if you have diabetes and burning, shooting pain in your feet or hands, don't suffer in silence! step on up and ask your doctor about diabetic nerve pain. tell 'em cedric sent you. hi, everybody, today is super saturday, 155 delegates up for grabs on the republican side. can marco rubio or ted cruz chip away at donald trump's lead and 126 delegates are up for the democrats. bernie sanders hoping to notch at least a win in one of the three states where voting is taking place today. some caucus locations they've already closed. in kansas for republicans, for example, and then democrats began caucusing just a short time ago at 4:00 p.m. eastern just one hour from now caucus doors will close in kentucky and

folks are still caucuses in maine and nebraska. while voting in the louisiana primary that is going to end at 9:00 p.m. eastern. good to have you with me and good afternoon from a beautiful pensacola beach, florida, i'm thomas roberts and we've got a lot to talk about as we have our show on the road and we're monitoring all the results from the super saturday contests and donald trump and marco rubio will be holding rallies for supporters this afternoon. there's only ten days to go before this state holds its all-important primary on march the 15th. marco rubio will hit the stage any minute now expected in jacksonville. he's headed to puerto rico later tonight. and the sunshine state where early voting statewide begins this weekend is a must-win for senator rubio. the first place finisher here wins all 99 of the states delegates. but we start in kansas where earlier today things didn't go as expected for donald trump as he walked out to a less-than-supportive crowd at a precaucus rally in wichita.

>> okay. thank you. >> we were there as donald trump was welcomed by a sea, a combo of boos and cheers. what was more? was it the applause for trump or people there that were booing him? >> reporter: oh, by far it was the boos. the boos from the crowd were very strong and loud. something that it seemed to almost catch donald trump off-guard. it was a stark contrast to what we saw right next door to that room where donald trump was holding a rally. there were hundreds and hundreds, a few thousand people in that room right before what you saw in that videotape that was trump going to speak to a caucus location and clearly the support there was favoring ted cruz. he was winning the signage wars

and there were more of his supporters there and throughout trump's presentation he was being heckled pretty openly and ted cruz spoke right before him. we're right outside the convention center. take a look around. these are the lines. as you mentioned the polls are supposed to be closing in 2:00 p.m. in wichita, but look at the sea of people here. i don't see them closing anytime soon. one of the precinct organizers told me that 8,000 people are expected here or will be -- will have gone through here. this is more than double which is what they were expecting before, you know, kansas has over 103 caucus locations for people to go to, so you see this is clearly a late rush. a surprise for many. i was talking to some people in the crowd, the people that you are looking at right now, they've been in line for about 3 1/2 hours. these are people who are dedicated, committed to voting and really having their say. >> shaq, explain if they are in line, are they going to be accounted for and let in no

matter what time it is? >> reporter: yes, they will be accounted for. doors will remain open. the line will end. the pictures don't even do justice. the line goes all the way around the room. i was talking to st ing some po officers, they were shocked at how many people came out. the caucus leaders are making sure elderly veterans they were able to get to the front of the line, that chairs are going around. there's water bottles and people going by passing out water and people going by with a box of pizza just trying to stay hydrated and stay fed and energized as they go out to caucus. the latest batch of people have been here for about 3 1/2 hours. >> that's an amazing demonstration of passion for folks that are turning out there in kansas for this caucus. shaq, keep us posted on that. shaquille brewster reporting from us. not long after donald trump was booed in wichita he traveled

back east to orlando where he'll be holding a rally any moment. jacob rascon is live in orlando. explain what we're expecting to hear from trump and talk about the crowd because it was a different reception in wichita than what we might see here. >> reporter: right. donald trump will be here any moment, i'm told, and we haven't even seen trump yet and all of the pre-rally speakers have all talked about marco rubio. so a glimpse of what donald trump will talk about. each of the speakers, there were several of them, all railed against marco rubio and the crowd went wild. i've been talking to people in the crowd and the sense from them that i'm getting, some of them supported marco rubio for the senate seat. but they say that he made a lot of promises and went to washington and didn't accomplish what he said he would do. i talked to one family in particular, very interesting family, husband, wife, and their two children. this gives you a glimpse of some of the voters here. they say they supported marco

rubio and were let down by him and weren't sure who they would vote for this time around but when mitt romney gave his speech against trump they were angered by the establishment against trump and they went out after the speech ended and went early voting for donald trump here in florida. you'll run in to that a lot as you walk around and talk to people there are thousands in the stadium and many more weren't allowed in because the fire marshal isn't letting them in. we expect to see protesters inside, but when donald trump gets here very soon and starts to talk we expect him to focus a lot of his message on marco rubio. thomas? >> and, jacob, where do we know donald trump to be tonight as we're going to learn caucus and primary results for certain states, where's he going to be? >> reporter: right, so on super tuesday instead of holding a party like a lot of the candidates do, he held a sort of news conference. that's what he's going to do again tonight. of course, we have four states making their decisions. he's leading in the polls in

those states except maine, there aren't any real polls there except trump does have the support of the governor there came out and endorsed him. we expect him to give a victory press conference and take questions much like he did after super tuesday. we expect to see possibly a more presidential looking donald trump as we did right after super tuesday. maybe even thanking his opponents and such. that's what we saw on super tuesday. that's the only real playbook we have for what he might do tonight. thomas? >> jacob rascon on the road with the trump campaign in orlando. just a reminder for the republican contests that we're watching, kansas, kentucky, louisiana and maine. thanks so much. marco rubio is holding a rally in jacksonville, florida, after speaking earlier at cpac in maryland and despite trailing in the polls the florida senator is hoping for a win. he's confident he can win in his home state against donald trump. and gable gue gutierrez is in oo

with the latest on the rubio campaign and he had a lot of applause and a standing ovation at cpac. let's talk about the confidence the campaign is demonstrating in the home state. donald trump leads in the latest polling the last one done conducted between february 21st and 24th and it gave trump the edge by some 16 points. >> reporter: yeah, thomas, good afternoon. you're right. that poll that quinnipiac poll doesn't have him down by double digits and another poll has him down by seven percentage points. the campaign says the race here is closer than the polls will lead you to believe. they feel they can gain a lot of momentum following the last debate and the next debate in miami and they feel they can kind of turn the tide here. the question will be will the attacks on donald trump have -- make any sort of difference here. the conservative solutions the pac backing marco rubio has spent more than $3 million on ads going directly at donald trump. you mentioned that marco rubio spoke at cpac this morning. he got a very warm reception.

donald trump, of course, skipping cpac. and the campaign feels that once conservatives hear marco rubios message and they feel they can be the most electable, they feel if rubio can pull out a win on march 15th he can get the momentum necessary to make it a two-man race. i can tell you i've been speaking with voters here, with supporters of marco rubio and something you hear over and over again from them the theme of electability. there are some people here that may have perhaps gone for john kasich they say but they feel that of those left in the race they feel that marco rubio is the most electable. you ask them about donald trump and i've heard this not only here in florida but in other rallies i've been through in a bunch of other states including south and new hampshire and virginia that when you ask them about donald trump they break out into a smile and they essentially say no way. under no circumstances am i voting for donald trump. when you ask them about ted cruz, they will say they appreciate his conservative principles but they just don't

trust him and that's something you hear over and over again from the types of voters that we're seeing at the marco rubio rallies, a lot of them are college educated, more affluent from suburbia and the marco rubio campaign has been really trying to pick up that type of voter. now, the question is, can they get the momentum ahead of this march 15th primary to really turn the tide here? another question is what about jeb bush? will he endorse marco rubio? some of the other folks we've talked to here say that they previously voted, that they like jeb bush and some of them voted absentee for jeb bush. and now they're left without, you know, without any recourse now that they've already voted absentee for jeb bush and even though they support marco rubio, they think he has a steep hill to climb in florida. again, the vote here is march 15th. thomas? >> gabe gutierrez for us in jacksonville, gabe, thanks so much. as we were talking about earlier today, marco rubio appeared at cpac giving this impassioned speech on

conservatism and what it means in the 21st century. >> what does it mean to be a conservative in the 21st century? i can tell you what it can never mean. being a conservative can never be about simply an attitude. being a conservative cannot simply 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 conservatism. conservatism has never been about fear or about anger. >> msnbc's jane timm has been following the events from cpac. jane, explain, did rubio's speech score him any points among these voters? how did it resonate? >> reporter: absolutely, i think he did very well today. he was incredibly well received. i would say he had the best response of any candidate who spoke including ted cruz and this is sort of ted cruz's crowd. this is people who identify as very conservative. the people who we see in exit polls go predominantly for ted cruz and the very people that marco rubio needs to pull to his team if he's going to get the

second place slot and be the candidate to go up against donald trump. of course, donald trump was an easy target here for him. there were a lot of digs, some subtle, some not so at the gop front-runner because he didn't show up and he really frustrated a lot of conservatives who said, you know, we wanted to see him. we may not agree with him but he wanted him to show up in front of this group of thousands of conservatives, many young, the people who knock on doors and buoy the conservative movement 3 65 days a year. >> jane timm at cpac there in national harbor, maryland, jane, thanks so much. areas like that we're in today in pensacola beach are really going to play a major part in selecting the gop's eventually nominee, we're located south of mobile and people call it l.a. or lower alabama. on super tuesday donald trump won big in alabama by a 22-point margin. here in floridas first district the voter base is pretty similar. we went to a local gop dinner in the panhandle to ask voters who they think should be the party's

nominee. >> i really like ted cruz. but i like donald trump if that's what it ends up being. >> the senator of my state alone has become an absolute embarrassment with his behavior. it's like a high schoolchild. this is not what we send to washington. these people are existing in a bubble. >> trump and i don't agree on everything. absolutely. he's an imperfect candidate as, you know, we all are. but to send a clear message to d.c. and they're terrified, i think he's the man to doet. >> all of them bother me when they speak. because i don't trust any of them. >> so, joining me now politico's mark ka kafuto and rick wilson. martin simmons is republican party chair here in florida's district one. it's good to have you with me. marty, let me start with you. early voting began statewide over the weekend for florida. >> monday the 29th. >> monday early voting started in certain counties.

>> this past monday. >> now we have all of florida engaged with the early voting process. which campaign do you think is best positioned to take advantage of early voting? >> i'm not sure there's an advantage to early voting, but you can fulfill is the chance to get your message out sooner. because by the time tuesday gets here, the 15th tuesday, nearly 50% of the vote in florida will have already been cast and technically that ends saturday night, saturday afternoon, before the tuesday election. so, if your message isn't out there it's only half effective after that. >> okay. so, mark, let me ask you, ted cruz's campaign is opening up ten different field offices here in florida. obviously ted cruz who didn't demonstrate a heft in the recent "q" polling here coming in third. he is definitely making a play here strategically to try to thwart rubio's efforts, do you think he can do that? be a spoiler for marco rubio? >> he says he is. let's see how he campaigns.

every vote counts. one thing you mentioned is the media markets that border voted heavily for donald trump but they voted as well for ted cruz. it might sap away support that would go to trump. this is theory. when you get down in miami it's a completely different place compared to pensacola and what marco rubio needs is a large miami-dade turnout. they don't care about immigration reform to the same degree that trump and cruz voters do. that will be one of the keys in the race for rubio to win. rubio has a trump problem, not a cruz problem, but to your question, yes, every vote counts and if cruz is siphoning away some not trump votes that will hurt rubio, but we'll have to say. >> rubio has a trump problem. the establishment going 1 for 15 and john kasich has yet to get on the scoreboard yet. what does it say about the

establishment's chances of toppling trump? the money that you're spending in anybody but trump efforts is pretty mind-boggling. >> well, it hasn't been mind-boggling until about ten days ago and we're starting to see now the impact of the fact that, you know, there was a period of time where jeb bush spent his right to rise pac spent more against marco rubio in one week in new hampshire than had been spent against donald trump until last week so we're starting to see the impact of where a large directed focused and effective messaging campaign is going to play out. and look, we're in a situation right now where as mark noted the panhandle looks like it's going to split cruz and trump in some degree and when you get to the point where the ads are really hitting, they're working heavily in south florida right now. because, look, miami and dade county or miami-dade county and broward county together take every county in the panhandle from escambia to duval and add

them up and it's those two counties in south florida. so that will be the real battleground here and i think the advertising messaging is tuned to the kind of things that we've discovered after some hunting and pecking and some trial and error move voters against donald trump. it's going to be a very tight race here. because trump has been puffed up by the media to the degree that he has been. and if ted cruz plays the spoiler, we may end up with ant anti-trump votes being siphoned away and ted cruz guaranteeing that marco rubio can't get over the finish line. and we're seeing polls that are tighter than the polls out last week and marco rubio closes very strong. in virginia he closed a 19-point gap in a matter of four days and he's a familiar face in florida and frankly the -- i think that the immigration issue has mark pointed out in south florida is actually cutting against trump for once rather than moving in his favor. >> so, when you think about

trump's success, it's a which came first the chicken or the egg because the american people, the republican base, the voters, are putting him in first place. i want to go around the table really quickly, marty, with you, jeb bush he's out. there's been a change with carson now out. if they endorse somebody before the primary here in florida -- >> they better do it quick. >> they better do it quick. mark, do you agree? >> i would say so. it would certainly help. but the question is not only jeb's interest in doing it but the timing. at what point does it have the greatest impact but i think sooner rather than later. >> what do you think about jeb bush throwing an endorsement or carson? >> well, i think jeb bush's endorsement would help in south florida particularly. i think it would help unify the fracture that happened with the florida establishment between the marco side and the genocije. a lot of them are affiliated and related but there's been a division with hurt feelings from the campaign that still haven't quite resolved.

i think that marco is going to enjoy jeb's endorsement. i think it will be a south florida focused endorsement. we also saw another big move where governor scott declined to endorse in the primary and i think that was helpful and ben carson is in question how much impact it will have in florida, he's been polling in the 4, 5% range and it may move a point or two toward marco or cruz. >> gentlemen, thanks so much. thank you. i appreciate it. coming up next donald trump may be ahead in the polls in florida, but could marco rubio be facing a threat from another candidate in his home state? meanwhile, all right, on a lighter note, because we're trying to have as much fun as we can while we're on the roadworking our hearts out for you, i posted this pic on our instagram account, my instagram account if it got 1,000 likes we'll take a plunge and we'll

jump in. so will you send us in the drink or not? go like us on instagram.

but they didn't know they were all tobacco products.e... ooh, this is cool. it smells like gum. yummy! this smells like strawberry. are these mints? given that 80% of kids who ever used tobacco started with a flavored product, who do you think tobacco companies are targeting? do we get to keep any?

as we were talking about ted cruz is making a big play to derail marco rubio in his home state of florida which votes just ten days from now. the cruz campaign is opening ten new field offices across this state and the texas senator is trailing third in recent polling but he's hoping to chip away at rubio's support in the crucial inner tawinner take all state. >> marco rubio is a favorite son and donald trump is formidable just about everywhere. i would note that any candidate who can't win his own state that's a real problem. >> so, joining me is jason rowe being a senior adviser to senator -- to senator rubio. so, let's talk about what's

happening within this state. ted cruz is really stepping up his game in florida. so, how can the campaign counter that type of attack? because cruz is working as a spoiler or trying to anyway. >> we can counter it by winning. we feel very good about where we are. a new poll came out that shows us just five points behind donald trump. and i think, you know, you saw today when marco spoke at cpac, when he mentioned donald trump he got a lot of boos. when donald trump showed up at a party rally in kansas, there were a lot of boos. so, i think people are starting to see through the schtick and the con that is donald trump and we feel very optimistic about our chances of winning florida. >> so, when we think about what that means, jason, and a loss in florida for rubio, the larger calculation, does that mean game over for the senator's campaign if he doesn't carry his home state? >> well, i think -- i think what we really have to look at is the delegate count. we've got four primaries going

on today, another six before we get to florida and really i think we've got to look at where we are in the delegate count and if we're continuing to add delegates and keeping up and preventing donald trump from getting the 1237 he needs to secure the nomination, this campaign will continue. >> but without the home state of florida and the 99 delegates that will either go to who is leading in the polls donald trump or potentially a ted cruz, doesn't that neuter the effectiveness of the senator's message here? because he lost his home state, how could he turn that around and show up at the republican convention and say i deserve this, i've earned this? >> well, we're not going to lose the senator's home state, so i'm not really worried about what message it sends because we're going to win. we're looking very good in kansas today. i think looking forward there are a lot of opportunities and, again, this comes down to a delegate count. who has the requisite number of delegates to go to the convention and make their case, donald trump doesn't even have a

fourth of what he needs to secure the nomination at this point. so, we're still a long way before there's any finality to this race. >> jason rowe, who is one of the advisers with senator rubio. jason, thanks so much. appreciate your time. we'll shift gears. as we were telling you earlier this hour we were anticipating donald trump arriving at a rally in orlando. we'll take a look. >> the one person that hillary doesn't want to run against, i will tell you this, is donald trump. that i can tell you. that i can tell you. and it's amazing. i watched it the other day where little marco is going, well, donald will not win. this guy's got so many problems, i don't think he'll come close to winning his own state. how would you like to be, i'm 21 points up now -- i happen to love florida in all fairness. truly, truly my second home. i'm here all the time as you know.

all the time. i love this area, by the way. but i'm here all the time. i've done many, many jobs in miami with related and with george perez and with, you know, gil desert and michael desert, we've had great success. and we've had many buildings in miami we have a lot of stuff and it's been great. and as you know doral and in jupiter we did a big job. very, very successful and in west palm beach we did the big, big job. very, very successful and the mar lago club, andn't tonight we'll have our news conference, hopefully it will be a victory conference in west palm beach, in west palm beach. see, with all the places i could pick, i picked florida. i want to pick florida. so, we all love florida. but i hear these people and they talk about the general election. look, the general election's very important, but i'm the one that's going to beat her. and i will say this, the one

person that she does not want to run against is trump. you know, she got a dose -- i didn't -- i haven't even -- folks, i'm beating her in many polls. i'm beating her in many polls. and i haven't even started yet. i haven't started with her yet. only once, only once, four weeks ago she said something about me being sexist. remember? and i'll tell you the press treated me very unfairly. because right after she said that i attacked her and bill -- and bill. we talked about the word. we came up with the word, a very true word, enabler. do you know what enabler is? and we talked about bill you mean to tell me i'm bad but her husband's okay? maybe one of the worst in the history of politics, right? and i had to put up -- okay. this was a disaster for them. i guarantee you they had one of the worst weekends of their life. this was -- this was not a

friendly weekend that they had sitting together at home wherever they're at home if they were together. so, here's the story. so, here's the story. here's the story. we can't play games. our country's in deep trouble. we have to beat her. it looks like she's going to make it. bernie is gone. bernie is gone regardless. bernie is -- bernie is -- bernie had his time. you know he had his time in the sun, and i watch -- i've seen this so often with politicians. they blow it. what happens, he had his time in the sun. he was doing great and then they asked him the question about e-mails a month and a half ago, right? and he said, i'm tired of them discussing it, like, in other words, they shouldn't be discussing it. and i said, bye-bye, bernie, you just blew the election, and i was right. but when i attacked hillary six weeks ago, people don't realize this and the press gave me zero, and i want credit. do you understand? you are the most dishonest human

beings on earth. the most. they are disgusting, dishonest human beings and i'll tell you -- well, not all of them. actually, amazingly, because i'm no fan of "the new york times," i had a front page story today in "the new york times" was a phenomenal story. i can't believe it. get him out of here. get him out. we had an amazing, amazing story today on the front page. i'm going to have to be nicer to "the new york times," you know? they give me all bad stuff, then i attack. today was really amazing.

because somebody said in the story that there's been nothing like this movement in the united states for over 100 years. can you imagine? over 100 years. and it's true. no matter where we go, we're packed. we have the biggest audiences, the biggest crowds by far. i must tell you, bernie was second. a distant second, but bernie was second. where are these people? come on, get them out fast. we want speed. oh, there he is. look. little wise guy. little wise guy. lot of guts. lot of guts. i wonder who sent him in? you know, they send them in, by the way. very -- but i love -- i love my protesters. because these guys never move the cameras. i say it all the time. i call my wife melania -- by the

way, has she done a great job on television lately, right? would she be a great and very beautiful first lady, right? and she's very, very smart, and she's got a big heart, i will tell you. she's got a great heart. but i love my protesters, because i'll go home and i'll see melania, and i say, how did you like the crowd? didn't see it. what do you mean you didn't see it? i heard it. when you hear this crowd, you know there's a lot of people. can you imagine where we had to have over 10,000 people not come in today. but i promise i'll come back. none of you can come here when i come back, okay? i also know you got here at 6:00 in the morning, many of you. so, pretty amazing. but we're going to come back. but can you imagine, i go home and i'll say did you see the size of that crowd? we filled up dallas, you know, the mark cuban, the dallas mavericks are a wonderful team, they have a beautiful stadium. i spoke with mark.

i said, do you know what that would be good, i said you'd fill it up fast. we took it over on thursday and we filled it up on monday 21,000 people, nobody knew. and the reason they didn't know, number one, the reporters don't want to report it. they don't want to say. they had a case where bernie -- it's unbelievable. that's why i like my protesters. the only time they move the camera is if there's a protester. >> we are listening to donald trump at his rally in orlando and this is kind of a typical trump rally that we see where he calls the media disgusting and says we don't show the crowds when we do show the crowds and protesters seem to erupt at different times here. he loves his protesters and called this one a little wise guy. called the media disgusting and talked about marco rubio and calling him little marco. and i want to stalk more about what's taking place here in the panhandle. it's 3:33 in orlando and 2:33 in pensacola beach and the mayor of

pensacola joins me. you have been listening to the donald trump rally. this is the same line of rally speech that we hear from donald trump. why do you think it resonates with folks? >> going on in america right now with pop culture in the 21st century, we're driven by celebrity culture in america today and they've been watching it for 30 years with trump, i'm 46 year old and we've known did donald trump. and i think it's resonating with a lot of people that are angry. he's tapping into that pulse. they're getting people fired up and it's almost like being at a world wrestling match. >> sure. >> people love that part. but it's too visceral for the country. >> but for marco rubio, he would say and has said he's a con man. this is celebrity over substance. it's working. it's working for trump and not for ruke bio. >> we need leadership in this country and marco rubio is a heck of a leader in our state.

and it's a very big challenge with the way trump is playing the media. >> what do you think about the panhandle? i know it's been called -- this area, you live in l.a., lower alabama. >> northwest florida. do you think, though, that alabama is a good indicator of how the panhandle is going to vote with this primary? >> well, i think, you know, still northwest florida right now we have a million and a half people west of tallahassee. you have a lot of republicans. a lot of democrats right now. the race right now i think is not, you know, won in northwest florida yet. >> when we think about the state as a larger collective, who can do better here? hillary is winning over bernie sanders 2-1 but in a general matchup who do you think can carry florida, donald trump if he wins the nomination or hillary clinton? >> there is a lot of democratic support in northwest florida but i strongly feel if trump gets the nomination, he'll carry florida, but we'll see what happens after march 15th. >> are you endorsing anybody? >> right now i'm not endorsing anyone right now, but as i said we're striking a chord in

america right now. rubio has done a heck of a job for our great state of florida and it will be really intere interesting on march 15th. >> if you think he's done a great job and this is your home state, you're the current mayor of pensacola, why not throw your weight behind him? >> i think there's an anomaly going on, the pundits and the establishment -- >> are you afraid to bet on a loser? you are afraid to bet on the guy that could lose? >> i think we all like betting on winners obviously right now, but john kasich did a great job the other night in debate. he struck the policy. he's great on foreign policy. it's an interesting race right now on the local level. >> all right, mayor, we'll ask you to stick around because we're going to make you be a part of the challenge we'll do. we got over 1,000 likes on instagram so we're going to go for a dive in the drink. >> listen, you're in one of the greatest beaches in the world right now and we know that you got some big news coming out. >> we'll have a little bit of fun here because it can't be all work, all the time. it's too nice here so -- >> you got to showcase the great

city of pensacola. it's an exciting day. >> mayor, appreciate it. donald trump and marco rubio holding the rallies in florida, one in orlando and one in jacksonville and it's ten days before the crucial primary but the rallies may not be either campaign's main play in winning over floridians. we'll explain coming up after this.

hi, everybody, and welcome back i'm thomas roberts live from pensacola beach, florida, a lot to get you up to speed on. this super saturday and the caucus doors are closing within the next hour and at 4:00 p.m. eastern caucus doors will close in kentucky. today 126 delegates are at stake for the democrats and 155 delegates are at stake for the gop and we've got republicans holding caucuses today in kansas, kentucky, maine, and then a primary in louisiana. democrats holding a primary in louisiana as well as long -- along with the caucuses in

kansas and nebraska. so, we're keeping an eye on all the caucus locations and polling places across the country and we'll bring you the latest from those sites throughout the day and we're going to have the latest results as the polls close this evening. so stay with msnbc. our cal perry is in new orleans where the polls opened at 7:00 this morning. what are you witnessing? voters at the polling site where you are, what is the issue driving the day? >> reporter: as we talked about earlier today the budget is the big thing here. this state is in an. billion dollar budget deficit and they expect that will double in the next year. it's been slowing down here recently. i think one of the reasons for that this is a closed primary so you have to be a registered republican to vote on the republican side and same thing for the democrats. and keep in mind huge voter turnout in the early voting so a lot of people i think voted early already. while it's quiet we can take you behind the curtain very quickly. let me just show you the louisiana ballot. here it is, thomas. this is the official ballot people come in punch and you got

your presidential nominees here and paired up with local officials. this is the republican ballot. here is ted cruz, one thing we noticed here ted cruz supporters are very passionate about ted cruz. we spoke to one earlier. take a listen. >> we need someone who will stand up for the american people, for the constitution, for god, and for this country. ted cruz all the way. >> reporter: what worries you about donald trump? >> he's a fascist. i find him to be an arrogant, self-centered vicious hatemonger and he scares me and he's going to bring the country down. >> my voting record is 50-50, you know, right and left. but this year the republicans have just gone off the limb. >> reporter: now, a lot of those passionate remarks about donald trump are coming on the heels of his rally last night in new orleans. he held a rally that was really one meant to rival the ted cruz rally which was almost directly across the street from his rally.

interestingly enough, marco rubio taking a pass on the state of louisiana, seemingly focusing on florida. march 15th we'll know in about five hours if that pays off for if it hurts him here in louisiana. thomas? >> cal, we have special coverage all night on msnbc. cal perry reporting in new orleans. appreciate it. in florida it's a winner take all state for both parties come march the 15th but it's not the ground game that could determine the winner in the sunshine state. it's all about the political ads something we've been seeing for ourselves firsthand. with ten media markets and millions of dollars are being poured into this state including conservative superpacs launching a major anti-trump campaign. >> he tried to kick an elderly widow out of her home through eminent domain. real tough guy. he picks on elders and widows. >> i served in afghanistan as a special forces commander. donald trump hasn't served this country a day in his life.

essentially dodged the draft in vietnam through multiple deferments. >> so joining me now is anna cruz former executive director of the florida democratic party and gop media consultant adam goodwin. good to have you both with me. adam, let me start with you and florida being ground zero for the republican party and the anti-trump ad the club for growth spending $1.5 million and the american future fund more than that. it's nothing against trump has worked so far as we've seen. it only kind of makes him bigger. so, do you see these ads really having an effect here in florida or only helping trump? >> well, you know, we are used to campaigns by television here in florida, of course, i'm a media consultant so i really like this kind of environment. but i'm not sure what effect this is going to have at this point. you just saw the release, thomas, today, i think or yesterday, from the bernie sanders campaign the other side, the five-minute documentary on

universion talking about migrant workers. if you had to say what the ad title would be for donald trump, it would be we have trump. and trump right now is basically doing his television ad not by paid media but in a rally in orlando where the reality king is holding court and obviously that's done very well for him thus far. >> all right, so, anna, let me show everybody exactly what adam was talking about because on the democratic side we have bernie sanders coming out with this powerful ad about a mexican family in florida. i want to show a portion. take a look. [ speaking in spanish ] >> so, anna, as we look at what

the numbers show us in the state of florida, hillary clinton has this 26-point lead over sanders. would you say that that gap is too large to make up even with ten days to go here? >> yeah, listen, florida is clinton country and we have to also remember that back in '08 many of her supporters' votes were not counted in this primary process. so, although she is not up on tv here yet in florida, we anticipate that grassroots campaign to continue through the primary. and do you know what, florida is a huge state to campaign in, and going up on television is really a critical, critical way to reach voters in a state this large. >> i know just staying in the hotel over the last several days and watching tv the ad waves -- or the airwaves are flooded with these different ads. and adam, the conservative american future fund is seeing ads with ads going after donald trump. we played one a minute ago. i want to play the second one. this one actually features a

vietnam pilot and former prisoner of war. take a look. >> trump would not have survived a p.o.w. experience. he would have been probably first one to fold. learn about donald trump. he is not what he appears to be. donald trump is a phony. stop him now. >> so, we've got the i-4 corridor with two major media markets tampa and orlando. is this basically an area of vulnerability where these ads could benefit the people that are anybody but trump? >> that's -- thomas, that's a great question. first of all, florida is the most purple of purple states in the country. it's a melting pot you might say of america. and american interests. people from all over the nation have moved here now live here, have jobs here. the i-4 corridor is well known in political circle the as maybe the ultimate swing area, not only in florida but in america. right now it's too late for these national campaigns to do

much more than what they're doing which is to advertise into the i-4 corridor. will it have an impact? well, thus far, i think you have to say the market test in a negative campaign against donald trump has not been a productive or successful one, but i do think the ads are critically biting and go after a narrative of someone who says he's standing tall for america and americans. so, the jury's out on this, but the i-4 corridor will be a major reason why either donald trump succeeds and maybe goes and gets the nomination in cleveland or maybe is -- is delayed a bit and we have a bit more of a contest on our hands. >> anna, real quickly, because we know florida has in a general election contest favored the democrats in the past. but could a dominant showing by donald trump in the primary here really give pause for concern about whoever the democratic nominee is? >> it doesn't at all. it's a completely different

electorate in the general election and i agree with my friend and counterpart on the other side of the aisle, adam, in saying this is such a diverse state. but it is going to absolutely come down to the i-4 corridor and also the county that adam and i hail from which is right here in hillsboro county, based on the demographics that we have here. it is the key to unlock this very purple state so i anticipate a lot of action between now and the primary date next week. and i think it's a -- the last-ditch effort that the republicans have to try to stop trump here is in the state of florida. >> well, ten days to go and with early voting already under way, we'll see how it all goes by march 15th, thanks for joining me. i apprec yaiate it. >> thank you. it may be a weekend, but it's a very busy road to the white house and we've got primaries and caucuses happening in five different states including maine and we'll show you what's going on to the north

and we'll bring you the latest coming up right after this.

welcome back. as we continue our field show here in pensacola beach, a beautiful day as folks are out enjoying lunch or enjoying time on the beach. we're talking to lots of folks and made a lot of new friends down here in pensacola beach and asking people what they think about the primary contest. so george scarborough, the brother of joe scarborough. we hear about george a lot on "morning joe" is with us. the texts that go back and forth. we also have diane cremmel and doug patton. george, we know who you're for, right? >> right. >> who? >> donald trump. >> donald trump. why? >> you know, i've always been sort of an entrepreneur at heart and i had the opportunity to read "art of the deal" as sort of an ambitious guy in my 20s

and it sort of helped to shape my career. then i got the opportunity to meet him five years ago in person and behind the scenes when nobody was watching, he was incredibly engaging and gracious. i had my mom, who has demen sme and my son and he was amazing in person and had a profound impact on me. >> we couldn't have a bigger contrast with you standing next to diane with her hillary hat and hillary shirt on. why do you think that she can carry the day here in florida? >> i believe hillary is the most qualified person to win the presidency. she's got the knowledge and the experience to move our country forward. she's going to build on everything that president obama has done and make it better for us. i just believe she's got a better vision for america and for the entire nation. >> doug, for you, you are interested in florida's favorite son right now, marco rubio, and you might be in the minority when it comes to what it means for primaries here coming up on the 15th.

>> well, let me start by saying i'm really an abcs guy, anybody but clinton or sanders. i was born and raised in florida. i believe in a stronger military, it's a military town. i believe in a better economy, i believe in conservative values and i think that marco rubio exhibits these things, but having said that, if marco rubio sees this, please stop the fighting with trump. i don't like that. >> do you think that as the person that should be the gop establishment, the intellectual candidate, that he's lowering himself to a different level to get down into a more juvenile type of campaign language? because he has taken on donald trump head on. >> yeah, i think -- i don't like the fighting, the infighting that's going on. i think america doesn't like that. i think that america is more interested in -- what interests us is jobs. we want a better military, a stronger military. we want conservative policy.

we don't want more government, we want less government. we want less taxes. and i think rubio exhibits these things. and for that reason i'm for marco rubio. >> meanwhile the setup that we have right here with -- this is our de facto trump and you're our de facto hillary clinton, this could be what the debate looks like. do you think, george, that trump will clean up his act if he were to go against hillary clinton on the debate stage? >> i've seen -- actually seen a lot of progress. you know, this is a guy that's never been involved in politics before, and i really believe that he's -- he's kind of on the political side -- this guy has been at construction sites for 50, 60 years. so i think that there's great -- he's a smart guy. he's going to do exactly what he needs to really bring us together, bring the party together, i hope, and i hope folks are open minded whether it's rubio or cruz or kasich or trump who's representative to come together and fight the battle that we need to win to move forward with the conservative values that we all

like. >> we can only see -- remain to see what happens with the debate if those two, hillary and trump, were to go head to head. it would be pretty fascinating to watch. thank you so much. all those things joe says about you, they're not true, george. you're a really nice guy. you should get a show. the good news is we hit our challenge of a thousand likes on instagram which means we go to the drink. >> all right. so we got to a thousand likes on instagram and i'm a man of my word and these kind folks here, marines and folks from the beach bar and these lovely young ladies are going to go with us. the mayor is our official arbiter of all things running in the gulf. >> don't forget the glasses. >> is everybody ready? >> yes. >> 3, 2, 1, go!