nigel: hallie jackson from nbc news, thank you for joining us today. hallie: thank you. my pleasure. gabrielle: and rim of her, as soon as the polls close, we will have full election coverage -- and remember, as soon as the we will have it on wyff 4 and on our mobile app. nigel: looking outside, the sun is steady. gabrielle: beautiful. chief meteorologist john cessarich joins us. john: just a little bit. it is going to get better. we will have more coming up a little bit later on. cooler in the mountains, as you can see, especially with the breeze making it colder out of the north. it is in the 30's in the northern mountains. and seasonably cool. it warmed up, around 60 degrees in greenwood. 66 in elberton. 58 in athens. dry conditions across the area, the mountains of north carolina. also along the tennessee line. and then a look into the weekend of the bit later on. gabrielle: ok, john. thank you very much. there are more places to park in downtown greenville. city officials unveiled the west end park and ride and probably stop today in the city's west and next to fluo

i want to jump back to hallie jackson. go ahead. we're looking for hallie jackson. gabe, your thoughts there as we just heard from a few people and you are with senator graham? >> yes. we're here with senator lindsey graham who is supporting jeb bush. and he's a surrogate for jeb bush. senator, tell me how do you think governor bush did? >> this is his best debate. i think he'll emerge as the alternative to trump. he's been standing up to trump and getting under trump's skin. we saw tonight a guy in a democratic debate, not a republican debate when it comes to trump. very few people here admire putin and think george w. bush is a liar. i think jeb showed that steady hand we're all looking for and donald trump seemed to be just a crazy man. >> one of the key moments of the debate is when donald trump blamed 9/11 on george w. bush. what was your reaction to that? >> i almost got up out of my chair, because i hear that from nutjobs on the right and the left. 9/11 was caused by the terrorists, and after 9/11, george w. bush did everything he could to keep us safe. every

i have to talk to, let's see, hallie jackson right now. what is the cruz team thinking when they put out the word, the statement by sanford that trump is a truther, that he somehow has been charging that bush was involved in 9/11. bush was never a truther. what is this statement all about? >> that's coming from mark sanford here. while he is endorsing ted cruz, i'm not sure that's something you're seeing out in the cruz campaign. it's not a line of attack that ted cruz has pursued. he has pursued a lot of them. this hasn't been one in particular. sanford talks about not just his concern with a potential trump candidacy, but also, why he is for ted cruz and why he is is backing him up. >> this was dirty -- hallie, this looks look a dirty trick in politics. nobody, trump, whatever you say about his position, on the iraq war, why would anybody construe the fact that what trump has said in any way makes him a truther, one of those nuts out there that somehow believes george w. bush blew up the trade center. he has never been part of that. ther

we have all of it for with nbc's hallie jackson covering the gop in vegas. hallie? >> reporter: hi, were it anybody else besides donald trump, he'd be considered a near lock for the nomination. many in the establishment stilleming stunned. this now looks like trump's race to lose, but marco rubio and ted cruz hope to stop him with cruz tonight dealing with his own new campaign for ted cruz, firing his top aide for tweeting this inaccurate video, wrongly suggesting ubio dismissed the bible. >> i had made clear in this campaign that we will conduct this campaign with a very f integrity. if other candidates choose to go into the gutter, we will not do the same. >> reporter: cruz hoping to mov attacks from competitors that he's up to, quote, dirty tricks in donald trump's words, the front-runner wasting no time pouncing as he begins to take on anheir of inest 5b89. >> isn't that right. >> reporter: the heavy favorite to win in nevada tomorrow, fresh off his victory in south carolina. >> the establishment of the republican party is waking up to the fact that within a cou

>> hallie jackson, thank you. i'm joined now by chuck todd, moderator of "meet the press." chuck, there's been broad consensus if trump wins south carolina he would have a clear path to the nomination. do these new national poll numbers suggest things won't be that easy? >> reporter: i think what you see here with our new numbers is this, lester. is that we've always told you and we've been polling this for months. donald trump has a low ceiling but a high floor meaning he's never going to drop too low, but he always seems to struggle as the field shrinks to get over that 50% mark, and what our polls show on this is that as this field has shrunk, the smallest need we've tested in the last six months, we've seen trump doesn't grow, everybody yellow light for donald trump, even if he wins south carolina. he's going to have problems down the road as the field winnows. >> chuck todd tonight, thank you. >>> much more from donald trump at a town hall event tonight at 8:00 eastern and pacific only on msnbc. >>> things are rapidly changing in the democratic race, too, comfortable l

we have all of it for you starting with nbc's hallie jackson covering the gop in vegas. hallie? >> reporter: hi, lester. were it anybody else besides donald trump, he'd be considered a nomination. many in the establishment still seeming stunned. this now looks like trump's race to lose, but marco rubio and ted cruz hope to stop him with cruz tonight dealing with his own new campaign drama. a startling shake-up for ted cruz, firing his top aide for tweeting this inaccurate video, wrongly suggesting marco rubio dismissed the bible. >> i had made clear in this campaign that we will conduct this campaign with a very highest standards of integrity. if other candidates choose to go into the gutter, we will not do the same. >> reporter: cruz hoping to move past attacks from competitors that he's up to, quote, dirty tricks in donald trump's words, the front-runner wasting no time pouncing as he begins to take on an heir of inest 5b89. >> isn't that right. >> reporter: the heavy favorite to win in nevada tomorrow, fresh off his victory in south carolina. >> the establishment of the repub

thank you, hallie jackson. and john ralston. and robert costa back in washington. >>> fresh off her win here saturday, hillary clinton is looking for a decisive victory over bernie sanders down in south carolina. she looks very good down there. can clinton forge a message to get people excited about her campaign? she's got great organization, great name i.d. by the way, can she learn the bern? can she put sanders' policies to work for her to put him away? that would be great politics. and a reminder we'll have complete coverage of tomorrow night's republican caucuses here in nevada. "hardball" out here. and at 10:00 eastern, i'll join brian williams and rachel maddow with full results and analysis late into the night out here. >>> we reported earlier the outlook for the republican primary in massachusetts. but now we've got to look at the democratic race. let's check the scoreboard. voters go to the polls a week from tomorrow up in massachusetts. look at this. it's a tie between hillary clinton and bernie sanders up there. 46 po

we have it all covered starting with hallie jackson in houston. hallie? >> reporter: good trump appears to be leading in all of those super tuesday states, except for one, texas. we're here tonight. he'll again be at the center of the bull's-eye. in texas, where everything's bigger, so are the stakes at tonight's debate. the last stand before super tuesday for donald trump's rivals to stop him. he's facing fire today, not from his competitors in houston, but across the border. >> we're going to build a wall, and who's going to pay for that wall? >> reporter: now in a war of words, colorful ones with mexico's former president. >> i'm not going to pay for that [ bleep ] wall. he should pay for it. he's got the money. >> reporter: trump now demanding fox apologize as he gets ready for a different battle with ted cruz and marco rubio in texas. but it's the sunshine state where trump looks hot. topping 40% there in the first poll since jeb bush dropped out. marco rubio trailing by 16. his home turf. rubio's aides tell nbc news watch for him to hit trump for hi

. >> i'm hallie jackson in texas, a state where they remember the alamo, but it's a different kind of battle. a new poll shows ted cruz is up double digits over donald trump. >> it is good to be home. >> reporter: nationally, though, he's neck and neck with marco rubio for second place. the two fighting to be the trump alternative. trump picked up delegates and time attacking rubio instead? >> hallie, that's an interesting question given that i am the candidate who has consistently pointed out donald trump's liberal record. >> it hasn't worked yet? >> at this point, he's won two of the first three states. and i've won one. >> reporter: cruz looking now to super tuesday in texas, where today he won the endorsement of the governor. in his home state where he must win, his confident campaign pointing to 27,000 volunteers here. rubio's campaign equally confident in their strategy. waiting for cruz to lay off trump for now. >> i don't have any voters begging me to attack anyone. i'm more than happy to show differences. >> reporter: but the florida senator has his own alamo to fight in the

we begin with hallie jackson. good evening. >> reporter: last chance for candidates to make closing arguments in a big way before new hampshire's primary. expect immigration to be a big topic. it's a potential vulnerability for marco rubio who is in the line of fire and a central theme for donald trump, who, unlike in des moines, isn't ditching this debate. in manchester, the debate stage all set, and this time, donald trump will be on it. >> in new hampshire we're doing really well. >> reporter: hoping he won't underperform his number one poll position in new hampshire, a state he skipped yesterday because of snow. jeb bush said his mother managed to campaign anyway. trump is center stage tonight. it's marco rubio at the center of the bullseye. rising in the granite state, his crowds getting bigger, his campaign telling nbc news rubio is ready to play defense tonight, a target on air already. >> marco rubio, just another washington politician. you can't trust. >> reporter: the establishment candidates firing shot

hello, hallie. >> reporter: hi, lester. the center of the political universe has shifted here less than 24 hours after iowa set a record with 50% more republicans caucusing than ever before. now, it's new hampshire's turn with some candidates under pressure. not used to losing -- >> we're going to win. we're going to win so much. >> reporter: donald trump finally did, today making headlines with the winning story line all ted cruz. >> so what a victory last night. >> reporter: he's deploying the same strategy in windham, new hampshire as he did near windham, iowa, shake lots of hands. >> i'm a local volunteer with the ted cruz campaign. >> reporter: make lots of calls and take on trump. >> donald trump was saying every day that i was his friend, that he loved me, and now i'm an anchor baby. he or anyone else insults me i don't respond in kind. i think the american people deserve more. >> reporter: but you've attacked them? >> i do think differences on policy, on record, on substance, that's fair game. >> reporter: our conve

hallie, good morning. >> reporter: hey, craig. good morning. we are heading into the final push for the first in the south primary where nearly every candidate has something to prove. it is donald trump raising eyebrows with controversial comments. this morning as republicans blanket the state, the state of play looks like this. donald trump on top, but raising eyebrows at a south carolina rally last night. this time for telling a story about general john pershing to kill a century ago. >> i dipped 50 bullets in pig's blood and they shot 49 of those people. the 50th person, he said you go them what happened. >> reporter: according to the rumor tracking web site snopes.com, there is no evidence it ever happened. trump's comments coming the same day over the remarks on iraq. >> i was against it. >> reporter: after highlighting his position on the iraq war, different. with howard stern before the war. >> are you for invading iraq? >> i guess so. >> reporter: fox news confirming this interview took place after the start of the iraq war. >> looks li

hallie jackson caught up with cruz .. on what this means for his campaign. tonight - a stunning shift in the republican race - a new national frontrunner - ted cruz. tc: it's tremendously encouraging..to be leading the field nationally, i think as a result hj: did you ever think you'd be here? tc: that was always the plan. that's how you win. it's a fifteen- point flip from last trump - slipping seven points... cruz - up eight.. after the iowa caucuses, the new hampshire primary, and saturday night's south carolina debate. as cruz heats up - he's burning it down in south carolina - with a scorched-earth news conference - cruz/nats from presser: file the lawsuit! daring donald trump to sue him - over this ad nats from ad / partial birth abortion trump wants cruz to stop airing the spot... pointing to his current pro- life stance. ben ginsberg: trump supporters have shown a great likelihood of forgiving him for positions like that. cruz insists he'll put the ad on tv more often now... even as trump doubles-down on his threat in an msnbc town hall. trump: i've

do we have hallie jackson with us? not quite yet.e're working on getting hallie jackson, who has been reporting this. again, rick tyler, spokesman for the cruz campaign, being asked to step down, being asked to resign. this comes in the wake of marco rubio just hours ago calling for the cruz campaign to take some action and hold someone accountable for what happened yesterday. it's a little bit complicated, but basically what happened was a video was posted on the cruz facebook page. it was posted by rick tyler. that video purported to show marco rubio -- the initial allegation was that marco rubio was speaking ill of the bible and making a comment about the bible that was derogatory. it was later clarified that the audio was quite different from what had been presented and that the audio was actually him praising the bible, but this was a flap yesterday. marco rubio was upset about it earlier today and saying that it was something that should be a apologized for. rick tyler did apologize this morning for having posted that video, bu

we begin with halli jackson. good evening. reporter: good evening. tonight is e last chance for cditions to make closing arguments in a big way before new hampshire's pryimary primary. pect immigration to be a big topic. it's a potenal vulnerabilityor rubiand a central theme for ump. in manchester, the debate stage all set and this time dond trump wl be o it. new hampshire wre doing really well. >> rorr: hopine n'underperform his number o pl posionn n hae, askipd yesay becaef sn jebus pointg o mheanago mp tr today mocking bush for bringing in mommy to te ala at him. ile ump's center stage tonight, is ru at the center of the bull eye. ng in the grate state, his crowds getting bigger campaign telling nbc news o' readyo >> marco rubio, just another washingn politician you can trust. >> reporter: t tablishmen candidat firing s ahea what is for some a make or break primary. >> rubio hasn't accomplished onehing in his career. repor for cruz, le pressure tonts than tonight than in wa. nowwitching h suppt away fro cruto rubio, christin pere s dirty polics yo

hallie jackson, thanks very much. let's check in with the rubio campaign.o ahead, go ahead, hallie. >> reporter: well, i was just going to say, chuck, i think it's interesting, i think this is something that you and i have talked about, that if he doesn't come out on top here in iowa, this is a state that is really good for him. this is a state where he could succeed and do very well, very easily. so if you look into some other states, he does have a lot of strengths, at least in the campaigns, going into those s.e.c. primary states, but iowa is a good place for ted cruz. and maybe that's why his campaign feels so good about it. >> well, absolutely. this is tailor-made for him. so we shall see. thank you, hallie. i'm now joined by alex cohen, the director for the rubio campaign. so happy caucus day. is this your first caucus, on a campaign? >> this is my first time my candidate has made it to the caucuses. >> fair enough. that's right, that's right, we had a man north of the iowa border back in the day, mr. pawlenty. so, look, you guys have been a bit cagey