again. after fifth time i was getting ready to see -- see that size of that hand, look at that, i was going to grab him to show how strong that hand is. because he made that sucker up. i was going to say, marco, i won't let you fall. i don't want you to get hurt, marco. >> 150 delegates at stake today across four states in the race for the republican nomination, as ted cruz and marco rubio try to add to their totals in hopes of stopping donald trump. data entry, why former new york city mayor michael bloomberg decided it wasn't wise to make a late entry into the race. bernie sanders says he's in it to win it, but the campaign may be considering the possibility of being hillary clinton's number two, but it's not shaping up to be a budding comedy yet. it's 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west. this is "way too early." ♪

good morning. it's tuesday, march 8th. i'm jonathan capehart. 150 delegates are on the line in four states today and the close finance the race for the republican nomination suggests every single one matters. today, republicans hold primaries in michigan, mississippi and idaho. along with the caucus in hawaii. and their outcomes will give clues as to if the nomination fight will all the way to the convention in july. the michigan primary shows donald trump in the lead for the biggest prize today. trump is ahead by 13 points. 36% to ted cruz at 23%. john kasich at 21% and marco rubio at 13%. below the 15% threshold to

qualify for at large delegates. with just hours to go before today's vote in mississippi, ted cruz won the surprise endorsement of the state's governor. republican phil bryant rallied to his side which he attributed to in part with his friendship to former texas up governor perry. but trump goes in today the heavy favorite as cruz and rubio made the same exact argument to those in mississippi and in. >> a vote for any other candidate, a vote for marco rubio or a vote for john kasich is a vote for donald trump. >> a vote for john kasich or a vote for ted cruz in florida is a vote for donald trump. >> and the heat is on donald trump in the march 15 primaries where he's starting to see massive ad spending against him. nbc news -- an nbc news analysis finds $8.3 million is being spent against him in florida. and $1.5 million so far in illinois. much of it comes from the club

for growth. among the ads playing in florida is one that's just a highlight reel of him using coarse language. >> i know words, i have the best words. this year [ bleep ] -- he gets the nomination they're going to sue his -- they said he's a [ bleep ] -- we'll beat the [ bleep ] out of them. they're ripping the [ bleep ] -- what the hell are we doing? >> with some gop insiders gaping hope that trump has become vulnerable, trump is making a push to win the delegates to nominate before the convention. last night he rallied thousands in madison, mississippi, where he was honored by local officials, who lamented the attacks he was facing and had his supporter take an oath to vote for him. >> o -- so i walk in, look at this. the key to the city. right? i will put that very nicely, mayor, i will put it very, very nicely on a place of honor in my

office in manhattan. we all have a lot in common. i love this. i have always heard that if you're a very successful person you can't run for politics and in particular you can't run for president. i see that. if you sneeze, they make a big deal out of it. i'm trying to figure out the system because i don't understand one thing. i think i get the worst publicity -- i mean, i had this guy mitt romney who was such a disaster. he was -- [ audience boos ] but he came out with stuff. i feel that i get the worst publicity of any human being in the world. okay? i read such stuff. they make up stories. they write stuff. what are you voting, come on? tomorrow. raise your right hand, everybody. do you swear that you're going to vote for donald trump tomorrow? raise that hand. i love you. i love you. all right. you can't go back. no, i'm only kidding. if you want to go back you can,

but i don't think you will. nobody will do the job that i'm doing. >> one billionaire who's shown interest in running for president year after year has decided to stay out. michael bloomberg in a piece titled "the risk i will not take" said when he looks at the data it's clear he couldn't win the white house and that while he believes he could take a number of diverse states he couldn't win the necessary electoral college votes. "the new york times" revealed the maps about states they thought were in play in a scenario where clinton was running against trump in the general, including ohio and illinois. had november looked like a sanders/trump showdown he moufb more -- he would have been more likely to run. as the race stands with republicans in charge of both houses there's a good chance my candidacy could lead to the election of trump or senator ted cruz. that is not a risk i can take in good conscience. and he slammed trump for running

the quote most divisive and demagogic campaign he can run. a total of 188 delegates are at stake today and michigan will award 147. a new monmouth poll released yesterday out of the state shows hillary clinton leading bernie sanders by 13 points. now that survey was conducted before sunday night's debate in flint. still, the energy behind the sanders operation was on full display at the university of michigan where the senator turned out nearly 7,000 people for his final pre-primary rally. during his speech he continued to rebut clinton's claim that he was against the auto bailout. >> last night in the debate, i was very surprised and disappointed. hillary clinton got up and said in the debate, bernie sanders did not support the automobile industry during the bailout period.

that is absolutely false. there was one vote in the united states senate. happened to be on december 11, 2008. of course, i voted to defend the automobile industry and the millions of workers. and with sanders showing no signs of letting up here's what secretary clinton had to say when asked about her primary opponent during a fox news democratic town hall last night. >> secretary clinton, when you think of senator sanders, do you consider him an enemy or ally? >> an ally for sure. and here's how i think about it, samuel. we have differences and we are passionate about our positions and our differences. and, you know, like we saw in the debate last night, we air those differences about issues. compare that to the republicans. and how they behave. you know, then senator obama and i ran a really tough campaign against each other to the very end.

he won, i lost. so when i dropped out, i said i would support him. and i began to do that. i nominated him at the convention in denver. i worked really hard to get him elected. and it wasn't easy to convince a lot of my supporters to immediately move to supporting then senator poobama. i made the case in public and in private and the vast majority did what i thought was the right thing, to support him to be president. now that comes as sanders' senior strategist wouldn't rule out the senator as a possible running mate with clinton. devine emphasized that no conversation surrounding sanders as a potential vice presidential nominee have taken place, but he

believe the senator would consider it if done in the right and proper way. here's what clinton had to say on the topic last night. >> would you cap him to be your vp choice? >> let's not get ahead of ourselves, you know? my gosh, i don't -- i don't want to think any further ahead than tomorrow and the michigan primary. i can't do that. at least nine people were injured when a commuter train derailed in california last night. according to the alameda county sheriff's office, the accident was caused by a large tree that fell on to the tracks during heavy rain. it happened in a rural area about 45 miles east of san francisco. one sheriff sergeant say it was a miracle no one was killed in the accident. >> it feels unreal honestly, because i -- everything was normal, thank god i didn't sleep or anything on the train so i was aware of everything. but it shifted the gravity all of a sudden. we were panicking. >> fire crews had to rescue several passengers from the front car which plunged into the creek. four of the wounded passengers suffered serious injuries.

more than 150 members of the al shabaab terror group have been killed in somalia. it was led by u.s. planes and drones raining bombs about a hundred miles north of the capital mogadishu. a pentagon official says the militants were preparing for an imminent large scale attack. al shabaab has said that the casualty figure of more than 150 is exaggerated. let's turn to business now where u.s. stocks wavered throughout the day, but managed to eke out some modest gains as oil prices rose above $40 a barrel. cnbc's julia chatterley is joining us live from london. how are the markets looking this morning? >> good morning, jonathan. well, just as investors were starting to look more confident, china's trade data pops up to

remind us all there are all reasons to be concerned. china's exports plunging at the fastest race for seven years. now, why do we care? well, china consumes half of the world's resources, so when they have a growth problem, everybody else panics. to go to your point we saw asia stock markets under pressure, europe struggling today. we have all sorts of commodities in the red today as well. you made the point, everything was trading around two-month highs so i think seeing a bit of a pull back probably makes sense. but what this choppiness means, for banks is that it's tough to make money. when they can't make money they pay less bonuses and bonuses were down for the second straight running in 2015 and 2016 is a tough year as well. even if they were down in new york city, still paid out the industry $25 billion. wow. jonathan, back to you. >> wow indeed. julia chatterley, thank you. members of the public will

be able to pay respects to former first lady nancy reagan before her private funeral. she will lie in repose at the ronald reagan presidential library tomorrow and thursday followed by the service on friday. mrs. reagan will then be buried next to her husband at the library in simi valley. flags around washington have been lowered to half-staff and yesterday, the president shared his thoughts on passing of the former first lady saying president reagan was lucky to have her and she will be missed. >> i had the opportunity to meet ms. reagan once. obviously she was already advanced in age, but could not have been more gracious and more charming to myself and michelle when we first came into office. you know, i think it's been well documented the extraordinary love that she had for her husband. and the extraordinary comfort and strength that she provided

him during really hard times. >> president obama hosted the former first lady at the white house in 2009. first lady michelle obama will attend mrs. reagan's funeral. still ahead on "way too early," she didn't get all she asked for, but sports reporter erin andrews won big in her lawsuit against the hotel group that allowed a stalker to book a room next to hers. but the company isn't the only one on the line. plus -- >> watch out, watch out! get off the side. holy [ bleep ]. that was so scary. >> a close call in colorado as a semi almost takes out another. bill karins has the latest on the severe weather threatening 15 million people and much of the south. "way too early" is back in a moment. staying in rhythm...

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welcome back to "way too

early." after seven days of testimony, a jury has ruled in favor of sportscaster erin andrews in her lawsuit against the stalker who secretly recorded her in her hotel room and the group that owns and manages the hotel. andrews was awarded $55 million in a unanimous decision. her stalker michael barrett is responsible for 51% of that amount. the company -- the hotel company is responsible for the rest. andrews sued for $75 million for emotional distress after a video taken of her undressing in her nashville hotel room eight years ago went viral. she claimed the hotel granted barrett's request to room next to her. turning to other headlines out of the world of sports. we begin with the end of an era in the nfl. a month after the super bowl winning finale to his 18th season as a pro quarterback, peyton manning formally announced the retirement yesterday. the five-time league mvp looked

back on his historic career, thanking those who were with him along the way and spoke about the seemingly little things he'll miss about the game. >> on fridays i'll miss picking out the game balls with the equipment guys and talking football before the game and afterwards i'll misrecapping the game with my dad and checking to see if the giants won. and calling eli. as we're both on our team buses. i will miss that hand shake with tom brady and i'll miss the plane rides after a big win with 53 teammates standing in the aisles laughing and celebrating. >> and manning closed the q&a session with the single word, his often repeated cadence before taking a snap, omaha. the career of one of tennis' biggest stars could be in jeopardy. maria sharapova announced yesterday she tested positive for a recently banned substance at the australian open this year.

>> it's very important for you to understand that for ten years this medicine was not on the banned list and i had been legally taking the medicine for the past ten years. but on january 1st, the rules had changed. and meldonium became a prohibited substance which i had not known. >> the five-time major champion took full responsibility saying she failed to read the updated list of banned substances earlier in the year when it included a drug she had been taking for ten years for health issues. the president of the world anti-doping agency told the a.p. that an athlete found guilty of using the drug would normally face a one-year suspension. while there's no final word yet on a ban for sharapova, she will be temporarily suspended while her case is examined. meanwhile, nike has suspended its relationship with the former world number one and swiss watch

maker tag hoyer has announced it will not renew its contract with her. finally, we go we to a soccer match and it appeared that the medics did more harm they good. once he's in the air, they promptly drop him. the player decides he'll have more luck under his own power, rising to his feet and hopping toward the sideline on one leg before getting some help from a teammate. ow. let's get a check on your weather now with nbc meteorologist bill karins. >> thanks, jonathan. yeah, that was entertaining. probably faking it anyways. probably ran back in a minute later. we'll have a rare weather pattern that we have a storm that dipped down into mexico. severe thunderstorms are firing

up this morning in areas of west central texas, st. angelo was woken up an hour ago and now abilene. here are some of the pictures from yesterday. we had severe weather in dallas and ft. worth and some flooding. in colorado a lot of storms with large hail. we showed you that video at the top of the show where the semitrailers that almost hit each other in the ice. so as far as today goes, we have 15 million people at risk of severe weather right through the heart of tornado alley, oklahoma and san antonio and houston. we'll call this an enhanced risk, that means the coverage is greater and your odds are going to increase for getting severe weather. that includes san antonio, corpus christi. the timing looks to be late tonight. we have the one round this morning that will go up to oklahoma during the day today. then a new round of storms later on today. this round will then go towards arkansas and louisiana tomorrow then another one on top of that you get the picture. three days of this and this orange coloring here, that's about seven to ten inches of rain. there's some good. the east coast, washington, d.c., should be 75 degrees,

three days in a row. and this is the beginning of march. even all the way to new england. this is a rare warm period here for us. >> this is great news, bill. >> it is. >> i'm liking this. thanks a lot. still ahead, find out who's next up to host one of the biggest nights in television. "way too early" is back in a moment. ♪ i love to take pictures that engage people. and to connect us with the wonderment of nature. the detail on this surface book is amazing. with the tiger image, the saliva coming off and you got this turning. that's why i need this kind of resolution and computing power. being able to use a pen like this. on the screen directly with the image. it just gives me a different relationship to it. and i can't do that on my mac. this is brilliant for me. ♪ at ally bank, no branches equals great rates. it's a fact. kind of like bill splitting equals nitpicking.

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now let's get a check on the morning's other headlines. and for that we head to the control room and louis burgdorf. >> thanks. jimmy kimmel will emcee the biggest late night in television. he will host the emmy awards this september and in a statement he added quote, i'm excited to be hosting the emmys again. i have a feeling i'm going to be great. jimmy, the feeling is feeling is mutual. a lot is at stake in the race for the republican nomination today. there's an interesting take on where the race stands headed into today's primaries. >> senator from texas surprisingly beat trump in maine and he crushed him in kansas. oh, if you're wondering about rubio, well, he lost in a lot of places. but that was only because he got fewer votes. and besides, the weekend wasn't bad news for little marco. >> in the island of puerto rico, i won 70% of the vote. i won that primary. [ laughter ]

>> now, you know what's funny. you know what's funny, when i heard this, i was like, wait, puerto rico can vote for president? and the answer is not really. they're a territory, not a state. come november they get no vote in the general election at all. but good job, marco rubio. you only have to go a few hundred miles offshore to find a place that wants you to be president. finally, a case of chump change. federal prosecutors have charged an alabama man for stealing $200,000 in quarters. stephen dennis will plead guilty to stealing $196,000 while working for brinks back in 2014. according to feds he basically replaced bags full of quarters with beads, except for the top of the bags and then he walked off with 784,000 quarters. he faces time and will have to repay the money.

i wonder what would happen though, jonathan, if he tried to do it with pennies. probably couldn't do it. that's an incredible amount of quarters. >> must have a lot of laundry. >> that's right. very good. >> that does it for me and "way too early." coming up on "morning joe," 150 delegates are on the line today across four states in the republican race for president. we'll dig into the numbers and break down the accomplish's latest attempt to take down donald trump. and john kasich looks poised for a possible second place finish in today's michigan primary. we'll ask the ohio governor if a good showing could produce some much-needed momentum. that and much more, coming up next on "morning joe." when a wildfire raged through elkhorn ranch, the sudden loss of pasture became a serious problem for a family business. faced with horses that needed feeding the owners were forced to place an emergency order of hay. thankfully, mary miller banks with chase for business. and with a complete view of her finances, she could control her cash flow,

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