marco rubio at 23%. donald trump predicted was going to win the iowa caucuses, look at that, 99% of the vote in. ted cruz at 28%. marco rubio nipping at his heels at 23%. a very strong showing for rubio. and a very strong showing for ted cruz. >> absolutely and you know, the expectations game is so true, but especially for someone like donald trump, who's all about winning. and he even said he put his heart on his sleeve in the past couple days saying. i really need to win here, i want to win here. he was kind of joking about the fact he was only five points up in the latest poll. this is a new phenomenon for somebody like donald trump. the character that is donald trump to not be able to say i'm a winner. i wonder how much of a psychological effect that's going to have on him. >> i want to correct something i said before. above him on the top right. you raise an excellent point. one of the stars of the election so far has been donald trump. he's so good at branding himself as a winner, who will make america great ag

trump's corner. spelling it out. marco rubio scoffs at trump's misspelled insults, saying that like trump tower, he must have hired a foreign worker to do his own tweets. no holds barred. mudslinging isn't enough. now trump and rubio have gone from hurling insults to throwing water. what's next? and how will all of this look to voters? and carolina clash. while all eyes are now on super tuesday, democrats are hours away from the south carolina primary. bernie sanders trails hillary clinton there and is ramping up his own rhetoric. is their race about to get nasty? i'm wolf blitzer and you're in the situation room. >>> breaking news. marco rubio and ted cruz, donald trump brought in some back-up today. just hours after cnn's rauks republican debate and days before the the super tuesday at that contest, chris christie showed up to show his support for trump. he called trump the best person to beat hillary clinton and said no one is better prepared to lead the country. the sparring continues today in hours long insults sessions. ca

let's say it's trump, rubio, cruz and kasich. three wins and we're heading into super tuesday. remember the conversation you were just having. how do you stop trump? here's super tuesday. for the sake of argument say ted cruz wins his home state. not guaranteed. let's say ted cruz wins texas. again, a hypothetical. kasich says he can win in the northeast, win massachusetts. but trump is ahead there. let's for fun give kasich to massachusetts. so then you have something like this after super tuesday. donald trump is starting to pull away because the republican rules are more generous to the winner. another jump in march. look at this. remember, he jumps ahead. let's stop a couple. florida votes then. marco rubio wins his home state. trump second, cruz fourth third and kasich fourth. we'll see that goes kasich, trump, rubio, cruz. even then, even then if they start picking up a couple of states, trump has this huge lead. i'm going to play it out with trump in first, rubio and cruz fighting for second and third. play it out through

let's say it's trump, rubio, cruz and kasich. rump has three wins and we're heading into super tuesday. remember the conversation you were just having. how do you stop trump? here's super tuesday. for the sake of argument say ted cruz wins his home state. not guaranteed. let's say ted cruz wins texas. again, a hypothetical. kasich says he can win in the northeast, win massachusetts. but trump is ahead there. let's for fun give kasich to massachusetts. so then you have something like this after super tuesday. donald trump is starting to pull away because the republican rules are more generous to the winner. another jump in march. look at this. remember, he jumps ahead. let's stop a couple. florida votes then. marco rubio wins his home state. trump second, cruz fourth athir and kasich fourth. we'll see that goes kasich, trump, rubio, cruz. even then, even then if they start picking up a couple of states, trump has this huge lead. i'm going to play it out with trump in first, rubio and cruz fighting for second and third. play it out

rubio. donald trump. marco rubio. rand paul. donald trump. rand paul. donald trump. marco rubio. jeb bush. donald trump. john kasich. donald trump. rand paul. marco rubio. donald trump. marco rubio. marco rubio. rand paul. marco rubio. marco rubio. marco rubio. marco rubio. governor christie. jeb bush. marco rubio. rand paul. marco rubio. marco rubio. marco rubio. rubio. marco rubio. donald trump. chris christie. rand paul. rubio. >> we hesitate to jump in here like golf announcers. let's state the obvious. something as basic and organic as folded pieces of paper in an organic u.s. mail paper while everyone who has watched a device is watching it being tallied up. it's from here that the voters in iowa, those who cared enough to go out and caucus can send a message that's heard not just around the political country but around the world. let's given where we stand given the fact this is very early on tonight. this is the republican side. again, pay attention to the percentage of the vote in. as you saw, republicans do one person, one vote. it's raw vote. having said that with 5% reporting, i

looks like rubio cruz and trump have the big momentum. o will get the endorsement from the senator from south carolina. there isn't a lot of reason. the abc news scrapped the under c card debate. they won't get the tv exposure. >> also the question where will all of the money go. the time now is about 18 minutes after the top of the hour. on the road again. >> the sunrises tomorrow. this campaign will take the next step. >> the candidates are off to new hampshire. which states are key to the nomination? we are mapping it out for you. avo: when laquinta.com sends craig wilson a ready for you alert the second his room is ready, ya know what he becomes? client: great proposal! let's talk more over golf. craig: great. client: how about over tennis craig: even better. avo: a game changer! avo: the ready for you alert, only at laquinta.com. watching tvs get sharper, you've had it tough. bigger, smugger. and you? rubbery buttons. enter the x1 voice remote. now when someone says... show me funny movies. watch discovery. record this. voila. remotes

>> why is it rubio won, why are you talking about trump? >> rubio does not, i didn't think rubio won. i thought john kasich won and he has experience to back it up. john kasich and donald trump have ever balanced the budget. >> talking about policy issues and trump did not look like he belonged on that stage. he had an answer for nothing. >> let me answer another way. talking about trump is because he's someone that accomplished something. maybe rubio was the best orator tonight but can he accomplish things? >> look, trump looks like he's steam rolling. >> what it is about rubio that he did so well? >> to attack trump. >> you're saying he was negative? >> trump did not respond to him. >> i thought it was more knowledgeable about the issues. >> megyn, i want to pull a clip. it's not the same order i want to go. this is the exchange trump had, it was the second one we're going to do in this segment, about donald trump talking about having a business because it's perfectly appropriate. let us pray. >> you're going to claim you're the only one that list

rubio and ted cruz. so so night for donald trump. >> where do you think marco rubio needs to win? >> we want to be in the top tier. it's a three person race right now. we want to keep it that way. if we can finish in the top tier in new hampshire, we feel good about south carolina and going to have big announcements coming soon in south carolina and other states. you're going to start to see the party around marco rubio now that it's clear it's a three-person race. >> thank you very much. >> and not to ruin the surprise but it's been reported one of the big endorsements is senator tim scott, very much sought after, he had been endorsing marco rubio in south carolina. so team rubio celebrates a big finish, what about team trump? guy benson is here next on that. >> if he winnished second and i'm honored and i want to congratulate ted and all of the candidates including mike huckabee who has become a really good friend of mine. good friend of mine. congratulations ♪ (cell phone rings) where are you? well the squirrels are back in the attic. mom? your dad won't call an exterminator...

it's really stunning the back and forth today that we've seen betwee trump and rubio. it is unpresidential doesn't even begin to describe it, but, look the fact of the matter is you've got to give the trump campaign this christie endorsement, timing and symbolism are big with endorsements. a lot of times they are overrated but the timing of it was brilliant. it shows you that this is a very that trump had. had this in his big of tricks ready to go when he needed it and the symbolism. he's -- chris christie member of the republican if you believe there's five stages of grief going on, lester, the fifth stage is republicans. acceptor. >> republicans sulking out the headlines but lest we forget democrat voters in the tomorrow. what do we look for >> well, , should be a big win for hillary clinton. if it's not, it shows you that there is life in sanders' campaign. sanders needs to improve with african-american voters, and if he does that, we'll know because he'll come within single digits of her, but if it's a double-digit big win for her is could be a foreshadowing of a lo

rubio! >> reporter: now trump did answer one of rubio's attacks from last night just a few moments ago insisting he did not get $200 million from his father. trump said it was $1 million and he paid it back, anderson. >> jim, the christie endorsement today, it certainly seems like a win-win for trump and christie himself. >> reporter: absolutely. that's right. there's sort of the straight talk duo right now. perhaps a preview of a presidential/vice presidential ticket later on. chris christie just introduced trump in oklahoma city saying rubio -- saying to rubio, your campaign is almost over, buddy. and you are right. just last month, christie warned voters in new hampshire if trump is the nominee, hillary clinton will win in november. so chris christie has had tough things to say about donald trump, but that's all in the past. we should point out this endorsement was quite a secret this week. trump and christie aides say the endorsement was worked out yesterday at trump tower in manhattan. they've been friends for years. and it should be noted after what happened in new hampshire when chris chr

>> why is it rubio won, why are you talking about trump? >> rubio does not, i didn't think rubio won. i thought john kasich won and he has experience to back it up. john kasich and donald trump have ever balanced the budget. >> talking about policy issues and trump did not look like he belonged on that stage. he had an answer for nothing. >> let me answer another way. talking about trump is because he's someone that accomplished something. maybe rubio was the best orator tonight but can he accomplish things? >> look, trump looks like he's steam rolling. >> what it is about rubio that he did so well? >> to attack trump. >> you're saying he was negative? >> trump did not respond to him. >> i thought it was more knowledgeable about the issues. >> megyn, i want to pull a clip. it's not the same order i want to go. this is the exchange trump had, it was the second one we're going to do in this segment, about donald trump talking about having a business because it's perfectly appropriate. let us pray. >> you're going to claim you're the only one that list

rubio faces a steep climb. polls show the senator behind trump in all 11 states. what's crucial is rubio's home state of florida on march 15th, where one poll has him trailing by double digits. >> you're guaranteeing that you will win? what happens if you don't? >> we'll win florida. >> reporter: as rubio campaigns throughout the south tomorrow, he's expected to release his own tax returns, and he's calling on the gop front-runner to do the same. but, lester, on a day when rubio woke up owning the news cycle, he found himself trumped. >> gabe, regarding some of those allegations by rubio, coming up, we've got the inside story of how undocumented workers worked at the site of trump tower. but first i want to bring in our political director, the moderator of "meet the press," chuck todd. chuck, our new poll asked registered voters which of the following would be their reaction to trump as the nominee. 51% said scared. 24% said angry. when you look at numbers like that and you look at that back and forth we just saw a moment ago, what do you make of it? >> i have to s

after marco rubio unloaded on trump. one of the most dramatic campaign days ever. >>> nbc news investigates amid allegations by rubio the inside story of how undocumented workers worked at the site of trump tower. >>> mass shooting horror. four dead, 14 wounds as a gunman opens fire at a workplace. a hero cop taking him down. tonight, what we've learned happened in the hours before the massacre. >>> zika in america. the cdc warns of a surge in cases. the virus is now striking pregnant women here. >>> and fairy tale ending. a little girl's unicorn on the loose, and a police chase like we've never seen before. "nightly news" begins right now. >> announcer: this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt. >>> good evening. what a wild day it has been. one of the most dramatic and intense days of this presidential campaign hours after mocking, ridiculing and challenging donald trump on the debate stage, a rejuvenated marco rubio struck again today. then donald trump struck back with a surprise announcement of new jersey governor

>> why is it rubio won, why are you talking about trump? >> rubio does not, i didn't think rubio won. i thought john kasich won and he has experience to back it up. john kasich and donald trump have ever balanced the budget. >> talking about policy issues and trump did not look like he belonged on that stage. he had an answer for nothing. >> let me answer another way. talking about trump is because he's someone that accomplished something. maybe rubio was the best orator tonight but can he accomplish things? >> look, trump looks like he's steam rolling. >> what it is about rubio that he did so well? >> to attack trump. >> you're saying he was negative? >> trump did not respond to him. >> i thought it was more knowledgeable about the issues. >> megyn, i want to pull a clip. it's not the same order i want to go. this is the exchange trump had, it was the second one we're going to do in this segment, about donald trump talking about having a business because it's perfectly appropriate. let us pray. >> you're going to claim you're the only one that list

rubio and ted cruz. so so night for donald trump. >> where do you think marco rubio needs to win?want to be in the top tier. it's a three person race right now. we want to keep it that way. if we can finish in the top tier in new hampshire, we feel good about south carolina and going to have big announcements coming soon in south carolina and other states. you're going to start to see the party around marco rubio now that it's clear it's a three-person race. >> thank you very much. >> and not to ruin the surprise but it's been reported one of the big endorsements is senator tim scott, very much sought after, he had been endorsing marco rubio in south carolina. so team rubio celebrates a big finish, what about team trump? guy benson is here next on that. >> if he winnished second and i'm honored and i want to congratulate ted and all of the candidates including mike huckabee who has become a really good friend of mine. congratulations to everybody. congratulationses. i accept i'm not 22. i accept i do a shorter set these days. i even accept i have a higher risk of stroke due to afi

trump? >> cruz. >> cruz. rubio. trump. >> huckabee. rubio. >> carson. rubio. christie. >> trump. >> carson. >> carson, right here. >> christie. >> ben carson. >> christie? >> right there. >> carson. >> christie. right there? >> trump. rubio. carson. carson. donald trump. trump? >> christie. rubio. >> carson. >> right here, carson. >> christie. >> cruz. >> trump. >> cruz. jeb bush. >> rubio. >> rubio. >> right here. >> christie. >> rand paul. >> rand paul. >> paul's up here. right here. >> huckabee. >> donald trump. >> kasich. >> kasich's over right here. >> cruz. >> christie. rubio. donald trump. >> rubio. >> marco rubio. all right. let's get started. >> let's check and make sure they're all the same. chri christie's good. >> kasich. >> ben carson there. >> marco's good. >> huckabee's good. >> should have grabbed bush. it's quicker. >> cruz is good. >> let's start at the top and work our way down. okay. we got bush. >> right here. >> count bush. count in front of everybody. >> three, four, five, six. >> everybody agreed, six? you see six? >> yep. >> all right.

that donald trump just did. >> it's rubio! >> donald trump pouring one out for his homey after introducing a surprise endorsement. governor chris christie. looking running matish there on stage. >> where has this marco rubio been? after eight months, where rubio barely mentioned trump's name, he continues to clobber trump on the trail. calling him a conartist, calling him old, suggesting that maybe trump wet his pants. plus the lead exclusive with justice antonin scalia's sons. a controversial man, sure, but also a man of family, the law and faith. good afternoon, every one. welcome to "the lead." i'm jake tapper. we'll start with our politics lead. surprise, surprise. donald trump la rough flight and a not so great morning but now he's hoping no one will remember any of it. he just unveiled his biggest, loudest endorsement yet. bringing chris christie out on to the stage for a huge announcement. a source close to the new jersey governor telling me that christie is backing trump because, a, he believes the mogul is inevitable a

trump is in here. rubio is in here. have a suburb and the shock to me at the moment, trump is doing well and polling the counties that should be for ted cruz. at the moment, cruz doing well. this is where the people are. this is just surprising. we will wait to have more of the votes coming in. these numbers can't change. strong at the moment. >> let's look at the democratic side. closer with 63% of the sites reporting. it's only a two-point race between clinton and sanders. >> the reason she is ahead is back to polk county. the biggest county in the state. she is winning with 54% of the vote. i want to tell our viewers, pay no attention to the numbers. the democrats are state delegate equivalents. >> the democrats do not release the actual numbers. to bernie sanders to overtake the advantage that hillary is currently at. >> one thing he doesn't is to close the gap. now the rest of them, let's go to the eastern part of the state. about half of the vote in and hillary clinton running ahead. if you go back in time, that wa

but rubio after standing up to trump at the debate isn't without a fight. fort worth, texas. >> reporter: this is gabe gutierrez covering marco rubio's campaign. today he was riding il the billionaire dropped the bombshell. how stunning was the christie endorsement? look. chris is an articulate guy. donald probably needs a lifeline after last night and he called in ch i respect that. i have more than my fair share of endorsements. >> reporter: this morning in dallas rubio had ripped into th >> what we are dealing with here, my friends, is a con artist. >> reporter: mocking a series of trump's misspelled tweets. >> and i only reached two conclusions. number one, that's how they spell those words at the wharton school of business where he went or, number two, just like trump tower he must have hired a foreign worker to do his own tweets. he called me mr. meltdown. let me tell you something. last night during the debate during one of the breaks, two of the breaks. he went backstage, he was having a meltdown. little makeup thing applying like makeup around miss

in georgia donald trump has a seven-point lead over cruz and rubio, 30% trump, cruz and rubio tied. in tennessee trump's lead more durable at 40% followed by cruz in second and rubio a close third and then the rest of the field. but in texas it's a different story. ted cruz is hanging onto his must-win home state. and he has a comfortable 13-point lead over trump. rubio is a distant third there. now, these polls were taken before marco rubio's strong performance in that thursday night republican debate. so we asked our pollsters to recontact as many people as possible. we talked to 30% of the to see whether rubio's debate performance changed anything, in short it did not. trump, rubio and cruz all held onto roughly 90% of their supporters. in fact in the raw ballot test rubio moved up all of one point. we have three presidential candidates with us this morning as we look forward to what could be a defining super tuesday. ted cruz, donald trump and bernie sanders. i'm joined by donned donald trump. welcome back. >> let me just ask you, how'd you make the deal to get chris christie to

trumped. >> all right, gabe. regarding some of those allegations by rubio. coming up we've got the inside story of how undocumented worked at the site of trump tower. affirmative action i want to bring in our political director, the moderator of "meet the press" chuck todd. chuck, our new poll asked registered voters which of the following would be their reaction to trump as the nominee. 51% said scared, 24% said angry, and when you look at numbers like that and you look at that back and forth we just saw a moment ago, what do you make of it? >> i have to say, it feels like every time we think public discourse has deteriorated to a new low we reach a new low. it's really stunning the back and forth today that we've seen between trump and rubio. it is unpresidential doesn't even begin to describe it, but, look the fact of the matter is you've got to give the trump campaign credit here. this christie endorsement, timing and symbolism are big with endorsements. a lot of times they are overrated but the timing of it was brilliant. it shows you that this is a very

marco rubio is the one guy that hasn't felt the wrath of trump yet. everybody else who has is either out of the race or severely damaged. ted cruz has been damaged. >> right. but marco rubio has felt the wrath of chris christie and prove he has a glass jaw. the question is going to be could he with stand a similar barrage from donald trump who is relentless in going after the people he thinks are a threat to in addition to that hugh says marco rubio will win florida, that isn't clear at this point that donald trump can't win there. >> i don't know it's clear that ted cruz is going to win texas by the way. >> it's not enough to keep winning second and third. at some point ted cruz has to win one, rubio has to win. >> speaking of firsts, his first win was supposed to come in your home state of nevada, mr. ralston. that's tuesday. >> donald trump is going to win nevada easily. it's a weird process in nevada. isn't everything a weird process in nevada where they have it on a tuesday night, different start times. turnout may be lucky to get to 10%. but hugh

trump? >> cruz. >> cruz. rubio. trump. >> huckabee. rubio. >> carson. rubio. christie. >> trump. >> carson. >> carson, right here. >> christie. >> ben carson. >> christie? >> right there. >> carson. >> christie. right there? >> trump. rubio. carson. carson. donald trump. trump? >> christie. rubio. >> carson. >> right here, carson. >> christie. >> cruz. >> trump. >> cruz. jeb bush. >> rubio. >> rubio. >> right here. >> christie. >> rand paul. >> rand paul. >> paul's up here. right here. >> huckabee. >> donald trump. >> kasich. >> kasich's over -- right here. >> cruz. >> christie. rubio. donald trump. >> rubio. >> marco rubio. ñ let's get started. >> let's check and make sure they're all the same. christie's good. >> kasich. >> ben carson there. >> marco's good. >> huckabee's good. >> should have grabbed bush. it's quicker. >> cruz is good. >> are we all through? >> are you going to count them off? >> let's start at the top and work our way down. okay. we got bush. >> right here. >> count bush. count in front of everybody. >> three, four, five, six. >> everybody

trump. and the won that won in november, marco rubio. there's your split. >> the difference is that the trump number on change is so much larger than the lead that the other two have in their lanes. and that's going to be the challenge for those other two going forward. the other challenge for marco rubio this assumption that you're just going to get all those bush and kasich voters. you may, it's true if you add up all the new hampshire bush and kasich voters, all the south carolina bush and cay kasich voters, give those to rubio, he wins. but he has to show he can go one-on-one against donald trump and survive that. >> who gets to the one-on-one? marco rubio is the one guy that hasn't felt the wrath of trump yet. everybody else who has is either out of the race or severely damaged. ted cruz has been damaged. >> right. but marco rubio has felt the wrath of chris christie and prove he has a glass jaw. the question is going to be could he with stand a similar barrage from donald trump who is relentless in going after the people he thinks a

trump? >> well, here. we'll see where rubio finishes tonight. but certainly, everyone says he's the most electable candidate. yes, at some point you have to win. so we'll see what the margins are. when it comes to donald trump winning south carolina, sort of think there is potential for hope for the republican party. in beating trump. the republican party has been so divided. so fractured. it's -- it looks like donald trump is on his way to winning. this may be the moment where they realize they have to come together and finally work to advance core beliefs. or they will risk losing everything to donald trump. >> mr. lord. >> i call on my friend, michael smerconish's wisdom the other week about the reality of the human ego. these other people in this race and this is michael's observation, which i agree with totally. they're going to get into the old kid's game of no, you get out, no, you get out. why should i get out? they're running for president of the united states. they think they're on their way, even if their fevered imaginations. so i don

the top three, trump, cruz, and rubio. the other candidates are well behind. so, too close to call at poll closing. 7:00 eastern time. it is a three-way race between donald trump, ted cruz, and marco rubio. the remaining field well behind. to chris matthews we go in las vegas, nevada. chris, we got an interesting night still to play out here. >> you sure do. i was thinking of that old dina washington song, "what a difference a day made." and what a difference today did make here already in nevada and will make more as we get to midnight out there on the east coast. it seems to me that if you're michael bloomberg right now who's been talked about a lot as a possible third-party candidate, i think he's lost a big part of his rationale today. if hillary clinton can win it tonight, it looks like she's won, according to us she has won, if she can win next week, a week from now on that saturday and expected to win big then, she's going into super tuesday with the wind at her back, almost all those events on super tuesday, 9 of the 11 are going to be actual primaries,

that's the same word trump used to describe rubio. and trump re-enacted what he said was rubio's now famous meltdown. >> it's rubio! i'm sweating. >> jim acosta is out front at trump's rally. you watch this and say, wait a minute. am i watching some sort of comedy act? this was real politics today. >> right. yeah, not exactly high brow humor, though, on the campaign trail, erin. things have gotten more fluid in this race for the white house. trump and marco rubio are now engaged in a locker room brawl for the gop nomination. it's gotten so ugly it's descended into name-calling over who sweats the most and who can actually control their bladder the best. donald trump tried to turn the page after cnn's fiery republican debate. rolling out a jaw-dropping endorsement from chris christie. >> this was an endorsement that really meant a lot. >> there is no better fighter than donald trump. he's going to fight for the american people. >> other than that, i rest my case. >> trump seemed rattled by a newly aggressive marco rubio at thursday's de

cruz, trump, tlrn rubio and bush. now would you have to outsiders vying for one vote and maybe the establishment goes behind rubio. the script has been filmed on the outsiders. >> you coming out of new hampshire. >> for one week. >> maybe it's, only out of iowa. i think in new hampshire you'll have all the establishment candidates who did not do well. even if you consider him. he was a tea party guy at one point. if you consider him acceptable to the establish many as compared to cruz or trump. then you have in new hampshire, bush, kasich, rubio, basically trouble. >> let's talk about your takeaway from last night. >> so we were thinking about it. one was turnout appears higher for both but it didn't end up helping. the higher turnout they expected would help bernie sanders and trump and that wasn't the case. there was higher turnout. i think that shows that cruz and rubio and then hillary clinton had really good organization on the ground. what i thought was interesting, how do you nail your dismount, right? you stic

but rubio after standing up to trump at the debate isn't going to go down without a fight. katy tur, nbc news, fort worth, te >> reporter: this is gabe gutierrez covering marco rubio's campaign. today he was riding high until the billionaire dropped the bombshell. how stunning was the christie endorsement? >> stunning? no, look. chris is an articulate guy. donald probably needs a lifeline after last night and he called in chris christie. i respect that. i have more than my fair share of endorsements. >> reporter: this morning in dallas rubio had ripped into the front-runner. >> what we are dealing with here, my friends, is a con artist. >> reporter: mocking a series of trump's misspelled tweets. >> and i only reached two conclusions. number one, that's how they spell those words at the wharton school of business where he went, or, number two, just like trump tower he must have hired a foreign worker to do his own tweets. he called me mr. meltdown. let me tell you something. last night at the debate during one of the breaks, two of the backstage. he was having a kneltdown. fi