we continue to wait for results in maine, kentucky and kansas. in maine, the republican caucuses are too early to call but we can report that the maine republican winner will be announce in the about 30 minutes. that's the maine republican caucuses. in kentucky it is too early to call and in kansas norgs vote in yet. too early to call as well. earlier tonight it was ted cruz. the big winner in the kentucky republican caucuses. we have to look at when steve corn actiony talked about it. clusters of states. clump doing very well where there is a large black population in the southeast. fascinating. what does that tell you?

let's start with that. why does he do well where there are a lot of african-americans? are they more conservative? >> it is not only african-americans. also a lot of racism. he is not drawing a lot of african-americans. >> south carolina, georgia, alabama. that's the pattern. >> there was a great "washington post" piece about how much where there was high concentration of slavery interesting white citizens who live there are more likely to be republican. >> because -- >> let's call at this time racial anxiety has been stoked for a very long time. >> they're afraid of the large number of african-american slaves at one point. and in large number of people who were suppressed by jim crow. and they rightly assumed there might be some antagonism there. >> let's keep in mine that was all democrat until about 1968, '69 with nixon's southern strategy. the dynamic within the party -- >> i see when you're doing here

now. you're exonerating your party. the party of lincoln. >> people like to blur lines and make one thing equal to another. i agree the analysis. the other thing to keep in mine with the other thing going on right now is a lot of the anxiety that white america has with the changing demographics in the country. it is not just reflected in the south. you see it in the demographic shake-ups within the democratic party with progressives. >> it's interesting. the demographics among blacks and whites has stayed about the same. about 13% african-american. it hasn't changed. >> why do you think the middle part of the country is going for cruz like kansas? it all seem to be pro cruz.

perhaps to iowa and back down. we're watching this, the cluster of states. southeast, trump. middle part of the country right down the spine of the country, cruz. >> highly evangelical. >> a very strong conservative belt. both on marriage equality and on a woman's right to choose. he has made it very, very strong. not overwhelming. but in the republican base in those parts of the country there is a large infrastructure around both of those. in the media, the activist groups. very strong. >> and all politics is local. it seem to be true. texas went for cruz. michigan could be up for grabs because came is nearby. >> michigan will be an important state. >> kasich will be the nominee which is a long stretch of the imagination right now. he would have to win in michigan. not just ohio. >> not necessarily win. if he come in a good second. in michigan. >> anyway. i'm talking about winning.

can kasich win at all? >> i don't know. >> if he starts winning in michigan, anything is possible. i have three all star reporters covering this campaign now with me from washington. it is great to have you on. i'm looking at you. you start here tonight. how are we going to read this in material of this being a stop along the road? we came in here with 15 contests behind us. we've got 50 all together. obviously 50 states. i've said we're in the sixth round of the championship fight. this is about sixth. what will this tell us tonight as we turn the corner from the 6 and the 15 before us and the 35 to come? >> i have to tell you. i came in thinking it would be inevitable. you'll have hillary clinton and donald trump thinking. and i'm surprised how strongly ted cruz is doing? his campaign told me they thought this was a real turning point.

the debate this week in michigan really showed ted cruz' strength. that they feel this is now going to be donald trump's downfall. the beginning of two trump's downfall. >> they would say that. >> that's what they would say. he is playing much more -- donald trump went into kansas leading in the poll and he lost by -- like literally ted cruz doubled his vote in kansas. it is surprising. >> what about that these caucuses are made for party part pants of passion rather than the regular voter? even the open primaries where people are independents or democrats can vote. that's something that hillary clinton's campaign has focused. they were keenly aware that barack obama blew out all the caucuses in 2008 and they lost a ton of delegates. they're very worried about losing to bernie sanders. they pointed out to me and made

a note to say in comparison to 2008 where barack obama won kansas by 74%, you're going to see her splitting the vote. and they argued that she cannot blow things out and win and overcome the delegate lead unless he blows things out and he won't do that tonight. they predict it will be very, very close. >> how does it look tonight? we'll put this in the front page of the paper. >> so far the results in kansas, we knew kansas was not great for trump. very evangelical. more college educated voters. it wasn't a great state for trump. cruz did so well. and second, in maine and in kansas, marco rubio finished a very strong third. a big state to watch is louisiana. louisiana is a tailor made state

for trump will lots of people without college degrees. if trump wins louisiana, it is a big night. he is still on pace to win the nomination. >> let me go to heidi. >> do you think cruz did well in the debate this week? and is there doing better than expected today and tonight? >> i think he did better than some others in a debate that overall was one of the low points of the campaign. i think there's some analysis after tonight that the new republican offensive against donald trump may be catching on and gaining some traction. looking at the results in kansas. it is a state that's tailor made because it is a caucus state and you don't have the independents and the republican leaning democrats. or just more right leaning democrats participating.

so that's all good for cruz. but i think it is also just a broader analysis that maybe this new offensive is starting to work a little bit against donald trump. i think the big prize and the focus will be on march 15. i don't think that we should overplay the results tonight too. . we're still seeing the number for trump. looking very good out of florida and ohio, it is going to come to ohio and michigan being the big test as well. >> and we've got news. we keep analyzing this. we have news unfortunately coming in that complicates the simplicity of tonight's readings. the race in kentucky. the caulk is too early to call. but we can now say that donald trump is leading in kentucky. we're waiting for the kansas democratic party to announce a winner in the caucuses any minute now. as we wait for that, political correspondent steve kornacki is back with us.

you're seeing cruz in the middle of the country. being southeast swath for donald trump and it raises the question. where is the marco rubio section of the map? the summing after super tuesday. people were saying, if you've going to stop donald trump, it has to be divide and conquer. cumulatively they all deny trump the nomination. the interesting thing is ted cruz is sending signals that he doesn't believe in that. he wants to push marco rubio out of the race and get a one-on-one race himself with donald trump. and the result tonight is a small but potentially significant step in that direction. let's play this out a little bit and see what would happen. take a look. this is what would happen after march 15. if ted cruz were to get the one-on-one race he wants with donald trump. the problem for ted cruz after march 15 is he would be at a huge delegate disadvantage. you look at the states that are left in the northeast.

big delegate rich states. in the area of the country trump is doing well. he would be favored in wisconsin. you look at the immigration issue. arizona, so you're looking at the demographics he's been doing well with. you might be looking here and indiana. maybe west virginia. he would go into it with a huge delegate disadvantage to start with. you look at the lay of the handle and it is more favorable to trump. cruz wants the one-on-one but if he gets it, it would be a considerable up-hill fight. i've got two co-authors. managing editors of bloomberg and the co-hosts of with all due respect. thank you. i was thinking about it. everything he says there. is cruz, a the lolot of logic it brain soup, who you are. cruz is a maverick.

he fights with his roommate in college. he is his own guy. maybe the logic should be, split up the opposition. try to get a majority as opposition. that will keep trump on the first ballot. if you're a totally one sided individual and you think only in material of your interests. you say i don't like that plan. i think he is being logical about this. john kasich, if somehow you can get on a contested convention, john kasich could get that. marco rubio thinks if you got to a contested convention, he could get to it. ted cruz knows he's not popular among party regulars. if you got to the contested convection. >> lindsey graham said he could work with him. >> once you get to the convention, anybody could be the nominee and you're never going to -- any of the people we've just named. mitt romney, paul ryan, anyone's name could be put into consideration. ted cruz will not be that guy. he woem be the guy that the

party rallies around. even though his path is super narrow. he's calculated that the only way to get there sow get the outright delegate majority. steve point out. what's the other way for ted cruz? >> why would we think the trump delegates are not as tough as the average trump voter in terms of sticking with the guy? when they got to a convention, what would make a trump delegate switch? >> because who those delegates are and how they'll decide how to adjudicate, not just for the trump folks but anybody. the party would be facing an extraordinary situation. yes, we've had it but not with twitter and the 24/7 media. this would not be -- >> what would stop it from being subtle the old way. now that we're talking about an open convention. why wouldn't trump say i need 500 delegates. i'm going to give them to the guy who will give me -- i need the 500. who has 500? it may be kasich.

>> try to make a dole. everybody is talking about a brokered convention. >> you have to go to the fundamentals of what that would be. you want to jump over michigan and ohio? i do it every day for a lot of my day. who would come in with delegates? there's no doubt that even john kasich and marco rubio recognize. you would have to have some sense of connection to the voters. you would have to think about how to speak to the voters in a way that allowed you to have an outcome. different than trump with the most delegates. i think you would have to make a persuasive argument. so cruz would not excel with that inside game. >> he would excel at vp? >> yeah. >> i can't imagine he wouldn't.

>> given a choice between nothing and the vice presidency. >> i just rest that reagan was toward take the vice president to ford. jim baker was blown away by that. if trump had the most and cruz with the second most, you can see them with an alliance and the establishment would be shut out. >> i final it interesting that trump does pretty well in the southeast. georgia, south carolina would all begin. >> he is doing better in places where republicans are voting as opposed to republicans and independents. >> so it is the structure of the primary. >> very few caucuses tonight. florida is a closed primary. presumably he will not win there. i think that what the most important thing tonight is how trump handles himself.

regardless of how he loses three contests tonight or one. >> kentucky loses. >> they're skipping cpac and going to kansas and losing kansas pretty badly. how does he handle himself? we've all seen over and over, trump is impervious to thing that would normally rock another campaign what do you mean handle it? an emotional outcry? >> does he behave in a way that emboldens the growing, although not growing sufficiently to that trump group. >> does he cry out loud? what do you think he would do? >> does he act in a way that emboldens people? does he seem vulnerable to further attacks? for instance there are people who say going after him on his tax returns has made him upset. there are people who. he talked about his anatomy because he was defensive. not personally but feeling under siege. does he blai the way he did on super tuesday in a press conference that was commanding or in a way, i'm not saying he

has to be -- >> why is he holding a press conference again? >> i think he got positive feedback. >> six flags. >> i commented to a lot of people. if you look at the twitter feeds of former obama administration officials. they were all like, that was a really good press conference. donald trump goes what to do. he is commanding, artful, he drives his message. he is good in that setting fwifl judgment of partisan democrats. so i think it worked last week why not try to do it again? >> six lucky flags up again. >> do you know how jimmy carter won the primary in '76? he sat down on the networks. he used every victory of every primary to introduce himself. it worked. >> look at what he's facing. there is a rebel yunl of the establishment who are worried because he seem volatile. doesn't have the right presidential temperament. when he holds a speech it

unleashes the hounds. the speeches he gives -- >> so much. temperament. >> this looks like he's trying to be -- >> the mood. >> the one night he was deemed the loser, he said it was stolen from him. >> third world stuff. when you lose an election, you claim it was fraud. i love talking to you. still ahead, we're expecting the kansas democratic party to announce the winner between hillary clinton and bernie sanders. we're still in kansas. and at the bottom. hour, the results of the maine republican caucus. all coming at us. these very small but important steps between super tuesday and the big one on march 15th when everything is in play again. the live election coverage continues after this.

we're waiting for the democratic party to announce the caucus winners in kansas. and coming up, at 9:00 eastern. the poll will be closed in louisiana and that's a biggy. cal is at the polling station in new orleans. lots of news coming out of new orleans. tell me first of all energy both parties. what is the influence of all this david duke that's been going on? it is all over the papers. >> reporter: yeah. i have to tell you there was this rally last night that donald trump held at the airport. it has rubbed so many people the wrong way. the optics were so terrible. he is so request when he can control the elements but he couldn't control it. black lives matter people were here and he started yelling get they will out of here. and the way he treated them has really bothered peel. and i think new orleans is a

good lit muss test to how people are reacting to donald trump. after katrina, new orleans saw hundreds of thousands people didn't return. one hunt,000 african-american residents have not returned. when you talk to people, part of the identity of this city is race. and this is not a message. this is not the kind of image new orleans wants to put out nationally. as you know, this was not a primary that was supposed to happen at this time. it was voted to be moved up so it could be part of what is known as super saturday. right between super tuesday and of course interesting big date on march 15th. so i think that is the fascinating story here. is this the beginning of a little bit of a tipping point of how people are viewing donald trump? >> how have the white voters done, most don't like david duke. do they have a problem with the way trump had a problem not separating himself from duke instantly?

>> i think some of the voters are likely to go to cruz. it is illegal for us to talk toett voer inside. we talk to one lady who said it rubld me the wrong way and i'm going to cruz. the message that does play well is the business message. >> thank you so much. we're going to join now the new orleans mayor mitch landrieu. thank you for joining us. hillary clinton wins? >> she will win big. she will do very well in louisiana. >> tell me about her support. >> we'll find out in about 45 minutes. >> i know that historically. you have a great family behind you. you've double very well. and you've succeeded in a lot of trouble down there and you fixed up people. let me ask you about that. the race relations issue that we just heard about. >> first of all, i want to thank every one in america for helping our city stand back up. race is always one of the issues in the south. that's why the entire country

was troubled by mr. trump's unwillingness to immediately disavow david duke. and i think we need to be clear about this across the south. african-americans and whites are in accord on this particular issue. when you look at louisiana from a perspective, it is split between the republican side and the democratic side myself expectations is that donald trump will win louisiana. he will get crushed in new orleans. and hillary clinton will win very, very big. on the issue of race, we need to be really clear about this. whether it is the republican side or the democratic side. we won't split this nation bagsed on race, cede or color. and i think all the candidates should speak very forcefully. after tonight you'll see across the country, no matter what happens, hillary clinton will be way ahead and have the momentum. my expectation is donald trump on the republican side will continue to have more delegates than anyone else and will still have the momentum. >> why did somebody dig up david duke? i wish the media hadn't

mentioned his name. i think it is wrong to admit he exists on this planet. where has he been the last 20 years? >> who knows and who cares? i think one of the thing we have to do, any time his name comes up, anything he's associated with, any american needs to say that's not who we are. that we'll judge each other based on what we do. i was very pleased to see the republican leadership come out and condemn his unwillingness to condemn david duke right away. i hope that's beyond us. as we look forward, i'm hoping as we get into the general election, that the better angels among us will be part of the discussion going forward. the kind of things i'm hearing on the republican side of the aisle quite frankly are embarrassing. and i'm hoping as these guys move forward, that we can have a much more adult discussion. one that really kind of helps america stay strong. at home and abroad and have a discussion that's worthy of the

united states of america. not the one on the republican side right now. >> congratulations, mayor mitch landrieu. >> much more ahead. you're watching the msnbc special.

we're back. kansas has been declared the winner of the caucuses. lawrence, you first. you're the newby on the block. what do you think? bernie sanders is winning in the caucuses, the campuses. can he go beyond? >> this is one of those nights that does not keep the story going with the momentums before this. where is trump's momentum to not? where is hillary's momentum tonight? this is what makes march 15 all the more important. it is not one of those that make us feel more connected. >> i have been humbled more than ever in my predictive life. i didn't believe trump was going above 12 in the poll.

when bernie sanders started at 3%. it all the confidence in the world he could get to 6. >> i was arguing that no one i've ever met in my life has change. do elections change? can we have a change on a mark like today? where something really does go in a different direction? because of the ridiculous debate this week. >> real republican voting night. >> that really, for someone like cruz is the moment he's been waiting for. when you get to where republicans are voting for republicans, it becomes a different race. the polls always showed that would happen. >> but the number are still the same. he is trying to get 52 to 54% of the remaining vote.

that's a lot to make up. >> how does a guy do so well on the republican right who is so unlikable? i mean personally and objectively, people don't like him. >> et cetera unliked by the people in washington. not unliked. >> his roommate from college is trashing him all the time. >> maybe his roommate from college was a member of congress. >> we've always argued that charm and likability has a role. >> he doesn't have that with the people who don't matter to the people out there in the countryside. in places he's winning tonight. a lot of people like to conflate it and say this is how people feel. >> let me try a word by you. trump has it whether we like it or not. joy. the people at his events are going a having a good time. there is a sent of joy and deliverance of some kind of what

does cruz deliver? what does he change in your world that make you hamer? >> i think i've seen ted cruz a couple time in action. the one thing i walk away with is serious. he is serious. he is taking gravity of the time and he is conveying that serious knowledge to the people. he is not trying to come in and back slap you and high five you. he is trying on lay out a conservative constitutional argument about protecting your gun rights. about protecting your family. about protecting the things you're concerned about. he is trying to drive home the message these are serious times. >> i haven't seen any joy at any trump event. i am watching a militaryistic operation that physically kicks people out, beats people. he has now converted secret service agents to be his thugs. >> but people are laughing. what do you think about the people who are laughing? >> there's video of a secret service agent beating a time photographer. this is a crime that is on video in a trump event.

these are the ugliest, most violent. >> these people began with 66% bleeflg obama is a muslim and hating him for it. 66% believing president obama according to trump's own teaching, is not a citizen of the united states. trump still hasn't reveal his investigative reporters from hawaii. of course he never sent anybody. and people on tv laugh about it. he is a sick path lm liar who is allowed to get away with it. and the media. he thinks something half funny, badly dlifrtd at oelivered. this is ugly fascism in america. this is 21st century american fascism. >> the news now is that the democratic party of kansas has announce that had bernie sanders is the winner of the kansas

caucuses. let's bring in steve. >> let's look at what this does to the democratic race. obviously good news for bernie sanders to be winning these states but always bit of a reality check. the rule are complicated. you need almost 2,400. almost 2,400 needed to be nominated. right now, this is our running total. let me break out what this mean. this is the column we'll pay attention to. this is the allocated delegates. delegates being won in all the primaries and caucuses. in those contests, hillary clinton coming into tonight had built a 200 lead. now what does this win mean? we have three states. first we have kansas. how many delegates are up for grabs? there are 33. in nebraska also tonight. how many are up for grabs? 25. in louisiana, the democratic side, 51. because the democratic proportional rules are so favorable to candidates who lose states.

this is a very rough estimate. a good night for bernie sanders, he might make up a net margin of ten in kansas. he could win nebraska. very feasible. a really good night. maybe he picks up about eight here. that would be a net gain from those states of 18. again, he's down by 200. that would cut it down to about 180. so to make pup 200 is very difficult. then you factor in. look. louisiana. a state with a very large african-american population. hillary clinton has been getting close to 90% of the vote. if she continues at that level tonight in louisiana, she will completely wipe out the gains that bernie sanders makes in kansas and potentially nebraska. so just to get even in that allocated category is a huge up-hill climb for bernie sanders. then the second hill he would have to climb. even if he got even, he would have to make a case to this category. the super delegates. the elected official who automatically get votes at the democratic convention. these commitments. people make this point a lot.

they are not etched in stone. the hillary supporters could switch. the key for sanders is, to make these super delegates switch. you need to basically put a gun to their head politically speaking. you need to have a big lead in this allocated column and say the will of the people is on the side of bernie sanders. if it is 50/50. that's not enough. >> wow! >> these are the facts by the way. the last time we went through this. tim russert would give the number and drive the hillary people absolutely bompgers. number are true. as we go now, not just the big surprise. guess what? obama has won. any way, steve kornacki, the live coverage continues after this.

we're getting results all over the place. welcome back to election coverage.

bernie sanders is the winner in kansas. the democratic party announced the results a few moments ago. and earlier tonight, nbc news projected that ted cruz will win in kansas. and the republican party in mainl is about to announce the winner of the caucuses in maine and polls will be closed in louisiana at the top of the hour. 9:00 eastern. as we wait for all of that, let's bring in national correspondent joy reid. she is with democratic strategist jim hall simmons. >> thank you very much. let's talk about kansas. explain to me, it couldn't have been a more unexpected result. ted cruz winning. but also bernie sanders. what's going on? >> it is a party caucus. like we've seen, party caucuses bring out the faithful. when they're in the caucus room, they're picking people they want and they're excited about. bernie sanders has a case to make, particularly among more

young voters. those are his people. i bet you if we found out who was in that caucus in kansas we would not be surprised if those are the people there. >> okay. i think we're going to throw it back to chris matthews. thank you for being here. >> we've got maine results coming in. here they are. >> i don't know how many time i've had a conversation with people here tonight about how this has been and is a watershed day in maine republican history. it really is today. it has been phenomenal. and i'm about to introduce the chairman of the party here. before i do that, this event is sponsored and i want to mention and recognize the sponsors. beginning with associated builders and contractors. a round of applause for them. thank you. associates builders and contractors. also the retail association of maine. thank you, retail association of maine. and also, the dental association of maine. a big round of applause to all

of them who have helped make this really special night even more special. and you know, there are a lot of reason ideas the republican party has risen to the place where it is now in the state of maine. a lot of great candidates. we're right on the issues. and the leadership at the top of the party. it starts from the top. and it really works its way down. that's the way it has happened in maine. this party has come back to life so we're kicking ass and taking name. the leader of the pack, the cheryl of the republican party, mr. rick bennett, ladies and gentlemen! the. >> thank you very much, mike. what a great honor to have mike with us tonight. thank you for taking your time. first, i want to say, a big

thank you or the maine republicans and a lot of new maine republicans across the great state. today's success is due to the enthusiasm across this state for people coming out and exercising their franchise. i want to say a thank you to the candidates who competed here in maine. we've had a couple of visits recently. in all four of the candidates left were campaigning in some way in this state. and i appreciate that. i also want to say a shoutout. this is the first time that we've tried this new approach. and i have to say, you know, there are wrinkles and challenges, of course. but the participation level, the phenomenal organization, and the extraordinary results in terms of raw people coming out and exercising the franchise is amazing. i want to say a big thank you to the key architect of our process

here. our chief caucus warden, kim. thank you so much. and i also want to say a big shout out to our executive director of the maine gop and the rest of our staff. jason savidge and the rest of our staff. now, for the results. the first result i want to tell you about is that four years ago we had a spirited contest between mitt romney and ron paul. and people remember that. there were 5585 votes cast in 2012. this year, four years later, we saw a turnout of 18,650 maine

republicans. the [ applause ] the republican party is back in maine and we are resurging. and most terrific of all, we have literally thousands, thousands of newly enrolled registered republicans in the last month alone in the state of maine. now, without further ado, we are going to show you the results of each caucus location and then i will give you summary information and reveal the percentages and the delegate

allocation. so, good here are the number. did the northern part. the central part of aroostook county. the southern part of a roostook county. cumberland county. cumberland county from westbrook high school. cumberland county from windham middle school. franklin county.

hancock county. kenny back county. knox county. lincoln county. oxford county. penobscot county. sa sagadohoc county. somerset county.

waldo county. washington county. the and finally, york county. now, what does that all mean? let me tell you the nine people in our ballot. the results were as follows. and these number include the military an sentees. jeb bush, 31 votes. ben carson, 132 votes. ted cruz, 8,550 votes. carly fiorina, 17 votes. mike huckabee, ten votes. john kasich. 2270 votes.

rand paul. 55 votes. marco rubio. 1492 votes. and donald trump, 6,070 votes. and 27 write-ins. if any candidate receives 50% plus one, they win all 23 maine delegates. >> so cruz has won in kansas. a second victory tonight for cruz. he's won in maine, having won in kansas already. two wins in and only two contests called. he's doing very well. >> he's doing very well. and he is showing strength again with conservatives. >> a close primary. >> voting for conservative candidate. cruz is really now sending the signal to the rest of the party. follow me. >> a state that borders. >> trump won massachusetts and

new hampshire. >> governor john kasich with 12.17% of the vote. and fourth, with 8.00% of the vote is marco rubio. because of that, three candidates will achieve delegates to the national delegation in cleveland. ted cruz is awarded 12 delegates. donald trump is awarded nine delegates. and john kasich is awarded two delegates. thank you, everyone, for your participation. enjoy the party! >> i'm back with michael steele. lawrence, you're a man of television. part of your life is television at least. let me ask you about this. i think i will will be hard for

the single nuewspapers. this week's republican primary with donald trump being the king of the clown car. >> the two big factors we have here. and right now it is hard to say which is which. one is, it does seem possibly the most important. republicans only voting. we've always said, when this happens, this will probably change. we saw the strangest presidential debate in history since the last republican presidential debate. and just indescribable events in that debate. plenty of supporters. i talk to massachusetts voters who voted for trump on tuesday. saw that debate. they didn't want to take the vote back. they thought their guy was for once idiotic. >> i don't think rubio won either. he was little marco against big donald. you said something earlier. that when you get into one of these back ask forths, the third guy wins. >> yeah.

that's exactly right. >> cruz right now has the benefit of having that fight between marco and trump go the way it did. he is getting the benefit of that. he didn't participate. not as directly as marco did. i think marco has become sack official lamb in this whole thing. it has hurt him. when he got into the pit with trump, he got stuck there. >> cruz did two things. he has the constituency. and cruz with the ideology. when rubio fought -- >> you look at the numbers. you wouldn't, did rubio hand some votes to kasich? did kasich pick up some? there's came at the 12%. he is above that cut-off threshold. it is hard to tell where those vote exchanges kurd. >> don't lose site with the two delegates he got. kasich can begin the argument that there's a runway to limp gets him straight to ohio where it will culminate for lift-off.

>> i think he has to win in michigan. >> that will be a big opportunity for him. i think he can come in a strong second there and have enough energy. >> we have headlines already. cruz wins two big ones tonight. kansas and maine. and by the way, maine is not an evangelical state. >> cruz will probably lean more on his victory in maine than possibly any other. because he will say, that's not my territory. that is as far from texas as i can get. >> northeast republicans. >> potatoes. not cotton. >> steve, give us the fill on this. >> i want to give you two pieces about maine and tell what you that means. first of all, on maine. two thing to consider from these results. number one, keep in mine in 2012, maine is different than other new england states. ron paul nearly won this state in 2012 again mitt romney. he lost by two and a half points. it may be thatron has gotten

that ron paul coalition. the other thing is the prults are coming out. where cruz won, they said york county at the end. the southern tip of maine. it is almost like a bedroom community for boston. this is right across the bridge from sports, new hampshire. in material of what we've seen tonight and what it means for the delegate race between kansas where it is a big cruz win and maine where he's won. ted cruz has added, 36 delegates to his total. that brings him up to 295. donald trump has added 18. that brings him to 358. here's the surprise. 6 for marco rubio. only 6 so far tonight. remember, marco rubio came into tonight going for a win in kansas and thinking that maine, specifically the part of maine i was just telling but where it is a little more affluent, more moderate. a lot more college degrees. he thought he would do reasonably well. there he will get zero delegates out of maine because he fail to

get 10%. we saw this on super tuesday. state after state. not just that marco rubio lost. he misses that minimum threshold to even get delegates. so you see he's falling even farther behind. and kasich tonight has added four to his total. >> again, the debate. came boxed out rubio because of his stellar perform yandle in the debate. >> one more factor. the governor of maine. paul who was in the running for most ridiculous governor of the 50 governors. >> hold on tom thought. poll are closing in louisiana. at the top of the hour, our first characterization of the races down there. are coming up pretty quickly.

first of all, ted cruz is the winner in maine and kansas. keeping score, bernie sanders is the winner of the democratic

caucuses in kansas. three results so far. the poll are about to closefully minute now in louisiana and nebraska. we'll have a characterization of those. back to you. your thoughts about the governor of maine. >> paul le page. he said does this help or hurt? >> tell me about him. >> what are his worst hits? >> it goes on and on. there has to be a video reel with all the strangest comments you can ask for. and including racially insensitive comments. years of this. that's why this question came up. this guy is as loose a cannon as donald trump endorsing donald trump. and there's no evidence tonight that that helped. >> we're 30 seconds away from perhaps big news. did you ever see a republican announcement of who won a caucus underwritten by builders and retailers? is that why they stretched so long and played it out so long?

county by county? >> 15 minutes. >> i thought that was amazing. this information paid for by -- talk about elections being bought. the poll are closing now. 9:00 in the east and the poll are close in the louisiana tonight. we have our first characterization of the races there. in the democratic primary, it is too early to call. on the republican side, nbc is caring icesed the race as too early to call. in nebraska, the poll are shut. too early to call. so nebraska, too early to call for the democrats. and for both parties, the primary in louisiana. we're all looking forward to louisiana. it is an actual primary. that means a lot of people voting. i look at steve kornacki. >> this is a new experience for us, there election season. this is the first time we've had results coming in with no exit polls. the poll are closing in louisiana. we'll do this the old-fashioned way. we'll see where the votes are coming in