happened. i don't think any of us

anticipated it -- >> why is that? why have conservatives have voted and voted for him -- >> part of the reason -- i think you're one of the reasons why. i don't mean to take you on in this but i want to be clear. i've now been sitting here for five minutes and two of the three questions are about donald trump. that's the reason why. he keeps getting all this attention. >> that's fair. that's fair. he is the front runner. >> the last -- >> that's fair. but he is the front runner and you've been making -- >> yeah, but -- no, but even before he was the front runner, even before he was the front runner, donald would offend someone personally and make fun of a disabled reporter or attack a woman journalist and dominate news coverage. of course he gets attention. it's fine. i'm not complaining. the reason we talk about it and the reason this happened the other night at the debate, over half the questions i asked were somehow related to my opinionofn donald trump. i'm more than happy to share my

opinion of donald trump. this country needs to reembrace the constitution and free enterprise and the strong national defense. >> okay. we have some questions from twitter, people were submitting questions on twitter and lisa asked this question. how were your children responding to your campaign? do they understand how important and serious this is and before you answer that question, i want to put my mom hat on for a second. because you're the proud father of four. i'm the mother of a 4-year-old son. and i'm having trouble letting him watch the news because things have gotten so vulgar and so over the top that i don't want him to think that it's okay to act like that. how do you -- i'm not alone. i know a lot of people have said that. how do you feel as a father and presidential candidate about how low things have gone? >> no, i'll tell you this is related to the real question. i'm glad you asked it. my kids were on with me in the campaign trail a lot from new hampshire, iowa, new hampshire,

south carolina every day when i woke up, i was glad they were there not just because they are my kids but this is what it's about. you're literally trying to decide what the country will be like when they are my age, a little younger doing things for the first time. god blessed my family and protected our children and protected us and they handled it extremely well. we never had a negative moment in the campaign. that's because god protected us and shielded us and he's done that for us and other families, as well. [ applause ] >> but for me, it is a daily reminder that what we are fighting for here is ultimately what we're deciding now in this election will decide what america looks like in ten years and yes, i think one of the things you ask marylaed me, i d want a president i know that's what the president did but you shouldn't do that. i don't want that. [ applause ] >> we actually had a president

like that not long ago. it was bad. >> but the campaign -- i'll leave that one alone. just to follow up. the rhetoric has been i mean, i understand you're saying that trying to answer him and some of the things he's been saying but i can't explain to my kid talking about hands and things like that. >> well, look. i don't -- i'll be more than happy to answer another trump question. donald trump, he might have grown up the way he did with a lot of money and going to boarding schools. i can tell you this, if i grew up, if someone coaches punching people in the face eventually someone will have to stand up and punch them back. so, you know. >> i want to ask you another question from twitter. this is on the supreme court from @sarah leeann. do you think president obama should a point a justice prior

to the end of his term or why not? >> no, i agree with joe biden in 1992 where he said he should not nominate supreme court justices much less than the eighth year of this president. the supreme court can function with eight justices. number nine is set by congress. if we want to change it to eight or seven we could. there is no magic number nine. number two, this president is completely unaccountable. he'll nominate to a lifetime appoint and we can't hold it against him. we'll have a debate in this country over this and there will be an election in november. we'll nominate and elect conservative. that conservative will appoint, i hope, someone more like justice scalia. >> do you think that all candidates now republican and democrat should pledge not to nominate a supreme court justice in their last year of their term? >> sure, i would do that now and

that's been the practice for over 80 years in this country. the only time they want to bend the rules or change the rules if there is a democrat in office so ignoring what joe biden said but goes back to the point i made. this is a life-time appointment. you cannot -- unless this person that gets appointed murders someone, it will be difficult to remove them from the court and so the bottom line is we should not be putting someone when the ballot of the court is at stake in that position when in fact barack obama will not be held accountable for it by the electret. >> okay. i have another question. it is about something donald trump said but on an important issue, which is torture. you were standing next to him in the debate and heard what he said on torture and reversed himself saying that he understands that the united states is bound by laws and treaties and will not order our military or other officials to violate those laws. what do you think of that and what do you think is the most important position with a president on the issue of torture? >> the most important issue --

the most important job as president is to be commander in chief. they will never ask the arms forces to do something that would violate the laws of war but i want to be clear about interrogation. we have to understand this is not about torture. no one here is asking for torture. you cannot use the same interrogation techniques on a terrorist as a criminal. a criminal, when you're interrogating a criminal, you want to gather evidence for a trial to convict them. when you're interrogating a terrorist, you're trying to gather information to prevent a future terrorist attack. it's not about evidence for trial. and so -- and i don't talk about interrogation techniques. you know why i don't talk about interrogation techniques? when you describe it, terrorists can now, do practice evading interrogation techniques. how to evade telling you the truth. so we are going to interrogate terrorists but right now that's not an issue because barack obama doesn't send them

anywhere. he's releasing them from guantanamo. if we capture a terrorists when i'm a president, they will go to guantanamo and we will find out everything we know. >> okay. marco rubio answering questions there after his 15-minute or so speech at cpac. want to say thank you to joy reid and kate martel. we will move to thomas roberts in the very important state of florida specifically pensacola beach, important to marco rubio you've been listening to. the sunshine state, as you know, thomas, another big battle ground for republicans campaigning there ahead of the march 15 primary. it is a winner take all state. all 99 delegates are up for grabs for one person. this latest poll shows trump leading senator rubio by 16 points. weigh in on this. is that the reid you get from the folks you're talking to in pensacola beach? >> reporter: so alex, most of the people in the panhandle here consider themselves living in

l.a., that phrase meaning lower alabama and if alabama is an indicator of how well donald trump will do in this area, we know he did decisively well in that state. so as i've been talking to folks here in the panhandle and it is a mixture of people that have support for donald trump some for ted cruz and a little bit for marco rubio but it is all important because of the 99 delegates that are at steak coming up on march the 15th and ted cruz recently opened up field offices in florida investing in ten new campaign officers and more staff here on the ground. alex, he's in the third of that poll where donald trump leads decisively and then marco rubio, and then ted cruz. ben carson is now out. he had 4% in that queue poll. it will be interesting to see where those supporters go. ted cruz is trying to be the spoiler here in florida for marco rubio that said with confidence he will win his home state of florida because if he doesn't, there really isn't a path for it. ted cruz knows that he doesn't have the momentum here to

actually win this statement but the chess strategy of delegate math is to try to secure this as a win for donald trump and to thwart marco rubio from securing and moving forward with presidential hopes. >> all right. thomas, i know we were late getting to you and you got your own show to prepare for. thank you very much. appreciate it. >> absolutely. >> they made a tremendous mistake whether you chose mitt romney four years ago. he was a disaster. he was a stiff. just a stiff guy. he was -- he was. he was a loser. where was he four years ago when obama was doing jaley leno. >> donald trump of course hammering away at mitt romney in the last hour at a rally in kansas. one on five states heading to the polls today. let's bring in bradley crate, founder of red curve solutions. he also consults other gop

candidates and that includes donald trump. bradley, an insider's view, what was he hoping to do with his attack speech on trump and who was he targeting? >> thanks for having me on the show. questions should be polling directly and i think he made that speech for a reason. i think the specifics around it, i think what he has said on shows after the fact is that, you know, there needs to be a referee to this and so there are things going on that aren't necessarily republican in nature, and i think he's trying to help moderate that. >> okay. how much weight does romney carry these days with the rank and republicans and average voters and how much do you think his two cents will make a difference? >> i think time will tell whether that's -- whether he does make a difference. the challenge, the challenge is there is a little bit of a movement, a big movement with

donald trump right now in he is attracting voters or voters that have not voted historically and i think time will determine whether mitt romney's speech did have an effect on the outcome of the election. >> okay. bradley, wish i could talk to you longer. marco rubio took a bit of our time with the live interview. actually, though, i'm being told i have a little more time with you, which is good. >> great, thank you. >> mitt romney. do you think we could see him sneak into the race? >> i don't -- i think you would have to ask mitt romneysaid he entering the race and at that you have to believe that for what his word. >> okay. let's play a bit of a new attack ad on trump. this was just put out in florida by the conservative club, the growth action super pac. here is that.

unfortunately, we're not getting that. i thought we were out of time and now -- anyway, it's a tactic that makes him look like a rich bully who picks on the working man and used against romney in 2012. guess what? my director said we got it now. let's play it. >> donald trump talks tough about china and mexico, but who has trump ever actually taken on? he hides behind bankruptcy laws to duck paying bills and kill american jobs. he even tried to kick an elderly widow out of her home through imminent domain. real tough guy. trump picks on workers and widows. he won't do a thing to china and mexico. >> look, it seems at this point bradley has pretty strong support among working class voters. how do you think they will react and how do you think this will hurt him? >> i don't know it necessarily does hurt him. if you rewind back four years, you know, we have what is now the never trump movement and

back then figuring out who people want to be the nominee. there is still a long path for trump and cruise and rubio to get to that nomination and i think that's all something that time will tell. i think today there will be some interesting facts that we learn at the end of the day with the caucuses that are occurring in the primary. then over the next two weeks, i think that will really determine who the nominee will be and people are trying to figure out what this movement is and what it means to the republican party and who are these swath of voters coming out and how do you effectively manage and deal with that? >> i'm curious, bradley, there is a new poll that shows donald trump would lose to both hillary clinton and bernie sanders in a general election matchup. should he be looking ahead to

november rather than spending his time attacking others. you're one of his advisors. what do you want to tell him to do? >> i don't actually advice him directly. people at my company deal with him. if i were to advice him, he does have to slowly pivot towards the november elections. at this time, he has to begin the pivot towards hillary clinton but he also has to protect his back when people are coming after him as well to make sure the republicans base and voters. so it's an interesting time for him because this is when you have to start to pivot and take on fire from two sides. >> okay. bradley crate, i'm sorry about the on, off switch there but i'm glad we got to put it on for a while longer. hillary clinton and bernie sanders will face-off in a debate in flint michigan tomorrow night. flint has drawn national attention after high levels of

lead in the city's drinking water surfaced several months ago a. congressional delegation headed by nancy pelosi traveled to flint yesterday to address citizens concerns so let's bring in the congressman that's the chairman of the democratic caucus as well as a hillary clinton supporters. congressman, welcome, sir glad to have you. you were in flint yesterday. what did you hear from the people and what did you tell them? >> thanks, alex. a lot of frustration. a lot of anger, but all of it expressed very respectfully. they want things done. they don't want to hear excuses. they just want to make sure their kids can drink the water and live their life and they are upset in the 21st century something like this could happen and they feel betrayed by governor snider and those who were responsible for causing this because this was not an accident or a natural disaster. this was a man-made disaster. >> fingerprint is certainly become an issue in the presidential race. you got bernie sanders calling on governor snider to resign over the issue.

hillary clinton has not we should say. do you think the governor has a way to turn this around for himself to handle this appropriately going forward, fix it in other words or resign. >> i think he can and should. he apparently has a pot of money about a billion dollars rainy day fund, some surplus from previous year budget that he can use to address this right away, rather than have congress talking so much about trying to help the people in flint, the governor should step up to the plate for the 10,000 people of his own city in flint and take care of this. he can, it's an issue of trying to make sure the water running through those water pipes is clean and it doesn't take a lot of science to know that you can do something to make sure clean running water is getting to the -- through the taps to everyone's home. so absolutely he can do something. unfortunately, he decided not to act and i'm looking forward to hearing what he has to say when

he does come to congress to finally testify after refusing to do so several times. >> as i'm sure you heard, the flint water crisis was raised at the republican detroit on thursday. here is what part of candidate marco rubio said. >> this should not be a partisan issue. the way the democrats turned this is an issue somehow republicans woke up and decided it's okay to poison kids with lead. >> is there any way to become more of an issue. >> alex, there is no excuse for what happened in flint. there should be no delay in fixing it. marco rubio thinks the government does a good job to have his kids live in flint michigan. that's the bottom line. it's a great job by governor snider the way george bush said great job to the guy running fema during the crisis with

katrina in new orleans. what everyone has done is not a miracle. i don't think there is anything strange here, i think it's outrageous for someone to say the governor has done a good job on this. >> okay. california congressman. thank you, sir, for your time in weighing in. appreciate that. hillary clinton is looking to increase her lead over bernie sanders today in the three states holding democratic contests, rather, but the message from the sanders camp, yeah, not so fast. three of the four states voting this weekend are in sanders quote sweet spot and they include kansas and nebraska february today and maine, which holds its democratic caucuses tomorrow. aseries of vehicleriidentified . on the heels of that. let me bring in cedric richmond of virginia supporting hillary

clinton. congressman, welcome thank you for your time, sir. let's go right to it as clinton is expected to do very well in louisiana today especially with the african american voters. how concerned are you about sanders competitive position in three other states holding contests this weekend? >> i'm not concerned at all. i think you're absolutely right. she's going to do very well in louisiana, the other states will be more competitive but we expect her to do very well there, also. no one thought she would sweep the board and win every state. bernie is winning a good campaign, both candidates are you can talking about real serious issues. i'm with hillary because i think that her positions are better and her track record is better for my district, my state and our country. so i think she's going to do perfectly fine in those other states that are today in the one tomorrow. >> what about the fact that sanders is doing so well with younger voters in the democratic contest so far?

why do you think that is? how does clinton close that gap? >> well, one i think she is closing the gap. two, i think it's a little over of how well bernie is doing with millennials and young voters, and if you look at young african-american voters, and all the things she is considering are resonating, and they are starting to look at her track record. when she was in the senate, she introduced bills to combat the things she is talking about now, so i think you see a little more momentum coming her way, and the more she talks about breaking down barriers the more young people are starting to hear her argument for economic opportunity and her plan to make it really happen. i think that is a little overblown, but i am just happy to see our young people actively engaged and involved, especially our black lives matter kids who

have changed the conversation in this country at a presidential debate, and you actually had the question do black lives matter asked to all candidates, and i think that is important, and i think that question centers around economic opportunity and i think hillary's opportunity plan and education and jobs plan will create that opportunity. >> i wish we could have spoke with you longer, and marco rubio took up a half hour of our time. and let's bring in a senior fellow at the center for progress and he endorsed bernie sanders. good to see you, as always. >> great to see you. >> let's get to this mrg michigan poll which gives hillary clinton a wide margin, and do you expect sanders can do better than projected? >> certainly, and we have seen polls as close as ten points and

what we have seen state after state, sanders' continues to lower the margin. we have several other states in play and we are hopeful. what bothers me, quite frankly, in our party we seem to be putting up with the bullying -- i'm stuttering because i am so ticked about it, it's the super delegates that were imposed on us as a way to keep the establishment in control. after carter, they said no more populist candidates, and the reality, the populist candidates give us the ability to compete with somebody like trump, and it's how do we beat trump, and

the best way to beat trump is with sanders. >> i am curious if you have concerns that bernie sanders is not doing better with the average worker type of voter? i want to point out, uaw, they have not endorsed anybody, and why is it that you think bernie sanders is not doing better in michigan there? >> we're doing great with workers and unions that have endorsed the other candidate. what is incredible, right, given the clinton brand, they said, hold up, we are not going to endorse, and you will sit down with union leaders, and they will say i have to be honest over half of the cars in my lot have bernie sanders stickers. lot of the unions refuse to hold

votes, and when they vote we win, and so we have seen frankly union after union coming short of having a vote but really deciding from the top down, and it's because we are inspiring workers from the bottom up. >> look at the results of last saturday, south carolina primary, the voters overwhelmingly supported hillary clinton. >> sure. >> why isn't bernie sanders resinated better with the minority voters? >> well, what it takes to really compete against the most powerful dynasty in our country's politics. bernie was camped out in two states trying to get past new hampshire to show he was viable and as a result has not been anyone to do the work to

overcome the brand of somebody that is now involved in her fourth campaign, and two for her husband and now one in 2016. what we are seeing, we are winning young people of all colors across the country, every state, and what we are seeing now in the later stages, there has been more and more time for those young people to talk to their parents and grandparents about why they are so passionate for bernie, and the reason is he inspires them to dream big dream that we can attain as a country. you sit here, like where i am sitting right now, in downtown detroit, 50 years of bad trade deals have killed this city. this was the wealthiest city in the country 50 years back. we only have one candidate on the ballot right now in any party that workers and folks can actually trust will actually bring us the trade deals we need

to rebuild -- building stuff in our country. secretary clinton now says she's against the tpp, a few months ago she said it was the gold standard and she was for it, and she helped push through nafta with her husband, and you cannot explain why detroit is as impoverished as a city, why it's so hollowed out without talking about nafta and all the bills that came before it, and the fact that somebody can come into the city and say they are going to do better for the detroit when they called the gold standard, and that's how we got to where we are in this city and other cities, like baltimore. >> always good to get your insights. what michigan's militia had

to say. that's in our next hour. >> the way everybody seems to be attacking trump, i say, you know, you are going to push me into his camp, guys. (vo) you can check on them. you can worry about them. you can even choose a car for them. (mom) honey, are you ok? (child) i'm ok. (announcer vo) love. (mom) we're ok. (announcer vo) it's what makes a subaru, a subaru.

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a speech at the cpac gathering, what he is trying to dispel at what conservatism is. >> there's a growing amount of confusion about what conservatism is, and it's not built on personalities. >> meanwhile in kansas, donald trump and ted cruz giving back to back speeches at a precaucus event. >> some candidates suggested we should negotiate with the candidates, negotiate with harry reid and chuck schumer on the replacement of antonin scalia. i will not compromise away your religious liberty. and i will not compromise away your second amendment right to

keep and bear arms. >> we have a movement going and it's an incredible and beautiful movement, and what it is, it's a movement to common sense and a movement to make our country great again and make our country rich again and safe again. >> kansas is among five states holding either a primary or caucus for both parties today. cruz will travel to identify hoe and trump heading to orlando, florida, for a rally set to begin in an hour. marco rubio will hold an event in jackson, florida, and john kasich in michigan, and hillary clinton and bernie sanders also in michigan. kristin welker, and tony in michigan, and jacob cass cone. i will start with you, cal, how busy is it at that polling site

in the fourth ward? >> it's busy and has picked up since we last spoke. so yesterday a big push from both cruz and trump, and repelling republican votes and this is a closed primary so you can only vote as a republican if you are already registered, and where we are right here in this ward, this is a fairly conservative ward, in a very liberal city, in a very conservative state. when you go outside and talk to people about what they are doing, you run the gamet of opinions. this is a couple voters we spoke to a few minutes ago. >> we need somebody who will stand up for the american people and for the constitution and for god and for this country. ted cruz all the way. >> what worries you about donald trump? >> i find him to be a arrogant,

self centered hatemongerer and he scares me and will bring the country down. >> my voting is 50/50, right and left, but this year the republicans have just gone off the limb. >> the lines are getting longer here in this polling station. right now some people waiting about five minutes, which is not too bad. it will be interesting to see as the polls close tonight at 9:00 p.m. on the east coast, if people are going to be able to get in here. this is a saturday, so not a lot of people at work. we see a lot of people bringing kids in, soccer saturday, and parents trying to fit in time to vote, alex. >> you are giving a reflection of a normal saturday for everybody but for people like me, who have to work today, and we have joggers in the morning, and now people with kids -- >> yeah, people with lives.

>> thank you. let's head out to the midwest in kansas where caucuses are under way. this is what some of trump said. >> i am watching television and they say donald trump will never ever beat hillary. the polls are showing i beat her and i have not started on her. i was not supposed to beat jeb bush, and he was the establishment, and what happened to their candidate? >> jacob ras cone in orlando, florida for us. what is the focus of the message going to be? anything on that? >> reporter: i am not sure you are able to do this, but they are announcing as they do before trump rally, they will probably be protesters, and they are telling the crowd if you encounter protesters, do not

touch them, just hold up your sign so the local police can come and get them out. i have seen more here than in other places. you have dozens and dozens of people set up across the street from where there are thousands of trump supporters, and this arena holds 10,000 people, i'm told, and they are expected to fill it. it's always difficult to know for sure what the message will be, but you can count on the fact that trump will go after marco rubio, he wants to do that and likes to do that in a lot of his rally, but especially now that he has moved past the four states having their decision day today, and on to florida, arguably the most important state in the contest, and even ted cruz is jumping in and making sure marco rubio doesn't do well. donald trump is able to boast

about his polls here and be accurate about it, because none of the polls that have come out have shown anybody catching up to trump in the state of florida. marco rubio's factorability is not good here, and he'll mention that. >> and marco rubio says he promised he will win the state of florida. are people having to go through a lot of security to get there? is there a way to weed through the protesters before they get into the arena? >> reporter: not really, they don't ask people if they are here to support trump, and they check bags but don't ask people whether or not they are here to protest. >> thank you so much. a little elton john playing in the background. the focus for the candidates is the industrial heart of the nation. hillary clinton and bernie sanders addressing rallies in michigan in advance of tuesday's primary there, and kristin

welker is in detroit covering the candidates. what are the candidates focusing on today? >> reporter: secretary clinton and senator sanders talking about their economic policies and trade ahead of next tuesday's primary here in michigan. secretary clinton unveiling a new tax plan on friday that calls for scaling back taxes for jobs overseas, and two new ads will air in michigan. >> you know the deal, factory turns out the lies and ships the plant overseas, and then a big tax break, and ceo gets a bonus and workers and uncle sam gets what? you walk out on america and you play an exit tax. >> that's a message that resinates here throughout the nation's heartland. meanwhile, senator sanders puts the focus on trade slamming

secretary clinton for supporting past trade deals like nafta, and that's a trade deal that a bunch of people here in michigan with job loss, and secretary clinton responded by saying he calls for reforms to nafta, and this is a preview of what we are going to see tomorrow night when these two face-off at a debate in flint, michigan. as for today, senator sanders hoping to gain a little bit of momentum, and he's looking for a potential win in kansas, for example, and his campaign aides telling me he could potentially pick up a win in nebraska, and they think that state is going to be close, and secretary clinton has a lot of support there, particularly among african-american voters, but, again, this is a chance for senator sanders to start to regain the momentum he has lost, and his aides telling me the votes coming today and in the

coming dates favor senator sanders more than in the past weeks. for more on today's campaign stories, let's bring in the former senior policy adviser to rand paul. always good to see you. let's talk about bobby jingle, a recent dropout of this race. i want to read a piece of an opt ed. after seven years, voters are look tporg a strong leader that speaks in short, declaretive sentences and you can draw a straight line between those that dismisses terrorists attacks as incidents of workplace violence and a candidate that wants to ban muslims from the country. is that a reaction to obama? >> that's a reaction to obama's policies, and i think americans are frustrated, and since 2000, really republican and democratic

administrations, this is more of a cumulative affects of people being angry, and they want an outsider, and that is really the root of why trump has taken such hold. >> this morning i spoke with fiorina's campaign manager, and she explained the trump thing this way. >> it's not that these voters are stupid or like to offend people, it's they are so sick of politicians never doing anything. my mother is a trump voter, so i am the daughter of a trump voter, and i can tell you, my mother is a smart woman and she is not fooled by donald trump, but she thinks it sends a message to everybody else that we are done with the competitions. >> how long will this last where

they are backing somebody to make a point? >> what has been interesting to me, alex, and i have been down in mississippi doing reporting and talking to a lot of voters, and it doesn't really matter policy wise what other candidates say against donald trump. he really -- it is so hard to break into the lock that he has on voters. what i found interesting, though, is the charges of con artist and corruption, if actually proven do somewhat make a dent. i was talking to a voter and i said what would it take for you not to support donald trump, what if it happens he is not birth $10 billion and he is worth $400 million, and she said, yes, that would matter because it's just a lie. i think they are trying to give his record the close scrutiny that so far he has managed to evade. >> the match-up polls shows

clinton losing to ted cruz and marco rubio in the general election. what do you make of that? >> there also was a recent poll, to win trump would have to have 7 out of 10 white voters. this is an interesting potential match-up of who could beat clinton, and trump's unfactorability means marco rubio and ted cruz are stronger election candidates, and it's been so utterly unprotkeubgtable to know what is actually going to stick. i think it's so early to be making that prediction yet. >> i will not ask you to make a prediction, but give me your gut feeling with regards to the votes this weekend, do you think trump will take a hit for his debate? >> he has been leading by double digits. i think they are gradually --

trump and rubio have managed to chip in to some of trump's armour, but kasich also, he might fare well after the last debate because a lot of voters liked how he was not attacking trump directly and trump is going to be relatively unscathed. >> kasich was the only consistent adult on the stage, and i think that's a good assessment there. >> and a tough audience. >> exactly. straight ahead, expanding the party. donald trump says he is bringing new voters to the republican party, and if that's true, how is he doing that? >> i'm looking at donald trump. >> why? >> because he's the only guy out there that says he doesn't want to go into syria, and he doesn't want to mess with the middle east, and i feel like we are spending too much money fighting these wars and we need to get out of them. ess, what does it look like? is it becoming a better professor by being a more adventurous student?

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17 past the hour. giving you a live look from a caucus location, and republicans are casting their ballots as we speak, and democrats will be there caucusing tomorrow. donald trump is not just causing chaos for the republican party, he is also driving a wedge among democrats by appealing to so-called reagan democrats. here is what "the boston globe"'s annie lynskey told me that could mean about a possible election? >> this is not a normal year and you look at the polling and focus groups that people have conduct the on donald trump, and he is getting anywhere between a 20 to 15% of democratic crossover, and if that type of

pattern continues she's going to have a hard time in the general election. >> joining me now, white house correspondent for the daily political reporter, gabe. thank you both for joining me. gabe, i will go to you first because i want your reaction as to whether we could see a substantial number of democrats supporting trump in a general election? >> i think it's too early to tell, but democrats are really worried about this, particularly people close to the clinton campaign think if it's a clinton/trump election, he will have appeal among working class white voters. and michigan is a state that has gone blue the last few elections but there are usually these democratic voters that are giving him a real look. >> how about your thoughts, fran

kes kau? >> i think trump can lose votes from republicans. many republicans are saying they will not vote for trump, they will either not vote at all or looking to a third party option potentially instead of donald trump, a more conservative option. any possible democratic support or independents may be outweighed by the establishment that says they will not vote from him. >> you are from kansas, so you are following the caucuses that are under way there today. do you get a sense from your personal covering of all this do you get a sense of who will take it? >> donald trump was smart to go to wichita, and that's located where reusantorum in 2012 crush

romney. overall in 2012, you saw santorum winning the whole state. on the democratic side, there's blue thumb prints in what i would otherwise call a red state, so that's why you have seen bernie sanders going to lawrence, kansas, and he stopped by kansas city, missouri, and he's trying to win those areas. >> gabe, the protesters with the black lives matter movement he interrupted trump several times. >> oh, no, not another one -- get out of here. get out! get out! get them out! get out of here. troublemakers. real troublemakers.

this is a wild evening. this is one hell of a way to spend a friday evening. >> so trump has brought in additional security for his rallies because of the increasingly rowdy crowds and the relentless protests, and do you think it would add up to a bigger problem for trump if he becomes the general election nominee? >> well, no doubt the intensity of these things have really been ratcheting up. have you seen a lot of reports from reporters at these events saying it's getting a little scary, and it's something republicans and democrats are watching, and this is not a friendly environment and it's

almost haostile. you don't want that kind of violent feeling going on if he is the nominee. >> we saw mitt romney blasting donald trump and you wrote about this in your latest article, and what impact do you think romney's comments will have on the race overall? >> he successfully distracted donald trump from hitting marco rubio and ted cruz and kasich for that matter, as we go into these very important contests, and even today donald trump repeatedly tweeted about mitt romney instead of his opponents, and so mitt romney directed attention away from the candidates, and he's done that. >> thank you. in a moment, militia members gathered about the presidential campaign as well as to open fire. my belly pain and constipation?

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know you can get help staying on track for the future you've always wanted. as we approach 1:30, the bottom of the hour, we look where donald trump will be taking to the podium center stage, again, addressing about 10,000 people there if it's packed to a capacity, and it's expected to be and the lines are outside making their way in. voters will cast their votes in michigan, and it's a strong hold for patriot and militia groups. and tony has been speaking to the members of the militia there. what are they telling you about this week's primary? >> reporter: good afternoon. you hear about unions in

michigan, and there are other voting blocks, it's the militia, and today is a training day, and they are looking on small arms and a qualifying day for se semiauto weapons, and it's not all boys or adults, as you can see here. there's a strong libertarian streak in the militia community, and some like ted cruz and others like donald trump because of his border policies. and i know you are a libertarian, but if you had to choose between donald trump and hillary clinton in a general election, where does your vote fall? >> i would like to cast my vote on the libertarian ticket, as i said, but between the two i find them both of a joke, but there

are other policies i would vote on. i would cast my ballot for gary johnson. >> there was a recent poll that came out that said 61% of michigan voters support donald trump's ban on muslims. do you believe in that ban? >> i believe donald trump, the words he used was taken well out of context by some of the more democratic and liberal-minded individuals, but for the most part we don't have the resources currently of any individual come into this nation, and we are currently $19 trillion in debt as far as the national debt goes and many of the resources are being stretched thin. what he is doing is calling for a moratorium. >> so you like him a little bit? >> no, not at all. i understand where people would want to draw that conclusion,

however we have muslim americans, obviously, and in fact, one of our former coordinators of the mmcw was a muslim himself. >> yes. >> reporter: alex, there is not a lot of support for any politician at the moment. one person we spoke to and gave him a hillary clinton and donald trump scenario, and he asked if he could vote for jack daniels. coming up, former new mexico governor, bill richardson, weighs in. and kid - in all of us. ♪ nutritious wheat for the adult you've grown into

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(vo) you can check on them. you can worry about them. you can even choose a car for them. (mom) honey, are you ok? (child) i'm ok. (announcer vo) love. (mom) we're ok. (announcer vo) it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. we have republicans gathering for caucuses, and caucus voting will conclude a little bit later on today.

and msnbc, the place for politics. presidential candidates are crisscrossing the country for campaign events ahead of the next big decision days, which are this tuesday and the following tuesday. cruz is traveling to idaho, and trump will hold a rally in florida, and marco rubio is in jackson, florida, and hillary clinton and bernie sanders also in michigan ahead of a debate in flint tomorrow night. let's go to jane tim at the cpac conventi convention. we heard all of the cheers as marco rubio focused on the meaning of conservatism. what did you see and hear from where you stood? >> this is the best response any presidential candidate has gotten all weekends, and he had a very strong response. some of them were making my ears hurt in the room, and that's not something i say often and i go

to a lot of these things, and what was important, he was going with an optimistic message and appealing to the young people, and he talked about trying to preserve the nation for the next generation, and that went well for him. >> who is speaking behind you? >> we are having a panel talking about gun control and the room is less full as it had for marco rubio, and this is the bread and butter of cpac, where you have a chat about gun rights, and marco rubio gave them what they wanted. >> straw poll goes down three hours from now, 4:45 eastern? >> yeah, you know, if marco rubio had spoken a couple days ago earlier in the conference, i would say he had a good shot at winning it and i think he has a shot at a strong showing, and ted cruz spoke yesterday and he is the usual favorite of the

crowd and i expect him to do the best in that poll. >> anybody still grumble that donald trump cancelled last-minute and didn't show up for his 8:30 showing this morning? >> people are still annoyed, and in the marco rubio speech there were questions about what trump's position is, and the crowd booed, they didn't want to hear about donald trump but wanted to hear about marco rubio's proposals. this is not representative of the entire conservative movement, and they are very important to the larger conservative movement, and marco rubio and ted cruz won their hearts. >> thank you very much. i spoke with kathleen sebelius about the possibility of democrats crossing over party

lines to support donald trump. >> i think democrats and republicans have always crossed over for candidates who have some appeal to them. i think that as more focus is on donald trump and what he stands for, i hope that people will understand that he is one of the least well equipped people to become president of the united states. >> we should say sebelius is a clinton supporter and the former governor of kansas, which holds it caucus today. and let's bring in governor richardson. always a pleasure to speak with you. i want to ask your reaction to what you just heard, what secretary sebelius was just saying, how concerned are you the democrats are crossing over to the republican side? >> well, there are two schools of thought. one, if trump is the nominee, that hillary will win

overwhelmingly. there are those of us that think we have to be careful if trump is the nominee, and he has an appeal, a populist appeal that many of us did not expect. there's something out there about it, and i think hillary would beat him, but it would be appear major, major effort. i am glad she is concentrating on the jobs and the economy and on helping those in the manufacturing area. i think the economic issue is going to keep democrats in line, but at the same time i think we have got to be conscience that young voters don't seem to be staying with the the democratic party, and we have to get our base out, hispanics and african-americans and unions and white women also seem to be heading our way. i am concerned about the white guy vote, the white male vote, and they seem to be drifting

away and going to trump and republicans. i don't think it's going to be a cakewalk. i think hillary wins, but i think we have to be very careful. >> bernie sanders just came out with a five-minute long add targeting hispanic voters. do you think this could go over him in the polls? >> he has been weak, a senator from vermont and there are few hispanics here, and he voted against the comprehensive immigration bill. the clintons have a long and positive history with hispanics, and it's smart bernie is doing what he is doing, and it's smart hillary and her supporters recognize that sanders is a legitimate candidate with a lot of progressive votes. let's be careful about not alienating them too much, and let's find out a way to win, win in the industrial states, the big states that are coming up, but recognize that he is a

leader of a strong movement that we have to keep under our tent, and there could be some trump voters that bernie has that we want to keep in the democratic tent. >> do you think that because of bernie sanders's success and the movement as you describe it that he has had to push hillary clinton more progressively? >> yes, there's no question about it. that's where the democratic party is. in the past it has gone to the center and to the right, and this time it's gone to the progressive side, but it's mainly on economic issues, alex, relating to income equality and jobs, and so what people want is some kind of economic security, and you know, hillary talking about jobs and manufacturing base as she did in detroit yesterday, and incentives to corporation to help their employees and penalizing

corporations that shift jobs overseas and that's going to resonate very well especially in the industrial belt, and those are the big primaries coming up. >> i want to get your reaction to mitt romney's attempt to stop donald trump. what kind of impact did it have and do you think there is still time to stop donald trump? >> i think it's too late to stop trump. it's a runaway train, and the only place you stop him is at the republican convention, and that's possible because delegates are not bound after the first ballot. i know everybody has gone against what romney said, you know, that it's going to galvanize trump supporters, and maybe so but romney was the nominee and is a credible guy, and i think he will sew doubts in the minds of the voters as they get close to the convention, and in the end i don't think it helps trump that

the party establishment, the nominee in the last race is saying things like he is a fraud, so you know, i know everybody is down on romney for doing this, but i think it's going to have an affect eventually? >> do the democrats want to see a brokered convention and the relative craziness that might bring? >> yes, i think we want to see -- i am being honest. we want to see the disarray, the republican party is falling apart and don't know where to go. there's an open rebellion against the establishment that brings unity. what you want is your base, and independent voters to be on your side and republicans are not giving the public, the general public that is going to vote in the general election a sense of stability and unity. so yeah, you want to see that -- i care about the country and i want to see more bipartisanship

and parties come together in the congress to get things done, but you know, in a political sense, this incredible debate that happened two nights ago, the worst debate i have ever seen, but it was very entertaining, and it's good for democrats and the country is going to see the contrast between sensible debates that occur between sanders and clinton and clinton being a stateswoman, and the republicans call each other names, and it's good right now for democrats, but we'll see. >> seeing as you being a life-long democrat, and we'll leave you with a smile on your face at the end of that one. the bitter battle of nominations, has it changed presidential politics for good? that's ahead. anddddd, she's back. storm coming? a very dangerous cheese storm. so you have 20 more bags.

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from now, and gabe gutierrez is with us. >> reporter: marco rubio's rally expected to get started in half an hour or so. you mentioned the rousing speech at cpac, and yes, marco rubio is really trying to establish himself as the anti-trump candidate, but will he be able to do it here in florida. he is down by double digits in the poll, and it's an uphill battle for him to gain traction in his home state, and later today he is heading to puerto rico, and the rubio campaign said it's a delegates game, and they have not been able to stop trump in any state except minnesota, and they hope to gain momentum and possibly do well in the kansas caucuses, and the

reason for that, since it's a closed caucus, some of the independent voters that have gone to trump, they may go to marco rubio or ted cruz. cruz is making an effort in florida to try to knock marco rubio out of the game, and he has opened ten campaign offices here, and the rubio campaign has faced criticism for not establishing its ground game here in florida, and even more so ahead of the crucial march 15th primary, so should be an interesting thing to see over the next couple days, and the attack ads against donald trump, from conservative solutions to rubio's super pac, where they gain traction, and if marco rubio can come from behind and catch up from donald trump here in his home state. >> got ten days to do it. in just a moment, two words that can dictate the direction of a presidential campaign and

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this is how it looks at a new orleans polling station at this hour. the polls in today's louisiana primary remain open for about another seven hours we'll keep you, of course, posted on what's happening throughout this day and into the evening. new insight now in to what makes a campaign successful, as we've seen so far this election season it does not always come down to just money or a big name. msnbc's exploring today's most innovative minds with seven days of genius a project in partnership with new york's 92nd street "y" community and cultural center and welcome, i'm so glad to talk to you about this. mark, you've been in the lead, a media strategist there, for hundreds of campaigns, democrats and republicans alike and you've had successful campaign stories.

talks about what makes a successful campaign. >> well, the very first thing that makes a successful campaign is a graeat candidate and be lucky to hook up with somebody with a vision and a message and is authentic. because you can't really make up those things and the best -- the best consultants i think what they do is convince people not to add layers but to take them away and create more transparency in this day and age which is what people want. great campaigns tell stories. they are narratives. we think about in culture, books and tv, americans and people around the world are attracted to story lines. you look at great campaigns and there's almost always a narrative architecture to it. >> but also in addition to having a great story which has to have a pretty clear message, you have to have the preparation, right? >> oh, yeah, no. it starts from day one and on your announcement day that's when you have the greatest megaphone, right? look at ted kennedy he was a guy

who was supposed to be president and he got asked the question why are you running and that's the most fundamental question what's your rationale for being and way too often you look at any unsuccessful campaign or ones that collapse because they don't have a clear rationale for why that candidate is running so that's the most important thing why are you running. >> you also said campaigns are about fear or hope. which one is the more powerful? >> well, fear's a very powerful, very powerful instrument in voting. you know, when you think about national security, you think about economic security, people are -- you know, they fear what they don't have, they fear what they're going to lose, they fear what their children won't get so it's a powerful motivator. >> so in, 04 was it host-9/ post-9/11? >> absolutely. it was driven by fear. >> here's what was interesting for you in 2008 i know you signed out to help out john mccain but you did so with a caveat. you said i'll get you all the

way through up until the general if you're going up against barack obama. was that because there was that message of hope -- >> yeah. >> -- and so talk about that. >> well, early in 2007 i signed up with mccain and i said i'm honored to work for you and under these circumstances i will always support you and vote for you but if this guy barack obama, who i met, i disagreed with his politics but i liked him if you win the nomination and if you win the nomination, then i'll step out of the general election because i didn't want to be an attack dog against a campaign and a candidate that i thought would be a hopeful campaign and i didn't want to be the tip of the spear on that. >> do you see a message in the 2016 campaign and what is it? >> it's a lot of disenfranchised people. that's the power of the trump message you go to the rallies and you have to go to appreciate it. there is a -- it's a movement. and there's power. and, you know, i think that a lot of what the general

election's going to be about if it's hillary clinton and donald trump which there's a good possibility that it will be, it will be trump and anti-trump voting. hillary clinton in a lot of ways is just an extension or a third term for barack obama sort of the status quo election. but donald trump's all about radical change. >> so, there's stories, but do you think that things may be shifting in this 2016 race that it's all about branding? look at what donald trump has been able to do. he talks about low-energy bush. he talks about little marco rubio. he talks about lying ted and look how effective they've been. >> well, i had the opportunity to work for ann richards and she said dumb it down so my momma can understand it and donald trump gets that. he gets it down to the most common denominator and, you know, you ask -- ask of any group of people, go to a dinner and say what's marco rubio's campaign slogan and ask any candidate what their slogan is

and ask them what donald trump's slogan is it's make america great again. >> you are a gold mine of info. i will take you to dinner and say talk to this me about it. >> thank you. who are the greatest minds in modern history? you tell us msnbc and new york's 92nd street "y" have created a bracket asking the public to join the debate. you can cast your vote on the final four by going to msnbc.com/geniusshowdown watch it all this week on msnbc. that is a wrap of this hour of live coverage and joy reid is up next live from detroit and she'll show you why mitt romn romney's speech hearkens back to his father's try to stop barry goldwater in 1964. have a good one. their type 2 diabetes with non-insulin victoza®. for a while, i took a pill to lower my blood sugar. but it didn't get me to my goal. so i asked my doctor about victoza®.

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