>> i'm monica malpass. on "inside story," the presidential hopefuls are coming to pennsylvania now. the keystone state could actually make or break this fascinating race. let's get the inside story. ♪ good morning and welcome to "inside story." let's meet our insiders. they are sharmain matlock-turner, a nonprofit executive. good morning. welcome back. >> good morning, monica. >> jan ting, law professor. good morning, jan. >> morning. >> christine flowers, attorney and journalist. good morning, chris. and dom giordano, talk show host. good morning. >> good morning, monica. >> so, right after winning ohio, the republican hopeful for president, john kasich, came to the philadelphia area to villanova, got a roaring reception. lots of folks are also coming to this area to try to court all of those delegates that are up for grabs. it's about three weeks away, but, nonetheless, pennsylvania could really make or break this race. it's a very important time and an interesting twist to how things have turned out.

what do you make of it? >> well, i think that it's very interesting, the fact that -- and dom, i know, knows this better than i do about the number of people on the republican side that are uncommitted as delegates, so the whole sort of election process itself seems really interesting, but i thought it was also interesting also that former governor dick thornburgh endorsed kasich. he likes governors. so the fact that the establishment, republican establishment in pennsylvania ultimately might go with kasich. >> and so 71 is the magic number for republicans. some are uncommitted. some are open. >> 54 of them are, and the thing that's driven my radio show -- this is how excited people are, which really turns me on. they're down to the minutia. they know they get to vote for individual delegates, and they want to know, well, which way do these delegates lean, monica. would they be a trump supporter? i had a guy call me, identified himself as completely anti-trump because he's pro-life. i had then a slew of people calling in saying, "that was good to know. i didn't know that. definitely i'm a trump person.

i'm gonna avoid voting for him." so we're actually down to looking at the delegates. that's how intense people are that are paying attention to this. >> the big story that i think a lot of people are missing is republican turnout is enormous everywhere, and greatly exceeding republican turnout in previous years, whereas the democratic turnout is down, and that's got to be a concern, i think, going towards the general that there's a much greater level of interest in the republican race. >> the tide just might surge towards a republican winner. >> on john kasich, john kasich is what we used to call a favorite son. it would have been surprising if he, as a sitting governor and the head of the republican party, could not win the primary. so the fact that he won in ohio, not surprising. the fact that marco rubio lost by such an enormous number in florida and that donald trump ran so strong is a huge story. >> and the big follow-up to that is what may happen down the road, including if there's a brokered convention in ohio, and trump is already saying he's not trying to incite

a riot, but he can't stop people. this was his wording, because there have been violent incidents as we know for several weeks now, and police called out. what do you make of that? now they're having to spend money on riot gear in cleveland. >> yeah, we were talking about that a few minutes ago, and we feel bad for cleveland. they shouldn't have had to put out this additional money for security reasons as opposed to getting a profit from the convention, as i think philadelphia's gonna get with the democrats. as jan was saying, there's been a huge increase in interest in the republican ranks, but i would say that the interesting thing is, they're not all republicans. they are independents, they are democrats who changed registration in the primaries in their state to be able to make a difference, either vote for or against trump. so you have to say -- and i am far from a trump supporter. look at my facebook page. >> [ laughs ] >> but he has galvanized the people who are disaffected. so it's not entirely, uniquely a republican phenomenon. >> and what's happening within the party is interesting, where mitt romney will come out and day, "i don't like that guy, and everybody who doesn't

like that guy, vote for anybody else" -- you know, in effect, really just a big chasm in the middle of the party. what is that gonna turn out to be? is it just gonna be a mess in ohio? >> the passion is always when you're for someone. the passion is not anybody but, 'cause that spreads the dissenting vote out. >> although there is a passion if you're against someone. >> that was the point that i was gonna make. >> go ahead sharmain. >> but we are deepening -- >> the passion against trump is unbelievable. >> yeah, it is deepening, the passion against him. that's what i'm saying. i believe that, yes, we're sort of seeing the people who can make a difference by voting, whether they're republican, independent, or in some cases, extreme people who are very scary to me. but the idea that we aren't also seeing a deepening of people who will do anything, republican, independents, and democrats to say, "under no circumstances will donald trump win." >> former pennsylvania governor ed rendell, by the way, said this week that trump will win

the reagan democrats while hillary clinton will get the suburban republicans. so an interesting mix-up there, in a way. >> i was just gonna say. i mean, the phenomenon that christine has described and that governor rendell has described, we've seen that before where a republican race draws in democrats and independents. you know, that's a good thing. that's not a bad thing if you're a republican. >> oh, no. it is a good thing. it's an exciting thing. >> there's one caveat to that. the people that are coming in -- i've talked about this a lot. trump likes to say this -- the first time they voted in their life. they're 60 or 70 years of age. i, frankly, don't think that's a good thing, and i don't see that as an informed voter, and the problem is, if they come in and they don't espouse conservative values, republican values, they're bringing this in just because of trump. that's where the tension is and where the party is having difficulty. >> i disagree. more voters is a greater democracy, right? we ought to encourage everyone to vote. if people haven't voted, they ought to come out and vote. that's what our democracy is all about. >> but is it a knee-jerk reaction vote? that's dom's point. is it just somebody who's sort of, without having done

one -- >> and the negative nature. the vote because of anger as opposed to a vote because of specifics, and i subbed for one of the guys on the radio station last saturday, and i had a meltdown because i asked people -- i said, "please explain to me one thing that you think trump will do specifically, proactively to change the immigration problem or the economy." and everybody kept saying, "he is going to make america great again." >> just quoting that sort of slogan, campaign-isms. >> yeah, and i lost it. [ laughter ] >> let's move on and talk about an interesting couple of special elections, but why did we need them is the real bottom line. philadelphia did have two democratic special house elections. it cost $350,000, by the way, in a time of tight budgets, and now we have an interesting outcome, of course, so the bottom line is that lynwood savage won in the 192nd district. that's the area of wynnefield and overbrook, and tonyelle cook won in the 200th district.

>> 200th. >> yes, and so we have two new faces that will be going to harrisburg, but did we need to have it at this moment? those seats have been open for 10 or 11 weeks. couldn't we wait six more weeks? >> the answer is no, and you can't blame those two really good candidates. i know tonyelle, and i really congratulate her. she has worked really, really hard in the community for a long period of time, but this came from harrisburg. >> we couldn't wait till spring? >> this came from -- i absolutely agree. this came from speaker turzai, and the issue wasn't about the two philadelphia seats, it was the 57th district outside of pittsburgh that was the issue. this is a seat that had a republican representative, but has a majority democratic registration, and the concern was that if you don't run a special election outside of the normal voting process, you might have ended up with a democrat, which would have put another democrat in the pennsylvania house. >> i think there was also the thought that with these two philadelphia seats, there was an outside chance. the republicans did have

a challenger in each of those races, and turnout was below 10% in each of the philadelphia districts. so i think the republicans were also thinking, "there's an outside chance that in a low-turnout election, if it rains or snows, that the republicans could steal one or maybe even both seats in philadelphia. >> what would it take -- hailstones, locusts? >> the timing, the fact that state representative louise bishop did just plead no contest to a misdemeanor for public corruption, the timing of trying to quickly move ahead, did that have anything to do with it, dom? >> oh, absolutely. but i like jan's point. i think this is the age-old thing in philadelphia in our lifetime where we see competition, where we see this play out, but i think it would take all those things and more to actually see it. >> but, again, i think for us to remember that this was a state call. this was not a local call. the good thing is, at least when i checked in with jan, is that at least the state is gonna pay for this, but, again, it's still our tax dollars. >> right, and by the way, is anybody else seeing the irony that we have votes on the budget that hasn't passed yet? >> i do. absolutely.

>> and yet we're paying $350,000 to get the people to vote. so you kind of wonder. the left and the right hand don't seem to really connect. >> crazy. >> all right, let's move on and talk about senator pat toomey, who had some very harsh words about the possible supreme court seat being filled, and here are a couple of quotes. this is merrick garland, whom the president did nominate. he would like to have that quickly taken care of so we can fill the seat, but this is the quote from senator pat toomey, who said, "with the u.s. supreme court's balance at stake, and with the presidential election fewer than eight months away," he wants more of a voice to be heard, and here's our next graphic to tell you that he is asking, "it is wise to give the american people a more direct voice in the selection and confirmation of the next justice, but should merrick garland be nominated again by the next president, i would be happy to carefully consider his nomination." so he's asking to upend the normal system that we have in place for a president, a sitting president nominating someone and having them go through the senate selection process and being confirmed or not. he just doesn't want to bother with all that and save the time

and the money. >> monica, i break with my fellow conservatives on this on the process, because i believe that the advise and consent of the senate is an important function -- you know, the three branches of the government. however, the ignore and consent is not part of it. they should give him a fair hearing, they should give him an up-and-down vote. this was a function of -- this is what the founders established. i happen to agree that it is troubling to have a nomination made with only 8 or 9 months left in the administration of president obama. however, the people elected president obama. i did not vote for him. but the people elected president obama -- >> and it's part of his job description. >> ...until january of 2017. they didn't elect him until march of 2016. >> everyone understands if the shoe were on the other foot, the democrats would be doing exactly the same thing. >> and they have.

and it's equally wrong. >> and there's video of vice president biden advocating for doing that, exactly the same thing, and the second point is, i think merrick garland is not in a bad position, because i think a deal has been cut with the republicans that if the democrats win the presidency, they would be happy to confirm merrick garland in the lame-duck session because they see -- >> i'm hearing the exact same thing, yes. >> they see it as far better than anyone that a democrat would appoint later on. >> interestingly, president obama did pick, in some other selections that he had, younger people who would have a longer tenure, but in this case, he did pick someone who's 63 years old, older white man, more of an ivy league sort of standard-looking and acting justice. >> and very pro law and order. >> right, and so it wouldn't be a controversial issue. >> well, but there is a big issue here. he's blogged against heller. heller is the second amendment case, the big second amendment case. i think on that, he'd be pretty weak, and i think he's much more moderate than sotomayor and the other judges that president obama has put in,

but republicans are smarting, monica, because they've lost. they've controlled the selection process for i don't know how many years, and they have blanked on the people they put on court that are not in the scalia/alito mold, and that's why there's such anger. >> they're already orchestrating attack ads and petitions and a media blitz against merrick garland, so they are ready to go. they're not joking around here. >> but the democrats have the exact same thing. the democrats are going to be zeroing in very specifically on senate candidates that are in purple and blue states, including our own state senator, which we just saw -- i mean, our united states senator, senator toomey, to say, "we're gonna put our money in with the voters to say this is something that you're supposed to do. you're at least supposed to give this person a review, give them an up-or-down vote, and if you don't, we don't think you're doing your job," and pew has already started polling on this question. at least at this point in pennsylvania, most pennsylvanians, both democrats primarily, but also independents

believe we need to have a review and people need to vote. >> it's part of the constitutional process. >> the base of the party, if pat toomey blinks, in my estimation on this, and goes that way down this path, they will say, "we've lost again." they will turn. they will not come out and vote. that's what will happen. >> pat toomey's also in a pretty strong position. >> i think he's in a much stronger position when you look at the potential opponents. >> democrats are divided, and if you look at them, it's not obvious who's gonna beat pat toomey, and so he's in a strong position. >> and the fact that merrick garland in 1997 was confirmed by both parties when he was running for the circuit -- >> ancient history. >> that was then, this is now? >> but i think the republicans are wishful thinking here. i think the democrats are gonna coalesce no matter who the candidate is for united states senate. they aren't that far apart on the issues. they're gonna come together, they're gonna be working on turnout from the top of the ticket down for key races. they think they have attractive candidates. if i were senator toomey, i would look very seriously at saying i'm not even going to talk to this gentleman.

>> if he finds himself in a tight race and this becomes a big issue, you know what toomey's gonna do? he's gonna have a photo op with merrick garland. he's gonna invite him in. we're gonna have a picture on the front page of every paper, so... >> which is very sad that -- and it's always been this way, that politics has influenced so strongly the selection of these judges, who are there for a life term, but, again, i think it was very savvy of president obama to have picked merrick garland because he is not somebody who actually galvanizes the democratic liberal base. they kind of looked at it, and they said, "a 63-year-old white man. um, okay. he's not exactly what we would have hoped for," and at the same time, republicans are going to be against it -- conservatives as everybody said here -- because they do not want an obama pick to be on the court. so i think it was extremely savvy of him to sort of thread that needle the way he did with that timing. >> and meantime, pat toomey had issues with another obama nominee, and that was for the third circuit court of appeal -- rebecca ross haywood here in philadelphia to fill a seat. he didn't think again that this

should be happening at the end of the tenure for president obama. >> well, this is an unusual appointment because usually in a state like pennsylvania with one republican and one democrat senator, i mean, they have a way of working these things out -- >> ahead of time. >> normally, and that's the way i believe all the judgeships during their co-senatorship have occurred. so this looks like a deliberate political act on the part of the president to create a political issue that whoever the challenger is to senator toomey might be able to use to organize. >> and is it time for a little upheaval? i mean, are we due for that in philadelphia? >> well, i don't know. i thought the system is working pretty well. >> what do you think? >> i have less of a problem with this judge, and the reason comes back to, again, the supreme court is dominating our lives. that's the way that i see it, and scalia was the alleged fifth vote, even though it was 4 to 4, and justice kennedy runs the country, essentially. >> right. >> take away scalia, and that is a 25-year -- potentially, even though this gentleman's older -- shot at control of things that

conservatives object to. this judge i see more of giving the president some leeway. >> right, but can i look at the road a little bit around mrs. haywood, which is, one of the issues that came up in conversation was why did the president not choose an african-american woman, who has never been on the united states supreme court, and the way to begin that process is to begin to put some of the people on the federal bench on some of these appellate courts. if you looked at the list, it wasn't just mrs. haywood in pennsylvania. he nominated six other judges around the country, many of them in texas and other places, to begin the process so that ultimately we can get some people who are gonna be ready, prepared, and supported to serve on the supreme court that represent the diversity of our country. >> we'll have to leave it at that. we're gonna take a break. "inside story" continues right after this. >> "inside story" is presented by temple university. temple fuels students with academics and opportunities to take charge. plugged into the city,

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♪ >> welcome back to "inside story." just this week, supreme court justice michael eakin stepped down from the high court as part of the porngate investigation and scandal. it's now taken two supreme court justices off the bench, a real important twist in this case, and, jan, you're a law professor. tell me what you make of it. i mean, at the beginning, the criticism by his own

colleagues, even the board of review was that this was a small thing, a tempest in a teapot, if you will -- a teacup -- and now it's taken down another justice. >> it's only one more stain on an already stained and corrupt judicial system here in pennsylvania. i have argued for the longest time that we need to stop electing judges. judges should not be elected. judges should be -- some sort of merit selection ought to be in place, and people push back and say, "oh, no. that won't take politics out. there's always politics." well, yeah. there's always politics, but you get better judges through merit selection. it's not a perfect system, but you get better judges, and all we have to do in pennsylvania is look at delaware, an adjacent state that uses merit selection. both political parties support merit selection because they understand you get better judges. better judges means a better business environment. people want to come to your state and do business because they know if they have problems, they'll get a fair shake. >> well, interesting, because now the ethics board is asking that the worst charge against

him be dropped and that the court case not go forward -- it's still technically out there, but probably won't go forward now that he's resigned -- so that he can keep his pension. is that fair, christine? >> well... >> he's got two pensions, actually, coming his way. >> seamus mccaffery kept his pension -- seamus mccaffery, and seamus mccaffery actually sent many, many more pornographic e-mails than eakin did. eakin received the majority. i wanted to say something to follow up with jan. and i've pushed for merit selection, as well. politics should not be a part of the system when we have judges/justices, but how interesting. politics are the reason that those two justices, mccaffery and eakin, are gone -- politics from the end of kathleen kane. it's not because, yeah, they received pornographic e-mails. it's an issue of judgment. but that alone would never have been enough to unseat a sitting justice of the supreme court of pennsylvania. it was kathleen kane who took those two men down with her as she is leaving. she made her mark, you know?

i mean, say what you will about her, kathleen kane marked, branded the supreme court of pennsylvania. >> but i think that they marked themselves initially by doing these e-mails, i'm sorry -- this sort of like chummy kind of club of racists, sexists -- >> misogynists. >> all kinds of things. i take it seriously. these people are supposed to be looking at each individual, looking at the facts of the case and having some sense that every person that comes before them has value. i don't know how you look at these kinds of e-mails and then separate that from being able to see a poor woman from north philadelphia or a person from mckeesport -- whatever it is -- and sort of seeing them labeled as opposed to seeing them here. but i do want to say one thing about elections, and i've been -- you know, i believe that merit works, but we just finished spending a lot of time talking about we have presidents and governors that are going to ultimately select and make a recommendation, and we have then elected bodies who are

saying, "oh, by the way. we're just not gonna deal with that. we're not gonna put anybody on." we're seeing that at the federal level, at the appellate. there is no perfect system i think is what jan said. i agree. but i'm still a little nervous about diversity when we go to selection and then whether or not the political process itself just reinvents itself somewhere else. >> monica, my big takeaway, though -- back to kathleen kane is -- and why i pay such attention to the attorney general race, and i think we have really quality people in there. the attorney general -- corbett and kane -- both have been involved in huge things, and we kind of forget that this is, other than governor, the real powerhouse in pennsylvania. >> and so we have to keep an eye on who's gonna be the next one with all that power. >> right. >> and is it fair that he might not go to trial? everybody all right with him now that he's resigned? "he's suffered enough," in their words? >> yeah. >> all right. we're gonna take a break. "inside stories of the week" coming your way right after this. ♪

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by temple university. temple fuels students with academics and opportunities to take charge. plugged into the city, powered by the world. temple.edu/takecharge. >> time for "inside stories of the week," and let's start with jan. >> this week national review, the mouthpiece of the republican establishment, has started dismissing the problems with the white working class in the same way that they've historically dismissed the problems of the black working class. they say that welfare dependency and drug and alcohol addiction and family dysfunction are things that the working-class people did themselves, that nobody did this to them, says the national review. in reality, we all know it's about jobs and the absence and the export of millions of good-paying working-class jobs by american corporations and the import of tens of millions of immigrant competitors for the remaining working-class jobs. >> christine. >> monica, i used to love chris christie, but the engagement is off. i'm giving back the ring. [ laughter ] he did not show up for

the funeral of trooper sean cullen, who was killed in the line of duty last week, and he said, "i wouldn't have gone anyway." he was at a trump event. he lowered the statehouse flag to half-mast when whitney houston died of a drug overdose, and he likes the dallas cowboys. we're done. >> all right. let's go to dom. >> monica, a shout-out to the d.a. of chester county -- hogan. on my radio show, he talked about this horrific physical assault alleged on a freshman there by senior football players and why the locker room was unattended, because this type of stuff was ongoing, by the coaches, and he called it the sandusky effect, meaning that jerry sandusky preying on kids. these guys didn't want to be seen with kids naked, half-dressed, et cetera. it's rather amazing it's come to that, but that's what he told me, and that's the defense. >> mm. all right, sharmain. >> yesterday i had an opportunity and was invited by a consortium of black-owned businesses in philadelphia to talk about one of my favorite topics -- how do we make sure that teens get good jobs during

the summer? they committed to joining the campaign, bringing kids into their jobs and to their businesses, so we are looking forward to a great partnership. >> and a few more would be nice, always. >> we would love anyone to sign up. summer jobs, summer jobs, summer jobs. it makes a huge difference in a teen's life. >> thank you so much. thanks to all our insiders. we appreciate your time and your thoughts, and thanks to you for watching. have a great week ahead. we'll see you right back here next sunday morning. ♪ i'm nydia han along with gray hall. >> coming up next on "action news," march madness continues, st. joe's and villanova basketball teams have games today. jeff skeverski will be live from brooklyn before the wildcats tip off. police are looking for a suspect who stole a tractor-trailer and got it stuck on a philadelphia street. old man winter is hanging

on, chris sowers has the exclusive accuweather seven-day forecast. it's chillier than christmas. we'll be back with "action news." patients across the country have spoken.

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