right now on "angela mitchell reports," target trump. they sound like they are working off the same playbook. >> it is clear, 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 ted cruz or john kasich is a vote for donald trump. >> raise your hand, the

republican front-runner responds to questions he urges his support es to take. the holocaust survivor says he p says it reminds him of a nazi salute. >> until this fphone call, i didn't know it was a problem. full speed ahead, hillary clinton says it is time to wrap it up. >> the sooner i could become your nominee, the more i could begin to turn our attention to the republicans. good day, everybody. happy super tuesday. it is a big prime pare day. key contests in michigan and mississippi that could define the race in both parties. first, the democrats. nearly 200 delegates at stake

for bernie sanders and hillary clinton. the big prize is michigan where the pressure is on the sanders campaign. in a moment, we'll break out our new, brand new nbc news wall street journal poll on the shape of the race nationally between the two candidates. on the republican side, 150 delegates up for grabs in four states. michigan and mississippi, joined by hawaii and idaho with voters in all of those states taking calls this morning from the latest republican to lead the anyone but trump charge. >> i believe these are critical times that demand a serious, thoughtful commander-in-chief. if we republicans were to choose donald trump as our into nominee, i believe that the prospects for a safe and prosperous future would be greatly diminished. i'm convinced donald trump would lose to hillary clinton. >> our team is in place across country. hallie jackson and gabe

gutierrez and kristen welker in cleveland covering the democrats and alex seiswald in detroit. >> let's talk about the anyone but trump campaign. mitt romney backfiring, not playing well with a lot of people in the republican party. what are you hearing from the donald trump and ted cruz people? >> you talk about mitt romney recording those robo calls on behalf of marco rubio and now we are learning john kasich. we are waiting for senator cruz to walk in any minute to this media availability in north carolina as he looks ahead. you talk about the contest that is are happening today. for donald trump, michigan is going to be really important. he is holding that big double-digit lead in polling. it is a real test of his strength, how well he could do there, given it seems like a natural fit for donald trump, much more so than a ted cruz.

john kasich coming up strong in michigan. for cruz, he is liooking to idao where he could see strength. michigan could be a bellwether for the south. will it be what we saw in louisiana with the late-breaking voters deciding to go for the not trump candidate or will he maintain the lead he has been holding. these are all questions that will be answered when polls clothes later tonight. >> michigan is a key place for donald trump to prove what crossover appeal he might have. this is not a close primary. republicans and independents and democrats who are registered can all vote today. i wanted to play an exchange with matt lauer on today. donald trump responding to matt's questions about that hand raising going on at the trump rallies. >> if it its offensive or if there is anything wrong with it, i wouldn't do it. when i say raise your hand, everybody raises their hand. they are screaming to me to do it. we want to do it. we are all having a lot of fun.

>> let's just be clear, because you now know it is offensive to some people, will you say, okay, let's not do this in the future sgchlt will i'll certainly look into it. i would like to find if that is true. i don't want to offend anybody. >> i don't know whether ted cruz has been asked about this. >> not yet but we may be moments away from that, andrea. you look at trump's comments on the "today" show. you talk about, for example, what abe foxman saying. even if trump did not know about the criticism, his campaign did. politico was reporting and has a comment from a spokesperson for the trump campaign, questioning why they would even ask about that. clearly, somebody in trump's campaign knew about this. this is an image repeated again and again. we'll see how the other candidates begin to react to

this. >> hallie jackson, thanks so much. gabe gutierrez, marco rubio, look ago head to florida. this is do or die for him there. one has to wonder about ted cruz playing in florida when frankly if ted cruz did not and if the romney rubio robo calls worked, perhaps marco rubio could catch up to donald trump. >> reporter: hi, there, an drdr. the rubio camp hopes so. they are down playing any ted cruz advances. they are saying that hasn't materialized. they are citing this monmouth university poll that shows marco rubio down 8 points but they are stressing the early and ab sen see vote. it came out that marco rubio was significantly ahead of donald trump. there are many challenges. this is going to be a steep uphill climb for marco rubio.

he is eight points down. a lot of his critics say he should have a morrow bust operation and ground game here earlier. he has only won two contest ns minnesota and puerto rico. he faces the possibility of fourth place finishes in michigan and mississippi. certainly, not a good place to be in as the campaign is going forward. the rubio campaign says they are all in in florida, despite the calls for donald trump and for ted cruz that rubio should drop ought, they are saying that will not happen. they hope to gain some more momentum from this debate in miami. they say they are going to be campaigning throughout the state. they are in kissimmee today and will be in the jacksonville area later on today. the rubio campaign is marching full steam ahead here in florida. a new line of attack is that they are comparing donald trump to one of rubio's previous

opponent's here in florida, charlie crist. to kristen welker on the democrats, first of all, confirmation now from the clinton campaign from nick merrill that hillary clinton will be attending the nancy reagan funeral service in florida on friday. so a lot of the republican candidates but also -- rather, in california. a lot of the candidates will be taking a break for this moment of tribute to nancy reagan. kristen welker, we have new nbc news wall street journal poll number toss break out at this hour. it shows a considerable lead over bernie sanders nationally. we are still looking at a 53-44% lead. her lead continues to be very large among older voters, among african-americans, among older women. his strength is with independents and with younger

voters as well as younger women in particular. kristin? >> that's right, andrea. those younger voters are going to be the ones to watch today in michigan. the polling showing secretary clinton with a double-digit lead. if you talk to both campaigns, they think this is much closer. the sanders campaigns think they have a real shot to energize and rally those voters. they have been trying to energize african-americans to get out and vote for senator sanders. part of the debate has centered around trade, the economy, senator sanders hitting hillary clinton for supporting nafta, incredibly unpopular in michigan. her response has been to slam him over the fact that he opposed the auto bailout. he said that is not entirely true. he supported a smaller bailout but opposed the broader t.a.r.p. bailout. how is that going to impact voters as they head to the polls today? this is really critical that

senator sanders wins michigan. he has to start winning some of these larger, more diverse states. a state like michigan, which has a large population of white, working class voters, is a state he should be able to win, particularly if he is going to be competitive in a state like ohio and illinois and the big prize of florida. >> in mississippi, she has an enormous advantage with african-american voters. >> reporter: that's absolutely right. that's another part of her southern firewall. if she did well in the other southern states, she is expected absolutely have a blowout? mississippi. african-american voters make up to 70%. they have in past elections of democratic primary voters. the clinton campaign feeling very good about their chances there. andrea? >> thanks to you, kristen. alex seiswold, on the democratic side with bernie sanders. he had a tough row after that

debate, because he went after as kristin was saying on trade and she went after him on the auto industry bailout. when they started debating the finest points, it sort of got lost in the muddle. the auto bailout with a lot of michiganers is so critical to their recovery. p. >> reporter: there is that famous lane where you are sxl s explaining when you are losing. he was really hoping for trade to be a silver bullet here in michigan. i'm not sure how much it has succeeded. i was just yesterday out in grand rapids where there is a plant closing down, moving to mexico, 300 jobs. i was talking to some of the workers there. this is the kind of people that should be signing on with bernie sanders. the president of the uaw said he

never made more money than under the bill clinton administration. a tough road for bernie sanders, even if he can't win over that voter. >> alex plrks we'll be having tad divine coming up from the sanders campaign as well. republican rebellion is the stop trump movement picking up steam or is it too little too late? you are watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. the ones who labor for what they love. ♪ because at banquet we believe that every dollar should work as hard as the family that earned it. that's why we're making our meals better. like using 100% natural chicken breast in our chicken strips and adding real cream to our mashed potatoes. so now, there's more to love with banquet. now serving... a better banque you have to feel healthy... on the outside ...at your core. trubiotics a probiotic from one a day naturally helps support both your digestive and

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dump trump is the rallying cry of what's left of the republican establishment. according to the washington post, a recent republican governors association retreat laid bear trump's vulnerablity.

>> if he gets the nomination, they are going to sue his -- >> i don't give a -- >> beale beat the -- out of them. >> they are rips the -- out of the sea. what the hell are we doing? >> fred malic is the finance chairman of the rga, the republican governors association. well, what have you wrought? this was a great plan by the republican national committee to weed everything out and avoid having a prolonged primary fight. now, what does the republican party face? >> i think we have a situation where we have two very electable candidates in senator rubio and governor kasich. we have two other candidates who seem to be in the lead who seem to be less electability, one because he is too conservative and one because he has made a few out ramrageous statements.

the answer it not to stop somebody but to make one of the four that can be aan electable candidate and a good president. i don't subscribe to the dumb trump moment. i don't think that's the right kind of thing to do. >> so mitt romney was wrong to give the speech and perhaps the wrong messenger. >> he spoke from the heart and what he felt he had to do. i'm not sure what it accomplished. we have to say that while we want somebody more than trump but the chances are better than 50% that trump is going to be the nominee. i don't see quite the point in going out there and damaging and giving fuel to the enemy for for our leading nominee. i would prefer someone other than trump but if he is the nominee, we need to get behind him. we can't afford eight more years of obama's left ward drift. >> on meet the president with chuck todd, he was asked repeatedly if this was him

putting himself out there as an alternative. >> if your name is placed in the nomination and was elected at this cleveland convention, would you accept it? >> you know, i can't imagine anything like that happening. i don't think anyone in the party said, if the people of the party wanted me to be president, nobody is going to say no. i am not a candidate. i am not going to be a candidate. i am going to endorse one of the people running for president. >> that was not shermanlike. it certainly left open the possibility that if the party had a contested convention, which is now fairly likely, that he would be there. although, he says, he would end up supporting one of those who are now running. >> for the first time in 40 years, a contested convention is somewhat likely. i think it is less likely than 50% but it could happen. i do not think mitt romney was putting his speech forward to put himself forward. i think he was speaking from the

heart what he felt. i haven't seen a candidate that he did not like over the last several months. if we go to a contested convention, i think the contest will be between those with delegates and not those without. you are going to see a lot of jockeying and a lot of trading. it may be the best thing for our party. we might come out of it with a nominee we can all rally around. i hope that it is either governor kasich, who i think has been very substantive in the past debates or senator rubio, who i think has done a very good job of uniting people across the party. >> let's talk about senator rubio. does he have any chance at all if he does not win florida? >> no. i think you have to win florida. >> if he doesn't win florida, i don't see a path forward for him. it is his home state. he was running against jeb bush. jeb is out. he has to beat trump in florida. no question about it. >> isn't ted cruz trying to damage marco rubio chances by running or putting up a campaign effort in florida?

>> that is such a powerful point. the way to those who want to stop trump is not to go ac trump or not to shake the core of the 30% or so of the people that are for him. you are not going to shake that core. they are for him. if an atomic bomb dropped on them, it is not going to send them away. it is to take the majority of the people that are not for trump and rally around a single candidate. both rubio and cruz are jockeying to be that person. i don't think that is productive. i wish they would not do that but they are. >> marco rubio might have been an alternative to a lot of establishment figures. a lot of them are telling me they did not like what happened about a ye about a week and a half ago when he went after trump trying to outtrump trump. let me play a little bit of it. >> he is always calling me little marco. he is taller than me. he is like 6'2", which i don't understand why his hands are the size of someone who is 5'2".

have you seen his hands? they are like this. you know what they say about men with small hands. you can't trust them. you can't trust them. you can't trust them. >> how much did he damage his credibility with those looking for a serious candidate against donald trump? >> i think he damaged the image of the republican party. i think they both did. these last two debates were embarrassing. if you were an independent or somebody who was not affiliated with the party and you watch this and you had to pick between the two parties, 99-1, you would go the other way. this is something that wouldn't be acceptable in a high school presidency election. it is beneath these candidates to bespeak ng these terms and should focus on the policy differences and their accomplishments. >> donald trump has created some controversy by asking people at his rallies to raise their hands and pledge to him.

some have suggested that it has overtones of the third reicht. >> i don't think that's what he intends at all. i don't think it does. it is kind of a cute way of trying to get people to say, i'm for you. i don't think it has any overtones like that at all. >> have you talked to donald trump at all or to your knowledge, have others in the party about toning it down? >> i know others in the party have. i have not. i think he is trying to tone it down a little bit. i think some of the cuss words and over-the-top insults have abated somewhat. i think they should continue. it is an embarrassment. you cannot have candidates for the president of the united states, a great party like ours, out there insulting one another and insulting their owe pone ets. let's run on the substance, issues and our forward-thinking agenda. let's run on the record of moving the country in the right direction away from the overregulation of the obama years and try to get spending under control, trying to get foreign policy established so we can regain respect around the

world. that's what we ought to be talking about. >> fred malek, as always, great to see you. thank you very much for being here. the battle over michigan, a key test for bernie sanders and donald trump. a former democratic party chairman has his say coming up next. you are watching angela mitchell reports on msnbc. you focus on making great burgers, or building the best houses in town. or becoming the next highly-unlikely dotcom superstar. and us, we'll be right there with you, helping with the questions you need answered to get your brand new business started. we're legalzoom and we've already partnered with over a million new business owners to do just that. check us out today to see how you can become one of them. legalzoom. legal help is here. her long day as anne. hair stylist starts with shoulder pain when... hey joanne, want to trade the all day relief of 2 aleve with 6 tylenol? give up my 2 aleve for 6 tylenol? no thanks. for me... it's aleve.

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side effects can lead to dehydration, which may cause kidney problems. if your pill isn't giving you the control you need ask your doctor about non-insulin victoza®. it's covered by most health plans. hillary clinton making a pit stop in detroit. i'm joined by howard dean, former vermont governor and chair of the democratic party. let's talk about hillary clinton in michigan today. she has had an interesting strategy. she went early to flint, mentioned flint famously in her south carolina closing comments

in our debate. then, went to flint and got the endorsement of the flint mayor and has been been playing local issues very hard in michigan and went after bernie sanders about the auto bailout in their debate. >> it is an interesting state. it is a tough one for bernie. there is a labor group there that is interested in bernie very much. it is also a significant african-american population. i think the figure is 14% for the state. that means it is probably 25% or 30% of the democratic primary. i do think that she did well in the debate regarding the oil -- auto industry bailout. i think that's something that michiganers are very sensitive about. this "the wall street journal" poll says she is very strong with older voters and african-american voters. she still does not have the

independents or the young people. she has got to still figure that outgoing into a general election. >> i don't want to get too far ahead of the game. next week, we have ohio and florida, which are huge, as donald trump would say. so this is not close to being over yet. at the end of the day, if she w wins, and i think she will, she is going to need bernie sanders' he help. she has to get bernie to help her get her voters. >> it is becoming increasingly bitter. >> it is not near as much as it was between me and jack carrie over the war. it took me about a month, month a half to get my voters to support john. bernie is a rational person. he has publicly said he is running as a democrat, because he doesn't want to do anything to help elect the right wing of the republican party. we can make this easier without having too much flame-throwing going on in the debates. by and larnge, even the last

debate, pretty civil. >> the delicate balance, largely in her favor, how does he catch up? right now, she has a bigger lead over him and barack obama ever had over her in 2008? >> she keeps winning in the big industrial states. that's why the next two weeks are so very important to hillary. >> bernie sanders' message. can he broaden the message beyond wall street, beyond the way he has targeted his voters? >> he has young progressive voters. he still doesn't have african-americans. he is not reaching them. >> you have to understand, there is a special bond between the clintons and african-americans. if you grow up in arkansas, you grow up with african-americans. if you grow up in vermont, you do not. you can't learn this stuff overnight. that's an issue that's going to keep happening. we are going to get large proportions of the african-american vote because of the differences in these two

people, not that one of them is bad on race issues. i don't think that is true but one is incredibly comfortable and the other is not so comfortable. the larger question is for hillary's folks is, how do you win back these young voters? the only person that can do that is bernie. he is going to play a pretty pivotal role even if he doesn't win the nomination, which it looks like he probably won't. we don't know that yet. we are not done here yet. >> governor dean, howard dean, great to see you. someone who has been through it all on all sides as a candidate and as the party chair. thank you very much. >> thank you. coming up, staying power. bernie sanders, his strategy with his top strategist, joining me next from detroit. your watching angela mitchell reports on msnbc. like you mean it now comes with an incredible promise.

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i think we should've taken a tarzan know where tarzan go! tarzan does not know where tarzan go. hey, excuse me, do you know where the waterfall is? waterfall? no, me tarzan, king of jungle. why don't you want to just ask somebody? if you're a couple, you fight over directions. it's what you do. if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. oh ohhhhh it's what you do. ohhhhhh! do you have to do that right in my ear?

i am very proud of the campaign senator sanders and i are running. i have said publicly. i will repeat that tonight. i hope to win the nomination. if i am so fortunate, i hope to work with him. i certainly consider him an ally. >> would you have him to be your v.p. choice? >> let's not get ahead of ourselves. >> hillary clinton refusing to look too far down the road while the sanders campaign continues to fight. sanders campaign, senior advi r adviser, tad divine. how important is michigan for bernie sanders? >> it is very important. we have worked hard in michigan. bernie has campaigned all across the state. we had almost 6,000 people there. we are going to work really hard in michigan and the state that is follow and there are many state toss come. >> in the national poll, we just released the nbc news wall street journal poll, 53-44, a

slightly narrower lead on the part of hillary clinton. that said, she has big leads among older voters, african-americans. he is clobbering her among independents and young people. he still has the passion and the young people. how does she and he work that out if she ends up the nominee? how does he bring those people to her or does he hold back? >> well, listen, right now, we are focused on winning. that's going to be our focus for the weeks and months ahead. i think what bernie sanders is doing right now with young people in particular, with e independents as well, bringing people into the process. he has the potential to bring millions of individuals into the democratic primary process between now and the time we finish vote ng california, new jersey and other states in june, that's what we are going to focus on. the whole purpose of his campaign is to expand the electorate. we have done so in places like colorado, record turnout.

kansas, record turnout. main, people are waiting 3-5 hours to caucus in maine. every democrat will benefit from that in november, if he can continue o brito bring millions the process. i wanted you to clarify a conversation you had with glen thrush of politico in talking about him and what would happen. you said, maybe they are going to p put him on the ticket. i don't know what that meeps. would he consider that? i'm sure, anyone would. would bernie sanders consider an offer to be on a clinton ticket? >> andrea, you would have thought that after working on presidential campaigns for 36 years, i wouldn't be so stupid as to answer a question like that about the vice presidency. i don't want to put out any mixed signals. we're focused on the presidency, on winning the nomination. that's going to be our focus for the weeks ahead. we think we have a path to the

nomination. >> tad, i was stupid enough to ask the question knowing that you wouldn't have answered it. >> not you. i was the one that was stupid. >> well, what about coming together, how important is it? let's face it. depending on what happens in michigan and we haven't -- this is a big election day. then, we've got ohio and illinois. so you've got your big miswestern states coming up. this is looking down the road. she has a mr. very big delegate lead and a bigger delegate lead over bernie sanders than barack obama ever had over hillary clinton in 2008. if you can't overcome that, do you start to soften the rhetoric? do you start working together? i know you are going to go on the way to the convention. >> right now, our focus is on winning. if you look at our process in

2008 and compare it to 2016, that is the process with obama. that process was very different then. california, new york, news, we are all on super tuesday. we have california and new jersey in june and new york is in april now. we have a lot of big states that are much lighter in the process than they were in 2008. if we do so and we can achieve those victories, we believe the superdelegates will take a step back and decide to do the best thing for the party. if bernie is beating trump or cruz by a bigger margin than she is, i think we will have a real fight for the nomination going into the convention. >> do you have concerns that donald trump if he becomes the nominee could do very well in states like michigan? it is an open primary today. he may do very well in michigan with voters who otherwise might have considered the labor union

appeals of bernie sanders. >> i think trump is a real horse that has to be reckoned with. when i look at our two candidates on the democratic side, i believe bernie sanders is the guy that can best beat trump. he is talking about a rich economy that works against him. he is talking about a corrupt system of campaign financing. trump is able to get out of it by paying for it himself. bernie sanders is able to get out of it by having over 5 million vidcon trib buindividua contributions. i think that appeal against trump will be powerful versus a traditional campaign that raises money from wall street and other special interests. >> ted divine, always good to see you. >> trump and cruz want a two-man race.

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no political candidate is going to make america great again. it is not going to be donald trump, it is not going to be me. the only power strong enough to restore the nation is we the people. it is not about us. it is about we the people. the idea you would take this loyalty of, i and i take an oath to you, to the people. that's whose working for whom. the idea that a candidate running for office wants the people to pledge loyalty to him like subjects to a king, well, we've had seven years of a president who thinks he is an emperor. i've got to say, the only hand-raising i'm interested in is on january 20th, 2017, when i hope to raise my right hand and

have my left hand sitting on the bible when i make a promise, a pledge to every american to preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the united states. >> ted cruz moments ago in raleigh, north carolina. certainly, on message responding to the controversy over that trump pledge at rallies where trump asks the crowd t z i am jy rick tyler an msnbc political analyst. >> great to be here. >> great to have you here. ted cruz is now making a play in florida. he seems to be. there is some controversy over how many offices he has opened and how serious he is. this is clearly to try to kill off marco rubio. if he doesn't win florida, it is pretty much all over. >> ted cruz has one shot at the nomination and that is to go one-on-one with donald trump. ted cruz has won his home state and six other states now. so i don't know that he can win

florida. if it would keep marco rubio from wiping florida, that would effectively end marco's campaign. >> so it is a spoiler play? >> in a sense, it is. look, if you are looking to be president of the united states, then you have to get the nomination. you have to figure out how to beat the guy that's ahead. donald trump is ahead. when marco rubio and ted cruz and john kasich split the vote, cruz will continue to win. >> if marco loses florida, there is no place for him to go forward. the thing is, marco should be looking to work with ted cruz to win the nomination to beat donald trump. if they would team up, they could beat donald trump. marco is a young guy. he is 44 years old. he has a great future ahead of him. if they were to team up, i think they could beat donald trump and get the nomination sgchlt will what about john kasich, same deal for him? should he be dropping out,

certainly not before ohio. he is really competitive there. >> well, he hasn't won anything yet. if john kasich is a surprise in michigan, michigan is a lot like ohio. michigan would like what john kasich has been able to do as governor. he has been a good governor. he is in his second term. there has been a lot of job creation there. michigan is very similar. if he has made an appeal in michigan. the problem with john right now, he has to stay in ohio, because he has to win ohio the same way rubio has to win florida. he is sort of stuck there. he is leading these other states like missouri and north carolina, huge delegate catches to donald trump and ted cruz. >> do you think that ted cruz could unite the party if it boils down to ted cruz or donald trump? he is an@ma. he has no enter endorsements coming out of the senate. nobody likes him. do you think he could unite the

republican party and become the alterna alter tiff to donald trump? >> i have gotten to know him. he is a man of integrity. the reason washington doesn't find him easy to work with, he decided to go there and represent the 20,000 texans. >> he shut down the government or that is the view. >> he could have gone along to get along. the question i wanted to ask, why didn't the republicans go with ted cruz. ted cruz said i'm going to fulfill my campaign promises. everybody else said no. i understand how washington works. they think in a reverse way. lindsey graham, interestingly, on sunday, said he could work with ted cruz and you could talk with ted cruz and he was a republican and a conservative and believed he could work with them. do they want donald trump as

president of the united states and take a risk working with him. i tend to doubt it. we don't know from one minute to the next. donald trump started out statesmanlike and contrite and apologized to marco and three minutes later, he is calling him little marco. that's the unpredictability you can expect from donald trump. i think they can work with ted cruz. >> coming up, home stand town. can marco rubio stage a come back on his home turf? you are watching angela mitchell reports only on msnbc. i'm billy,

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governor romney is recording robo calls for everyone. i don't want people to think he favors one person over me. >> it is paid for by your campaign? >> we want to make sure that people don't think that romney is for someone else and not for me, particularly in the state of

michigan. is this the scenario i would like to have had it work out like this? not really. it is what it is. >> that was ohio governor john kasich moments ago with a rally in michigan. gene cummings, political ed for for "the wall street journal" and jeremy peters following marco rubio in florida. >> jean, first to you, you have john kasich stuck. he has to defend ohio and try to do well in michigan. it is all or nothing for him. then, of course, next weekend arks more serious challenge to him. >> absolutely. this is the moment he has been waiting for. this is how he built his whole candidacy around suffering through the beginning, the early states, trying to do somewhat well in a few places and then let the race come to him. so now it is his moment. it is time to deliver. michigan will tell us quite a bit, because michigan is a good reflection of ohio.

if trump can take him in michigan, maybe kasich could do better in his home state than he does in michigan but it does mean that he is beatable. that's death for him. >> fred malek was just here to eugene and to jeremy, this is what fred malek had to say moments ago about the marco rubio and donald trump contest? >> i think he damaged the image of the republican party. i think they both did. these last two debates were embarrassing. if you were an independent or somebody ha was not affiliated in any way with the party and you watched this and had to pick between the two parties, 99-1, you would go the other way. this is something that wouldn't be acceptable in a high school presidency. >> he said that marco rubio damaged himself with the way he went after trump going down to trump's level. >> i think marco rubio undercut his optimistic message, his forward-looking vision, this

notion he is a serious, sober candidate? these things are the underpinnings of his candidacy. to go around criticizing donald trump for having small hands and a lousy spray tan, is not very presidential. marco rubio's challenge has always been for somebody that y youthful to appear presidential. i don't think he achieved that by going so low brow. his campaign was thoughtful about the way they were going to attack donald trump. they zeroed in on his strengths with the working class and tried to undercut those saying, this guy is a fraud. he will sell people like you out and step on you and break your backs in order to get ahead. unfortunately, they totally overshadowed that by letting rubio go out and basically taunt donald trump like a middle schooler. >> and jeanne cummings, the "x"

factor, michael bloomberg, has done extensive polling and announcing there is no path for a third party candidacy that wouldn't basically elect donald trump? >> absolutely. that was expected. who thought a third-party candidate could get in. the scenario he was looking at was the sanders/trump race, that then he would go in. with hillary clinton performing well, i think they concluded that that opening was not going to occur. jeremy raises a good point about rubio blowing the attacks. the trump university one is one that could resonate with working class voters. the very people trump is trying to appeal with. andrea, just today, the new york better business bureau held a press conference in which they did say the rating was a "d" minus. it was not an "a." they confirmed what megyn kelly said in that debate and not what donald trump said. there is a lot more to come on this trump university question

sgchlt wi. >> you can imagine the democrats are just laying in wait. jeanne cummings, thank you very much. jeremy peters, great to see you in florida. that does it for this edition a mitchell reports. craig melvin picks up the coverage next right here on msnbc, the place for politics.

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the first strip mall in america was back in 1927. shortly there after, it has been a pigly-wiggly. we are in ohio. the battle for the buckeye state continues. they vote here in ohio one week for today. in michigan, mississippi, idaho and hawaii, with one week left to stop donald trump, we should have a few questions answered by the time that polls clothse thi evening. will trump regain his momentum after losing some steam on super saturday or can ohio governor, john kasich, can he give trump a run for his money in michigan? that's a question front and center here. in kasich country. even though the republican race increasingly looks like a