from washington, "the mclaughlin group," the american original. for over two decades, the sharpest minds, issue one, anointment. >> i'm running for president because i have the experience and the vision to get us out of this mess. we're going to ensure that america's greatest days are still ahead! >> in illinois this past tuesday, it was mitt romney's t handily, 47% to rick santorum's

35 gingrich's 8%. romney added 43 illinois delegates to his column, bringing his total count to 563. more than double santorum's 263 delegates. his nearly halfway to the magic 1144 needed to clinch the g.o.p. nomination. so is this primary marathon now a done deal? republican power players hope so. jeb bush, the former two-term florida governor and george w. bush's younger brother, endorsed governor romney on wednesday. "primary elections have been held in 34 dates and now is the time for republicans to unite behind governor romney and take our message of fiscal conservativism and job creation to all voters this fall." question, does jeb bush's

endorsement of romney seal the deal for romney? pat? >> i think jeb bush is late to the party and the tea party in effect stacking arms and moving towards the romney camp. john, romney has gotten more than 50%, he's gotten 55, 50% of all the delegates he's headed straight to the nomination. and when you look at the way the democrats talk about a man of steel in ohio, and attacking the republicans by name, and the president of the united states acting like drill baby drill, moving on xl pipeline, there's a real possibility not a certitude that you can have a republican house, a republican senate, a republican president in mitt romney, and a new conservative supreme court. >> jim demint is who? >> the senator from south carolina. >> he did not endorse romney. >> he didn't have. but when he says it's okay to move in that direction, they're starting to move. >> is he the most prominent

figure backing the tea party? >> i think he is. the congressman from texas sort of runs one part of the tea party and he indicated, gave his blessing to a mitt romney nomination as well. >> so tea party backing for romney is big? >> that is the beginning of the closing of the party behind mitt romney nominee. >> eleanor? done deal? >> the dream lives on! [laughter] i thought the endorsement had -- a quality to it, like, okay. romney will be it. let's all hunker down and get behind him. so i don't see it as this glorious republican -- like you do. i wouldn't -- and the victory of romney in illinois was overshadowed by his aide's remarks, saying when we get to the general, we'll reset things, like an etch-a-sketch. we'll shake things up and start all over again. i think some of those he was that romney made during the

primary will be hard to undo. he has spent the last several months, the last four years, telling everybody how conservative he is. he's to the right of santorum on a number of issues, immigration, he wants to abolish all funding foreplanned parenthood, title 10. so i don't see this as the standard republican running to the right and then shifting back to the center, like the late great richard nixon. >> two terms, eleanor. >> is this an endorsement or the equivalent thereof, or this call on the part of the former vice president? does it mean as much as people think it means? >> no. it is late to make a difference. it's just symbolically part of the rallying around. >> he wants the funding of the candidates to stop, is that what he's trying to achieve? >> it's a signal that this is going to be the nominee, and let's all get around him. i'm sure ideally he would want

everybody else out. this is not a splashy endorsement. same with the -- >> in writing. >> because they realize that the establishment rallying around romney is very much a double edge sword. so they want to send the signal without hurting him. now the etch-a-sketch thing was just extraordinary gaff on the part of romney's communications guy. it was vivid, memorable, kind of funny, just perfect for going viral. i think though, and the general election that, kind of thing drives pat and drives they crazy but in a general election it's part of the attack against romney will be that he's is super-cautious, highly flexible, and very pragmatic. that just may help him reach the middle of the electorate. >> that was a very nice way of saying with mitt romney will we see in the fall? >> if jeb bushes wants to endorse, why didn't they endorse before the primary? this is a putdown of santorum and gingrich. >> quite frankly, in my opinion it's a putdown of everybody.

this is eat your peas and like it type of thing. jeb bush, who is very, very well liked in the republican party and very, very well liked by many, many people, has not shown -- >> talk about how non- conservative. >> but what i'm saying is this was a coveted endorsement and came in the form of a press release. we didn't see them standing together and making this -- you know, overly joyous announcement that he çhad the endorsement of jeb bush, which again is very, very coveted. and i think this is more of the same in that we see he is inevitable, mitt romney will win the delegate battle, but it's still very much anybody but mitt romney. he is not exciting. he's not exciting to watch. >> this is all good conversation. but i'm surprised to hear you fail to point out that jeb bush is withdrawing himself as ever being a white knight in this election. he won't run. >> and he is withdrawing himself from the possibility of being vice president because he might want to run in 2016. >> right. >> just what you said, the

possibility of a broken convention, they all realize now it is dead and gone. the only way jeb bush will be a nominee is somehow it happened that it was all locked up for several ballots. that's dead and gone. they know romney will win on the first ballot. >> he has done the delegate math too, bush has. and he knows on the base of the delegates, it's a very long shot that anybody could overtake romney. >> if he wanted to be vice president he should have come out earlier. >> falling short of the needed number of delegates is not unusual. walter hohn dale didn't have enough. >> and we saw what happened. >> yes, he lost in the fall. >> how much did he lose by that? >> 72 points. >> number of rate. >> that was a states. >> 49 to 1. >> he it as well as mcgovern did. >> the party rallies around and the republican party has three super-delegates in each state. they're not going to hand the nomination to somebody who hasn't bothered to get in the race. it was always a fantasy.

>> don't think romney just pays lip service to the conservatives, republicans, do you? >> paying lip service or not, he is harnessing himself if he becomes president. >> he wants to be the -- to get the nomination. >> yes, he has to appoint a very extremely right supreme court judge. he's got to be placated, just like george h.w. bush did, he gave us clarence thomas, who will keep on giving for a number of decades. >> exit question, george bush is angling to become romney's vice presidential running mate, yes or no? >> i think he would certainly like to be. but he mentioned -- >> he would like to be? >> certainly he would be like to be. put him on a fast track. but i think he's mentioned rubio's and the party should pick rubio, and that's being sort of semi-gracious. >> are you sure jeb bush or was it jeb bush, jr. who said -- likes the idea of rubio being the vice presidential candidate. >> he doesn't have a son's

name. it's george p bush, and it's jeb bush himself recommended -- >> rubio is basically bush's protege. and but to put bush on the ticket would really be back to the future. bush didn't run because he didn't think it was time for another bush. so i think adding himself to the ticket would be another anchor on mitt romney. >> what he has just done has excluded him from being on the ticket. [overlapping speakers] >> he's not angling to get on the tick the he believes it's too early for bush. if he didn't believe that, he would have run himself. >> he wants to shut down the whole process of bidding. >> how does -- that doesn't rule him out as a -- >> look like the world's greatest ego. >> why? >> because he sets this up and really wants to be vice president. >> i don't think romney will pick him and i don't think he wants. >> if he wanted it why have come out earlier. he's made statements about marco rubio because jeb one bush has a waffle way normal stance on immigration and they know that if this election

comes down the demographics, the republican party needs to do something. >> the answer is -- >> take this in a split 72nd and were offered to him. >> who would. >> jeb. >> i don't believe that. >> vice president? >> sure! >> pat, he's going to run for president -- eight years from now. >> you don't do a rockefeller had turn it down. >> he would be 64 years of age. >> take the vice president as a good soldier and set yourself up! >> would he take if it he thought mitt romney could win. if he thinks romney can't win, why would he take it? >> when when come back, the trayvon martin shooting.

issue two, florida shooting. the outrage sparked by the shooting of a teenager in florida continues to escalate. 17-year-old trayvon martin was shot to death on the night of

february 26 in san fords, a suburban of orlando. george zimmerman, a neighborhood watch officer has not been arrested. he is claiming he shot the teenager in self-defense. here's zimbabwe man report to go a 911 operator the presence of a suspicious person. >> what happened next is the critical question. zimbabwe man says he retreated from martin, who then attacked him from behind. trayvon martin was not armed. and his family's lawyer says summer man is the aggressor. and that zimmerman targeted martin because martin was black. records show zimmerman made 46 calls to the police in 2011,

mostly reporting african- americans. the local police said florida law prevented them from arresting zimmerman. florida stand your ground law passed in 2005 states that a person who feels threatened has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force. now washington is involved. the u.s. justice department civil rights division is investigating whether a hate crime has occurred in sanford. >> conducting a thorough independent investigation of the facts and rrounding the dea martin. >> question, is there any evidence to substantiate zimmerman's claim that he acted in self-defense? admonish snell. >> no. at least from everything that i've read so far there's no evidence to either contradict it or to substantiate what he has said. >> what about -- martin putting

his hand in here to apparently leave the impression -- simulate he's got a gun? >> we don't know he was doing that. what we do know is trayvon martin was a young child, he was armed with a bag of skittles candy and a can every ice tea. that the fellow saw an african- american kid in a neighborhood and for whatever reason decided he was going to follow him and the only thing we know is trayvon is dead. this is a huge travesty of justice and many feel this is our generation's emmit tell. >> is hard to determine who is the aggressor? >> there is some evidence and we don't know how substantive it is that the police claim that zimmerman, when they found him, had a -- bleeding from the head and at a cut, bleeding from the back of the head. >> and a bloody nose. >> and had grass stains on his back. i don't know how valid that is, but if that were so it may have been that this guy zimmerman

foolishly got out of his truck and got into a fight with this 17-year-old kid, and 17-year- old may have been beating him up and winning the fight -- hold it. and then this zimmerman may who had a gun might have said, who we got to find out who is screaming on the tape. >> if you listen to the tapes between trayvon martin and his girlfriend he is talking to her on a tape and he is saying, there's a man following me, and she's saying to him, run! we don't know anything else. but it does not seem from anything i've heard that trayvon martin could have been the aggressor. and we should remember, he could have been defending himself. if i had a strange guy chasing me around and in engage, in racial profiling i would do anything i could to kick his butt. >> how do we know he was on the phone with his girlfriend? >> the tapes have çbeen made public. >> go ahead. >> he was on the phone with his girlfriend and he said that he was being followed, and we know

that zimmerman was being counseled by the 911 dispatcher, not to follow the young man. and so if there's a claim of self-defense, it is only after he aggressively pursued him some you're getting into a very tricky area of the law. and you do have a new law in florida signed by jeb bush, who recently talked about this? >> go ahead. what about the injuries to zimmerman? why did the wall street journal, in their article this week, do not mention zimmerman's injuries? this is a curious editorial omission given that zimmerman claims self-defense. >> yes, but look, all the evidence we have of these multiple calls and the call that the emergency line, police department is, that stiller man was pursuing martin. and martin had reason to be fearful of this man who is not an officer of the law, and is a stranger, and who is running after him. he is running after him that, can constitute an assault. we may never know what actually happened in the real confrontation.

but as a mistake of the police not to charge him with something, grand jury that's been empaneled will charge him i believe, and he should be tried. not on tv, not in the street, but i have to object this is nothing like the emmit till case we are they set murder, mutilate, throw that child in a river, and got off. >> that's your personal opinion and i respect that. but if first of all this happened over a month ago. it has been completely ignored bit mainstream media. it was not until people black radio hosts, television correspondents working primarily in black media started bringing attention to this fact that this is happened to trayvon martin. and let me finish. it's a very important to note. in our community, things like this happen over and over and over again. and if you listen particularly to the stories of black mothers all over the country, who have to talk about how they have to raise their sons -- >> quick question. >> be careful of this is no different. >> quick question to of the for

>> and is the law. >> they want you to stand your ground and not run. [overlapping speakers] does that breed vigilantism? >> you can -- it gives you the right if you're under assault going to beat you up, you stand your ground and defend yourself with a weapon. i happen to agree with michelle. i think that this is just speculation. i think the guy got out of the car, this kid had enough of this guy hassling him and followed him, and he turned around to fight him. and my guess is he was beating him up and the screams came from zimmerman -- and zimmerman pulls out his gun. >> did you see the size of zimbabwe man and of the kid? >> we don't know but we were -- >> 140 pounds versus what, 220? >> this is not what it was meant for. not meant to run after people. [overlapping speakers] >> not what it was meant for about it this case he was using it like a hunting rifle. >> you're [overlapping speakers]

>> protect yourself. >> originally in your house, that if somebody attacked you, cue stand your ground and you could resist. outside of the house, it was a custom that if there was an altercation, your first duty was to retreat, not to seek -- >> martin probably had a better -- >> thinking you're defending yourself. >> martin probably had more cause to stand his ground than zimmerman did. i don't like al sharpton and had crew, about if it they hadn't raised a stink about this, you're right, it would have been ignored. >> stand your ground. the principle of self-defense is a natural law. it's an natural law. why do we have a law like that? >> because previously it was -- [overlapping speakers] >> there were times where cue be prosecuted, you could break into your home and you're defending yourself and shoot that person, and be actually prosecuted because you didn't run away [overlapping speakers]

>> your house you're told -- it may be changed now, that you've got to -- if you want to stop someone in your house, you center to wait until he gets in before you shoot them. >> has there been a media rush to judgment in the shooting? >> i agree with michelle, they didn't bring it up in time, and they didn't bring -- but since then, there's no question about it, everybody is saying -- calling zimmerman a murderer, and i don't believe that's true either. >> every black parent has this freer, therefore, it's deserves the attention it's getting. >> i'm sorry -- >> the furor has been helpful, but he deserves charged with something, he deserves a trial where the facts went out. >> there has not been a rush to judgment. he needs to be prosecuted. he needs to be arrested. and i want to make one final point in my opinion, if the shooter had been black and the victim was white, he would have been arrested the day this killing took place. >> but would there have been a

brouhaha. al sharpton would have been there? >> no, florida but cnn would have been there. mainstre>> we don't know -- >> the pitt police chief has taken a leave of absence. he has not resigned. >> it's a wise move by him. >> why? >> because look, i do agree with bringing it to the justice department. bringing objective people into it from outside. and taking another look at it. bus this was an innocent kid who didn't deserve to die. >> very different power structure today than we did in 1955. >> yes. >> so it was so -- murdered. we have a black family in the -- black attorney general, and -- >> and none of these caricatures and stereotypes persist down there into the roots. so i think this is -- [overlapping speakers] >> is it possible that both of the people charged were acting in their own self-defense by their best light? you understand?

>> i think it's possible that this kid had had enough and dershowitz agree -- said i'm going to do battle with this guy. acting in self-defense? is it possible? >> at different stages. but again, zimmerman created this confrontation, and so -- guilt has to fall on him. >> that aside, could they both have been acting at the time in their self-defense? >> yes. >> yes or no? >> once there was a fight. but zimbabwe man bears responsibility for the fight because -- misjudging made him pursue. >> that answer is yes. >> and your answer is yes [overlapping speakers] >> my answer is not zimbabwe man started this, racial profiling and i don't believe it was -- >> talking about psychological state at the time. what he was thinking. was' acting in his own self- defense. >> he was thinking there's a black man in front of me and i'm scared and will shoot him. >> i think they were both act income their self-defense. we'll be right back with predictions.

the whole keystone pipeline will be approved by obama before the election. >> you bet! >> with -- >> yes, yes, yes, a million times yes. >> yes, yes, yes snook the answer is yes. bye-bye!