they will say, jump ted, and jump lyin' ted because nobody lies like this guy. kasich i don't think he's a player here. he's 1 and 32. it was his own state. >> the press is like, oh, well, you're getting a few sharper elbows now. why's that? i want to tell you something. i'm not a marshmallow or a pin cushion. you want to take a whack at me, let's get it on. >> primary day in wisconsin. donald trump looks to solidify his lead as ted cruz and the gop establishment look to stop him in his attacks and john kasich, you heard him. and bernie sanders hopes to keep his winning streak going as he and hillary clinton finally agree on a debate date before the new york primary and even that led to some drama. plus -- >> three seconds admit court. >> jenkins. >> gives it to jenkins for the championship.

>> and with that, villanova takes the ncaa title in one of the wildest finishes ever. its first in more than 30 years. it's 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west. this is "way too early." . good morning. i'm jonathan capehart. closing arguments in the race that won't quit. the candidates are making their final push in the badger state and donald trump is facing the prospect of being shut out in the delegate contest which is winner take all by state and district votes and a loss for ted cruz would be a devastating blow to his campaign. the final poll from emerson college shows cruz with narrow lead over trump.

40 to 35%. five point difference that's barely above the margin of of error. cruz making retail stops alongside governor scott walker in a cheese shop. with trump holding three rallies hoping to send the senator down for the count. comparing walker's support for cruz with nikki haley's support for marco rubio in south carolina. >> the governor's against me. i remember with nikki haley when she came out and it was over. and then i won in a landslide. south carolina. it was over. and i have a feeling the same thing's going to happen here because walker has not done a great job. he has not done a good job. he's -- by the way he's okay. you're average, i hate to say it. you look around your surrounding states, you're average. you're not average people, right? so big deal. you've got the governor. the only reason he's doing it, he hates cruz.

they all hate cruz. everybody hates cruz. cruz gets up, he says, oh, i'm the only one -- you know with his -- i wish he could talk normally ever once in a while. you ever hear him? i'm the only one that has proven that i can beat donald trump. if we do well here, folks, it's over. if we don't, if we don't, if we don't win here, it's not over. but wouldn't you like to take the credit in wisconsin? for ending it. give wisconsin the credit for ending it. meanwhile, talk of a contested convention has all the republican candidates up in arms. donald trump called the process dishonest saying the popular vote should hold more sway and ted cruz said there would be a revolt if it turned to anyone

but him or trump. >> you see the dishonesty. i won louisiana and i find out i'm not supposed to get as many delegates as the person i beat. what kind of stuff is that? there's a rule, another rule -- i don't care about rules, folks. i go out and campaign and we win, we get the delegates, right? we're winning by almost 300 delegates so we're doing great. and i think we close it out before the -- you know, before the convention. i think we actually close it out before the convention. and that's like a prizefighter. they go into unfriendly territory. and the champ and he goes in and they say, what do you think, you may have an unfriendly decision. no, when you knock them out, there's no unfriendly decisions. >> the rules are the rules. and if you want to win, win at the ballot box. you know, this fevered pipe dream of washington that at the convention, they will parachute

in some white knight who will save the washington establishment, it ain't gonna happen. if it did, the people would quite rightly revolt. are some folks in washington foolish enough to do that anyway? probably. but they can't do it. if over 80% of the delegates are cruz delegates and donald trump delegates under what universe do a thousand trump delegates or a thousand cruz delegate goes vote for some uber washington lobbyist who hasn't been on the ballot? this as john kasich took his campaign to new york and railed against cruz for trying to push him out of the race. and airing attack ads against him in wisconsin arguing that cruz can't win before the convention either. >> and you know, they spent, i don't know, $1 million including smearing me, ted, senator ted, the smear artist. they're attacking me in wisconsin for a guy that's not

doing very well, they sure are worried about me and spending a lot of money trying to knock me out. but they're not going to be successful. i want to let you in on something. the press is like, oh, well, you're getting a few sharper elbows now, why's that? i said, i want to tell you something. i'm not a marshmallow or a pin cushion. you want to take a whack at me, let's get it on. nobody is going to have enough delegates to go to the convention and win on the first ballot. cruz is over 100% and he needs more than 100% to be the nominee. he was playing that on me. now he's kind of caught in his own trick bag, okay? the top republican candidates shadowboxed in separate interviews last night with cruz taking a direct shot at trump's personal life and he firmly denied a national enquirer story about extramarital affairs.

>> have you had affairs? >> i have not. it came from donald trump and his henchmen. "the national enquirer" has endorsed donald trump. so it's his little pet attack machine. it spreads rumors and lies, attacking every other candidate and then it just praises donald. i have always been faithful to my wife. i love my wife. she is my best friend in the whole world. >> should we be caring about this? i mean, trump has, you know, infamously had an extra marital affair when he was married to ivana. is this personal issue or should the voters care about it? >> i don't think it's a state secret that donald's personal life has not been immaculate, but i have no interest in going there. meanwhile, trump's wife melania campaigned alongside her husband and in an interview reacted to his super pac's attack on her.

and shared her advice about thinking before tweeting. >> i have a tough skin. i think it's not fair that they are attacking the family wife or children. it's unfair. >> you have said you want donald to be more presidential sometimes. >> sometimes i feel that, you know, the retweets sometimes get him in trouble. so i said, stay away from -- you know, stay away from retweets. and he has -- you know, he has a great night and he can be presidential. but sometimes he just like he cannot stand that somebody attacks him because if somebody attacks him he will punch back ten times harder. now to the democrats where bernie sanders will try to extend his winning streak today in wisconsin after taking five of the last six contests. the real clear politics polling

average headed into the primary has sanders ahead of hillary clinton by over 2 1/2 points that final point in emerson college has the senator up eight. sanders held several events across janesville to milwaukee. the primary eve rally took place around the corner from donald trump's. clinton meanwhile campaigned in new york alongside governor andrew cuomo and touted his efforts as that state passed an increase in the minimum wage. >> feelings have to be matched with politics. he had to put together the votes. now, some people get bored by that kind of talk. don't bother me with the details. let's just make it sound good. let's just feel good. well, i think we'd still be sounding and feeling good if it hadn't been for the hard work and the incredible commitment that the governor made to this

issue. if there's a large voter turnout, we will win here. if we win here, we're going to have a bounce going into new york state where i think we can win. if we win in new york state, i don't want to get to -- hillary clinton more nervous than she already is. she's under a lot of pressure. so don't tell her this. but i think we win here, we win in new york state, we're on our way to the white house. thank you all very much! the electoral strategies on both sides of the democratic race are coming into sharper focus after clinton campaign's manager robbie mook said that sanders' path to the nomination relies on overturning the will of the voters. he wrote, the math being what it is the sanders campaign has struggled to explain their path

to the nomination. their latest strategy involves a combination of trying to flip pledged delegates while also convincing super delegates that he deserves their support. that comes on the heels of a "new york times" reports in which sanders acknowledged early missteps in his campaign. among them not run an aggressive operation in 2015 and not attacking earlier on issues like clinton's speaking fees and her use of a private e-mail as secretary of state. here's sanders' senior strategist heather vine reacting yesterday. >> so you blew it, not you personally, but the campaign blew the big chance to take this nomination away from her? >> no, it's not, andrea. listen, i spoke to "the new york times" right after we lost five states about a story they wanted to do which essentially says, we

were winding down the campaign, it was over. i told them and i believe this that after nevada we decided on a different strategic course. i think it's a road we're on right now and i think it leads to victory. i think they were determined to write a story if bernie sanders had run a tough, negative campaign he could have defeated hillary clinton but only one problem with that -- he was never going to run that campaign. the democrats' debate over a new york debate has come to an end. sanders and clinton will face off on april 14th. but the sniping between two campaigns didn't stop even after the negotiations did. the sanders campaign released a statement that reads in part, quote, fortunately, we were able to move major new york city rally scheduled for april 14th to the night before. we hope the debate will be worth the inconvenience for thousands of new yorkers who were planning to attend our rally on thursday, but will have to change their schedules to accommodate

secretary clinton's jam-packed, high dollar, coast to coast schedule of fund-raisers all over the country. clinton campaign official responded with this statement saying, quote, we had thought the sanders campaign would have accepted our offer for a brooklyn debate on april 14th, in a new york minute. but it ended up taking a few extra days for them to agree. we are glad they did. unanimous decision, the u.s. supreme court has rejected an effort to change the way state and municipal voting districts are drawn. two texas residents challenged the one person, one vote rule which requires states to count all residents when determining election districts. they agreed that states should count the voting population not the total population when drawing legislative boundaries. several said that it would change the strength of the latino population. let's turn to business and the world is reacting to the so-called panama papers that expose the richest and most

powerful for tax evasion. cnbc's steve sedgwick is joining us live from london. what's the latest? >> well, jonathan, i think you've hit the nail on the head -- this is about alleged issues of sanction dodging and laundering as well. because the company at the center of this, mossack fonseca, well, they have been accused of setting up more than 240,000 offshore accounts around the world. they claim media reports misrepresent the nature of their business. there's been revelations of a dozen heads of states, about putin, icelandic president, and david cameron's late father. is it avoidance or evasion, because avoidance is entirely legal. it's legal. whereas laundering, sanctions dodging is illegal. i will tell you one thing, i spoke to a journalist today from

one o -- one of the original journalists who got this. he said we are only at the start of the revelations and i know you have been looking at the millions of documents. up next, more from last night's nail-biter. villanova wins for the first time since 1985. we'll have the highlights. plus, the snow has left the northeast, but wisconsin voters may have a bit of wet weather to contend with. bill karins has the forecast next on "way too early." gomery abigail higgins had...

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the wildcats lead got as high as 12, but the tar heels wouldn't give up. fighting back from six points down, late in the second half, to stay within striking distance in the final -- in the game's final moments. >> they're going to have to do outside from the -- do something from the outside now. paige -- impossible. how did he do that? ties the game with 4.7 seconds to go. >> villanova trying to go length of the court with arcidiacono. gives it to jenkins for the championship, yeah! villanova, phenomenal. the national champions. >> incredible villanova's kris jenkins makes this one an instant classic, answering a game-tying three-pointer by marcus paige with the go ahead three of his own for a win and a national crown for the wild

cats. unc head coach roy williams was emotional after the heart breaking loss. >> i have been a head coach for 28 years and the worst thing is a loss like this. i feel so inadequate. i don't know how to make it better. they're worthy champions. they're -- but i love my kids in that locker room. that coach out there on that court, cutting down those nets is really proud of his team. but i wouldn't trade my team for anybody and i just wish i could have helped them a little bit more. >> it will be a long trip back to chapel hill. and pro hoops headlines, a new class is son its way -- is on its way into the basketball hall of fame, highlighted by shaquille o'neal, allen iverson and yao ming. elected alongside izzo and sheryl swoopes. let's get a check on your

weather now with nbc meteorologist, bill karins. did you see the game last night? >> what do you think? i love college basketball, but that championship start is way past my bedtime. we missed it. but you never know. you're cold down there, but you can't get this. here's the snow from yesterday, areas of rhode island and massachusetts. boston picked up 4 1/2 inches of snow. here's the worth part. usually in april, the snow it will melt the next day. this may not melt until next monday or tuesday, because it's so cold this morning, it will firm up. there are some icy spots out there this morning. here's the freeze warnings. the problem is we had such a warm march. we have the apple trees budding right now. the freeze warnings from the carolina all the way through southern ohio. right now, the temperatures is 12 and 15 in northern portions of new england. we're at 27 in new york. at 26 in columbus and the windchill is even worse.

we are down to 28 in richmond. i mean, this is like, you know, uncharacteristically cold for this time of the year. now let's talk wisconsin for the voting today. we have a weak storm system headed to wisconsin. absolutely clear starting this morning. by 8:00 a.m. we're fine. by noon, this line of showers mixed with little bit of snow is going to try to move through lacrosse. by the time we get to 5:00 or 6:00, a snow and rain mixture from madison, northwards, headed to rylander. if you're doing the evening voting in green bay, you could be going in a coating of snow there. milwaukee, too warm. you should be just fine. we'll watch that. it won't cause anyone not to vote, but just inconvenient. in areas to the south, the only warm spot's on the map. for everyone wondering when it will warm up, it doesn't look like until next monday or tuesday. be ready for a lot of cold mornings in a row. >> thanks a lot, bill karins. still ahead, we'll go to the campaign trail in wisconsin where things have gotten cheesy

ahead of today's primary. "way too early" is back in a moment. (laughing) there's nothing like making their day. except making sure their tomorrow is taken care of too. financial guidance while you're mastering life. from chase. so you can. while you're mastering life. trolling for a gig with can't blame you. it's a drone you control with your brain, which controls your thumbs, which control this joystick. no, i'm actually over at the ge booth. we're creating the operating system for industry. it's called predix. it's gonna change the way the world works. ok, i'm telling my brain to tell the drone to get you a copy of my resume. umm, maybe keep your hands on the controller. look out!! ohhhhhhhhhh... you know what, i'm just gonna email it to you. yeah that's probably safer. ok, cool.

now let's get a check on the other headlines and for that we head to the control room and louis burgdorf. >> let's start with debbie wasserman schultz who sat down with trevor noah. and he asked if the dnc is in

the bag for hillary clinton. >> i'm going to quote bernie sanders, he's being [ bleep ] blocked by the dnc. is there any merit to this? >> you know, i'm -- as powerful as this makes me feel, i'm not doing a very good of rigging the outcome or blocking anyone from being able to get their message out. the reality is is i have a job as the national party chair that is one that requires a thick skin. it requires me to be able to absorb the body blows so our candidates can stay above the fray. you know, if i have to take a few punches in order for them to make sure they can get their message out, so be it. >> all right. candidates have been hitting the trail hard ahead of today's

primary vote and things got a bit cheesy in more ways than one. >> i'm very proud to be a senator from the great state of vermont and tonight we are -- today we're not doing have an argument about whose cheddar cheese is better. i fully concede wisconsin has great cheddar cheese, but taste vermont cheddar cheese as well. no more walking across in honor of wisconsin. you know, we talk about cheese. now we'll talk about a certain kind of cheese, swiss cheese, big holes in it. >> it's all about cheese. the best cheese head moment came from ted cruz. we'll play you that next on "morning joe." that does it for me, jonathan. that's all we've got. >> all right, louis, thanks very much. that does it for me and "way too early." coming up on "morning joe" we are live in wisconsin ahead of today's critical primary. plus, u.s. secretary of state john kerry joins joe and mika next on "morning joe." with the tiger image, the saliva coming off

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