ben ginsburg joins us. funny, we were just talking about you. and nicolle wallace. >> i have a ginsburg question. this is not a big forecasting one, but just a question that everybody i know is asking me via text message is what happens to marco rubio's delegates? >> marco rubio's delegates, it depends on the law of the individual states. most of them will be unbound. so that is a big story of this evening. that another 159 delegates go into the unbound pool on the first ballot for a front-runner shy of a majority to pick from. >> that's true whether or not marco rubio endorses anybody. an endorsement is something that applies to him. >> it does not bind his delegates, it is a suggestion not a command. >> this is basically the republican version of super delegates. how many unbound with rubio? >> 166 before this, so 159 now, so that's 320, which is a lot of margin. >> now, does that mean, forgive my mathematic ignorance, but does that make it harder for anybody to get over the threshold they get to get to without it going to a second ballot? >>

i don't know if i agree with ben ginsburg.f trump comes anywhere near being the nominee, he will win it and they will have to live with it. if he knocks off rubio in florida, he heads to cleveland with a good chance. the republican establishment has been shattered and the example of that is this. compare hillary clinton's performance tonight, even though she lost to jeb's performance in this campaign. the two symbols and persons of the democratic and republican establishments didn't do the same or well this year. hillary clinton is in this fight, will probably win it, jeb bush has been blown away. the republican establishment is is much, much worse shape than the democratic establishment. >> good point. >> chris, thank you. the only one i know who gets better as the hour grows later. >> true. he gets freed from the bounds of corp.orrial existence. he gets smarter and smarter and you and i turn into bumblers. >> writing notes on file folders. but there is more of that when we come right back. hey how's it going, hotcakes? hotca

i don't know if i agree with ben ginsburg. if trump comes anywhere near being the nominee, he will win it and they will have to live with it. if he knocks off rubio in florida, he heads to cleveland with a good chance. the republican establishment has been shattered and the example of that is this. compare hillary clinton's performance tonight, even though she lost to jeb's performance in this campaign. the two symbols and persons of the democratic and republican establishments didn't do the same or well this year. hillary clinton is in this fight, will probably win it, jeb bush has been blown away. the republican establishment is is much, much worse shape than the democratic establishment. >> good point. >> chris, thank you. the only one i know who gets better as the hour grows later. >> true. he gets freed from the bounds of corporal existence. he gets smarter and smarter and you and i turn into bumblers. >> writing notes on file folders. but there is more of that when we come right back. >>> looking down the calendar, the p

joining me now is nbc political analyst ben ginsburg. ben, as we see donald trump back in form today, we are wondering whams next with the delegate count. you are the expert on delegates and conventions and the possibility of contested conventions. let's talk about the delegate map right now. i'm seeing as we look at these polls and we all imagine whether or not john kasich can win ohio and whether or not marco rubio can come back from a real deficit there and actually take the lead in florida. >> yeah. those will be really crucial primaries. mississippi and michigan tomorrow as well. and the three other states beyond florida and ohio that go march 15th. so donald trump can either put it away by winning both ohio and florida and finishing strong in the other states or this is going to be a really long slide. you all have on your website a really good delegate tracker that shows how if he wins ohio and florida he just has to win 52% of the remaining delegates. that's manageable. if he loses one of the states it gets much more difficult. if

us now, we have attorney and republican strategist, now an msnbc news, nbc political analyst, ben ginsburg. >> good to see you. we offered ben a cupcake. he said, my body is a temple. >> did mary get one? come on. magnolia. all right, we had quite a spirited conversation we're going to continue, but can we stop with some of it withe poll first? >> let's do. >> nbc's kate snow is at a polling station in springfield, illinois, and nbc's chris jansing live at a polling station in highland heights, ohio. kate, we'll start with you. important races for both parties in illinois. what are you hearing on the ground there? >> reporter: yeah. hey, mika and joe. this place is packed, actually. they're seeing bigger turnout here. we're in springfield, illinois. bigger turnout than they've seen in previous elections, really, anybody can remember. the place is the full. they usually only have a few people here in the afternoon and they're getting ready for the bigger rush, after people get off of work. this is a primarily majority republican county, so we're talking to a lot of trump supporters here, bu

ben ginsburg, appreciate it.e're watching aipac where donald trump and john kasich will take the stage in the next hour. a heart attack doesn't care if you run everyday, or if you're young or old. no matter who you are a heart attack can happen without warning. if you've had a heart attack, a bayer aspirin regimen can help prevent another one. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. bayer aspirin. her long day as anne. hair stylist starts with shoulder pain when... hey joanne, want to trade the all day relief of 2 aleve with 6 tylenol? give up my 2 aleve for 6 tylenol? no thanks. for me... it's aleve. find fast relief behind the counter allergies with nasal congestion? with claritin-d. [ upbeat music ] strut past that aisle for the allergy relief that starts working in as little as 30 minutes and contains the best oral decongestant. live claritin clear, with claritin-d. they say you shouldn't spoil your kids. but your grandkids? how about front row seats to the best show in town? and t

in fact i saw a little bit earlier our bone ben ginsburg well known republican lawyer walk in there. >> we will need to get him on the phone since he is an msnbc contributor. luke, you knew i knew the answer to where the building is. i used to live about seven blocks away from the rnc. >> you're a veteran, katie, that's what i love talking to you. you know your stuff. >> for those of us that don't know washington, d.c., i appreciate the geography lesson. >>> halle is in washington because that's where ted cruz was last night on the late night talk circuit. halle, you hear about this meeting as we are. it came as a surprise, we had known that donald trump might be in washington, d.c. today. we had heard that perhaps he would be meeting with some of his foreign policy advisers then he shows up at rnc headquarters. it is thought-provoking because we don't know what they were talking about but there are so many questions about what will happen in july at that convention. >> right. that is one of the things you might imagine somebody like donald trump talking about with reince priebus, wi

joining us now, ben ginsburg, political analyst for msnbc and a partner at jones day.zes in election law. also with us, robert costa, national political reporter for the "washington post" and an msnbc political analyst. robert costa, there's been a lot of speculation about how sharp the trump campaign is on all of the real details of running for president including amassing your delegates. that quote we just heard from that woman in louisiana about she doesn't know any staff people, she doesn't know trump and all they seem to have in louisiana are voters, not campaign professionals, that seems to be how this got away from trump. >> organization has always been a question for the trump campaign. and there has been an area of improvement in terms of grassroots operation. that's probably why trump has had success in many of these contests. but the organization that really matters now is not just winning a state but it's about after the contest moves on and how do you go to a state convention where they actually select these delegates and have an organization at that gathe

anyway, ben ginsburg, mark caputo, thank you. mark, you're going to be sticking around. because it's miami. >>> coming up, will rubio's home state be the last stand? we'll have more from tonight's town hall and a look at whether there's a path for him beyond the sunshine state. >>> and later, bernie sanders scored that big win in michigan. is it enough for him to make the democratic race competitive again with hillary clinton? we're going to break down the democratic math. that's all up ahead. stay tuned. vo: know you have a dedicated advisor and team who understand where you come from. we didn't really have anything, you know. but, we made do. vo: know you can craft an investment plan as strong as your values. al, how you doing. hey, mr. hamilton. vo: know that together you can establish a meaningful legacy. with the guidance and support of your dedicated pnc wealth management team. you're an at&t small business expert? sure am. my staff could use your help staying in touch with customers. at&t can help you stay connected. am i seeing double? no ma'am. our at&t 'buy one

bush campaign, ben ginsburg former counsel for the republican national committee, thank you for explaining all of this. >> guest: thank you. >> here on c-span2 tonight the communicators is next with a look at the fcc's lifeline program which provides nearly 12 million households access to phone service in the u.s.. >> host: this week on "the communicators" a discussion of the federal government lifeline program which is administered by the federal communications commission. federal communications commission. joining us our two guests to discuss this, amina fazlullah is policy director and daniel -- daniel lyons is with american enterprise institute's center for internet indications and technology. he is a visiting scholar there from boston college. amina fazlullah what is this lifeline program and how to come about? >> guest: the lifeline program actually came about during the reagan administration in order to provide a subsidy to make sure that low income persons that have access to voice service, telephone service and this comes from the notion that having everyone on the network and hav

. >> the republicans, people like ben ginsburg -- trump has 22 states potentially. by the time he gets 30, 35 states, can they still deny him the nomination? >> statistically they can. >> you either get to 1237 or you don't. >> dwight eisenhower was number two when he arrived. they've had ten contested conventions. only three times has the guy that arrived at the convention the front-runner won. >> there's a precedent for doing it. but you talk to republican strategists about whether or not if trump is the nominee, do you just abandon the presidential race and start focusing on the senate. there's a lot of fear he could take down, particularly the most vulnerable united states senators, they don't want him near them. so how do you handle a presidential front-runner who is toxic? >> this is the first real state where trump showed up, canceled a rally. >> last night i asked hillary clinton off camera, when is the president going to endorse you? she gave me that face that says nothing. have you heard when that might happen? >> you know, that's a good question. i think

talk of a contested republican convention, former republican national committee general council ben ginsburg joined us to explain what a contested convention is and to discuss republican convention rules. >> former general council to the republican national committee. with party chair now looking at the very real possibility of an open or contested convention, explain what this all means. first, what is a contested convention? >> it's when none of the candidates arrive at the start of the convention with a majority of delegates. by definition they have to contest to reach a majority. >> if there is a can dade with the majority of delegates but not a majority overall, what does that mean? number.'s a magic so you have to get more than that number of delegates. you only have a plurality, the way the rules are currently written, is there will be balloting when the delegates get there and to see if in that -- a candidate can win over enough of the unbound delegates to get over a majority. >> a lot of attention on the republican national committee rules committee, so here's the question. what is

so we'll see about that and maybe we'll talk to ben ginsburg before the night is over. quick reaction to our friend chris matthews in cleveland. chris? >> yeah, brian, i think one of the big factors that have been released after the -- is this, a very significant but a small number of people, they're called neo conservatives, they're sons of immigrants, or grandson of immigrants or granddaughters, they're very pro immigrant. they're not comfortable at all with the immigration policy. they have been backing rubio as kind of their hope, he's a hawk, he throws lines like references that part of greater israel, they sent all kinds of signals. but rubio has been their skort of guy. a very interesting group of people. they're very interesting on the op-ed pages, i like a lot of them personally. people like bill kristol, charles krauthammer, very smart people who have very interesting views behind them. i don't think they're comfortable at all with trump, with this latest line about even handed position on the middle east. they don't like him, they don't think he's classy enou

i've waited a lotng time to hea that from ben ginsburg. think i heard him say the delegates are not bound on the first ballot? >> i've heard this from other republican folks, too and i have a question for ben. i think he'll probably have a plurality by the time he gets the the convention but your point is those folks are not necessarily particularly enthusiastic about trump or cruz or anybody else. these from delegates that get themselves elected year after year, four year cycle after four-year cycle. isn't it true anything could snap the other thing i've heard is the rules committee has the power, unlike the democratic side, to change the rules a week before the convention if they want to. is that true? >> well, there are some rules that they can change. there's a set of procedural rules that govern this convention starting on rule 26 if you want to look it up at home and those are the ones that govern the activities at that convention. the rules the that the nomination has been run under can't be changed to affect this convention. >> so

gene robinson, pulitzer prize winning columnist for the juan and ben ginsburg, a veteran of many campaign legal fights. and, steve, let me get your top line perspective on the state of us who our next -- on the state of us deciding who our next president is going to be. >> look, i think it's pretty clear on the democratic party hillary clinton is well on her way, the domini of the democratic party. on the republican side you see continued dominance by donald trump electorally winning state after state but he's not accruing the delegates at the rate that he needs to accrue them to be nominated on the first ballot. so we may well be heading into an open convention where anything can happen. so, a lot of tumult ahead in the republican race, very, very far from over, and the fundamental question will be, in this year where there's so much anger, where the outsiders have stormed the castle and breached the walls and gotten inside to the king's throne, is it conceivable that the republican establishment will be able to snatch back the nomination from the person who got the most votes and won th

. >> msnbc political an left ben ginsburg. you for being with us this afternoon. >>> still to come, on the manhunt here in belgium for at left one suspected brussels attacker who is believed to be on the run tonight. the efforts to get this man off the streets. that's next. in new york state, we believe tomorrow starts today. all across the state, the economy is growing, with creative new business incentives, the lowest taxes in decades, and new infrastructure for a new generation attracting the talent and companies of tomorrow. like in rochester, with world-class botox. and in buffalo, where medicine meets the future. let us help grow your company's tomorrow - today - at business.ny.gov her long day as anne. hair stylist starts with shoulder pain when... hey joanne, want to trade the all day relief of 2 aleve with 6 tylenol? give up my 2 aleve for 6 tylenol? no thanks. for me... it's aleve. >>> welcome back to our continuous coverage on msnbc in brussels. nationwide silence to remember the 31 people who died in the terror att

grant holm, a hillary clinton surrogate and republican strategist, nbc news political analyst ben ginsburg. unofficially does the general election campaign start tonight? >> no, it does not. he performed respectably tonight, she's going to -- >> he meaning bernie sanders? >> he meaning bernie sanders, obviously. they're going to go all the way. i think in the same way that the republicans have probably a cataclysmic moment on the 15th i think the democrat dozen as well. there's a lot of key states between now and then. we're not done yet but it was a good night for hillary clinton for sure. >> can she get some of those especially those young people who energize, will come out to vote? >> it's a great question and she has to and she wants to and she will work her tail off to get those young people excited about her and part of that means that she's going to reach out to bernie sanders when the time is right, assuming they get there. and he's going to be a part of bringing them in. as well as some of the other players in the democratic party like elizabeth warren and others who may not have

ben ginsburg architect of recount for making george w.h president has laid out a blueprint to do just exactly that to donald trump to game the delegate situation. don't rule that out. >> it's not going to happen in this day and age. it's a different time. do you agree with that? >> i do agree with you. the establishment is embarrassing themselveség and mitt romney is humiliating himself. reigniting this republican stereotype rich white guy versus other rich white guy -- >> -- wait, wait, wait what if in his heart mitt romney believes that mr. trump is not the right berne to lead the nation? doesn't he have a right to go and say that? >> sure, he has a right. but if the question at hand which you asked mary ann will he be effective the answer is no. >> that's a whole another deal. >> pro-choice, pro-immigration, liberal gw> he lost, all right? >> he lost. >> exactly. he has no credibility. >> he has a right to say what he wa

republican attorney ben ginsburg. mr. biginsburg. >> thanks for having me, rachel. >> we talked about this last night, a little bit on tv, a little in the hallway here. i want to make sure i understand it. doesn't the nominee get picked based on who wins the primaries and the caucuses that lead up to the convention? >> well, sure. that's the way the nominee gets picked and i think two things are true, number one, if any candidate, including mr. trump, has more than a majority of delegates at the convention, he will receive the nomination. the second possibility is that somebody is ahead but does not have a majority going in. and then the rules under which the convention is run, and the choices made by the delegates can send you in different places as people use the rules to their advantage which, after all, is why rules are imposed. >> if that process was going to be used to try to get somebody who was not the person with the most delegates to be the nominee, if there was going to be an organized effort to use those rules

we have the right guy for this conversation, however, ben ginsburg is with us, chuck todd is with us,icole wallace remains with us. all right, counselor, what do you do with your republican party and establishment? >> well, good question, you have to face the reality you have to do a lot in the election, march 15th is kind of the cutoff day and if you care deeply about where the party goes you get into the rules a little bit. and you learn that 73% of the delegates are chosen at state conventions or by state party executive committees with little or no input from the candidate who wins that state. who the actual delegates are is a product of the state parties for the most part. so they're bound to vote for the presidential candidate on the first ballot. they're not bound to vote for the presidential candidate for rules issues. for credentials challenges. for the vice presidential nominee, so if you were to devise a plan, you would have to do a state by state number to win the delegates. >> so if you were to organize the numbers to deny donald trump the nomination even though he won th

and the now chief worked with that team and ben ginsburg and others from the republican party to try to craft their arguments. and i'm just thinking of whether he's ended up, for example in shelby county. the 2013 ruling that cut back on section five, not section two, which had been in his sights for a long time. what kind of line do you see, if any, between bush v. gore to shelby county, by way of the chiefs maybe? >> well, a couple. i mean, the most obvious is that the composition of the supreme court at the time of shelby county and its predecessors, it's obviously very hard to figure out who would have been nominated because three of the justices who have been replaced since bush v. gore were voluntary departures from the supreme court, and so as many of you know, justices do seem more and more to be timing those voluntary departures in various ways. i mean obviously the chief justice's departure was not a voluntary departure. he died while he was in office. very hard to know who would have been president by 2004. but pretty clear, i think, that in 2005, if the democrats had held

that i had planned for myself. >> hallie, one of the people in charge of bagging -- i'm sorry, ben ginsburg he's here, he has a question for you. >> hello, hallie. >> reporter: hey, ben. >> talk a little bit about how the cruz campaign and then the other campaigns know they have to win delegates, but then also have this 44-state conventions and executive committee meetings where they will actually decide how the individual dell dpats are. >> reporter: so this is the nitty-gritty of it all, this is something that the cruz campaign is focusing on intently. it reminds of what happened in iowa. remember the cruz campaign in iowa for months spent time drilling down, microtargeting, doing data targeting of voters, caucus goers in iowa, it's a similar strategy that the campaign is deploying when it comes to delegates, doing data targeting of people who could be delegates, people who would be delegates, going to state houses and places where they can try to bring together local leaders to make sure they have locked down delegate states if they need to go to a second ballot and beyond that they have

ben ginsburg. >> and the cover story, new york magazine. >> boy, you're busy. you to get up now. i want all of you to get up out of your chairs. i want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it and stick your head out and yell, i'm as mad as hell and i'm not going to take this anymore. >> nbc's tom brokaw joins us next with a look at what exactly has fueled the anger behind this cycle's electorate. we will be right back. every day you read headlines about businesses being hacked and intellectual property being stolen. that is cyber-crime and it affects each and every one of us. microsoft created the digital crimes unit to fight cyber-crime. we use the microsoft cloud to visualize information so we can track down the criminals. when it comes to the cloud, trust and security are paramount. we're building what we learn back into the cloud to make people and organizations safer. then smash it into a tree.ch on a perfect car, your insurance company raises your rates... maybe you should've done more research on them. for drivers with accident forgiveness,

>> thank you, i have rick power here, and rick, i guess we heard ben ginsburg, can you tell us why he told all of that? >> don't we should speculate at this point, let the voters decide. a couple of things happened. it looked like hillary clinton may have sealed the nomination because of the super delegates it may have been insurmountable. i think ted cruz did better, the establishment was firmly defeated. >> what do you make of marco rubio coming in third? >> well, look, his pass forward is not as good as donald trump. again, lindsey graham even said -- >> rachel and brian, we had five candidates speak tonight. and i have lost the ability to tell the difference between a concession speech and a victory speech. >> something at a press conference. >> maybe that is the way you do it. sanders never congratulated hillary clinton, and never said nice try. it's almost like he is in his own universe. >> marco rubio has come out every time and done a victory speech. he had a victory speech and actually won something. >> he is the happiest bronze winner in history. he wins third place every ti

ben ginsburg.t ahead, new developments surrounding the clinton e-mailes. plus more here in flint, michigan. this location of the farmer's market. opened three years ago. moving the site from hard to access industrial area to this particular downtown location across from a bus station. that has paid off. business is up. back with more on politics of water here in flint and the politics of the nation after a quick break. d our most revolutionary feature yet. a car that can see trouble and stop itself to avoid it. when the insurance institute for highway safety tested front crash prevention nobody beat subaru models with eyesight. not toyota. not ford or any other brand. subaru eyesight. an extra set of eyes, every time you drive. i am totally blind. i lost my sight in afghanistan. if you're totally blind, you may also be struggling with non-24. calling 844-844-2424. or visit my24info.com. >>> i'm thinking bernie. i love the clintons but i'm thinking i'm going for bernie. >> why? >> something about --

. >> ben ginsburg was on the network last night and made the correct point which is there's a reasonhy these rules exist. the rules exist so if someone doesn't get a majority of delegates that you can have a second ballot at the convention. that's what the rules are designed to take advantage of. my only point is -- i couldn't care less what the outcome of this is, it's just interesting. what's different this time, joe, i think is that in almost any nomination fight i've seen when you get a dominant front-runner, the party wants there to be -- they look at that front-runner and the party wants to coalesce behind them. let's get this over with. let's get behind mitt romney, john mccain, whoever. >> i understand. but what i'm saying is the party has no power, the conservative media has no power, the voters have taken this into their own hands and whether you like it or not, again, we pass no judgment. we're just looking at a guy that can throw a 30 and out on a line. >> and, joe, has the party done anything yet? has the party done something to try and stump trump? i'm just asking. has

. >> we had ben ginsburg, one of the top republicans in washington up here last night.ot at the convention. it's a question of denying trump that outright majority in the primary season, and having this open convention, the sort of thing we talk about every four years, never actually get. when you look at the lane in this race right now, what do you think realistically are the odds that this thing is an open convention when it gets to cleveland? >> i think everyone insists that donald trump doesn't have a path, but it looks like he's treading a path and it looks like the people strongly opposed to him, strongly opposed to him, are a minority. it's possible the party could tear itself to pieces. there are a lot of ingenious things you could think of. you could borrow, you know, a constitution party or a libberation party and insert some more traditional leader into that line. that could happen. but al of those are just complicated ways of ensuring that hillary clinton wins the election. >> and also we have this news today that mitt romney is going to give what he's calli

ben ginsburg and eugene robinson, another msnbc political analyst and a pulitzer prize winning columnistds, i know politics ain't bean bag, but some of these words will be tough to walk back. >> yeah, i mean, there's never been a drill like this, that a political party committee has had to run. and so, when you start dealing with this rhetoric, there is always a coming together at a convention, but you're right. this has taken it to a whole new level. but the rhetoric that prompted it is at a whole new level. it's reflective of the whole sort of thing. and you thought republicans couldn't learn new tricks. >> i know. you know, this whole -- i just i just get speechless sometimes, watching this. and i couldn't believe the last 72 hours, the language, and the tone of the campaign and i take it even marco rubio was uncomfortable with it. you know, he did it because he thought he had to -- >> he sounded uncomfortable. it clearly wasn't him. but it was what he thought he had to do. and he thought people had to be talking about marco rubio and not all the time about donald trump. he thought he

but veteran political operative again ginben ginsburg helped wr the rules said there are now rules this time around. benoins us to explain all this. he is an msnbc political analyst. ben, thank you so much for joining us. i'm sure it's been interesting for you to sit here and watch people refer to rules and say the rules will kick in when the rules are not in place. explain to us this procedure and why this elusive rule book is what's being thrown out there. >> well, there is a rule book, and part of the rules are in place. the way the nomination process is being run is in place now. the rules that we're talking about, though, are the rules that govern the operations of the convention. and each convention needs to write those rules under which it operates for itself. what was done in 2012 is not at all what the 2016 convention is required to do. it's sort of like a draft that may be out there in which they can change or not change. >> and so, at this point, when we hear reince priebus go out and talk about supporting the nominee no matter what, but also in the same remarks refer to these rules. how do y

ginsburg on the liberal side in particular. >> amy howe, pete williams, thank you both. >>> up ahead, we've got the ws. ben see a path to the presidency, but some peach are pushing him to jump into running for another job. i'll give you the details. there's only 17,000 people running for this seat. we'll be right back. hi i'm kristie. and i'm jess. and we are the bug chicks. we're a nano-business. windows 10 really helps us get the word out about how awesome bugs are. kids learn to be brave and curious and all kids speak the language of bug. "hey cortana, find my katydid video." oh! this is so good. if you're trying to teach a kid about a proboscis. just sketch it on the screen. i don't have a touch screen on my mac, i'm jealous of that. you put a big bug in a kids hands and change their world view. [ laugh ] everhas a number.olicy but not every insurance company understands the life behind it. for those who've served and the families that have supported them, we offer our best service in return. usaa. we know what it means to serve. get an insurance quote and see why 92% of our members plan to stay for li