tv   The Place for Politics 2016  MSNBC  March 1, 2016 6:00am-3:01pm PST

grabs today on the democratic side, almost 600 for the republicans. that's half the number you need to win the republican nomination on this day alone and among those republicans the odds on favorite today remains donald trump whose national lead has actually been growing in recent days creating the possibility that more voters may decide to jump on the trump bandwagon at the last minute. our new msnbc survey monkey on line national poll puts trump at 40%. that is more than marco rubio and ted cruz combined and maybe more importantly for trump when he's matched against both of them on one-on-one contests he beats them both, rubio by 6 points, cruz by 13 points. as for today's battle grounds trump goes into the day leading in most of the states up for grabs, he is down in texas, that's ted cruz's home state. minnesota and arkansas also look close, you might want to keep an eye on virginia as well, that's a state the rubio team would love to pull an upset in today.

but donald trump overall is on course to win a number of states and a lot of delegates tonight. the question is how many and will it be big enough to look at this race tomorrow morning and say, it's over? >> we are going to win with health, we are going to win with education, we are going to win at the borders, we're going to win with our military. we're going to win, win, win, win. >> he has no policy positions on anything. none. zero. how can you elect someone that won't tell you what they're going to do. >> he's like a robot. you wind him up and he talks. we call him the lightweight, but we call him the lightweight robot. >> if it is in fact the case that "the new york times" has a tape showing donald saying he doesn't believe what he's saying on immigration right now then the voters deserve to know. >> ted cruz has never done anything for the people of texas. >> he's taking advantage of americans who are hurting, he's taking advantage of americans who are scared. >> we're going to have a

renaissance in this country. >> please come out and vote. stand together. the only campaign that has beaten donald trump and the only campaign that can beat donald trump is us. >> meanwhile also the biggest day we have had so far on the democratic side. 11 states on the board today in almost all of them hillary clinton is in front, way in front in some cases, leads of 20 or 30 points, even more in some states for her. if she wins 10 of the 11 races up for grabs tonight it will make it essentially impossible for bernie sanders to come back. we're going to talk to sanders' campaign manager about what they're up against later this hour, but we are going to start on the republican side. our reporters are out there covering the top three candidates on this very big day, jacob rascon is with donald trump, hallie jackson is with ted cruz, gabe gutierrez is following marco rubio. jacob rascon, let's start with you. we heard ted cruz invoking it there,controversy,

dispute over donald trump, an off the record meeting with the "new york times" editorial board, comments he may or may not have made about immigration. what can you tell us about that? >> reporter: you see the likes of mitt romney, for example, so part of what many refer to as the establishment going after trump as well saying what if there's a bombshell in that tape, also talking previously about a possible bombshell in his taxes. another effort many say simply by those who many refer to as the establishment going after trump. here in ohio we have thousands of people lined up of course for his latest rally. we're talking to many of them of course about the governor of the state, why come out and support trump over the governor and many of them simply say they don't like the governor, but of those the majority who say they do like the governor, they say he may be perfect for the state, but not for the country. today of course, though, is about super tuesday as you said trump has the lead. more than cruz and rubio combined in the latest nbc poll

and this last ditch effort, this latest controversy, this immigration story, you saw the buzzfeed headline saying what if there's a bombshell? this "new york times" off the record conversation donald trump addressed it last night. here is what he said. >> we had a board meeting, it was off the record all of a sudden they leak it, it's all over the place. >> they say it's negotiable. >> by the way, it is negotiable. things are negotiable. i will make the wall 2 feet shorter or something. everything is negotiable. >> it's not negotiable about building it. >> no, building it, not negotiable. >> another piece of video making the rounds if you will take a look this is at the trump rally where we were yesterday. this is some of the security taking down as you see in the video a time photographer and he told us afterwards that he had stepped out of the media pen and as many of you know during these rallies the media are put in a pen right before the rally starts, they are not allowed to

leave. well, this photographer stepped out and there were some words exchanged and he was thrown to the ground, he was detained for questioning, but not arrested. just an example of some of the tension not only between trump and the protesters, but sometimes with the media as well. steve. >> all right. jacob rascon in columbus, ohio. we should note columbus, ohio, that is not one of the super tuesday venues today, that's donald trump looking a bit ahead in the calendar, march 15th is the date of the big ohio primary. let's head now to houston, texas. houston, texas, very much part of the super tuesday action today. ted cruz is going to be waiting out the results there, that's pretty much his hometown. nbc's hallie jackson is there with him and with his campaign. hallie, this issue of the "new york times" editorial board, the immigration comments from donald trump, this is something ted cruz sees a last minute opening on. what can you tell us? >> yeah, he pounced on it incredibly quickly, steve, within, i think, about two hours or less of this report coming

out cruz was talk being it publicly, talking about it with reporters, calling on trump to allow "the new york times" to release this transcript before today's primary voting. i want you to listen to what he said. >> i hope it's not the case that donald trump is telling "the new york times" editorial board that he is deliberately misleading the voters and has no intention of doing anything he's saying right now. that tape can clear it up and the voters deserve to know. >> reporter: so cruz hoping that this "new york times" issue can maybe give him a little bit of an opening on super tuesday, but when you talk about what today means for his campaign, steve, it is essentially impossible to overstate how important texas is to ted cruz. he has to win here. new polling shows it looks like he probably will. our polls have showed i'm up by double digits, there is a new emerson poll that shows donald trump tightening a little bit that margin, but for cruz this is a place where he's got to come out on top on both the delegate count and popular vote.

the question moving forward is if he wins texas and wins nowhere else what's the path moving forward for him beyond these sec primary states, these super tuesday states? he's looking to play his campaign telling me in places like arkansas, places like oklahoma, you see him spending money in georgia and tennessee as well. again, steve, cruz has predicated really so much of his campaign on being strong in the south. today is the day where he either proves it or he doesn't. >> yeah, arkansas is an interesting one, too, hallie. there was a poll a month ago that did show cruz up very slightly, but did show i'm him up there. i think it's a wild card. nobody knows what to expect there. >> reporter: not to get too in the weeds but the interesting thing about arkansas is the cruz campaign is drilling down by congressional district and have identified where each candidate is strongest in the four congressional districts in arkansas and their strategy to play, for example, if trump looks strong in the southern part of arkansas to move on to areas where they can keep rubio down, put a lid on him and boost

up cruz where he looks strong already. it's a fascinating strategy, we will see if it works out for them. >> there's a list of states for trump to have a disappointing night, arkansas, minnesota, virginia, there are a couple states he could throw on there we will be paying close attention to tonight. thanks for that. nbc's gabe gutierrez is live in miami. that's marco rubio's hometown, that's where the candidate will be holding a watch party later tonight. gabe, the rubio messaging in the last couple days it really seems to amount to urging republicans to put the brakes on this so-called trump train. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, steve. good morning. from a very sunny miami. that is the big question, will marco rubio be able to make any dent in that trump train victory. like him tonight really the best he can do in many of these states is second place and that's not exactly a great place to be. he could end up tomorrow morning 0 for 15 in these early republican primary states. a very difficult spot to be in, but his campaign says that they

can pick up delegates tonight and that's what they hope to do. they're making a play for states like minnesota, that's where rubio is right now, he has a rally there early today before he heads here to miami for that watch party tonight. his campaign also hopes to pick up some delegates in virginia, they've been spending a lot of money there hoping to pick up votes in those affluent suburban areas of virginia and also hope to compete with ted cruz in places like oklahoma. they held a rally there last night. marco rubio has hammered donald trump for weeks many republicans had urged him to do so, he's finally been doing it, some have said gone into the gutter with donald trump. yesterday he seemed to pull back a little bit on the personal attacks and tried to frame this as the larger confrontation between what would happen if donald trump were elected and were the nominee and were to go up against hillary clinton. here is what he had to say about that confrontation. >> most of whom want to be

nothing like donald trump. >> do you realize that if he's our nominee americans will say a republican is someone like donald trump. a conservative means donald trump. we are going to lose a generation of voters and a generation of americans, most of whom want to be nothing like donald trump. [ applause ] >> reporter: and that's something that marco rubio has been mentioning with regards to donald trump over the last few days, really throwing the kitchen sink at him, hitting him hard over things like trump university, his finances and foreign policy, but trying to make that point that he is a con artist in the campaign's words. now, we are here in miami, florida, marco rubio's home state, obviously very key to his campaign. his campaign already looking ahead to march 15th and what happens then his campaign has said that they will win florida,

but again they could end up 0 for 15 after super tuesday tonight. steve. >> all right. gabe gutierrez in miami. marco rubio's hometown. thanks for that. of course, we can't forget there are five candidates still active in the republican race, john kasich and ben carson still have the potential to make a real impact on this race. former new hampshire republican governor and start judd greg actually endorsed john kasich yesterday, his previous pick jeb bush having dropped out. senator joins us now. senator, i want to start by playing a clip. this was john kasich just a couple days ago, he was asked about his prospects on super tuesday and his path to the nomination. this is what he said. >> i think trump is probably going to win probably all of them, but you keep holding your own and we have our campaign plan. everybody has to do it the way they want to do it. our way of doing it -- our campaign plan was ultimately to hold our own in some of these

places and we will, i expect, and then we're going to head north, but at the end of the day what changes this race is my ability to win in ohio. >> so, senator, i wonder, i mean, deciding to endorse him at this point, this is a guy who basically in that interview just wrote off super tuesday, 11 states in one day. how can he actually win this nomination at this point? >> well, first off, he can win it because he is the most qualified person to be president. he is an upbeat, positive person, has an optimistic view of the country and where we're going and hasn't gotten into all this mud slinging that's been going on. he is the openly guy i know who has actually helped balance the budget, the federal budget and has turned ohio around. he has the message and resumé and the right person to be president. he is not on the thoroughfare, that's for sure, he is on a dirt road winding his way around. i think he's right, if he carries ohio and moves on to

some of the other winner take all states and with the momentum of ohio is able to carry one or two of those and donald trump doesn't wrap up the delegate count before the convention he goes into the convention as a significant player and i think in a very -- in a strong position, not a very strong, in a strong position to argue that he is the alternative to donald trump at the -- on the convention floor. >> for your campaign and also for that matter for marco rubio, for ted cruz, is that really what it comes down to at this point, keeping this thing going an unsettled through the primary process and trying to get to that open convention, is that the best strategy for any of the candidates who aren't named donald trump right now? >> yes. >> and what do you think if donald trump were to get the ten state -- if he were to get, say, ten states today, does not get texas, if he goes 10 and 1 today does that create unstoppable momentum? >> no, i don't think so. i think once this race -- if it ever can get to a one on one

contest it becomes very contested. unfortunately or fortunately because we've got a lot of talented people who want to be president it has never gotten to one-on-one, but if donald trump were confronted with a single candidate like john kasich in some of these big states that are coming down the road that are winner take alls i think donald trump would find it difficult for him to win those states. now, will that happen? right now it doesn't appear that that's going to happen, it doesn't appear anybody is going to get out, but if it did happen i think you would see a wide open convention in the sense that there would be at least one or two other people who folks at the convention would be looking at to lead the party. >> let me just ask you this, a long history in the republican party that you have, if donald trump emerges from this process as the republican nominee could you support him? >> i'll support the nominee. i would like it to be john kasich or marco rubio, but i will support the nominee. >> all right. i also wanted to just squeeze this in. i saw this this morning, it's in your home state the biggest newspaper in your home state you don't see this too often in

editorials, the new hampshire union leader had endorsed chris christie in the republican primary, chris christie has since dropped out and endorsed donald trump. the union leader had nothing but negative things to say about donald trump and in this editorial they said, boy, were they wrong. they basically say they regret ever endorsing chris christie. what do you make of that? >> well, joe mcquaid is a real straight shooter, one of these people who sees things, knows things, has been around government for a long time, politics for a long time and he thinks he got bamboozled and he's saying it and on the front page of the paper which is his ability as the publisher to do. i respect him for having the forthrightness to say i made a mistake. >> judd greg, thanks for the time. appreciate it. >> thank you. we still have a lot more ahead this hour on super tuesday 2016. polls are now open in texas. here is a shot outside an arlington polling station. that's where msnbc's jacob soboroff is hanging out with voters and he will join me next.

plus the republican's trump problem, we will talk about the split among republicans over donald trump's status as front runner. hang on for the ride. you're watching msnbc, the place for politics. dad, you can just drop me off right here. oh no, i'll take you up to the front of the school. that's where your friends are. seriously, it's, it's really fine. you don't want to be seen with your dad? no, it's..no.. this about a boy? dad! stop, please. oh, there's tracy. what! [ horn honking ] [ forward collision warning ] [ car braking ] bye dad! it brakes when you don't. forward collision warning and autonomous emergency braking. available on the newly redesigned passat. from volkswagen. and i quit smoking with i'm chantix. i had a lot of doubts going in. i was a smoker. hands down, it was, that's who i was. after one week of chantix, i knew i could quit. along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. chantix definitely helped reduce my urge to smoke. some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation,

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9:19 here on the east coast and the polls are now open in every super tuesday state the voting is under way. nearly a dozen crucial contests in each party playing out across the country today. the biggest single prize on the board, texas. for ted cruz the home state senator who has stumbled badly after winning in iowa, this one is do or die. a loss here and he is done.

for hillary clinton there's the chance to run up the score and rack up the lion's share of the 222 delegates up for grabs on the democratic side. one group of voters to keep an eye on in the democratic race in texas, latinos, they will make up a third of the electorate today. they propelled clinton to a narrow win in texas the last time she ran in 2008. jacob soboroff is in arlington, texas, he has been talking to people on the ground there. jacob, look at all those signs behind you, there is an election season, i can feel it in the air down there. tell us what the voters have been telling you. >> reporter: it's an ex sighting time. normally this place that we are at now, the city of arlington, water utility service center, this is where you come to pay your water bill. i want to show you something, if you go over here this is where actually people are going to go and vote today. with regard to the latino vote here in texas, it's actually very interesting. texas has the second biggest republican, believe it or not,

latino voting population outside of florida and i've talked to folks that are actually donald trump supporters, a young mexican american woman, a guy that said he is going to support ted cruz. one thing i want to point out about what's going on in texas today, and i should say the latino vote will be crucial, particularly to ted cruz's survival in this race. in texas media is not allowed inside polling places. we know that there is a strict voter id law here, you can't use your student id but you can use a concealed carry permit. something else i can point out to anybody we are not allowed inside this building or any polling place in the state of texas today. this is the distance marker. we will be talking to folks as they come in and out today here in arlington and throughout tarrant county. >> go tour that jerry jones stadium if you get any free time. it's quite a sight to behold. >> reporter: yes, sir. meanwhile, republican intra

party battles spilling out into public view over the candidacy of donald trump. ben sasse saying that he would look to a third candidate instead of voting for trump if trump wins the republican nomination. alabama congressman mo brooks saying he wouldn't support donald trump because he is, quote, a serial adult remember. ben surgeonser praying that trump will not win the nomination. this weekend "the new york times" posting one of the most revealing articles of the political cycle about the desperation the republican party is feeling over trump's status as their front runner. one of the authors of that article joins me here. so this party, you have ben sasse a u.s. senator saying if it's trump i'm looking for a third choice. we had a congressman here yesterday saying i won't publicly endorse him. we see messy fights every four years for party nominations. is this one so messy it can't be put together by the republican party if trump wins it?

>> it's in a different category than your heated primary threats and counter threats. donald trump is somebody who people broadly in the republican party establishment feel no loyalty to, no interest in cooperating with. this is not -- if you think back to other nomination fights, romney and gingrich and santorum, obama and clinton, some things were said that were later taken back. this one may be different. somebody like ben sasse, mo brooks that was an incredible comment yesterday, these people are offended by trump on a profound level and they feel like they lose the election if they're with him and they lose the election if they're without him so there's really no -- you don't have the over arching imperative at the end of this primary we better pull together and get with donald trump. >> i was listening a minute ago we had that clip of rubio saying you wouldn't want your children to be like donald trump. what about one of the strategies, i think this will be debated for a long time if donald trump does emerge from this, this idea of was there

anything that the republican establishment could and should have been doing before now, the six months before now, that could have stopped donald trump or was this a force that was just so strong that no matter when they went after him it wasn't going to work? >> you've seen this amazing just flip of the switch from sort of total confidence in the establishment that trump will fade eventually to this fatalism that we probably couldn't have stopped him no matter how hard we tried. the bottom line is they didn't try very hard. they counted all along on the notion that the voters would wake up to the stakes of this election, maybe the attacks in paris and california would make them look for someone with national security experience, maybe the death of justice scalia would make them refocus on the substantive stakes in this race. none of those things happened just sort of on their own and when you're counting on gravity to pull a candidate down you're really stuck with very few options left at your disposal as that force of nature doesn't kick in. >> it feels like the other thing missing in all of that time was

the obvious alternative to trump, somebody that the party could and wanted to rally around, rubio's name has been out there for a while, a lot of people view him as the most logical lake effectable alternative but what was missing was people rallying around marco rubio and trying to clear out the field for him. >> and also rubio taking on trump directly. you hear the rubio campaign saying now, you know, we're sort of taunting trump in this school yard fashion because that's all you people in the media are going to cover but the reality is when trump was rising last summer saying all these provocative and divisive things most of his opponents including rubio and jeb bush were content to say this race isn't about donald trump, this is about serious things. donald trump is an entertainer. not really give it to him directly the way some of the minor candidates in the race like rick perry or bobby jindal or lindsey graham did. >> these are really a mass fact article. best look i've seen yet behind the scenes at the republican worry over donald trump, maybe that's the right word. anyway, bernie sanders got an

early start to the day, already casting his vote in his home state of burlington. may be cold up there in northern new england but last night sanders warmed up the crowd. i will talk to his campaign manager next. [ cheers and applause ] >> getting hot in here. all right. we're getting warmed up here. most new wealth flows it's called a rigged economy, and this is how it works. to the top 1%. it's a system held in place by corrupt politics where wall street banks and billionaires buy elections. my campaign is powered by millions of small contributions. people like you who want to fight back. the truth is you can't change a corrupt system by taking its money. i'm bernie sanders. i approve this message.

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it's covered by most health plans. i have an orc-o-gram we for an "owen."e. that's me. ♪ you should hire stacy drew. ♪ ♪ she wants to change the world with you. ♪ ♪ she can program jet engines to talk and such. ♪ ♪ her biggest weakness is she cares too much. ♪ thank you. my friend really wants a job at ge. mine too. ♪ i'm a wise elf from a far off shire. ♪ and sanjay patel is who you should hire. ♪ thank you. seriously though, stacy went to a great school and she's really loyal. you should give her a shot. sanjay's a team player and uh... i need you to come out and vote tomorrow in the primary here in virginia on super tuesday to bring everybody you can. >> do you know what, i look around this crowd tonight, i think we're going to win here in massachusetts tomorrow. hillary clinton and bernie sanders making their final super

tuesday pitches to voters last night. sanders if he has any shot at keeping momentum alive probably needs to put a win on the board in massachusetts, that's where polls are very tight, a daddy heat in the newest um poll in the bay state. sanders voted shortly after the polls opened this morning in his home state of vermont where he is expected to have a good night. but elsewhere it is an uphill climb for sanders. polls have clinton crushing him nearly two to one in texas, tennessee and georgia, all delegate rich southern states. and nationally a new nbc news survey monkey poll out this morning shows clinton maintaining her double digit lead over sanders 51 to 41%. let's go to danny free man he is in bernie sanders' hometown, burlington, vermont. the candidate just voted there, talked to the media a few minutes ago. what does he say an expectation should be for sanders tonight? >> reporter: well, good morning,

steve. i mean, you said it we are right here in his hometown in his home state, burlington, vermont. he did speak to the press earlier this morning about expectations and about what he is looking for for today. basically he said his goal is to rack up as many delegates as he can. he emphasized very much that in the democratic primary and caucuses today they are proportional awarding of delegates and that was his main focus. but the cute moment, if you will, today was when senator sanders said to us the only thing he can guarantee in this home of state of vermont that he got one vote as he cast his primary ballot. hopefully, two, as he's convincing his wife jane. we asked him personally about if he had any regrets going into this contest. take a look at what he said. >> we started this campaign in 3% in the polls. 3% in the polls. the entire punditry decided we were a fringe campaign. and we have since made history

by bringing in more campaign contributions from individuals than any campaign in the history of this country. we have had huge turnouts and we are doing very, very well. >> now, last night on the plane coming to burlington from massachusetts we had an opportunity to gag well senator sanders' wife jane sanders and she conceded it is a rough map for them on super tuesday but again as we mentioned oklahoma, minnesota, colorado, of course vermont and massachusetts are states they're hoping to do well. to your point, steve, massachusetts in particular is one where senator sanders hopes to do well. he did not sound like a candidate who was mind in the majority of states for super tuesday in the polls last night. he was energized, he was hot, he threw his jacket into the audience at one point. so he's definitely projecting confidence ahead of super tuesday today. steve. >> all right. danny free man in burlington, vermont, thanks for that. for more on how the sanders

team plans to move forward jeff weaver joins me. jeff, thanks for taking a few minutes. you are the campaign manager, the big day is here, we've got nearly a dozen states on the board. i will let you set the bar for your campaign. what do you need to do to say today is a win? >> well, look, you know, we've got to rack up the delegates we need to win the convention. that's what this is all about. the early part of the campaign, you know, there's 11 states today, after today only 15 states out of 50 will have voted. we still have 35 more, the district of columbia and some territories as well as -- finished voting. this campaign has a long way to go and it's all about accumulating delegates to you can get to that number you need to be nominated. >> the other issue when you mention delegates, super delegates, we hear that term a lot, these are the elected officials, party leaders they get automatic votes at the convention, you don't win super delegates in primary, super delegates are a separate thing.

hillary clinton has this huge advantage with super gel gats, 428 to 21. these are not etched in stone, they can change their mind and switch campaigns, but to make them do that, to overcome that deficit you guys have to put some real wins on the board in states that maybe are going to surprise people. where are you going to surprise people? >> well, it's not just about surprising people, steve. again, like i said this is a long process. the calendar does favor the secretary, she is very strong in the south, no doubt about that, but, you know, after today almost all the southern states will have voted. and then, you know, we have the rest of the country. so this is one big country, a lot of states and, you know, so today we're going to wrack up as many as we can and continue to wrack up. i want to make this point there is, steve, to the people watching because i think the new cnn poll bears this out. today is the day an opportunity for people to vote with their head and heart. the new polling out today shows what every other poll has showed recently which is senator sanders beats all of the

republicans by more than secretary clinton, in fact, she loses to two of the top three republican contenders. so if democrats want to win in november, if they want to make sure they beat donald trump or beat rubio or beat cruz they should be supporting ben today because he is the candidate best able to beat the republicans in november. >> i do want to ask you about the south. a number of southern contests today you say hillary clinton has a lot of strength down there. we saw that in south carolina and that strength is coming heavily from african-american voters. she won black voters 86 to 14% in south carolina and i wanted to ask you about that because this is something your campaign took note of, the political media took note of long ago over the summer that bernie sanders faced an uphill battle with black voters and you guys put an enormous amount of effort and energy into trying to boost that standing and into saying -- i mean, i asked you, i asked bernie sanders about this when i interviewed people with your campaign and it always came back, look, we will surprise people in iowa and new hampshire and you will see the black vote

change in south carolina. it didn't. what does that say to you? >> well, it tells me that we have a lot more work to do with the african-american community. i think we need to be much more aggressive in sort of reaching out and delivering senator sanders' message of racial and economic justice to the people in the south and in the north, frankly. you know, he has the strongest platform on racial justice issues as you well know his political career began in the civil rights movement. throughout his time in the congress he has stood up for african-american constituencies even though there are few african-americans in vermont. it's going to be incumbent on us to get that record out so the people know about bernie sanders' record and his agenda. >> all right. jeff weaver, campaign manager for bernie sanders. good luck tonight. thank you. >> glad to be here. and up next can anyone or anything keep donald trump from the republican nomination? cnbc's larry kudlow will join me after the break. first we all know trump has a

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this according to this morning's new nbc news online poll and marco rubio comes a little closer than cruz but he also loses to trump by 6 points in a head to head contest. we're joined by cnbc's syndicated columnist larry kudlow. >> migrate pleasure. >> this is my party and i'm curious what you make of what you're seeing right now, donald trump has won three of the first four, he seems well positioned today and you have republican voices out mr., ben sasse the senator from nebraska saying if he's the nominee i'm not voting for him, you have mitt romney the last republican nominee out there basically making it the cause to try to stop trump. i can't remember seeing something like this happen in either party before. >> look, mitt romney is a fine person, okay, politically he is a unic, he has no power inside the republican power, he is trying to get donors to put up $100 million to hit the airwaves against donald trump. a, he won't be able to do it, b, he will have no impact

whatsoever. they would be better off going after hillary clinton if you ask me. karl rove same thing. karl, what do you think you're doing here? christine todd whitman, i love her, steve forbes and i helped elect her. what i'm saying is none of this matters. if trump gets the nomination he will have the nomination and he will have 99.9% of the republican party behind him. it's that simple. end of sentence. >> do you think today he could wrap up essentially the republican nomination today if he were to win everything with texas today? do you think that would make him the presumptive nominee in the eyes of the party or would they still be fighting him tomorrow? >> they will be back and forth. some people will not give up. i reckon it will be a two man race after tonight. if cruz wins texas donald trump probably wins all the others, maybe cruz takes oklahoma or arkansas, i don't know. so two man race. mr. rubio, senator rubio,

explain this, you have to have a w someplace. don't you have to -- you can't get the nomination by getting seconds and thirds. >> maybe minnesota. maybe the minnesota caucuses. >> okay. maybe. i don't know. it's kind of a thin read. i think tonight will be a rough night for marco rubio and if trump does as well as expected and i don't know about these polls but if he does that's going to hurt rubio each more in florida where trump already has a big lead. so to me at the moment it's a cruz/trump race. that's the way i see it and that's what's going to happen after this evening. >> what does it mean about where the republican party is? if it decides -- you have the national review, one of the leading conservative publications -- >> my nag sfwleen, i love them to death. >> they put out a special issue against donald trump. does this say something about conservatism changing, about the reap party changing? trump is saying i'm going a new republican party. what is trump's republican party. >> i think he is. i think he wants to change the

gone, i interviewed him in man chest, new hampshire, a couple weeks ago, i asked him directly because he was out on the campaign trail bark big oil, bark big far mass, bark big insurance companies saying those money interests control the republican party and it has to stop. they don't have any interest in main street, middle class, lower middle class people. i think he's right. you know, the point of trump and the whole gone should reckon with this, middle income wage earners have not had an increase in wages in 15 years. you can look at the statistics from the government. they're furious, they're beleaguered, they're angry. they're looking for someone to represent them and that turns out to be donald trump who has tapped into this anger. that means republican party has to make a much closer look at that group of people and if trump is the guy, fine, i myself -- i mean, you know, i worked for reagan on down. the gop needs a shake up.

we have lost a whole bunch of presidential elections that probably should have been won. that's part of trump's message and he looks like he's strong enough and tough enough to get it through. i don't agree with anything he says, i don't agree with anybody everything they say. i do like his tax cut plan particularly for business, i think it would help the middle class, but things he's saying now -- this is so important -- he's making a point in the primaries, that's what you do in the primaries, you make a point. as you move towards the election and if you are elected you're going to have to do business with a lot of different people and trump knows how to do that, he is a businessman for heavens sakes. yes, it's going to be a different gop, it's going to have different powerful constituents you're absolutely right. you did me i am a old reagan supplier, the gop needs renovation, it needs reinn vig operation. if donald trump is the guy, fine, i have no problem with that. >> all right. larry kudlow from cnbc.

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old dominion, virginia. a key swing state in the fall and a crucial battle ground today for both parties because of its diverse electorate. also it's expected to be a big one this fall, too, for both of those candidates that emerge from each party. cal perry is at a polling place in roanoke, virginia. home of the roanoke college ma roons, cal. what are you hearing from the voters there. >> reporter: you have the colleges nailed. we're talking to people here this morning, this is st. james episcopal church in roanoke. the story here today there were 32 precincts up until this year, there's now 21. people confused where they are supposed to vote. they mailed out 60,000 letters in anticipation of super tuesday but some of these folks are meeting with the precinct

captains, figuring out where to vote. i woke up this morning, steve, i flipped on the tv, one commercial break three political ads, a rubio ad followed by a sanders ad followed by a clinton ad, the ad buys are in full effect here in virginia. >> tv stations, local tv stations in battleground states being kept in business by this campaign, no question. cal perry in roanoke. thanks for that. cal is going to be back next hour with chris jansing where she's hosting day seven of her super tuesday road trip. the final stop, live from richmond, virginia, and governor terry mcauliffe will be one of her guests. one of those keeping a close eye on virginia tonight is marco rubio. he's running second in the state in recent polls. there are some signs that maybe he could pull off an upset there. his campaign hopes so. let's ask jed shapiro for the richmond times dispatch. he's been covering virginia for nearly three decades. let me ask you about rubio. people look at the demographics of virginia.

especially in the north, especially outside washington, d.c. you got more college degrees there. he has done well, rubio has, with college voters with college degrees. that's been trump, the place where he's struggled. is there an opportunity maybe for marco rubio to pull off a surprise in the state tonight? >> certainly what passes for the establishment, the republican establishment, hopes so. of course with jeb bush's implosion and john kasich not exactly catching fire, people are thinking, maybe rubio has a chance. he was about six percentage points back in the most recent poll, but that's ancient history going back, oh, now almost ten, 11 days ago. however, virginia is a deep purple state. i speak of its politics and not of its proclivities in rock music. and so this is a state that in the fall is going to be closely contested and many people say among the seven big swing states, could decide the

presidency. >> let me ask you too about how republican leaders within the state have been dealing with trump becoming the front-runner in the race. have you seen republican leaders trying to send signals to stop him, to get behind other candidates. are they sitting back saying we don't know how powerful the force is? how have they been dealing with it in. >> certainly, as the bush implosion suggests and kasich's inability to catch fire suggests rubio has become the default anti-trump candidate. however, trump has been very popular in virginia. and his support seems to be building. this is a guy who can stage a rally on a school night in richmond, as he did some months ago, and pull out 5,000 people. yesterday, he was in radford, not too far from roanoke, from which the city, the blue city from which your correspondent just reported. overflow crowd. there on the edge of rural southwest virginia. where a lot of this anger, a lot

of this rage about what's going on in washington or not, is most pronounced. and which trump continues to have success in harnessing. >> all right, jeff, with the richmond times dispatch, thank you for that. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> we're going to be right back here on msnbc, the place for politics. most new wealth flows it's called a rigged economy, and this is how it works. to the top 1%. it's a system held in place by corrupt politics where wall street banks and billionaires buy elections. my campaign is powered by millions of small contributions. people like you who want to fight back. the truth is you can't change a corrupt system by taking its money. i'm bernie sanders. i approve this message. join us for real change. hi i'm kristie. and i'm jess. and we are the bug chicks. we're a nano-business. windows 10 really helps us

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this hour of msnbc. i'm steve kornacki. i'll see you back here this evening for the big super tuesday show. it starts at 5:00 p.m. eastern, with chuck todd, and then i'll join brian williams, rachel maddow and chris matthews throughout the night as the results start coming in from all over the place. and chris jansing is up next live from richmond, virginia, wrapping up her seven states in seven days super tuesday tour. she's going to be talking with virginia governor and former dnc

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i'm back. aleve pm for a better am. good morning. i'm chris jansing in the can can brazry, richmond, virginia. we're along with the coffee and croissants, serving up a heavy dose of politics. quite a few people coming in with these "i voted" stickers in virginia. the state that brought us washington and jefferson. it's the seventh state we have gone to in the seven state, seven day road tour. 2200 miles and it's all come down to this. super tuesday. biggest day so far in this campaign. a critical turning point for 2016. these are live pictures of voters already lining up. the future of both parties hanging in the balance. this is the day we find out if

there's a republican with a real chance to defeat donald trump. today, by far, the largest number of delegates at stake in 11 states across a wide swath of the country. republicans in 11 states, 595 delegates at stake. the polls show trump leading in every state but texas. the campaign, though, pushed off message when a secret service agent tackled a reporter. the agency is looking into that. and more criticism of his back and forth over disavowing david duke and the kkk. this morning, trump was asked if he's ready to renounce the support of all white supremacists. >> of course, i am. of course, i am. there's nobody that's done so much for equal tay as i have. >> a visibly tired ted cruz and marco rubio campaigned yesterday in trump's shadow. and today, the five remaining candidates are canvassing eight states. will any of them make a dent into trump's lead. our new nbc survey monkey poll shows trump at his highest point

yet. 40%. rubio and cruz a distant second and third. also a huge day for the democrats. 1,032 delegates for grabs. bernie sanders making a play in five states. >> i'm confident if there is a large voter turnout today across this country, we are going to do well. and if there's not, we're probably going to be struggling. >> our new poll shows clinton leading bernie sanders by ten points nationally. our reporters are the best in the business. they're fanned out across the country today. nbc's jacob rascon in columbus, ohio, where donald trump is ste scheduled to speak in about two hours. no convinincidence that trump i two non-super tuesday states that happen to be critical to two of his opponents. >> he's moved on past the super tuesday states. if the polls are any indication,

he has reason to be confident. today, he's in ohio where governor kasich has said he will win, and he has to win. but the latest poll shows trump with a lead, though a slight lead. and then later tonight, he's in florida. of course, marco rubio has said he must win florida, and he will win florida. however, trump, again, is ahead and by a wider margin. so what we have today is donald trump moving past super tuesday into these next critical states where he knows he can knock out marco rubio and governor kasich if he can win ohio and florida. now to what happened yesterday. we had a few instances where protesters as is usually the case, were escorted out of this trump rally. we had last night a group of black protesters, though, who say they were silent and for no reason before they had even done any protest, no indication they were planning to do protests, anyway, were escorted out. you have earlier in the day in

virginia, a big group of black lives matters protesters who did speak out, who were escorted out and the incident with the "time" photographer who was taken down by the secret service agent. we're watching for that, watching to see what donald trump says about super tuesday and his chances in ohio as well. back to you. >> nbc's jacob rascon, thank you. gabe gutierrez is following the rubio campaign in miami. let's talk, gabe, about the rubio play today. is it come in second by picking up delegates, like here, maybe his best shot in northern virginia and then move on to his home state of florida. >> good morning. you're right. that's the big question. what is a victory for marco rubio today? he's trailing donald trump in all of the super tuesday states. but his campaign, as you mentioned, thinks they can pick up a lot of delegates on super tuesday and stay competitive over the long haul. now, they have been sinking a lot of money and time into virginia. they hope to do well in northern virginia. they're also looking towards the

unpredictable caucus state of minnesota. that's where rubio is today before he heads down here to florida for the watch party tonight. it's interesting, in the last few days we have been focusing on these personal attacks marco rubio has been lobbying toward donald trump. last night in a campaign, he pulled back and said he wanted to run a more serious campaign. there was an audience member who through out a question about when are we going to hear about donald trump's small hands? that's going fwook to the insult in the last few days rubio said poking fun at trump's hands as well as his spray tan as well as his hair. the rubio campaign says now, no, they want to focus on a more serious campaign, labeling trump as a con artist and talking about the consequences if he's the nominee. again, crucial for the rubio campaign, past super tuesday, is here in florida on march 15th. this is his home state and they say they plan to win here. the super pac spending a lot of money here. $2.7 million. chris. >> nbc's gabe gutierrez on what

looks to be a beautiful day in florida. meantime, hallie jackson is following the cruz campaign in houston, where he's not promising a big win in his home state. hallie, managing expectations a little bit even as he's saying after tonight it's a two-man race between him and donald trump. >> he believes and his campaign believes there will be a significant space between the number of delegates he and trump have and everybody else. cruz does feel confident about how he will do in texas. this is where he will be voting in about an hour or so. this is the republican line, and over here, the other side, is the democratic line. you can see it's much smaller. people are coming in. cruz must win in texas and hoping to pick up a lot of delegates in places like arkansas and oklahoma. he's also taking it to donald trump, hitting him on his recent comments. listen. >> i've joked there are not many iron rules in politics, but one that you can count on 100% of

the time is the klan? always bad. nazis? always bad. you'll never go wrong with that rule. the klan or nazis, bad, bad, bad. and it seems somehow that donald missed that briefing. >> so that's cruz on the hugh hewitt radio show as he looks to head to this polling place in a couple minutes. we'll give you a live look here. the southern states key for him as he moves forward into tonight. >> thank you, nbc's hallie jackson. let me bring in tucker martin who worked for the super pac supporting chris christie for president. he has vowed never to support donald trump. good to jow here. big picture, first of all, because when you were with the super pac, that's what you were looking at. can anybody stop donald trump? to pick up what hallie said via ted cruz, if that's going to happen, does it have to be a two-man race? >> it's late in the game. today is critically important. if you have an evening where he takes 11 out of 12, 10 out of

12, it's really hard to slow that momentum down. but people are voting right now, so i'm still optimistic. >> big new hampshire newspaper that came out for chris christie basically rescinded its endorsement today, saying they couldn't believe that he had supported donald trump. do you think chris christie helped put donald trump in a position today to be a big winner by stopping marco rubio's momentum? what seems to be his momentum coming out of the debate. >> let me say this, as much as i like chris christie, and i was really do, and i was honored to work for him, i hope his endorsement doesn't help one bit. i think donald trump is a pri e principled man. i don't think he stands for anything. he's a con artist, a danger for the party, a danger to the country. i hope it didn't help. as much as i like chris chris e christie, i hope it didn't do a thing. >> there are a lot of people in the same position you are, who are very upset not just with chris christie, but anybody who supports trump. he is being forced, chris christie, to defend donald trump now. and his decision.

let's play a little bit of that. >> now, and i have known donald for 14 years. i don't have some of the concern personally that some people have about donald who have only gotten to know him from what they have seen on tv. >> less than 60 days ago, you said that was a man not fit to be a president. >> i was running again him. the fact of the matter is when you're running against people, you try to make your best case possible. >> so when you listen to him, and then you look at the people who have said that they want anybody but trump, mitt romney, ben sass, the christy todd whitman, is this exposing split in the party and what are the consequences for november? >> there's an obvious split in the party. you have candidates who run against each other and we come back together, but this is different. i really believe donald trump doesn't believe this. he saw a market opportunity. i think the true tragedy of what trump is doing, there are voter whose have every reason to be angry, to think i have lost out

on opportunities. we should be addressing that substantively. donald trump is taking advantage of voters and that's the greatest tragedy of all. there is a split in the party, but this is a fight worth having. donald trump is not a conservative. he should not be our nominee. >> tucker martin, great to have you here. thank you so much. really appreciate it. turning to tennessee now, there are 58 delegates up for grabs for republicans. 76 for democrats. according to that nbc news/wall street journal/marist poll, cruz leads trump by 20 points. hillary clinton holds a significant lead over senator sanders there. i want to bring in craig melvin at a polling lotion in nashville, tennessee. polls hopen there, what, about two hours ago? what are you seeing and hearing so far? >> they did, chris. polls here, 7:00 to 7:00 local time. we have been here since shortly after they opened. i talked to the precinct captain and he tells me they're busier than usual. in fact, we have seen folks in

line from the time that we got here until now. it's still going just a bit as lunchtime rolls around. just to give you a sense of where we are, west nashville, an upper middle class neighborhood. roughly a mile away from vanderbilt's camp. we have spoken to roughly a dozen voters or so, and they're informed. i asked a lot of voters here, are you a fearful voter, an angry voter? surprisingly, they're saying no, they're not any of those things, but they do have a variety of issues that are motivating them today. i want to introduce you to one of the voters here in west nashville. this is amy shepherd. amy is a stay at home mom, correct? >> yes, i am. >> you live here in the neighborhood. >> yep. >> how would you describe the motivation for your vote today? angry, frustrated, hopeful? >> it's my civic duty. >> your responsibility. >> my responsibility. and if i don't express my opinions through my vote, then,

you know, my vote's not counted and i'm not represente eed in t government the way i would like to be represented. usually, my little girls are with me. so they're at school today. >> what do you make of the race so far? >> um -- >> all right. >> it's entertainment, but i don't think politics should necessarily be entertaining. i think it should take care of people. and ideals of our country. >> amy shepherd, one of the many informed voters here in west nashville, chris. >> i don't think politics should be entertaining. so interesting. thank you, craig melvin. still ahead, is it panic time for the republican establishment. would they stand behind donald trump if he's the nominee? we'll drill down with our election insiders. and cal perry in roanoke, virginia. good morning to you, cal. >> hey, good morning, chris. here in roanoke, 32 precincts have now become dwun. we'll have more on that from

election officials in just a few minutes. (cafeteria noise) we'll have more on that from election officials in just a few minutes. 1. we'll have more on that from election officials in just a few minutes. ♪ ♪ (flourish spray noises) ♪ (school bell) ♪ ♪ (sigh) ♪ (flourish spray noise) ♪ share the joy of real cream... share the joy of real cream... (flourish spray noise) ...with reddi-wip. ♪ chuck, i know i have a 798 fico score, thanks to experian.com. kaboom... get your credit swagger on. go to experian.com. become a member of experian credit tracker and take charge of your score. as much as if you were man, president youmale? paid this is one of the jobs were they have to pay you the same.

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and we're back live. we're back live in richmond, virginia. we just heard from paul ryan, the speaker of the house, talking about the republican party and disassociating itself from white supremacists. this is where this has gotten to. listen. >> we believe in the american idea. we believe in the principles that built this country, that made us such an exceptional country in the first place. what can we do about it? we can offer the people a clear and compelling choice. we're going to be doing that. i'm going to speak out on behalf our ideas and principles all the time, no matter what is happening in any other

circumstance. and that to me is what we ought to offer the country and that's what we can control here in the house. >> one of the nominees the other week basically said that he thought the 2012 race was over when you were picked for the vice presidential ticket. he said you represent cutting entitlements. how can you work with that nominee if -- >> i'll say the results speak for themselves. mitt romney and i won the senior vote by 12 points. the best performance a republican ticket has had since 1984 when ronald reagan had a landslide election. >> what do your republican colleagues think about -- damage to the party would be catastrophic if the presidency would be reckless, embarrassing and dangerous. do you stand by -- >> i plan to support the nominee. i think i said enough this morning about what's happening right now, but my plan is to support the nominee.

>> on your point about the comments that people have been making, one in particular, it doesn't sound like you believe so far he has addressed the issue. >> i think i have been pretty darn clear. thank you very much. appreciate it. >> so there's the speaker of the house, who is being forced essentially to make the statement that the republican party and he and his party stand against white supremacy. let's bring our election insiders in. bryce reeves, republican state senator and co-chair of marco rubio's campaign in virginia. david is a democrat and minority leader in virginia's democratic assembly. two of the movers and shakers in the state. we appreciate you coming in. let me ask you, senator reeves, what does it mean that essentially the leader of the party in congress, that the speaker of the house is forced

to come out and talk about disassociated himself with white supremacy? >> well, i think it's like all campaigns. you know, negatives are going to arise. we need to answer some of the negative questions. it's a statement of where the republican party is. we have never been for white supremacy, and you know, those types of factions that are still out there left over from the '50s and '60s, and so i think it's a clear statement. i think the speaker did a great job of articulating where the republican party stands. when you mentioned marco rubio, i'm proud to be his co-chair this year. marco brings a vision to america. he has a clear vision. and he understands if you don't have a vision, people will perish. i think paul ryan is doing a great job. trying to bring back regular order to congress. and i'm standing here next to leader toscano in the house, and we do things a little differently down here in virginia. >> let's keep it to today, if we can, because you have a

republican congressman from virginia, who sent an open letter to republicans, and said it would be catastrophic for the party if trump doesn't denounce the kkk. and then david duke comes out of nowhere, we haven't heard from him in a while, and this is what he had to say this morning. >> he said today, finally, he renounlsed you and your support. what's your reaction to that? >> i'll laugh it off. that's fine. look. donald trump do whatever you need to do to get elected to this country because we need a change. >> so the question becomes, has this become a serious distraction for your party? >> no, i don't think so at all. i think we're staying on message and it's about the people. the reason donald trump is where he is today is if you look at both parties, i mean, you have a guy who is a devout socialist with a huge following. and if you look at donald trump, they're both outside the political norms, right?

we have both edges, both fringes. people are frustrated in america because they haven't had a vision. and a clear purpose in the last eight years. and so i think that's just an underpinning of where america is today and where, you know, people are. >> let me play what we missed at the very top, what paul rye00 to say a few moments ego. >> when i see something that runs counter to who we are as a party and a country, i will speak up. so today, i want to be very clear about something. if a person wants to be the nominee of the republican party, there can be no evasion and no games. they must reject any group or cause that is built on bigotry. this party does not prey on people's prejudices. we appeal to their highest ideals. this is the party of lincoln. we believe all people are created equal in the eyes of god and our government. this is fundamental. and if someone wants to be our

nominee, they must understand this. i hope this is the last time i need to speak out on this race. it's time we get back to focusing on how, very specifically, how we're going to get to solving the many problems that american families are facing after seven yearoffs barack obama. for now, i'll leave it at that. >> leader toscano, this is a situation where he's coming out to have to defend what this back and forth about whether or not donald trump would really disavow david duke, would really disavow white supremacists, but we know in this race, donald trump has said a lot of things that would have frankly killed the candidacy of any other person. can the democrats capitalize on this because they haven't bib able to so far. neither have the republican opponents. >> right now, the democrats are focused on trying to get someone elected to be the nominee. today's a big day for us, because a lot of us believe hillary clinton is going to do really well in virginia and other parts of the country on super tuesday.

but we're going to try to focus on a positive message. donald trump can take care of himself in terms of the outrageous statements he's made and how people are going to respond. but we've got a positive message about job creation, about trying to attack student debt, about trying to speak to the things that americans really care about. the things that donald trump says are shocking to folks, and i think it will come back to haunt him in the election. >> he said just this morning that you as a party, democrats, are in trouble because we have seen how much wider, broader, deeper his support has become. almost every state growing and growing and growing. we'll see what happens tonight. let me play something he said this morning about electability and the democrats. >> we're getting democrats coming in. we're getting independents coming in. we're getting a lot of people coming in. i will tell you, as you know, i know the democrats very well also. they are very worried about it. >> did democrats dismiss that at their own peril? >> we always dismiss anything someone says at our own peril,

but we're laser focused on making sure our folks come to the polls not just on super tuesday but in the fall election to talk about a positive message. >> why do you think so far the republicans have come out in record numbers but not the democrats? >> i think it is true that a lot of people are angry, and the base and the republican party is energized. but you also have some people who are coming out that are not within the traditional base of the republican party. and i think that's what's got the republicans scared to death. they think they're going to get donald trump, and he is nothing like the traditional republican party candidate that people have seen in the past. democrats would like in some ways to run against donald trump, but he's a real danger to the country. >> so what's going to happen now in your party? there is this divide. can the party come together behind a candidate. you just heard paul ryan clearly taking a shot against donald trump and saying i will support whoever the nominee is. is this -- if donald trump is the nominee, is it someone that

the party can get behind? >> absolutely. i mean, i think we're at that point. anybody but hillary at this point. you know, the democrats in my opinion are running reruns. i mean, how long have we had the clintons around? you have a devout socialist who has been around forever who has gotten nothing done in the legislature. i think a lot of his following is going to, if sanders doesn't win the nominee, i think you're going to see a grut group of those young people going to slide to trump, just like the republican party, how trump has brought in new folks through the republican party, and i think it's going to be a wave. >> since you're a supporter, can marco rubio stay in beyond today if he doesn't win, doesn't come in second, a strong second? >> i think, you know, i spent all day sunday with him and his quest to go throughout the commonwealth. i can tell you, the last stop we had was filled with young people. he sets a vision for america, because he believes, truly believes that we have the opportunity to stand for something here, for freedom, for fairness, and for liberty. and he believes those are the

things worth fighting for and worth devoting our lives to. that type of leadership is what this country needs. >> bryce, david, great of both of you to come in. thank you so much. >> the big question for democrats is whether hillary clinton can put the race away tonight. bernie sanders hoping to stay close to clinton in the south, potentially pick up victories in minnesota, in vermont, just a few hours ago, sanders cast his vote in his state's primary. >> our hope is that we can win a number of states and in those states where we don't do well, obviously, we want a large vote as possible. our goal is to end up with as many delegates as we possibly can. >> just last night, his wife jane admitted super tuesday is a rough map for us. meanwhile, hillary clinton is turning her attention towards the general election and donald trump. >> i personally believe america is and always has been great.

what we need to do together is make america whole again. >> we're going -- this all comes as a brand-new nbc news survey monkey online poll shows clinton with a ten-point lead over sanders nationally. let's go first to kristen welker who has been following the clinton campaign since the very beginning. so kristen, is the campaign looking at this as the night they can stop any momentum from bernie sanders? >> well, they're hoping that they take a major step towards stopping any of his momentum, chris. look, as you pointed out, even jane sanders acknowledges the map is very difficult. senator sanders has essentially been putting ads into five different states. secretary clinton has been spending in all 11 states, sort of tells you everything you need to know. if senator sanders were to win all of those five states, chris, he would get about 288 delegates.

compare that to secretary clinton who would get north of 500 delegates. look at the delegates count as it stands right now, according to our latest count, clinton has 519 delegates. compare that to sanders who gets 86. if you cake into account the super delegates, the party leader whose get to chose who they'll vote for, secretary clinton gets 428 to sanders who gets 21. that's a 20-fold difference. the clinton campaign feeling very confident tonight, but they don't think this is the end of the road. he is having her victory party here, what she hopes will be a victory party here in miami. this state votes on march 15th. the campaign looking at that date for the real date that they can hopefully put this away, if you talk to them, chris. >> thank you very much, kristen welker. and joining me now is msnbc's political embed, danny freeman, following the bernie sanders campaign. we heard bernie sanders outline his goal. how realistic do they think that really is? and what are they looking for tonight to stay in this race?

>> it's interesting, chris, because bernie sanders has always been the idealist candidate. certainly in comparison to secretary clinton. in this case, to your point, they're trying to be realistic. bernie sanders said this morning when he spoke to press, he emphasized the delegates. siphoning off delegates, chipping into secretary clinton's lead in some states like texas. that is his goal. his goal is not to clean the map in states, though of course, he hopes to win states like minnesota, massachusetts, oklahoma, vermaupt, and colorado. but take a look at what his campaign manager jeff weaver had to say in the last hour on that strategy. >> this campaign has a long way to go, steve, and it's all about accumulating delegates so you can get to the number you need to be nominated. >> now, as you said, jane sanders said it's going to be a rough map for them today, but they're looking forward to states such as california and new york asplases they can hopefully catch up if they're in a deficit of delegates tonight. chris.

>> danny freeman, who is in burlington, vermont, for us. thank you so much. i want to bring in virginia's governor, terry mcauliffe, longtime clinton family friend and he ran the clinton campaign in 2008. >> welcome to virginia, the greatest state in america. >> it's beautiful. you brought nice weather. you also spent a day with hillary clinton. you were running around the state with her. you say that south carolina really fired her up. what's next? >> south carolina was a great win, when you think about it, and you think that 60% of the voters were african-american, and hillary won 90% of the african-american vote. i always said, once the process gets going and once we get to the states that are true representative of the nation with the large african-american population, hispanic population, those voters will come out. you saw it in south carolina. >> what are you going to look for tonight? put your political analyst hat on. what are you going to look for tonight? what numbers are you going to dig into to tell you she's ready to move beyond bernie sanders. >> the african-american turnout, the hispanic turnout, which is

significant in northern virgi a virginia. we're the third most delegates up tonight. in addition, we're one of the key swing states going into the general election. whatever scenario you look at to get 270 electorate votes, virginia is going to be at ground center. huge crowds yesterday. we had capacity crowds at both. she talked about college affordability, breaking down barriers. giving everybody an economic opportunity. that's what folks want. that's why they're excited. now we're moving through the process, they know that hillary is aggressive and gets results done. she will fight for you. i have known her for nearly three decades. she is passionate. she is a fighter. and people know that she's tough. and that she'll fight for them. i think that's what people want to see. what's going on on the republican side, i have been doing this 40 years, i have never seen anything like it. >> let's talk about the potential of the general. there's been an article on nbc calm, a big one in the "new york times" today, about this divide in the democratic party. one sides says, this is going to be a lot easier than we thought it is. this is a guy with whom we can

draw really strong contrasts. the other side is, and i believe that former president clinton is on this side, saying don't kid yourself. we have underestimated this man, donald trump, the whole way through. if it's hillary clinton/donald trump, where do you stand in that divide and what do you have to do? >> i stand with president clinton and i stand with secretary clinton. first off, running for president, i don't care who's running, it is always a tough competitive race. >> they think it would be close? >> you have to assume that. it's going to be tough. the one problem they're going to have, the republicans coming out of the primary season, is the attacks that have gone on. the hispanic community, immigrant community, communities of color. they have heard this hateful rhetoric. and i think it's going to be a tough tim to bring all those folks back and try during the general to say, well, we didn't really mean what we said in the primary. i think it's very hard. you look at the electorate college states of virginia, colorado, new mexico, nevada, it's going to be hard. we have to run like we're 20

poun points down. hillary's message of breaking down barriers, fighting for everybody to have a shot at the american dream, letting our students -- i mean, the debt today, many of our students have 14% debt. we can renegotiate a car loan, a house loan. companies can renegotiate their debt, get 200, 300 basis poinltpoints, yet our students can renegotiate a 14%. >> we know that this is going to be -- it's going to be a hard fought fight, no matter what. having said that, some people say they're worried about benghazi, about the e-mail controversy. you also have a big divide in style, right? she's very measured. she's very careful. in an electorate that's so angry with washington, with her name, and with him being as out there and as forceful as he is, does she come out on the losing end of that? >> i think if you look at her whole history of fighting for folks, i think you look at her history of fighting on health care, education, children, women, families, that's what the

argument is going to be about. they want to know, listen, rhetoric is great. people can throw out a lot of big ideas. she actually gets things done. >> let me ask you about donald trump's rhetoric because the big story in the last 24 hours has been his comments about the kkk. do you take him at his word when he said on cnn on sunday that he didn't hear well, that he had a bad earpiece, and he has always denounced white supremacists, ku klux klan, and disavowed david duke? do you take him at his word? >> listen, you know, he heard what he heard in his earpiece. i'll give him the benefit of the doubt. he should have come out immediately when he walked off with the earpiece and someone said, this is what they said, i would have demanded to go on and say let me tell you how i think. the failure to do that, that is, say not denouncing the kkk in this country is disgraceful. and if that indeed is what happened, i'll give him the benefit of the doubt, he should have walked right back and said give me the microphone back and let me tell you how i feel, and

he did not do that. >> when these things come up or any controversy comes up, is it going to be hillary clinton who does the tough job or is it as some people have suggested, is the conversation in the campaign, president clinlton an president obama who are the attack dogs? >> she's going to talk about her vision of where to take the country. president clinton has been very supportive, president obama has been supportive. he himself has said, chris, there is no one more prepared beyond the sitting vice president, prepared to be president than hillary clinton. that's a very powerful statement. i remind you, president obama inherited a fiscal mess for our country. he saved the auto industry. 13 million new jobs, 16 million people have health care today. that's a legacy to run on. and president obama picked hillary clinton to be his secretary of state. let's continue those great policies and take them to the next level. i don't agree with the republican debate rhetoric where we're getting beat by china and japan and i don't.

we're the greatest nation on earth. but can we make it better? of course we can. and that's what we're going to do. and you're sitting in the greatest state in the greatest nation on earth right here in the commonwealth of virginia. >> spoken lie a proud governor, good to see you again. and voters are already heading to the polls across super tuesday states. a lot of them, actually, did early voting. take a look at this polling station, little rock, arkansas, where there are 40 republican delegates up for grabs. 37 democratic delegates on the line tonight. we'll take you live to colorado and alabama next. >> but first, for you fish lovers, did you know virginia is the third largest seafood producer in the nation. just about 80 miles east of here, tangier island, better known as the soft shell crab capital of the world. new orleans won't like that. americans. we're living longer than ever. as we age, certain nutrients become especially important. from the makers of one a day fifty-plus. one a day proactive sixty-five plus. with high potency vitamin b12

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we're live in virginia. there are 49 republican delegates, 109 democratic delegates up for grabs tonight. take a check of this new video. this is from roanoke, people coming out and voting this morning. i'm heading to a polling station here in richmond as soon as his hour is up to see what's on the minds of voters. with donald trump and hillary clinton in commanding positions, tonight may be the last chance for the remaining presidential hopefuls to make a stand in the race for the white house. we've got extensive coverage for you around the clock with reporters across the country. let's go now to msnbc national reporter tony who is in denver, colorado, ahead of tonight's democratic caucus. you spent time at hillary clinton's colorado campaign headquarters. let's talk about the outreach effort there and especially to colorado's large hispanic base. >> yeah, absolutely, chris. i want to show you first the surprising location for clinton's colorado campaign headquarters. we're not in a glittering high rise downtown. we're in a pretty rundown

construction orientated neighborhood. there's a liquor store across the street. there's a tattoo parlor. and the headquarters themselves are in an old school building right here. and last night, today on super tuesday, campaign staffers not even 9:00 a.m., they're inside making phone calls. we're not able to get in today. last night, we were. it was a bustling scene. the clinton campaign is emphasizing voter outreach. one-on-one contact with as many voters as possible. there's a copy machine that doesn't stop running. people are moving the names and numbers of people to a war room. phones around the table. constant calling. and we talked to one person in particular, lurella, who is clinton's latino outreach director and she's made a point of winning the latino vote here. 500,000 eligible latino voters. take a listen to what she said about how important it is for this campaign to capture plat particular audience. >> in the general election,

without winning the latino vote here. very important from my perspective, from the campaign's perspective. that's why all of this matters. it matters for caucus night, and it also matters for the future. i think you have, what you see around the table and in this room is a lot of people committed to making sure the latino voice and latino face is represented on caucus night. and beyond. so this isn't something that starts today and dies here. >> chris, it's really amazing last night. we saw politics in action. those people working the phones, they would announce themselves as hillary clinton outreach workers, and if the person on the other end of the line said they were supporting bernie sanders, they would not tell them where the caucus location was located. it was okay, thank you very much. good-bye. so it's in the trenches and getting real. only a few hours before the caucus actually opens. back to you. >> that is fascinating. tony ducokoupal, thank you so omuch. let's bring in ron mott outside

a polling location in montgomery, alabama. you know there was a recent monmouth poll, ron. donald trump running away in the state ahead of marco rubio by more than 20 points. gop leaders are split on supporting trump? >> yeah. you know, we have been on the ground here now since this polling station opened. we're in the third hour here. they're talking about a very brisk turnout. we got numbers for the first two hours. almost 10% of the precinct has come out to vote already. the secretary of state is anticipating near record turnout and a lot on the republican side, and the speculation is donald trump is getting folks off couches and out to polling stations. one voter we intercepted is tom broughton. who are you voting for? >> i'm going to vote for donald trump today. i don't like how he says things, but i do like his underlying message. and i'm just against the republican establishment candidates and career politicians. >> what do you think about this

flap that david duke has come out in support of donald trump, says that for white americans it's a vote against him is almost treasons. what do you make of that and the fact donald trump has had some difficulty separating himself from that endorsement? >> i think it's difficult to separate yourself from any endorsement. i don't know that he asked for that endorsement. i would have liked more of a hard line stance against that individual, because i certainly don't believe anything they stand for. >> so you heard it from tom. there's a lot of support for donald trump here in alabama. he's pulling over 40% in the latest poll. this is a winner take most state. he could take a lot of these 50 republican delegates up for grabs today. >> exactly what he's counting on. thank you. larry sab adough is the director for the center of politics at the university of virginia. good to see you. let's talk about donald trump. is there a path forward for any

candidate besides him at this point? give us your analysis, big picture of the gop race? >> you would have to call trump the favorite. i'm not going to call him the prohibitive favorite yet because the votes aren't in from today. we can probably call him the prohibitive favorite on the night of march 15th if he ends up winning florida and knocking rubio out and ohio and knocking kasich out. you know, the reason i don't call him the prohibitive favorite, although he's the most likely person to be the nominee is because there is so much angst and so much opposition in the established republican party to trump. and i don't think most of them are just going to sit back and say, oh, well. it's over. >> so what do they do? what's the opening that you see if you're an establishment republican, if you're an anybody but trump, what's your move? >> chris, the only move they've got at this point, unless we're shocked tonight, unless we're shocked on march 15th, and trump

does poorly, is to try to create a contested convention. to try to keep trump below the 1,237 delegates that you need to get nominated. it's dangerous business. suppose trump goes into the convention 100 delegates short, and then somehow, the establishment gets together and nominates somebody else. don't you think the trump delegates are likely to walk out and don't you think the election might be over at that very moment? so it's a tricky business. and i don't know, maybe there's no way out. maybe it's heads you lose, tails you lose for the republicans. maybe it's 1912 all over again. you have teddy roosevelt walking out of the convention and the bull party and the republican party split 60% of the vote and wilson wins with 40%. anything can happen, which is why this year is so exciting. >> yeah, and why politics is indeed a tricky business. larry, always good to see you.

thank you. >> thanks, chris. our super tuesday primetime coverage begins tonight at 5:00 eastern time. msnbc's brian williams. rachel maddow, and chris matthews will be here. we'll be right back. ♪ (flourish spray noise) ♪ ♪ (flourish spray noises) ♪ (school bell) ♪ ♪ (sigh) ♪ (flourish spray noise) ♪ share the joy of real cream... share the joy of real cream... (flourish spray noise) ...with reddi-wip. ♪ whose long dayis sheldon setting up the news starts with minor arthritis pain and a choice. take tylenol or take aleve, the #1 recmended pain reliever by orthopedic doctors. just two aleve can keep pain away all day. back to the news.

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it's a fact. kind of like grandkids equals free tech support. oh, look at you, so great to see you! none of this works. come on in. welcome back to msnbc. on this historic super tuesday, we've traveled more than 2,000 miles across seven states on this road to this day. and starting out in oklahoma, we ended up here, richmond, virginia. 2,200 miles of driving later. cal perry has been with me in every single state. today he's live outside a polling station in roanoke, virginia. hey, cal, what's going on there? >> hey, chris. good morning. it's been a steady stream of voters so far. i'm joined by mr. roger woodson. i wanted to get a sense of what your motivation was to come out this morning and vote. >> well, i came out today because i consider this to be a

landmark election. the primary election and general election, and i just -- and i want to see the economy fixed. i want something done about the immigration. >> all right, thank you very much. and chris, i have to tell you, that's what we're hearing here. consistently on our trip. this is an exciting election. a historic election. and that's why people are getting out here. they're motivated to vote, and the economy, the economy, the economy. that old bill clinton line, it seems to be true this year as well. >> cal perry, my road buddy, thank you so much. now here we go, three facts in 30 seconds about virginia. this statement is home to the nation's first college fraternity, founding in 1776. the '80s classic film dirty dancing was filmed here. i did not know that. and legendary writer edgar allan poe once attended the university of virginia. his dorm room has been preserved and can still be viewed on

campus through a glass door. ows to the top 1%. it's a system held in place by corrupt politics where wall street banks and billionaires buy elections. my campaign is powered by millions of small contributions. people like you who want to fight back. the truth is you can't change a corrupt system by taking its money. i'm bernie sanders. i approve this message. join us for real change. as we age, certain nutrients longer than ever. become especially important. from the makers of one a day fifty-plus. one a day proactive sixty-five plus. with high potency vitamin b12 and more vitamin d.

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back live in virginia, on msnbc, on this critical day in the race for president. voters across the country heading to the polls, as well as here. the biggest prize, though, texas. 155 delegates up for grabs on the republican side. 251 for democrats. donald trump leads most primaries, but senator ted cruz holding on to his home state of texas. msnbc's jacob soboroff is in arlington, texas. talking to folks on the ground. so jacob, how is it looking there? >> i think you can guess who this woman is voting for. what's your name? >> rhonda. >> i see you outside here, putting up these trump signs outside the polling place. did you already vote today? >> yes, i have. >> you think that mr. trump's got a shot at passing up your home town senator here, ted cruz? >> oh, sure. definitely. >> what do you think it's going to come down to?

>> it's going to come down to new voters. first time voters. they're excited and they're fired up and they want somebody who's going to represent them. >> appreciate it, rhonda. rhonda is exactly right. a lot of enthusiasm here on the republican side. in arlington, and throughout texas. people are coming in and out of this building all morning. look out for the wind and the signs. crazy out here. we'll be here all day. back to you. >> thanks so much, msnbc's jacob soboroff. i think he was one of the doubters on this seven-day seven-state trip that we could make it 2200 miles but we have. this is it. we made it through seven states, 2,200 miles starting in oklahoma, then where else did we go intexas, tennessee, alabama, georgia, no we're in virginia, heading over to a polling place next. we'll be back tomorrow with analysis. a remiengder first, our super tuesday primetime coverage begins tonight at 5:00 eastern. rachel maddow, brian williams and chris mathithews right heren

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good morning, everyone. i'm live in the great state of texas. good morning to you on super tuesday. and it is an exciting political day for this country. we're at harris county smokehouse barbecue. thank you to the chambers family for letting me invade in my home state. and you well know by now, texas is the biggest prize today. it's where the most delegates are up for grabs. texas is also considered a must-win for home state senator ted cruz. i just spoke with his sister and brother here, they may not be speaking after today. one says her vote is for trump. his vote is for senator cruz. so this battle is splitting up

families today. right now, we're waiting for senator cruz to show up at a polling place here in texas to cast his vote. and as he does, a new poll out late yesterday shows senator cruz with only a three-point lead over the republican front-runner, donald trump in the state of texas. other recent polling indicates trump could run the table of the other ten states holding republican contests today. while piling up potentially a huge delegate lead. meantime, in just the past hour, this story now trending. house speaker paul ryan taking aim at donald trump, amid questions over whether trump has disavowed former kkk leader david duke. >> when i see something that runs counter to who we are as a party and as a country, i will speak up. so today, i want to be very clear about something. if a person wants to be the nominee of the republican party,

there can be no evasion and no games. they must reject any group or cause that is built on bigotry. this party does not prey on people's prejudices. we appeal to their highest ideals. >> on the democratic side, we saw senator bernie sanders vote a few hours ago in his home town of burlington, vermont. it is one of 11 states holding democratic contests today with recent polls showing senator sanders may only win vermont and one other state, oklahoma. >> i am confident that if there is a large voter turnout today, across this country, we're going to do well. if there's not, we're probably going to be struggling. >> amid all that, it is now eight hours until the first polls close. and 13 hours until today's voting ends at the republican

caucuses in alaska. the candidates will be spread from here in texas to the sunshine state of florida, because they are looking ahead. that's where donald trump, marco rubio, and hillary clinton will all end their day. our nbc correspondents are covering the campaigns from texas to florida, and just about everything in between to be honest with you. in a few minutes, ted cruz is expxed to cast his ballot in the texas republican primary in houston. he's only scheduled event will actually be a watch party tonight. hallie jackson joining me live from the polling location in houston where cruz is expected soon. hallie, i read an extraordinary article last night, and be keep using that word, extraordinary, because this is getting headlines all over the globe. what could happen tonight. but it really focused in on donald trump's ground game and how he had a number of foot soldiers in arlington, texas, that's in north texas, going door to door. so we have underestimated in many respects his ground game because of what we heard from the trump campaign. but texas is very interesting

here. >> it is. and frankly, tamron, a must-win for ted cruz. you talk about ground game. his campaign has been talking about his ground game for a while. 27,000 volunteers, they pouint out. today, they will have 7,000 volunteers at polling places try to get out the vote. volunteer chair in every p precin precinct. this is the polling place where ted cruz will vote. you can see the line, not too much of one now. as you can see, a ton of media waiting for the senator to show up. we expect to hear from him at some point today. cruz today has to win texas. he's also hoping to play in arkansas and oklahoma, calling oklahoma a battleground over the weekend. that said, donald trump looks poised to dominate in those states. so here's the expectations that ted cruz is setting. listen. >> i don't know what the results are go to be tomorrow, but what i think is likely come tomorrow night is that donald trump will have a whole bunch of delegates. that we will have a whole bunch of delegates. and that there will be a big,

big dropoff between us and everybody else in the field. super tuesday, i believe, is going to play an important part helping winnow the field and taking us more and more towards a two-man race and when that happens, we win. >> so ted cruz framing it as a two-man race, but remember, so is marco rubio. only one of them is going to end up in potentially second place when it comes to delegate count after this is all said and done. that's why this night is the biggest one of the primary season so far. it's why ted cruz has openly and frequently acknowledged this is the most important day of his campaign. one more shot before we let you go. you can see the folks lining up. election officials telling me anecdotally, turnout for republicans is lot higher than they expected. they had to bring in a lot more equipment. remember, they're voting on local republican races and there's a bunch here in houston. >> all right, hallie, we may see

another record broke in in the state. i'm joined by steve, a supporter of ted cruz, and the author of the book "rules for patriots, how conservatives can win again." steve, thank you so much for joining. let's pick up on the title of your book, how conservatives can win again. what has ted cruz done wrong that he is now just with a very slight lead in the polls right now in his own state? >> well, you know what's ironic about this, tamron, is when he launched his campaign last march and they said he had no shot, he's actually in the exact situation he forecasted last march he was hoping to be in, which is he would win one of the early states and come out of super tuesday as one of the two candidates most likely to be the nomin nominee. i think when all is said and done, what is likely to happen is what you heard ted say. i think you'll see donald trump in first place in the delegates, but he probably won't even have 25, 30% of what it will take to win. i think you'll see ted cruz in a solid second place.

and then i think you'll see a drop-off, and then i think the conservative movement that many of whom, some of the biggest names in the movement who have come forward in recent days to say they'll never support trump as the nominee, they have a serious question, which is if marco rubio is 0 for 15 against donald trump, where is he going to win? if you don't want trump to be the nominee, who is the only candidate that is in position to defeat him and has shown he is able to do that? and that candidate will be ted cruz. >> i know that you have joined the hash tag that's been trending, #nevertrump. going back to your theory if marco rubio drops out, somehow there's an opening for ted cruz, when you look at the national numbers, when you look at the polling coming out past super tuesday, you could take potentially marco rubio's support and ted cruz is still not the winner. where are those of you who believe somehow that if it's a mano a mano, one-on-one race, that donald trump gets beat? i don't see the numbers there. help me understand what you're thinking here.

>> well, with those be the numbers that before iowa told us the last 13 polls before iowa, donald trump was going to win? would those be those numbers? those polls have been all over the place in this cycle. i have documented many times how they were wrong. if you get down to a two-man race, whatever you're polling now is illegitimate because the paradigm shifts. trump has changed the paradigm, no question about that. but now, tamron, you're sighing the conservative movement change the paradigm as well. all the pressure that exists at this juncture in the past, we have to rally behind romney, rally behind mccain. you're seeing the exact opposite from the conservative movement now. you're seeing open opposition to somebody that most of the mead withdraw wants to anoint as the presumptive republican nominee. when we get into the second half of the primary calendar, we're going to see something we're only going to see in a couple states tonight, closed primaries, closed caucuses. so this wave of nments and

democrats that supported donald trump in my home state of iowa and other states, those aren't going to be available to him, and many of the close primaries to come, he's going to have to beat the opposite candidate, the alternative candidate with actual conservative voters. >> one of the things i like about you is we can have heated back and forth without it being personal. here i go with this. you said the media anointed donald trump. thousands of people, including in my home town of fort worth, texas, showed up to see a donald trump rally. i'm a part of the media. i didn't buy one ticket or one bus pass. thousands are showing up to see and support him from your party. how is that a media anointed candidate? is that a republican-anointed presumptive nominee and you some and of the other conservatives are now in denial? >> that's a great question and i'm glad you asked it. today, real clear politics came out with a story that shows donald trump has received 64 times more media coverage than

cruz or rubio in the race. i was coming back from the national religious broadcasters the other day and here's what i saw. what i saw is on cnn, they played donald trump's full rally with chris christie, not once, but they played it twice, all the way through. they barely showed marco rubio at all, and they said, oh, yeah, here's this ted cruz guy. this has gone on for months. and i'm telling you, tamron, if we covered you as much as donald trump has been covered in this republican primary, you would probably be leading it, too. >> well, i've got four tv shows so i'm doing okay, but in reality, though, i guess your theory is the media has bread crumbed all these people to donald trump's rally. why can't it be his message? why can't it be that they do support building a wall that he's not said how he's going to build. they do support mass deportation. why does it have to be that the media has anointed him? why can't you and others face

that thousands within your party are okay with him not being specific as long as they somehow believe that he might beat hillary clinton and he's the best choice. i think we're not looking at his supporters. we're not looking at the rallies and numbers because some within your party want to blame the media for his rise. as if people can't think on their own. because you're kind of saying that his supporters aren't thinking on their own, even though he says he likes the -- what was it, the low educated. >> well, that is kind of what it's saying because that is kind of what i'm saying. i have never seen in my time in politics, not obama '08 even, have i seen a worse cult around a political candidate. that's the most disturbing thing about donald trump, tamron. he's capitalizing on using all of the negative stereotypes, the pundits on channels like this have of conservatives. he's winning, but his arg turnout is 34%. we keep hearing he's winning

evangelicals. i know the evangelical vote very well. his average evangelical turnout is 32%, which means about three fourths of evangelicals are voting no, which means about two thirds to three fourths of republicans are voting no. what we're looking for is an opportunity to have a candidate who honestly stansdz for what we believe in, who has demonstrated he has the integrity and character to be in the white house, who is not as unstable as trump. the trump university suit is happening because the judge is hispanic or we're looking for someone who is a conservative, someone who wants to conserve the things that made this the most exceptional country in the history of creation as opposed to donald trump, the next megalomaniac to come along. >> just quickly, a new national poll, in a head-to-head matchup, it shows hillary clinton beating donald trump in a general election. if your party's nominee is donald trump, do the republicans lose the white house?

>> i don't think there's any question about that. i mean, where his negatives are at now, and listen, your team hasn't even started spending $2 billion on him yet. and tamron, i'm telling you, there's a treasure-trove of stuff out there, reality shows. we're going to make marla maples great again, maury poevch great again, sleaze ball reality tv, daytime talk shows great again with all the material out there on donald trump, if you make him the nominee. i want everybody watching this to go, you go out and vote for donald trump today, you're voting for hillary clinton to be president. >> all right, and i know just quickly here for house keeping, you said my team. the only team i have is the great state of texas, for the record, steve. thank you. let's turn now to nbc news trump campaign embed ali vitali in florida, where trump will end his day after holding rallies in ohio and kentucky and he's on the road there -- she, where are you on the road now. >> hey, there. we're actually driving to palm beach, where donald trump will have an event tonight.

a press conference. it's super tuesday, and he seems to be feeling good. i know the conversation you were having about the polls, i know against hillary clinton it does show him losing to her, and as you guys were talking about, that's something he's pushed back on recently saying he hasn't started on her yet. he's been saying when he does get to that point, if it does get to that point, he'll focus on the e-mails all day, every day. that's something we can expect to be seeing. if it does in fact get to a general election matchup between clinton and trump. but last night, we were in georgia and he had a rally ahead of super tuesday today. a lot of people i talked to were really enthusiastic about him. some saying they were going to vote for him, others telling me they had. i asked if there was anything that could derail their support, anything he is saying or could say that would make them go another direction, and a lot of them said no. the only woman who told me she could change her mind is she said if he dropped out, she might not vote for him. that goes to show, when he talks about how loyal his supporters

are, they're still really there with him. he's gotten endorsements in the last couple days, chris christie, jeff sessions. that's important when you talk about bringing in new voters who might not be in his camp. and he talks about siphoning support away from other rivals of his. he says when jeb bush dropped out, some of the support came to him. he's looking to chip into ted cruz and marco rubio's support as well. those endorsements give him a little extra weight behind him as a conservative and a republican. as you were talking about, there are some republicans coming out here now, trying to warn of the dangers of donald trump as the nominee, someone who may not be able to beat hillary clinton in an election. your last guest said voting for donald trump today could mean a win for hillary clinton in november. that's something we're beginning to see. we're starting to see these factions coming up in the republican party of do they put up someone who is more establishment? in that case, that would be marco rubio or even ted cruz, which isn't something we thought would be establishment a few months ago, or are they going to

vote for donald trump? we're seeing the splinters happen right now, maybe too little too late though. >> great job covering the campaign. we greatly appreciate you joining me. i know you're working hard like our entire team today. a pretty big day. thank you. >> we turn now to a controversy over what happened at a trump rally late yesterday in the soda state university in georgia. there are a lot of questions surrounding why around 30 students, most of them african-american, were escorted out by security officials before the candidate started speaking. now, among the questions, who escorted them out and why? in a statement to the des moines register, the trump campin said the campaign had no knowledge of this incident and denied that students were escorted out at the request of the candidate, donald trump. and we reached out to the police department. and they gave us this account of events. they say while preparing for the rally, and just prior to the arifle of mr. trump, the public was being allowed to enter the

arena. during that timeframe, there were 30 to 40 students in this complex, mostly young adults, some of which were students who were causing a disturbance in the arena. it was confirmed by the trump detail and local law enforcement that these students were using profanity and were asked to leave the complex. trump personnel then escorted the students out of the arena. meantime, the students say they were standing silently at the top of the bleachers and weren't planning to do anything. and joining me live now by skype, one of the students removed from the university. a senior at the university, jajuan andrews. who is here as the -- thank you so much for joining us. >> hey, how are you doing? >> doing great. can you tell us exactly your version of accounts of what happened there? >> yeah, surely can. yesterday, contrary to what was said, we were standing at the top of the complex stares. and we weren't doing anything.

we didn't plan to do anything. as student, we came to gain knowledge. and the accusations that we were causing a disturbance, that's alarming because i can contest that we weren't. many people can contest that we weren't. so some of the videos that you see that you see us with our fists up, that was actually when we were, again, escorted out because the police officer told us, he said, okay, you please come with me. we were like, okay. maybe he's just escorting us to a seat or something because they want us to move. we thought, okay, let's follow him. and where you see our fists up, that's where we're asking them, why are you making us leave? because they didn't tell us they were kicking us out initially. they told us to step aside and follow them. and so we did that. then we got to the stairs, they're like, you're getting kicked out. we need for you to leave. and that's when we started asking questions, because all of us had tickets to that event, by

the way. and so we were like, why can't we be here? we're students. we don't want to cause no disturbance. what did we do? we really did not do anything. >> you have -- you have your ticket for the event. why did you want to attend the event? there have been people who asked if you guys are part of black lives matters. why did you want to attend the event? >> oh, my gosh. no. we just wanted to gain knowledge. like, they don't even know we supported them. there isn't any -- my political stance, i have none. i have no definite person i'm voting for. i wanted to hear him speak. so, for them to just say that we were trying to cause a disturbance, that's inaccurate. you can't just assume that. we're students. one of my friends who was with us, she was actually covering that for a pr class. and she couldn't cover it because she got kicked out. and she wasn't doing anything. >> so let me ask you going back to the picture we just showed

you and the other students standing in the rally with your fists in the air. >> yes, ma'am. >> you're saying that has nothing to do with a protest. >> no, ma'am. we weren't protesting. one thing that the video does not show is when my brother, he was asked and a police officer before we went down the stairs, he was asking the police officer, sir, can you please just let us know why we're getting kicked out? he was asking him in a civil manner, and the police officer was yelling at him like please leave, leave. because they didn't even know why they were making us leave. we asked another police officer. he was so -- he felt so bad because he knew it wasn't right. because he didn't know why they were kicking us out. and so no, and when we had our fists up, it was because the audience was yelling at us, chanting things. they didn't even know the situation. so that's why -- >> right now, as it stands, as you have heard the trump campaign says it was not the

candidate who asked for your removal. it sounds as if the police department took over. the secret service also released a statement saying that their agents were in the area, but they were monitoring it and escorting protesters out of the rally is not their function. it is up to the host committee, campaign staff, and local law enforcement to handle the situation. that is the statement from the secret service. so we wanted to hear from you and your version of the story as we have also reported the version from police. greatly appreciate you joining us. and like everyone, knowledge is power. if that was your mission, to gain knowledge of our political process, i hope you learned something. thank you so much for joining us. greatly appreciate it. >> thank you. have a good one. >> of course. coming up, i'll talk live with california senator and clinton supporter barbara boxer about the campaign strategy. to draw out minority reporters. we have new information on the breakdown of black vote in a one-on-one breakdown between hillary clinton and donald

trump. we'll look at those new numbers and talk live to houston's own bernard bun b freeman, the activist and also vice's newest political correspondent. he's reporting on the ground from the different campaigns. and we remain live in texas. houston, specifically. at harris county smokehouse. we'll be right back. we were born 100 years ago into a new american century. born with a hunger to fly and a passion to build something better. and what an amazing time it's been, decade after decade of innovation, inspiration and wonder. so, we say thank you america for a century of trust, for the privilege of flying higher and higher, together. ♪

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welcome back to houston, texas. harris county smokehouse. let's turn to the democratic race. there are 878 pledged delegates at stake today. more than 1,000 when you count superdelegates. and it's shaping up to be a big night for former secretary of state hillary clinton. recent polling shows clinton beating sanders nearly 2 to 1 in three of the states with the

biggest delegates counts. texas, georgia, and tennessee. secretary clinton is looking so strong that a front page story in the "new york times" suggests her campaign is already developing a strategy for a general election showdown against donald trump. clinton's pivot to the general election was on display last night when she repeated her new line of attack against trump's trademark slogan. >> i personally believe america is and always has been great. what we need to do together is make america whole again. >> senator barbara boxer of california is a clinton supporter. she joins me now. thank you so much for joining me. >> thanks, tamron. >> senator, let's look at just the last couple weeks. the story line out of new hampshire, of course, was the momentum of bernie sanders. it was also that hillary clinton may not be able to relate to

younger democratic voters. maybe some younger female democratic voters. and now here we are tonight, looking at headlines who basically declared her now the presumptive nominee. would she be as strong of a candidate today were it not for bernie sanders challenging her? >> i think bernie's challenge was a positive thing. i said it at the time. i think that as someone who has run 24 times if you count primaries and generals, and i lost once, i can tell you that competition hones your skills. and people get to see you fighting hard. especially when you get knocked down, which she did get knocked down in new hampshire. and she did have a very, very tight win in iowa. and it made her stronger. and i think voters like to see how you respond when you're down. and she stepped up. and she is so excited. i saw her recently, and she's just so excited. i saw her after her victory in

south carolina, and she's just thrilled. >> let me ask you about a headline today regarding senator elizabeth warren, and the headline says, warren's ghost hovers over massachusetts primary. it says warren is expected to negotiate hard before giving her support to clinton. in doing so, she could play a critical role in helping to bring young enthusiastic santers supporters into her fold. because it is a small group, being women who are senators, especially democratic women who are senators, i'm going to ask you, behind the scenes, what can you reveal about the relationship with senator warren and her delayed support, if not inevitable, of hillary clinton? >> well, this is what i want to tell you. a couple of years ago, i organized a letter, every single democratic female senator signed it, including senator warren. and it was urging hillary to

run. urging her to run. hillary is very thrilled that we all signed it. i think elizabeth has her issues, and this is up to her. but i think people are really gravitating toward hillary clinton right now. and even the younger ones who, look, i understand their appeal that bernie had a strong appeal because of his, you know, complete i would say support of income inequality, the one issue that really did touch these young people. so as hillary said at the time, i'm going to win those voters. so elizabeth is one of many, and her support is valued, and whether it comes there or not, i think we're moving past the time where people see hillary as the champion of young people. of us all. that's why she says let's make america whole. it's not about just one group. it's all of us together.

regardless of the status of our birth. regardless of our color or our religion, our age. she's for everyone. and that's what frankly is what america is about. opportunity for everyone. and respect for everyone. >> let me ask you about a new poll out, a cnn poll that shows in a head-to-head matchup with donald trump, hillary clinton leads by eight points in a general election matchup. the "new york times" reports that she has now come up with her strategy on how to take down donald trump. the plan, they say, is three major parts. portray trump as a heartless businessman whose worked against the interests of the working class voter he now tries to appeal to. broadcast the degrading comments he made against women in order to sway suburban women, and highlight his brash, explosive temper to show that he is unsuited to be commander in chief. last, at the last debate, donald trump warned, quote, i haven't even started with her. referring to hillary clinton.

your response to what he said in that debate. >> he can say whatever he wants. but at the end of the day, in november, the election is about the american people. it's not about how many insults one candidate can hurl at the other. so i don't think it's going to go down well if that's what he's about. i don't think so at all. and i'm not privy to the strategy you outlined from the times, but it sounds very good, and let me close with this, because i do have to run off. and this is what i would close with. if everybody who donald trump has offended votes for hillary, we'll win in a landslide. >> senator barbara boxer, thank you so much for joining us. we greatly appreciate it. you have to get back to work. and we appreciate it. thanks a lot. >> thank you, tamron. well, this morning, bernie sanders voted in his home state of vermont after saying he will take his campaign all the way to the convention, no matter what happens tonight. by the way, in that same cnn

head-to-head matchup against donald trump, bernie sanders in that new poll leads donald trump by double digits. we'll have a look at the sanders campaign and why he says he's not giving up. we're live in houston, texas, the harris county smokehouse. we'll be right back after a quick break. my school reunion's coming fast. could be bad. could be a blast. can't find a single thing to wear. will they be looking at my hair? won't be the same without you bro. ♪ when it's go, the new choice privileges gets you there faster. and now, stay two times and you can earn a free night. book now at choicehotels.com try cool mint zantac. hey, need fast heartburn relief? it releases a cooling sensation in your mouth and throat. zantac works in as little as 30 minutes. nexium can take 24 hours.

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welcome back. we're still live in texas. let's go to virginia where hillary clinton and donald trump are leading in polls there. the state is especially important to both sides for its diverse population and it allocates its delegates proportionately. thomas roberts joins us from the historic waterfront in norfolk, wisconsin. what's the climate there right now, thomas? >> tamron, good morning from a beautiful virginia. and yes, we are on the deck of the wisconsin, it's now an open

museum here in downtown norfolk. sunny and beautiful. you can look right up the elizabeth river and see the activity in this beautiful spot as we show you over there, the naval medical center that's just across the elizabeth river in portsmouth. i want to show you more about the battleship wisconsin. it's absolutely amazing. it was updated in the 1980s under ronald reagan. this you may remember is where mitt romney announced then paul ryan to be his vice presidential pick. 49 delegates up for stake for the gop. 109, which includes superdelegates for the democrats. it's anybody's race. i was at a polling station this morning at the norfolk, virginia, zoo, and i talked to everybody from a kasich supporter, a rubio supporter, a lot of bernie folks and a lot of hillary folks. trump supporter, too, but right now, donald trump does lead in this state. as you point out, very diverse. with coal miners in the northern half of the state. the coastal communities that are a little wealthier, and of course, tamron, here in

tidewater, hampton roads, the largest active military and largest veteran community, retired. and this is a pivotal state, certainly for the general election as well. we'll keep you posted as we're doing our 2:00 hour from here. a gorgeous day. i'll throw it back to you in tex tech. >> thank you so much. now back to the candidates. senator bernie sanders voted in his home state of vermont earlier today. one of the few states where he's expected this super tuesday to win. and while a recent umass/amherst poll shows senator sanders down 3% against hillary clinton in neighboring massachusetts, alex seitz-wald is in burlington, vermont. we talked a lot about indications hillary clinton is looking ahead to the general election. we cannot forget this orc/cnn poll shows in a head-to-head matchup, sanders beats trump 55-43. he too is looking at the general election despite what tonight may bring as far as some of the losses. >> yeah, that's absolutely

right, tamron. bernie sanders has really been talking a lot about donald trump lately on the stump, saying it takes an outsider to beat an outsider. and really striking to make the argument that he would be a better candidate against trump than hillary clinton. although i'm not sure how many people he's convincing. today, he went out early this morning, bitter cold in the teens, but sunny and beautiful. he voted. he made a joke that he, after a lot of thought, decided to vote for himself. tonight, he'll have a big rally with supporters and musician ben folds. this is a state that really loves him. he was the most popular senator in the country, according to a poll late last year. 83% approval rating. a lot of people out here today. i was here last year when he announced his presidential candidacy just a few blocks away. he'll have a lot of love. a tough night for him. he knows that, his campaign knows that. i don't know if he'll make it to the general election despite his best wishes. >> all right, alex, thank you very much. coming up, we're going to take you live to a polling location in tarrant county, texas, the state's largest urban

republican county. what does it look like for ted cruz today? and what about marco rubio? he spent the last week beating up donald trump. if rubio does not win a state today, and if he comes in third in most of the contests, what does it mean for his campaign? we'll talk to good folks down in tarrant county right after this. i'm billy, and i quit smoking with chantix. i decided to take chantix to shut everybody else up about me quitting smoking. i was going to give it a try, but i didn't really think it was going to really happen. after one week of chantix, i knew i could quit. along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. chantix definitely helped reduce my urge to smoke. some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. some had seizures while taking chantix. if you have any of these, stop chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of mental health problems, which could get worse or of seizures.

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expectations. it's very possible marco rubio can end up 0 for 15 after tonight. not winning a single caucus or primary so far. but his campaign is maintaining that, look, they're in this for the delegates at this point. and they're looking at this long term. they do hope to pick up delegates and they're also spending time today in minnesota, perhaps they're hoping for a surprise there in the notoriously unpredictable caucus state of minnesota. spending a lot of money and time in virginia. the key for them is whether they can finish, they can crack 20% of the vote in states like georgia and be able to pick up those delegates. something that's interesting that happens in the last few hours or so, marco rubio has backed off the personal insults against donald trump in the last few days we have been reporting on how he referred to his spray tan and hair. he refused to go there and is talking about he wants to bring us back to the syria issues of the campaign. it's a steep climb for rubio. he's going to end the day today here in miami, his home state.

his campaign looking ahead to the florida primary in two weeks. >> thank you so much. and any minute now, ted cruz is expected to vote in his home state's primary, where we are looking at live pictures of that polling location. texas, a must-win for cruz. 155 delegates up for grabs there. and msnbc's jacob soboroff joivs me from arlington at a polling location. we've heard they're expecting a record turnout in texas, as we have seen with the gop turnout in several other states now. >> so tamron, exactly what you said. they're expecting a record turnout. primary on the republican side. a bit of an enthusiasm gap on the democratic side. there is no enthusiasm gap in electioneering. outside all of these polling places all over arlington, all over tarrant county, texas, are signs every. that's why it sounds like senator ted cruz has pull and

they're making an exception for him. there are no media allowed inside any polling places across the state. we're standing outside. we have been talking to voters. like i said, republicans are very excited about today. tonight will be a tarrant county election headquarters with an exclusive behind the sceneslic. everybody should stay tuned for that. >> great job. can't wait to see what you have tonight. genl again, our live coverage will be exciting to see. >> still ahead, live from houston, i will talk live with texas native bernard bun b"bun freem freeman, the activist and wrapper is now a political correspondent for vice. he's been covering all of the campaigns. and coming up, why he says he's actually surprised that donald trump is getting the amount of support from evangelicals, especially, in his home state of texas. we hit the road with bun b right after this. welcome to the world 2116, you can fly across town in minutes or across the globe in under an hour.

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welcome back. stay with msnbc for tonight's super special tuesday coverage. brian williams. rachel maddow, chris matthews, beginning at 5:00 p.m. eastern time. first, live from houston, call your friends, call everybody you know, texas, because guess who's with us. bernard "bun b" freeman, texas based activist and wrapper who is now vice's newest political correspondent. why he said, quote, america is ready to give the keys to the ship to gilligan. we'll be right back. when you think about success, what does it look like? is it becoming a better professor by being a more adventurous student? is it one day giving your daughter the opportunity she deserves? is it finally witnessing all the artistic wonders of the natural world? whatever your definition of success is,

helping you pursue it, is ours. t-i-a-a. most new wealth flows it's called a rigged economy, and this is how it works. to the top 1%. it's a system held in place by corrupt politics where wall street banks and billionaires buy elections. my campaign is powered by millions of small contributions. people like you who want to fight back. the truth is you can't change a corrupt system by taking its money. i'm bernie sanders. i approve this message. join us for real change. whose long dayis sheldon setting up the news starts with minor arthritis pain and a choice. take tylenol or take aleve, the #1 recommended pain reliever by orthopedic doctors.

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president obama and vice president joe biden. they are meeting with members of the senate and judiciary committee regarding filling the supreme court vacancy. that meeting is going on right now. we will update you with

developments from. meanwhile, back here in texas, joining me on set is houston hip-hop artist, bernard freeman, better known and loved, bunbee, he has been on the early trail covering the election. look. >> brick by brick, build the wall. >> obama, you're fired. >> jobs. i want jobs. >> if you ride into this town down here, will you see it's run down. back in the '40s and '50s, when there was guards, it was a beautiful place. only in the stuff that trump says, not only are these guys arguing over which bill they signed or which bill that they did this. who gave [ bleep ]. let's get these jobs going. >> bun b is here with me. i think it was so informative watching your interview, in addition to the raiders jacket,

but for a lot of these trump supporters, it is about jobs. they feel they have been messed over by the system? >> yeah. i think that's a common theme for most americans feel like there should be more opportunities in this country. even though we see that the rate in america is starting to get the unemployment is getting lower than it's ever been, there is still the need for employment in this country, especially small town america. a lot of people are being invaded by donald trump, they don't normally get dressed, get spoken for, most poern certainly never get a person with a celebrity magnitude like donald trump within their proximity. >> when marco rubio says he's a con artist. the thing i wonder is why didn't youco opt his message? marco rubio, ted cruz, go talk to those people who feel like they've gotten the shortened of the stick from washington, d.c.? >> well, i think it's very easy for them to kind of call each other like joke artists and con

artists an whatever. everybody is pandering to a bigot. right? everybody is using their own specific terminology. i think it's ironic for rubio to say that when he has been relentlessly attacking trump. he is slowing down the last few days, focusing on issues on hasn't this is politics as we know it in america. unfortunately, they spend more time attacking each other than addressing what people want tory. >> marco rubio speeches were carried nationally, he wasn't carried until he attacked donald trump in the way that donald trump attacked others, personally, their looks, these kind of things, to politics an specifics, you said you were surprised at the response to evangelicals in your oem state, people you thought you knew were responding to ted cruz? >> i thought ted cruz person is that none dprata specifically once he hit the bible belt. i couldn't be wronger the crowds

were bigger than the ones i seen in new hampshire and south carolina. so the support for donald trump is definitely growing out there. i'm not sure if he's going to win the state of texas. it's definitely a point of contention. >> yesterday after the david duke circumstance donald trump held a rally. i got multiple tweets saying, look, there are black guys behind him. he has black support. by the number, the latest msnbc wall street journal says he has a 76% unfavorable view. in a head to head matchup, hillary clinton appeals to black men especially as relates to unemployment. what do you think of that in. >> i think, of course, black men in america definitely need employment right now. i think they're going to be opened to anyone that can promise them jobs. but this is politics. this is an election year, there is gentleman to be a lot of

people promising things at the end of the day. >> bun b, thank you so much. my texas brother. i have to have you name my texas sister, come over, sophia, she was diagnosed with leukemia. we met today over pancakes. she's my new best friend, take that erica hall, my cousin is visiting. i tell you you're coming to see me in new york at today show mnbc. we met in the harris smokehouse, this is how we raise our gimpls thank you so much nor joining us, i love you, texas, up next, andrea mitchell reports. live on the road in mame. you did great.

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the campaign's largest number of delegates on a single day up for grab, trump tries to run the table. today the highest ranking republican official defends his failure to denounce the kkk. >> if a person wants to be the nominee of the republican party. there can be no evasion and no games. they must reject any group or cause that is built on bigotry. this party does not prey on people's prejudices diss. we appeal to their highest ideas. this is the party of lincoln. we believe all people are created equal in the eyes of god and our government. >> bernie sanders says he's going all the way to the convention. >> our hope is that we can win a number of states. we stand up to as many delegates as we possibly can.

>> while hillary clinton hopes for a sweeping victory today as she starts turning her focus to trump. >> i don't think america has ever stopped being great. what we node to do now is make america whole. and good day, i'm andrea mitchell in florida, where donald trump, hillary clinton and marco rubio are all going to be watching election returns tonight. as votes are counted from massachusetts all the way to alaska, we are already looking forward to florida which votes on the 15th of march. let's begin with the republicans on the map, where donald trump is favored to win in ten out of 11 states. the lone topic is the lone star state. ted cruz' state. starting with nbc's jacob

rascone in ohio, where donald trump is speaking this hour, first to halle jackson to take a look at the republican field. halle. >> reporter: hey, andrea. we're actually standing right outside ted cruz' polling place. he's in his black car. he just pulled up. we are hoping to grab him. maik maybe as he's coming back in. cruz in texas an absolute must win for him. new polls shows he's likely to pull it off t. question becomes, where else can he win? his campaign looking at arkansas, oklahoma. aides saying they feel they can pick up a lot of delegates there. cruz played this expectations game in a way we haven't seen for example, in marco rubio, cruz saying he absolutely expects tomorrow morning when we wake up, he and donald trump will be at the top of the pile, marco rubio and the rest of the field will be far behind t. question is, will that become reality? particularly if cruz picks up

delegates, then is unable pick up delegates in arkansas, oklahoma and georgia and tennessee where his campaign has been spending money there, shifting ad buys there, and alaska until much later tonight. we will send it back to you. we were hoping to see the senator come on out. if we can grab him, we will try to do that. >> i know you will. we will stay on that as we switch to nbc's jacob rascone live in ohio. jacob. >> reporter: he's expected to take the stand any minute. in ohio, notably not a super tuesday state a. must win for kasich. so he's looking beyond super tuesday, confident in his chance as the polls show. then he moves on later today to florida. another must-win for an opponent, marco rubio. he is looking ahead, past super tuesday, very confident in his chances, nationally, as you saw

in our laters poll, he is up 40% nationally, more than ted cruz and marco rubio combined. in the latest polls in the super tuesday states as we said, he is doing very well. >> as you were speaking, we were watch, ted cruz with his family approaching halle jackson. >> after a lot of careful deliberation, i decided to vote for myself. >> how are you, we are live on andrea mitchell show. i hate to do this, how are you feeling today? texas is a must win for you? >> i feel like we have tremendous support here at home in texas. i believe we are doing well, we are running neck and nerk in super tuesday states all across the country. >> where do you go from here in. >> we will be continuing awaiting election results. >> sir, what do you tell your daughters about today? this is a good day for you. >> we'll do this outside. we can't do no media here in the voting side. >> give it a second, please.

>> what do you tell your daughters throughout the day in. >> i am happy to do this outside, not in the election. >> we are talking to ted cruz heading outside, we will chat with voters i believe. >> we are following halle jackson with ted cruz. she got the interview, no one else did. gabe gutierrez also is in marco rubio's home state. gabe, marco rubio has to win florida. the voting isn't until march 15th. he is staking his claim here tonight. >> hi, a andryia. he is in minnesota, his campaign is hoping for a surprise victory there, a strong showing. they spent time and money in virginia. the keeper then tonight will be picking up delegates in several of these states and also cracking that 20% thresh hol in

states like golf in order to pick up these delegates. it's an expectations game. marco rubio is trailing donald trump quite a bit. over the last few day, he has been going over donald trump very, very hard. even last night, a shift in strategy, he sems to be having second thoughts about those personal attacks on his hair and spray tan and making this a more serious campaign. andrea, as you mentioned, it's a steep hill to climb. he could end up going o for 15 in these early primary an caucus, a tough ka is to make that he is having a strong showing in this race if he ends up o for 15. but his campaign feels the delegates map, eventually, they can pick up dem gats now and stay in it the long haul, eventually the party may coalesce behind him and he may be best positioned to take on donald trumpch as we a herd from halle, though, the ted cruz camp will have something to say about that. >> gabe gutierrez, thanks to you. we are in little rock, arkansas.

joy reed, we want to begin with what you saw in austin, georgia, money. it was great a raucous. let's talk about that. can, joy, can you hear me? >> oh, yes i can, i'm sorry, andrea. yes, sorry about that. yes, so donald trump -- >> talk about what happened with donald trump and those students in georgia yesterday. >> reporter: yeah, indeed. donald trump holding a couple rallies at university in georgia this one at valdosta university. a part of the university of georgia system. a group of about 30 black students attended that rally. most were wearing black. their suspension was to sit silently and do a silent protest. they were escorted out, asked to leave. several outside tearfully recounting what they said was racism. they said they were kicked out

of the rally simply because of their race, they were identified and targeted. we seen several protests take place at trump rallies. in fact, a white gentleman was escorted out. these students essentially saying they were asked to get out of their own campus because trump was there. back to you, andrea. >> thanks to you, joy reed. let's listen in to ted cruz talking to reporters. >> voting towing, i hope and believe today is going to be a very, very good day. >> [ inaudible question ]. >> well, i think the record turnout is a very promising sievenl we've seen that across the country in state after state after state. on the republican side, we're seeing massive turnout t. democratic purpose u turnout is to press. after several years of the failures of the obama-clinton economy and foreign policy, people on the democratic side are underwelmed by the

candidates they have to choose from, on the republican side, we've seen a very big field narrowed down quite a bit and today republican primary voters have a choice, they have ra choice whether they want a washington deal maker. some of them go to washington and keep cutting deals with democrats and harry reid and nancy pelosi or when they want a proven conservative. the debate last week showed sharp differences between the candidates. in texas, i believe texans want a proven conservative, someone that spent his entire life fighting to defend the constitution the bill of rights. if i'm elected president, we will repeal every word of obamacare. we will adopt a simple flat tax and abolish the irs. we will stop amnesty and secure the borders. all of that together will result in millions of high paying jobs, will result if wages going up. result in young people coming out of school with two, three,

four, five job offers. we can turn the economy around. we can bring back prosperity by stopping the obama xi. >> senator. do you feel -- >> what's your strategy? >> ted cruz talking to supporters. it's a must win for him in texas today as halle jackson was saying. ted cruz and marco rubio battling on who will be the number two or three in these super tuesday states to donald trump. oklahoma is one of 11 states. trump is favored in almost all of them. now the most powerful republican official in the country will come out with a remarkable challenge to the front runner. >> this party does not prey on people's prejudices. we appeal to their highest ideals. this is the party of lincoln. we believe all people are created equal in the eyes of god and our government. >> joining me now is is senator

who supports more ka rubio. we have seen rumblings within the senate. we heard a senator from nebraska saying he would not support donald trump if he were the nominee. what's at stake here for the party? you heard the speaker with an extraordinary defunsiation of the republican front runner? >> that's one of the problems we have right now. back when trump first got in, i thought he'd last about three day, but for some reason he's picked up. he's stayed up there. i wonder how deep that is, though, i really do. there is a lot of people who say are very angry, they want a change. he represents the biggest talk in that change. but i'm wondering, once they get behind that curtain if they're going to actually vote that way. i have to say this, being from oklahoma, i that you can to people all over, yes, of course, i am for rubio. but nonetheless, i can't find anyone on the other side who's really outspoken. now, i don't agree with senator

sass in what he said. i'm not sure i heard it right that he would actually vote for a third party. you know, we wouldn't do that. >> he said it to me yesterday. >> well, okay, he didn't say it to me. i don't like that idea. we had that one experience if you remember with ross perot and it seems like we should have learned from that. let me say this though, andrea, this didn't get out. i just heard another candidate talking and talking about being conservative. anyone who doubts that marco rubio is a conservative, read the national review december 29th. when they go, that's kind of the bible for conservatives. they went through the whole thing. every issue, and talked about what a perfect comp servetive marco rubio is. rand i this i the other thing that people have to realize, there are five major polls that were taken in february. and those five polls whether it's one on one, rubio against clinton, rubio wince all five of them. but when it's trump against

clinton, he wins one, clinton wins four, that should be the most the greatest concern of republicans who are watching and paying attention today. >> we'll hearing from some of your republican economy. have you 21 republicans up for re-election, free vacancy and the whom concern is that donald trump, if he loses big and keeps the nominee, will take the senate with him. so a lot of these republican senators are talking amongst themself, sass says he didn't have to worry about re-election about supporting a third party candidate and campaigning against trump in their states to save themself and save the senate. what duping of that? >> well, i think, first of all, you have to talk to the individuals who up are up in 2016, who might be in competitive races. i've talked to all of them. about half of them say, aye, you know, it could be a drag, if it is touch at the top of the ticket. some of them are not concerned.

it's about 50-50 concerned that he would certainly he is not going to be helpful in my opinion to any of the race, republican races for the united states senate, if he ends up being our tom knee. >> where is rubio going to win? i mean, he has to win in florida, clearly. where else can more ka rubio win? he's behind in florida. >> well, i think as you go, it's very complicated, because you have some winner take all states. some are po portional. some are conditionally proportional, such as texas is. someone will have to win 50% and also get 50% of the county, that's unlikely that that could happen. on the other hand, when you have 99 votes down in florida, those can be winner take all, most likely would be. so until the 15th, not today, the 15th, i don't think we'll have enough information in as to

determine whether or not somebody is really out. now, clearly, either cruz or rubio would, you know, would win if one of them were out. but the one who has the largest winning streak, the largest group behind him, in terms of vote is rubio. so i think we'll come to that point at some point we're not having two of them so trump stays ahead. >> our polling shows if one or the other got out, donald trump would still be able march towards the nomination. neither of them one on one can get a majority over him, a delegate? >> well, i'm not sure what you are saying. certainly, either one of them can beat not either one of them, marco rubio can beat trump and

then turn around and beat hillary. so that's what the pom versus shown. i'm talking about the five major polls in the field on this past month, february. so i think it's very clear, one of our candidates can win much, much easier the final election. okay, i belong to the abc club, that's anybody but clinton. i look at who is the best run u one to run against hillary clinton. clearly, that one is marco rubio. >> senator, thank you very much. of course, the voting continues today in oklahoma. we have to see whether ted cruz can make inroads into his state of texas. thank you very much. coming up, running up the score, hillary clinton on her way to new photos, trying to pick off bernie sander's new chances in that super win caucus state. we will check in on the trail. i'm andrea mitchell reports only on msnbc, the place for politics.

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today is on enormously important day. i am confident if there is a large voter turnout, of course, in this country, we are going to do well. if not, we are probably going to be struggling. >> i really regret the language that is being used by republicans. you can't just say whatever pops into your head if you want to be the president of the united states of america. >> bernie sanders after voting this morning in his hometown of vermont. hillary clinton pivoting towards a general election matchup against donald trump. can she pull away from sanders today and secure all the nominations? i am joined ear in miami,

hillary clinton will be speaking tonight. kristen, it's clear what her strategy is already. >> it is. first of all, she's stopping in minnesota today, andia as you pointed out, she will do radio interviews there, trying to kick off the delegates for senator sanders. look, she adds up in all super 11 tuesday states, senator sanders has ads up in five states, despite the fact he raised $40 million. even in sanders sweeps all five states, he would properly earn far fewer delegates than secretary clinton if she sweeps the states she has a strong showing,? so far texas, georgia and tennessee show her with a 2-1 lead t. clinton campaign is feeling confident because of the overall delegate counts we have so far.

that's a 20 full increase over senator sanders. andrea, the clinton campaign doesn't think they can 'ut this race out of reach tonight. however, if she has a strong showing tonight and again on march 15ing when florida votes, that's when they think they can put this race out of reach. andrea. >> thanks to kristen welker here in florida and to casey hunt up in vermont. bernie sander's strategy, first of all, he's raising a ton of money online. he has ads in florida. which they don't vote until the 15ing. he hasn't drilled down on other states, strangely, you think he could have made a pitch for, virginia and tennessee on this super tuesday. >> reporter: >> that's right, andia it concentrated on the states up north and with a smaller minority population in the electorate. the calculation being that within they looked at the rest

of the map, they didn't think they could make a significant delegate dent, if they did spend tear candidate's time and their money in some of the states across the south with large populations of african-american voters. there is no doubt they are bracing for a difficult night tonight t. sanders campaign, sanders, himself, knows this will be a tough one. so they're already kind of looking past super tuesday to the upcomie caucus estates on te map. one thing i would say, though, this is not a campaign talking and geting out of this race. they're talking about the fact only 15 states will have had a say in this process, once this night is over. and look for sanders to keep hitting the trail as hard as he has been before. andrea. >> and going ahead towards california on june 7th. he says all the way to the convention, in fact. thanks, so both kristen welker, casey hunt, on the democrats today and coming up next march

madness with the biggest batch of delegates at stake. what is in the way for tomorrow t. front runner has closed the deal. donald trump and governor chris christie have just arrived in columbus. a rally there in ohio. john kasich's territory. you are watching andrea mitchell reports on msnbc. ♪ ♪ ♪ only those who dare... drive the world forward. introducing the first-ever cadillac ct6. most new wealth flows it's called a rigged economy, and this is how it works. to the top 1%. it's a system held in place by corrupt politics

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♪ or if you're young or old.are if you run everyday, 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. a confident donald trump is already looking around at a rally in columbus ohio at this hour about to take the podium. they do not vote for another two weeks. joining me for our daily fix, jeremy peters is here with me in florida. msnbc constrictor and columnist for the post. eugene, first to you, what is the impact of the speaker of the house coming out, paul ryan, so strongly, addressing the obvious

division in the republican party we have been hearing about now for roots and since the senate came out this week. >> well, it's certainly a bounce, andia coming on super tuesday, a bombshell, time for a potential impact on super tuesday, it's unclear what impact it will have on today's voting. it's unclear whether that sort of appeal i guess what you what he says, will it influence who like and respect paul ryan, but they might have been thinking about joining the trump band wagon, will it cause them to have second thoughts? it soems to me this sort of thing, you know, it takes a while for it to have impact if it's going to have impact, so i guess i'm not anticipating seeing much tonight. >> you know, i was talking to

halle barber, former mississippi, once reagan white house political director, he says the republicans he is talking to are divide between those who fear donald trump as the nominee would lose and take the senate down with him, or those that fear he would win and he's not a true conservative, jeremy peters, that's pretty much what marco rubio has been saying on the stump if you have been following him. >> i think there ask this overwhelming deep abiding fore, if donald trump is the nominee, he somehow becomes the voice of conservatism and for conservatives who don't believe he is a true conservative, that's terrifying. beyond that, they see him as pie sonning the well for perhaps a generation with republicans. you have somebody who has alienated the fastest growing population of hispanics and almost demographic ally no way or a narrow path for republicans to capture the white house if they done appeal to hispanics. >> senator ben sass, a freshman

from nebraska talking to us yesterday, saying he will not support donald trump. he is pretty much alone so far in the senate saying he won't support him if he's the nominee. he is talking about supporting a third party candidate. let's watch. >>. >> i think a lot of people that want to scream washington is broken. they need to recognize, there are people that say if this becomes the donald duke trump party a lot of us are out. >> eugene, there are third party the constitution party on the ballot already could be a holding place for rick perry, paul ryan says he's not a candidate. but mitt romney, how likely is that among senate republicans up for the election or 21 of them feel at least in their states they can campaign against 2kru6donald trump if he's a nominee. >> as you know, party loyalty is a strong force, it's difficult, frankly, to imagine a

significant number of senate republicans actually bolting the republican party or the nominee no matter how worried they are of the impact of a trump candidacy. nonetheless, i have long since given up the business of prediction this year because predictions. >> you and all the rest of us. >> exactly. so who knows what will happen and who knows how they're going to react. trump could run the table tonight and we could be completely people would have to make up their minds. >> very briefly, jeremy, did marco rubio wait too long to challenge donald trump? >> he did. i mean, you can't all of a sudden step in when donald trump looks like he's running away with the nomination. if marco rubio had been more aggress 95 iowa, i think marco rubio would have a much stronger case for being the standard

bearer. >> the clintons have the nomination, certainly looking at that playbook, thinking they have to attack early and often. thanks so much, eugene robinson and jeremy peters. coming up next, super tuesday surprise in the race for 2nd place, can ted cruz or rubio spoil the trump speech? stay with us on msnbc. there's only one egg that just tastes better. fresher. more flavorful. delicious. only one egg with better nutrition... like more vitamins d, e, and omega 3s. and 25% less saturated fat. only one egg good enough for my family. because why have ordinary when you can have the best. eggland's best. the only egg that gives you so much more: better taste. better nutrition.

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over the place and they said, donald trump ordered him out. i was in my plane. i was traveling. i didn't even know these people. they are such liar, they are disguting people, i'm telling you, most of them. nah, you have about 20% of them that are good. 10%, by the way, 10% are actually great, 20% are good, for the most part the worst. here's something, good news, i have to tell you, be every we get to the escalator, cnn, trump 49 [ cheers ] lightweight senator marco rubio 16. lying ted cruz 15. good guy, he is a good guy, ben carson, 10% and did you ever hear of a guy named case kasich?

we'll save that for after tonight. right? we'll be back. we'll be saving it for after tonight. i tell you what, we really want to win ohio. we will when ohio. and we're up. you know the beauty is we're up quite a bit against him. he's your sitting governor. >> attacking the media, joining me now, howard dean, msnbc contributor, rick tyler, msnbc analyst and former cruz spokesperson, ted cruz, first to you, how do you stop the phenomenon na is donald trump? and what do you make of what paul ryan the speaker of the house did today? >>. >> well, i think trump or cruz has to enter the race. trump is due here to win in texas, more than likely toovents, maybe in another state, marco rubio has won nurk

how long cannot winning being winning strategy? so we'll see after tonight how many delegates have been accumulated. how far ahead donald trump is? he could be unstoppable. >> what about the party the republican party and what we see as a rail attempt to come up with some way to stop him? what do you make of paul ryan's very strong words today about trumps failure to denounce the kkk on sunday? >> well, i think it was unfortunate that donald trump did not denounce the kkk. he had a clear opportunity to do so. i watched that interview several times. it appeared that donald trump uns understood the question he was repeating david duke's name. when he didn't talk about him in the past. this is a brainer. when somebody is associated with the kkk, it's not hard to denounce them. he didn't do that. it's not just that unincident, though. he has repeatedly retweeted

white supremacist groups, racist groups. it's very concerning with the party. i think speaker radio inis rightly concerned we don't want someone, a standard bearer of our party to have this kind of reputation. you know, in a sense, i think the republican party is going through this sort of identity crimes it alien fates a lot of people. not just conservatives, like me, i used to call myself a conservative person. i vote republican. so a lot of us have lost our identity with the republican party, they have lost us. >> howard dean, how does hillary clinton campaign against donald trump? i know that they are coming up with a strategy and they know they have to then go after him. hit him. hit him hard. come back the way marco rubio actually did way too long. we saw what happened back in december when they went after him and he turned right away

against bill clinton on womanizing issues and calling hillary clinton an enableer and virtual silence for clinton for quite a while. >> you know, i think what silenced the clintons for quite a while is realizing they had a hard challenge on the left. if i were hillary clinton and i i don't think i can speak for her, i strongly believe she is not focusing on donald trump right now. she may mention him from time to time when he does egregious things. she has to win the primary. she's working really hard to do it. my guess is i don't want to speak too much for the republican, i don't think either of these primaries will be over until the 15th of march at the earliest. i suspect the clintons are not focusing on donald trump. they're focusing on winning the nomination. i think she will win. that's what you have to focus on, first things first. >> we know they were already talking about the fact that he is the most likely nominee. how much is it to go up against trump so unconvention am, who

cheated direction, on social media and has basically clobbered all his challengers in the republican party? >> my even view of this is donald trump represents a relatively small fraction of the republican party. i think we republican commentators for this program have said, most republicans believe, if he had a single opponent, whether marco rubio or ted cruz, he would have a real race on his hands. i also agree with the idea that he's probably not going to have a single opponent until he's pretty much wrapped it up. i believe march 15th is the winner take all primary t. winner get 99 votes, if marco rubio doesn't win, he is gone and trump is off to the races, we'll see, i've learned not to predict and not to prognosticate. one thing i learned in 2004 was, don't get ahead of yourself. the time to focus on winning against the republicans is after you have won the democratic nomination. >> probably a good lesson all around, indeed, thank you very

much, howard dean, thavs to live tyler as well. congress woman kel sigh gabbarred on rachel maddow last night explained why she supports bernie sanders. >> it came to the point where i had to decide, where can i be the most effective because there is so much at stake in this election. i am endorsing bernie sanders because he has that sound judgment and that foresight and that commitment to stopping these interventionist wars of regime change and there is a very clear difference there between him and secretary clinton. >> i am joined by deber waserman schultz, chair of the democratic national committee. in washington, in florida. there is something wrong with this picture. >> there is. >> the endorsement of bernie sanders on foreign policy grounds against the former secretary of state came on a day when there was the beginning of

a two part, very in-depth series in leading the "new york times," exposing the problem in hillary clinton's advocacy to intervene and how she persuaded the president to basically take out gadhafi and what we are you are seeing is a failed state result. plus the e-mails, the last bunch of 3,000 pages, what about her vulnerability on foreign policy? >> andrea, i know you are aware that i'm not in a position to be able to comment or analyze the caucus for either of our candidates. my role as a chair, to equally run, and the congressman if she was no longer able to follow our rules and be neutral, it was appropriate for her to step down. >> that certainly was her right

to do so. secretary -- we have two incredibly qualified candidates for president of the united states. if you look over the last 24 hours on the other side of the aisle, we have candidates for presidents talking about the size of one another's hands and ears, compared to our candidates talking about how to keep americans safe and continue to move our country forward and make sure people have an economic shot to succeed. i am confident the american people will ultimately elect our nominee as president. >> is there a place in the democratic party very for someone who is a young congress woman, a veteran from hawaii who represents a whole new voice in the democratic party and here she has either been shut out or feels she has no voice to play. >> that's not true at all. i've heard congress woman gabbard answer questions multiple times in the last day that said her decision was

exclusively related to her desire to endorse the candidate for president. which she could not do as a vice chair and an officer at the dnc. that was an appropriate decision. she certainly was and continues to be welcome as a member of the democratic party and she's an elected member of the democratic party from the state of hawaii, representing her state in the united states house of representatives. >> how, difficult is it going to be to campaign against to the phenomenon as donald trump. this is trump in huntsville, alabama with jeff sessions going after hillary clinton. >> she's probably protected by the democrats, but she should not be allowed to run, folks. i'll tell you. i will beat her. the other guys are not going to beat her, folks. they're not going to win. they're not going to win. and i guarantee you one thing, we're going to be talking about those e-mails every moment of

every day. >> say what you will about donald trump, the democrats are not turning out new voters. the turnout has been down. republicans are turning out the new voters there. attracting new people to the polls and it's partly they had so many candidates. it's partly donald trump. >> andrea, again, that itself simply to the the case n. nevada, we turned out more caucus goers than the republicans did. in iowa and new hampshire, we had nearly as many voters turn out for our primary and caucuses there as the -- >> turnout is down considering what happened in 2008. >> well, yes, it's down from 2008. but, each election cycle you look at in and of itself. and when it comes to this election cycle, the republicans are turning out voters, we're turning out voters that we know

ultimately are going to hang with our democratic nominee when we have one, going into the philadelphia convention and voters will rally around our candidates's message, because they want to make sure they have an opportunity to succeed. they don't want a president who is going to disparage entire religions and bar them from the country and turn back the clock on our american values. i can't believe the rhetoric and insultfest on the other side of the aisle talking about the size of hands and ears and the spray tan and what comes out of someone's pores, who sweats the most. really, this a kick boxing match on entertainment television or is it a presidential campaign? . the american people will elect

our candidate as a result. >> thank you very much. >> coming up, the panic button, they rebel against the front runner. we will talk to one republican congressman, joining the call for anyone but trufr. you are watching andrea mitchell reports only on msnbc. to folks out there whose diabetic nerve pain... shoots and burns its way into your day, i hear you. to everyone with this pain that makes ordinary tasks

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>> house and senate republicans in near panic over the likelihood of donald trump as the nominee. there is a fire, and it's rage within our republican party. i am convinced that if donald trump becomes our nominee the harm done to our party would be nothing short of catastrophic. congressman, what inspired you to write that letter? >> i'm so deeply troubled where we are headed as a party, donald

trump is not a republican. i'm convinced of this, i think the views that these espoused. the ones that appear to be conservative, i think there are more recent, he's embraced it more recently, fundamentally, he is not a person who is equipped in temperament, judgment or character to lead our troops. that's critical to me. i think his presidency, should he get to that point, would put america at risk. i fundamentally believe that. and so my conscience can be clear only if i have been clear on this matter. >> that is that i reject trump and i'm encouraging other republicans to do the same today. >> what do you think is going to happen in virginia voting today? >> well, i think the momentum is clearly with the rubio campaign and in full candor, i'm a strong advocate for marco, i love how he goes about broadening our party. i think he's got the temperament and the approach i have used in

second congressional district i don't use democrats as the enemy, i look at them as prospects. i think we will love them into the family. >> that is not weakness, but the approach that trump has taken i really can't see him, even if he does get the nomination, i can't see him prevailing in november. if he did, i think it truly would be just the most awful course that we could take as a country. so i'm doing everything i can from virginia too to help get our party back on the right track. >> so if he is the nominee, would you support him? >> no, i have been very clear about. that i would not. >> what should other republicans do? there are a lot of senate republicans up for re-election, any one of them who are in near panic? >> i say trust the american people. make your case to the american people. they will respond. you won't get everybody. i've learned to live with that. will you have some pushback. but if you vote your conscience, if you talk to the district. if you are accessible to the district and you layout why you are doing what you are doing, i

am convinced people will be with us. it is a defining moment and election for republicans and if we're going to win the hearts and minds and ultimately a diverse america, we got to go in the direction of like team rubio and reject the bully approach of the donald trumps he's not equipped to be president of the united states and any respect, i can't support him. my conscience will not allow that. >> congressman mitchell. thank you very much. meanwhile, in minneapolis, which is considered a stronghold, one of the few strongholds for bernie sanders, hillary clinton there today, she's in a coffee shop with the governor mark dayton, they are campaigning today, a couple of stops there, before they come through to florida, where she is planting her flag ahead of florida's march 15th primary. hillary clinton looking to run up the score today on delegates

against bernie sanders. sanders trying for minnesota, colorado caucus states as well as homebase massachusetts and vermont, of course, hillary clinton was in boston last night, bill clinton in boston today. >> thatry making a last run at massachusetts and hoping to make inroads there. so an exciting race on the democratic side. a lot of excitement, obviously, on the republican side. >> that does it for us with this edition of andrea mitchell reports super tuesday. tomorrow on the show, we will have the talk us the states, remember, follow us online on facebook and twitter. and tune in tonight for a special election coverage starting at 5:00 eastern. a heart attack doesn't care if you run everyday,

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>> and a good day once again from nashville, tennessee, i'm kregg melvin, this is the place for politics. we are in downtown nashville. just about a five minute walk from the state capital. pucketts is known for fantastic bar-b-que. super tuesday, well under way from nothing to manied with west. across the deep south a. live look here at wooster, massachusetts, where voters are casting their ballots. there's wooster, this is earlier montgomery, alabama a. lot of the vote already in early voting records have been shattered across much of the country, including right here in tennessee as well where more

than 283,000 people soeted. that's up roughly 17% over eight years ago. the big question, will donald trump close his biggest do you el to date? can hillary clinton do what she could not in 2008 and effectively wrap up a primary battle over a one time little known senator and does anyone drop out after tonight? all of the final polls show donald trump leading in every state voting except ted cruz' home state of texas. it won't give him enough delegates to lock up the nomination. this afternoon the gop establishment now visibly shaken over trump's latest controversy when he refused to disavow the kkk leader. house speaker paul ryan took a not so tough swipe without mentioning him by name.

>> if a person wants to be a nominee, there can be no evasion, no games gains. they must reject any group or cause that is built on bigotry. there party does not prey on people's prejudices. we appeal to their highest ideas. this is the party of lincoln. with we believe all people are created equal in the eyes of god and our government. >> reporter: we are also watching democrats this hour, hillary clinton at a last-minute stop to her calendar today in minneapolis. tonight's result, her delegates could erase bernie sanders, vermont senator voted first thing this morning in burlington, of course, burlington vermont is where combern bern started his political career, a four time mayor there. concentrating on five super

tuesday states, all of them outside the south. >> after a lot of deliberation, i know that bernie sanders here ought to have one vote, working on my wife. i think i probably got two. i am confident that if there is a large voter turnout today, across this country we will do well. if not, we probably will be struggling. >> reporter: let's get right to our teams spread across the country. jacob rascone is in ohio with donald trump. halle jackson is with ted cruz in texas. in new york, nbc's senior political editor mark murray, jacob, let's start with you there, you got the kkk flap combined with all of this incoming fire from marco rubio and ted cruz, now the house speaker paul ryan. how is donald trump addressing it or is he addressing it at all? >> reporter: the most we've seen him talk about the david duke controversy since the monday

morning interview with savannah guthrie, a tweet he put out after that saying he had already disavowed david duke. we have yet to hear him talk about that at his rallies. you haven't heard him talk about it today. he is giving his regular acceptance. he did talk about african-americans, specifically joblessness, he promised he would do something specifically for the african-american community saying we into ed to make america great for everybody. then he got cheers with that. he is talking about the protests. with ehad a few of those today he has talked about marco rubio and ted cruz. he hasn't talked about them at this rally in ohio. strongly we seen him in past rallies. he called marco a light weight. they were just moving on to regular stuff. notably, he's here in ohio not a super tuesday state, of course, he is looking beyond to one of

his big opponents, john kasich. this is his state. -se leading in the polls here, not by a lot. he moves on tonight to kentucky he'll be in florida. of course, not a super tuesday state either. but, of course, marco rubio says he will win florida. he has to win florida. so donald trump is confident in his numbers across the nation before super tuesday. he has reason to be confident in those numbers. he is looking beyond and looking like he wants to wrap this up beyond super tuesday, craig. >> jacob rascone there in columbus, ohio, donald trump speaking there at an airport hangar there in the background. jacob, thank you, sir. we'll come back later, rehema ellis standing by in minnesota. marco rubio, you know, he has not won a state yet. donald trump a short time ago saying he should drop out of this thing if he does not win a state tonight. what if anything are the rubio folks saying about donald

trump's call to get out of this thing, if he doesn't win tonight? >> reporter: listen, no way. look at this room, this room is packed with rubio supporters. let me take you down near this table. people are coming in, here, they are registering for marco rubio. these ladies are making sure they know where their caucus locations are tonight. i will ask larry to pan past me. take a look. it is packed to maximum capacity in this crowd. this is lori richardson, rubio supporter. >> yes. >> do you think he should drop out if he doesn't win the state tonight? >> he's going to win the statement tonight. he's going to win many insurance mince. >> reporter: you are sure of snit. >> i am positive. >> reporter: why are you supporting him? >> because i believe in his policies, he's likesable. i think he will work on both sides of the party and unite our country. he's a conservative voice that our country is sorely lacking right now. >> reporter: do you think people will come out for the caucus? it's going to be about 23 degrees tonight when it's august

caucus time. >> that's picnic weather. yes, we will be out in full force. >> reporter: and do you think that if he does not pick up a state how hard will it be for rubio to continue? >> well, i think that he can climb the biggest mountain and i truly do believe worry not talking about if he doesn't, because he's going to absolutely. >> reporter: thank you very much. they are strong rubio supporters. they're not giving up at all. thatry ready to see their candidate. >>ry he miami liss there in andover. thank you, halle jackson standing by in houston. halle, when you look at the final polls the polls we have been looking at here the last two days, ted cruz leads from ten points to 15 points. he spent the last two days in texas alone, if he loses there, if there is a surprise the narrative, of course, will be that he can't win his home state, how can he win a general?

is the campaign even privately considered that they could lose on his home turf? >> reporter: you know, i think that a lot here in texas for ted cruz, it's got to be the end of the road. you done see how he moves forward after stake on being strong in the south and his own state and drop texas and being able to say you can beat a republican nominee. >> that said, i can tell you the campaign field is very confident they will pull out a win here in texas tonight. they got at least one vote, ted cruz and his wife. they were here at this polling spot in houston and one of the suburbs, we will walk you through the signs here, you run the gauntlet. i had a chance to talk with the senator both on his way into this polling site and on his way out on the other side. interestingly, there was a woman that stopped him. she said, i'm deciding 29 and donald trump. she showed up at the wrong polling place, since i have you, tell me why i should vote for you instead of donald trump?

and her and senator cruz had this moment. it was really interesting, it was the two of them t. crush of the media listening in on this conversation. cruz talks about the things on the campaign trail. you know, the fact that he believes he could be stronger. i followed up with him right after. that i want you to listen to what happened. >> donald trump loses the general election. the republicans recognize that. and what the polling show, if you look at the other candidates, their supporters come to us when they're out of the race. i think that's what we will see happening. >> that moment with that voter right there, that was interesting, did you expect ha? >> you know, listen, this is a job interview. this is, i am applying to work for you. to work for her and those are the questions voters ask every day. it's why we run a grass roots campaign. she is trying to zwhied it is for. >> reporter: that said, one of the other questions we talked about, was this idea that cruz

wants to frame this as a two-man race, marco rubio insisted he is not getting out of that race. so then it becomes a three-man race. how long does it go? at what point do you look at your money, your momentum? your path forward? make tough decision given that donald trump does look right now so dominant. >> that itself why tonight's super tuesday, craig, is so important. it's going to show how strong donald trump is in the south. remember, this is somewhere ted cruz has been campaigning since back in august. i was on a bus tour months ago in the sec primary states. he has talked constantly how he can connect with people in the south. his campaign talks about the culture of conservatives in the south being a good fit for ted cruz. if he is not able to come out with a strong showing, it will show where he can succeed, how dominant donald trump is in this republican race a. huge night, craig, it's tough to overstate it for how important this is in ted cruz' campaign. >> halle jackson, elbows her

what i to the front of line. thank you. mark, standing by for us there in d.c. mark, let's look at the numbers here, you know, of course, we covered the horse race. but all of this is a race for delegates. we've seen the headlines and what could happen the what ifs, let's talk about what's likely to happen. where are we you know seven, eight hours from now, with regards to delegates, mark murray. >> craig, if the polls end up holding up, you will see trump two a delegate lead over his competition to about 100 or 200 delegates, why that would be a lead, not insurmountable going forward, come march 15th, you will see the winner take all states of ohio and florida. say if donald trump ends up -- with 50 delegate lead after tonight, well, if marco rubio say is able to end up winning florida and ohio, that erases that 150 delegate lead. and so you know donald trump would clearly end up being in

the driver's seat if he ends up winning every state, maybe minus texas and minnesota on that caucus that was going upon there we are he ma ellis. he would not be able to put this away, at least mathematically until you end up getting past march 15th in ohio and florida. >> winner take all states. mark murray, such a special day and night, we pull them up from d.c. to new york. good to see you, my friend, as always. we would like to hear from you as well. do you ung the gop will be down to two candidates after super tuesday? you can vote at polls.msnbc.com. donald trump talking about hillary clinton right now in columbus, ohio. let's listen in. >> i came out, i'm betting hillary. i haven't seem started on hillary yet. hillary cannot make america

great. shelves talking something yesterday, making america whole. whom. no, i want great again. i want great again. i think i'll make a commercial. we'll make a split screen, she'll be saying, we'll make america whole, i don't think she knows what it means, i'll be saying, we will make america great again. so again, i love you people. i love you people. you are special people. i love the people of this country. that's why i'm doing this. i didn't need this. i didn't need to do this. okay. i didn't need, no earth the money, i don't care about the money. this is a lot of work, believe me. somebody said, have you the greatest energy of any human being i've ever seen, but this is a lot of work. but i do it because this country has been so good to me. we're going to bring back our country. we're going to start winning again. we will win win win. we will win so much.

i jokingly say, we're going to win here, we're going to win with trade. we're going to win with the military. we're going to win with obamacare. worry getting rid of it, repealing it, replacing it. >> drumonald trump there in ohi looking beyond super tuesday, ohioans heading to the polls, not this weekend, but next. what you heard there was donald trump talking about the democratic front runner hillary clinton, of course, we heard hillary clinton spending some time talking about donald trump over the past two days as well. headed to the polls here in tennessee this morning, shortly after they opened that talked to voters and west end middle school is about 6 piles from where i'm sitting right now in nashville. it's an upper middle class neighborhood. a stones throw from vanderbilt university. the precinct told me it was noticeably busier than past elections. there was a wait from the time we arrived until the time we left. this is what the primary voters

in nashville told me a short time ago. >> you got a couple nuts running. i want to vote for somebody who is not a nut. for me, that was kasich. we got two senators with no record of doing anything. we got one businessman who is great at marketing. >> what about mr. trump? >> what about him? oh man, i think he's crazy. >> for bernie or hillary. >> why do you mean either? you are walking in the booth. you have to make up your mind in the next three minutes. >> yes, i do. i was going to think about it in line. >> rubio is a great candidate. >> is rubio a great candidate? >> a great story. immigrant parents. came from nothing. trump inherited a lot of money. so it's a great story. >> reporter: here with me now, haley mason with nbc affiliate in nash victim, tennessee, joey garrison a political reporter. haupg for sticking around.

joey, this is your ad line here. this is your headline from the tennesseean, why tennessee matters? for folks who did not hop online and pick up a paper this morning. >> i think months ago, talking specifically about the gop primary, months ago we circled this day as the day the gop nomination process moves south. tennessee is right in the middle of the bible belt, which has been the heart of the republican party for decades. i think looking at the three top runners here, each go in thinking they have a reason to win. you know, trump looking at the most recent poll was up 18 points, obviously, that's giving him sort of the nod as the favorite. long ago, ted cruz kind of made these sec primaries in tennessee a key part of this campaign. he built everything on the biggest grass roots here. moving to marco rubio, he endorsed lamar alexander, he sort of had the zb op

establishment here. we'll see if it's enough to catapult them up a little higher than he was a week or two ago. >> the sec mooim primary. six southern states, tennessee holding primaries today. haley, i know you spent some time talking to voters, specifically following the cruz campaign. what are voters telling you? i know you will be at cruz campaign headquarters tonight. what are they telling you? >> in franklin, tennessee, if cruz headquarters, voters i talked to say they're not concerned about the polls showing trump leading. they care about cruz' principles. a lot of them say they care about his constitutional values and that's what they're voting on. the cruz campaign tells me they're confident. they have 400 people throughout the state on the phone mpgs ba. >> that i have people on the ground. they have a lot of support. >> that i feel despite the numbers. >> here's the thing with the cruz campaign.

i was in the hotel room. it is obvious, they have spent far more on television. numbers bear that out. of the 95 counties, he's got a campaign chair who issals a pastor in each of these counties, if ted cruz does not do well here in tennessee, what does that tell you about his campaign moving forward? >> obviously tonight, he's got to win in texas. we know that. but it's hard to justify his candidacy if he doesn't have a strong performance in a state like tennessee. again as you said, he is way more than the other candidates right now, which is sort of a sign of how important it is to his campaign. so if you can't win in the southeast here, at a place where you started laying the ground for your campaign a long, lodge time ago. >> evangelical christian voters. >> the road doesn't get easier for him from here. it's an parent state for at the time cruz. >> in terms of democrats, bernie sanders hasn't been to this

state at all sense he announced he is running. >> it's not surprising, bernie sanders wife spoke to one of my colleagues last night. she said at first, it was snow for them. secondly it was snow for us, this enthe third time they had a prior engagement. but hillary clinton has made eight point to come just sunday. shelves at mahari medical college, a historically black university graduating medical degree. she talked about break not building barriers, breaking down barriers. she i guess came back to kind of seal the deal in a way that bernie sanders has not. he's just had rallies, a feel the "bern" campaigns, but he has not had a presence here in tennessee. >> that is showing with his numbers. >> haley mason, a big thanks to you, a big thanks to you as well. again the "tennesseean" here, that's your byline, i should have noted that off the top. >> appreciate it, craig. >> so much ahead on this super tuesday with polls opened in about a dozen states across the

country. a live look right now at voting in wooster, massachusetts. this is wooster, massachusetts, home of holy cross among a men of college university or twoch the candidates rallying throughout the day, donald trump we showed you donald trump there in columbus, ohio. the left side of your screen wrapping up that rally. hillary clinton making a campaign stop on the right side of your screen in minnesota. up next. we turn to the democratic race, whether clinton will be able to pull away from bernie sanders after the results come in tonight. this is msnbc, the place for politics. zblrnlg

is. >> i need you to come out and vote tomorrow in the primary here in virginia on soup irtuesday to bring everybody you

can. >> but the people of massachusetts speak loudly. we are going to win in massachusetts and massachusetts will help lead this country into the political revolution. >> bernie sanders and hillary clinton there, monday night, making the push to get voters out on this super tuesday. it's big states for democrats today in 11 states and american samoa. sanders holding the lead the two state. we are showing the republican, already, hillary clinton has 19 dell gather . that's more than five times, it's starting to look like bernie sanders could have a rough road. meanwhile the "new york times" reporting that the clinton campaign is already planning how

to defeat donald trump. a live look right now at hillary clinton in minneapolis, minnesotach we lost that shot. let's go to msnbc casey hunt in burlington, vermont, where bernie sanders is holding a rally. casey hunt standing by there. casey, good to see you. what are the sanders' folks saying about expectations tonight? >> reporter: hey, craig. well, we know this is going to be a tough night for bernie sanders and his advisers are saying as much. bernie sanders, himself, acknowledging this morning after voting that they could struggle tonight if the voter turnout is not where they need it to be. >> that has been their key indicator of how well, he will do across all of the states we seen vote income so far. now, of course, they're looking at five states, mostly in the northern portion of the country, plus oklahoma. they're also looking at colorado, massachusetts, vermont, of course, he expects to win here.

massachusetts potentially a key bellwhether, the polls have shown that race pretty close. it's the kind of state bernie sanders if he's going to mount a successful challenge to hillary clinton should be able to win. it's a white work, class vote here. it's very important and that's where he has been focusing his energies. but you know what, craig, no matter how he does tonight, it's pretty clear that they feel that he is going to go forward no matter what into these march states coming up. they say at this point only 15 states have had their say, sanders, of course, has been raising millions of dollars, more than 5 million just in one day. yesterday 41.5 million in the month of february. so he'll certainly have the resources to continue t. question is going to be, how much pressure does he come under to drop out and let hillary clinton run against donald trump? if, in fact, he doesn't do well tonight. craig. >> already. casey hunts there in burlington, vermont. where, again, bernie sanders

spent many, many years as mayor there. thank you so much. kristen welker standing by for us in maiami, florida. what does it seem like there? >> reporter: well, craig, the clinton campaign is feeling very confident heading into tonight. with the polls show she has a strong lead not only nationally but in a number of these super tuesday states, tennessee, georgia and delegate rich texas. you heard casey talk about the fact that sanders should do well. i spoke with a source that corroborated that, if senator sappeders doesn't feel confident in states like colorado and minnesota that it will be tough for him to stay in this race. even though he is raising millions of dollars. what is so interesting, senior

sanders, despite the fact that he has a lot of money secretary clinton is up with avrds, outpending him by about a million dollars. secretary clinton increasingly looking towards the general election, setting her sits on donald trump. she just wrapped up a gavel with reporters in which she expressed disappointment with trump now with his kkk this weekend. to give you a pre vie what we will hear if these two face off in a general election. this democratic strategist who i was speaking with said if it's clinton versus trump, it is going to be all hands on deck in the general election for democrats. craig. >> kristen welker there in miami where hillary clinton again holding a watch party later on tonight. thank you. up next, a group of students from valdosta state in georgia say they were kicked out of donald trump's rally on campus

yesterday before trump took the stage. this is a story a lot of folks have been talking about. they say it's because they are black. police say otherwise. two of those students share their story on the other side of this break. 's called a rigged e, and this is how it works. most new wealth flows to the top 1%. it's a system held in place by corrupt politics where wall street banks and billionaires buy elections. my campaign is powered by millions of small contributions. people like you who want to fight back. the truth is you can't change a corrupt system by taking its money. i'm bernie sanders. i approve this message. join us for real change. chuck, i know i have a 798 fico score, thanks to experian.com. kaboom... get your credit swagger on. go to experian.com. become a member of experian credit tracker and take charge of your score.

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and that unlimited 2% cash back from spark means thousands of dollars each year going back into my business... that's huge for my bottom line. what's in your wallet? >> lots of questions this afternoon about why a group of mainly black students was removed from a donald trump event in georgia monday. nearly 30 students from vam dos that state university were escorted out of trump's rally on their campus before trump ever took the stage t. students tell nbc news, they had tickets to the event. though they say no one checked those tickets. it is unclear who asked for the students to be removed. trump campaign denies reports that trump, himself, made the request and a spokesperson says they had no knowledge of the incident at all.

the valdosta police chief tells msnbc, in part, there were 30 or 40 students causing a disturbance in the area t. trump detail and local law enforcement confirmed they were using profanity and asked to leave the complex. trump personnel then escorted the students out of the arena. the incident happened hours after protesters interrupted another trump rally in virginia chanting black lives matter, before they were escorted out. i am joined now by two valdosta state university seniors in that group escorted out of the event yesterday a. big thanks to both of you for being with me here. let's start here the vam zos th-- valdosta police say your group was using profanity. is that true? >> no, sir. i think that was the vam dos that daily times, mr. childress,

he was saying that, i don't think he was inside when we got removed. i saw mr. childress when we were outside and asked to leave. what was going on after we were told to leave, we weren't given a reason, later they released a statement saying it was not them, it was the trump parity i believe, so i'm not sure exactly what mr. childress was speaking of. maybe when we were asked to be escorted out without given a reason. we were a bit upset, a lot of people with us, because we were given a reason. mr. childress wasn't inside at the time when the sheriff asked us to leave in numbers. i'm not sure what he was speaking about. >> jasmine what did they say about why you were being asked to leave? >> they didn't give us any explanation or reason why we were being escorted out. all they kept saying is we need you guys to be removed from the premises and that, you know, they had a right to that

property and because they wanted us gone, we had no reason to be there anymore. >> we have asked for a statement from the university, itself. they have fought responded just yet to our requests. why were you at the event? are you a donald trump supporter? >> sir, we were all attending the vent so we could receive more information about his policies because how he's portrayed in the media, we don't get in-depth report of his policies. so we all decided to go as a unit and be there in solidarity, when we got there, people were there with their friends and family. so we attended to receive a lot of the information about his policies. but as you heard, we were removed before he even made it to the stage. >> so the plan was to never show up and disrupt the event, or so show up and protest, that was never a part of the plan? >> no, sir. >> it wasn't at all. like he was going to say, there was an e-mail previously sent

out stating that it was not a protest at all. and we were just coming as students to learn about what this potential presidential candidate was going to speak about like he said, not a lot of us had a previous knowledge of what he was going to talk about. some of us had class projects we had to come and do. so it was all about coming out, being educated on what he was speaking about. there was no intention of causing any disruption. you know, in his rally or anything like that. >> reporter: jasmine, you tweeted out a message yesterday. with e'you would this off your feed. if you are going to the plex today, please wear all black. business casual, if you can. 4:30 on the tennis courts. sit together for the duration of the rally. bring a book, some head phones or just come vibe with everybody. that's for the cause. hit me up for any details. what it was cause that you were referring to and why take a book and head phones to a political

rally? >> it was just what we wanted. it wasn't -- we didn't want people to assume we were coming there to cause any disruption. like i said, some people had a class environment to do. so, of course, they would need books, pencil, paper, make sure they had notes down in regards to what they were learning at the rally. in regards to us wearing black that had nothing to do with anything. it was just us coming towing as a collective and wearing one color and i personally think that was more than okay in regards to the time of showing up. we wanted to make sure we were all walking in there together and it's sad how it was portrayed, but you know we didn't think that it would take a toll on how it did. >> a big thanks to both of you for being with me this afternoon. i appreciate you coming. >> thank you.

up next from denver to roanoke. we will take you live to some of the busiest polling stations across this country on this super tuesday. special coverage continues live from puckett's, fantastic bar-b-que in nash victim, tennessee. is it becoming a better professor -- nashville, tennessee. whatever your definition of success is, helping you pursue it, is ours. .

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everything kids touch during cold and flu season sticks with them. make sure the germs they bring home don't stick around. use clorox disinfecting products. because no one kills germs better than clorox. and we are back live in nashville, tennessee, voting taking place right now across democrat hillary clinton looking to expands her lead in delegates tonight as bernie sanders hopes to pick up some momentum. both have their eyes set on colorado where sanders has been campaigning very hard for a win there. we got our team of reporters across the super tuesday states, msnbc national reporter is in colorado. msnbc correspondent is in texas.

nbc's ron mott is in alabama. cal perry is in virginia. you there in denver, democratic voters are preparing to caucus tonight. what's the scene like there, sir? >> reporter: hey, craig. yesterday we were in hillary clinton's campaign headquarters in colorado it was bustling, people worked the phones. similar to bernie sanders campaign headquarters. take a look over here. all these people are taking calls from voters, curious about the caucus process. it's a little confusing. tonight at 17:00 p.m., democratic part members gather at 3,000 locations throughout the state. >> that is where the prmpgs poll. a snapshot of the moment now who is supporting sanders and who is supporting clinton. the effort is to get those registered democrats out to the caucus sites. this is called a sticker party, craig. everybody is taking a door knocker, putting a caucus location stick on it. later today, in the next seven

hours, be every the caucus beginning, all these have to be hung on doors somehow, some way. erica is the director of the latino outreach on the sanders campaign, how are we getting these on the doors in the next several hours? >> we have volunteers and people across the state making sure people know where to go, what time to get to there, making sure they know where they are going. >> a lot of work still to do. jacob in texas, what itself the scene like where you are? >> reporter: hey, tony, thanks, a lot, i'm in the area of ft. worth in tarrant county, texas. i'm with la tani and her son ian, he is only 12, mom is keeping him a part of the process. who are you going to vote for? >> self hillary clinton. >> reporter: why hillary? >> she's my lady. i'm a true blue democrat. >> r. >> reporter: this is cool. are you a lucky guy to have your mom take you to vote so young.

what do you expect to see in there? >> a lot of crowdedness, a lot of people going in and out. >> reporter: he is right, a lot of turnout on the republican side. we see what happens tonight, ted cruz has got to perform well here if he wants to hold on and beat drumpltly toss it over to my friend and colleague ron mott in alabama. ron, over to you. >> reporter: hey, jacob, thanks very much. we're in montgomery, alabama the capital city billed as the busiest precinct here of the capital estimate already the turnout is heavy. they are closing in on a quarter of the registered voters have come out already, it's 3-1 republicantive. we've had a number of democratic voters come up to tell us not all alabamaens are republicans and we've had a nub of peop-- nf people tell us it is donald trump, donald trump, the issue that seems to resonate is immigration. so the message that you saw over the weekend with senator session

endorsing drunk, immigration is very much a big issue here in alabama some let's head up to the mid-atlantic, a colleague kyle perry in roanoke, virginia. take it away. >> reporter: we are here in roanoke. as you said, this is an open primary, you walk in, let them know whether you want to be republican or democrat. you get a paper ballot. you fill it out. you drop it in the box. it will be interesting to see the split in the south here in virginia and northern virginia. craig, i know you are familiar with. it will be interesting to see if marco rubio can counter who is a advantage vote here in southern. have a. craig. >> all right. kyle perry there in roanoke in northern virginia. >> that suburb of d.c. you are in what many folks refer to as the real virginia. a big thanks to all of you. don't miss the results as they start to roll in, folks. chuck todd, brian williams,

rachel maddo you, chris mathews, hosting special coverage of the races starting at 5:00 p.m. eastern. msnbc. it could be a very long night. be sure to tune in. also happening right now, a memorial for the late supreme court justice, antonin scalia in washington. associate justice clarence thomas spoke a few moments ago. here's a part of what you said. >> for different reasons and from different origins, we were heading in the same direction so we walked together and work together for a quarter century. and along the way, we developed an unbreakable bond of trust and deep average. many will fittingly, deservedly and rightfully say much about

his intellect and jurisprudence. but there is so much more to this good man. >> associate justice clarence thomas there talking about his friend and colleague antonin scalia, thomas in the headlines on monday for break his silence on the high court, justice thomas is specing for the first time, in front of the supreme court in roughly ten years. with we will continue to monitor this and bring you the latest developments as they happen there in washington. we'll be right back. its way into your day, i hear you. to everyone with this pain that makes ordinary tasks extraordinarily painful, i hear you. make sure your doctor hears you too! i hear you because i was there when my dad suffered with diabetic nerve pain. if you have diabetes and burning, shooting pain in your feet or hands, don't suffer in silence! step on up and ask your doctor about diabetic nerve pain.

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voters are heading to the polls here in tennessee, just one of the super tuesday states. more than a million voters could show up at polls across the volunteer state. that's in addition to the 385,000 ballots already cast in early voting, up 17% over eight

years ago. for republicans, donald trump has a sizeable lead here in tennessee, and that's according to the latest wall street journal marist poll. on the democratic side, hillary clinton has a commanding lead. i want to bring in the chairman of the republican party, ryan haymes. ryan, let's start with turnout. i spent some time at western middle school. a precinct captain told me up over the last election. is that what we're seeing statewide? >> it absolutely is, and here in tennessee, republicans have picked up ballots 2-1 compared to the democratic party. so the excitement out there is very real. you can feel it when you're out talking amongst the public. i think what it is is a reaction against the policies of barack obama and hillary clinton. tennessee voters are, quite frankly, tired of what they're seeing out of washington and the liberal policies the president has put forward, and they're ready to rebuke that. we're seeing large numbers, and i think we'll continue to see

that in november. >> we just heard the issues for republicans at the polls. what's driving the democrats at the polls? >> health care for everybody. we're talking about in tennessee we see hillary clinton continuing the policy of barack obama. >> i want to take look at the demographics of the 2008 democratic primary here in tennessee. here's a look. 59% female, 29% black, 61% over the age of 45. four years ago to now, how has that -- excuse me; eight years ago to now, how have democratic voters changed in tennessee, or have they changed at all? >> keep in mind, in 2008 we lost the state house in tennessee. the same year barack obama was elected, we lost that, and at the same time we had senate control and house control. so we're looking to regain some seats in the house. once we get a president that can

push some policies that will help all tennesseeans. >> one guy, card-carrying republican, said he's voting for marco rubio, acknowledged that rubio probably won't win here in tennessee. and i said, what happens if donald trump gets to be the nominee? would you vote for him? absolutely not, absolutely not, i'll vote for hillary clinton. are you hearing that a lot, that people won't vote for him? >> not a whole lot. we've taken the governor's mansion, the state house, the state senate, and we've turned those into supermajorities. it's because we're rebuking the policies that hillary clinton and barack obama are putting down. that's what's driving voters, and it's going to continue on into november. >> alexander endorsed marco rubio, the governor also

endorsed marco rubio. how much of an effect do we think those endorsements are going to have with voters? >> i think any time you have leaders like alexander endorsing a candidate, it's going to push leader for that candidate. >> 385,000 votes had already been cast before those endorsements came in. >> that's true, and we'll see what happens tonight. i think what tennesseeans are looking for are results. we have the fastest results in tennessee in regards to education. we're consistently ranked the number one place to do business, and that's because our conservative policies are working. washington's aren't. >> this is the first presidential primary voters will have to present a photo i.d. in tennessee. do you think that will have any measurable effect at all? >> i hope it doesn't, but unfortunately, it speaks to the policies the republicans put in

place. not letting people who live in tennessee to vote about things that affect them, like tuition rates. hopefully when we get the republicans out of the state house and the state senate, we can hopefully get some ideas to represent who they are. there are students who live in chicago or florida that say, according to their state, they're not accepted as ate zenz and need proof. >> if you need an i.d. to rent a movie, if you need an i.d. to buy a drink, i think the voters will be okay with that. we may disagree. >> how surprised are you that a guy like donald trump is doing so well, specifically with so-called christian evangelical voters in tennessee? >> tennesseeans have a right to be angryer than they are. i'm surprised they're not lashing out even more than they

are. this country has problems and hillary clinton and barack obama have created that. >> the debate continues. thank you so much for your tennessee hospitality as well. i appreciate that. earlier we asked, do you think the gop race will be down to two candidates after super tuesday? here are all the results so far. 35% of you say yes, 65% say no. continue to weigh in at pulse.msn brks krrk pulse.msnbc.com. a big thanks to our friends here in downtown nashville, tennessee. i'm craig melvin. i'll see you back here tomorrow. the road continues and will be in cincinnati, ohio. thomas roberts up next from norfolk, virginia.

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the battle for virginia is on. hi, everybody, good afternoon. i'm thomas roberts. we are live in norfolk, virginia. you see the battleship wisconsin behind me and a beautiful day along the elizabeth river in the tide water area. just over this side of the water is the city of portsmouth. you can see one of the boats currently on the dry dock. there is 109 delegates which include superdelegates for the democrats. we're going to talk about the reverse electorate and why it is almost a microcosm for america. but this is a day that almost needs no introduction. outside election day, super tuesday is one of the biggest political events of the year. it's a political spectrum to be hold. now 12 states on the democratic and republican side. look at this map. it stretches from vermont to

alaska. more delegates are up for grabs today than any other day in the 2016 election calendar. the remaining hopefuls are spread out against nine different states today, and take a moment to consider how today could and will fundamentally change this race. take ted cruz. he voted in texas a bit earlier today, presumably for himself. but even if he takes his own state with 150 delegates, on the table we look at the goliath donald trump that could make a bigger, cleaner sweep of the other states. look at the states. we have a lot of delegates. tomorrow we could ask when the real estate billionaire will have the gop nomination officially locked up or not, and that's why today is so exciting. our reporters are following all the campaigns today in the key super tuesday states as well as the winner takes all state of florida, which votes in two weeks. and we're looking right now at a different shot of marco rubio. are you guys saying we have a shot of marco rubio? let's go ahead and listen in.

>> today a judge in new york refused to throw out the case. in fact, a four-judge panel said this case moves forward. [ applause ] >> so he's under investigation for fraud, but this is more than just about trump university. that's a fraud case and it's outrageous. here's what i realized as i watched that video. what he did to those people is what he's doing to americans now. he's going to people and saying, make me president of the united states, and i am going to take on illegal immigration. the fact is he built trump towers with illegal immigrants from poland. he says he's going to bring jobs back for america, but he doesn't tell people he makes all his clothing line in china, and in mexico. if he wants to bring jobs back from china and mexico, he can start today by announcing that all the clothes that says trump on it will be made in america from now on. [ cheers and applause ]

>> he says he's going to protect the american worker. i can tell you in florida, 300 workers applied to work at his hotel. he didn't hire them. he said he couldn't find a qualified american. there were at least 300 people who were qualified. he didn't hire them. he hired guest workers from abroad. now we're hearing his true idea about immigration may not be what he said on the stumpf. it was off the record so we can't know what he's saying. he can fix that right now by asking the "new york times" to release the audio of the off the record interview that he gave. [ applause ] >> he says he's running because these politicians and these people in washington -- and he's right, these people are always cutting deals and things are bad for america -- but he says that every issue no matter what. everything is negotiable. there are some things not negotiab negotiable. the constitution is not

negotiable. [ cheers and applause ] >> and so you quickly realize what you have here is a world class con artist and a sham is preying on people's fears and people's angers to get their votes. except the consequences are not a sham degree. the consequences are the presidency of the united states, the future of the conservative movement, the identity of the party of lincoln and of reagan, and ultimately the future of america. anyone who votes for donald trump today in these caucuses is voting for hillary clinton in november. [ cheers and applause ] >> because all of these things i just said, all these things i just said the media knows about, and they're waiting to tear him apart. and by the way, the party of lincoln and reagan cannot have as its nominee someone who refuses to condemn the ku klux klan. three days have gone by. he still won't do it. [ applause ] >> i'm going to say it right now. there is no place in the conservative movement and there is no place in the republican party for the ku klux klan or

david duke or white supremacists or any racism. [ cheers and applause ] >> and he still won't condemn them. so yes, i am angry about this. because this is a scam. and the consequences are too high. and the opportunity before us to go in a different direction is too real. and that's what i want to talk to you about. i want to talk to you about a different direction for our country. not electing a con artist. and by the way, if any state in the country has experience with electing someone who runs on the promise of being some great celebrity, this tough-talking celebrity, well, how did that work out with jesse ventura? [ cheers and applause ] >> jesse ventura was an embarrassment. let me rephrase that. jesse ventura is an

embarrassment. but donald trump will be an embarrassment to america, will be an embarrassment to anybody who supported him. what he will do to our foreign policy will embarrass everyone in this room. anyone who is supporting him now, this can't happen. if any state knows that, it's minnesota because of the experience you had. [ cheers and applause ] >> now, we have a chance at a different direction. this different direction will require us not just to defeat hillary clinton, we will defeat her. i know if i'm the nominee, we will win. the democrats know this, too. that's why they attack me more than anyone else in this race. okay? but when we win, we have to know what we're going to do, and i'm here today to tell you what we're going to do and what it's going to lead to. first of all, when you elect me president of the united states, for the first time in eight years, you're going to have a president that follows the constitution of the united states. [ cheers and applause ] >> we've been listening to marco rubio at a rally he's holding in

andover, minnesota. voters will go out tonight to caucus in that state. i'm live in norfolk, virginia. i want to go to my colleague, gabe gutierrez. he's in advance of marco rubio in miami. that's where rubio is going to be tonight. how does the campaign justify rubio staying in this race if he doesn't get a win after super tuesday? what are they saying to you? >> thomas, good afternoon. you're right. marco rubio could wake up tomorrow after going 0 for 15 in the early republican primaries and caucuses, but his campaign says that at this point, they are really stressing the delegate count, and they feel very confident that marco rubio can come through super tuesday, pick up a lot of delegates in places like minnesota where he is right now. they're hoping for a strong finish there. and also in other places, like northern virginia, suburban areas around outside atlanta. the key thing for the rubio campaign will be whether they can crack 20% in some states that have that delegate threshold in order for him to pick up delegates. a state like georgia, for

example. i want to turn to something we just heard there from marco rubio at his rally in minnesota. aides from the rubio campaign tell nbc news that rubio wants to make a moorere dire closing argument ahead of closing on tuesday. that's why you hear him talking about donald trump being a con artist but not making jokes about it. he had been making jokes about his spray tan, about his hair. he absolutely refused to bite on that last night in oklahoma when an audience member threw out a joke about donald trump's small hands. rubio came back and said, no, i want to make this more about a serious election. it's a subtle but sure switch in strategy right before super tuesday. the question is, will this have an impact on voters? he faces an uphill climb in many of the super tuesday states. and he has a watch party in florida, his hometown, because

he's looking ahead to the vote in florida two weeks from now. he's trying to make the argument that even if he doesn't get a win tonight, people should stick around. the cruz campaign saying that's not a good argument to make. gabe gutierrez? >> i want to point out to our viewers you saw the camera go back and forth at the marco rubio rally in minnesota. apparently someone in the audience there felt faint and they were rushed out. marco rubio said a prayer and he has now moved back on to the campaign stump. we want to turn our attention to the gop frontrunner in this race and the very latest in the controversy after donald trump had to double down disavowing the kkk. we had house speaker paul ryan taking up the gop establishment flag this morning, taking a not so veiled swipe at his party's frontrunner. >> if a person wants to be the nominee of the republican party, there can be no evasion and no games. they must reject any group or

cause that is built on bigotry. this party does not prey on people's prejudices. we appeal to their highest ideals. >> reporter: nbc's jacob sorbona is in ohio. did this come up at all, or the comment about paul ryan? >> reporter: trump seems to have moved past this, thomas. he didn't say anything at the rallies this week, though he did have a prominent american pastor, mark burns, that he's had many times before introducing him. today the pastor took the stage and talked about the controversy and blamed the media for creating a controversy, because he said trump had already disavowed him and then he was repeatedly asked and he disavowed him again. so for this pastor he said, i know trump is not a racist, and the crowd went wild. but trump himself has not been talking about this, not since

savannah guthrie asked him about it monday morning on the "today" show. then he tweeted, look, i already disavowed him. so he has moved past, in his mind, from david duke. >> he said i had small hands. actually, i'm 6'3", not 6'2". he said i have small hands. they're not smaller. i've never heard that one before. i've always had people say, donald, you have the most beautiful hands. i never heard that one. >> reporter: talking about his beautiful hands there, and the crowd went wild. so he went after marco rubio, sort of, there, but it was pretty mild. in fact, he hasn't been going after marco rubio or ted cruz very strongly today. we saw him stick to his message for the most part, talking a lot about trade, talking a lot about the wall, talking a lot about the economy and getting -- even he talked about getting jobs for the african-american population, specifically, but he's staying

away from going after, strongly, his opponents. thomas? >> jacob reporting for us in ohio there. hallie jackson is in houston for us today. we saw you earlier follow cruz into his polling place. i know you spoke to him when he voted, but if he doesn't carry texas, how does he justify staying in this race? >> reporter: i think that would be tough, thomas, and if he doesn't end up winning texas, it's almost impossible to see how he moves forward after this. recent polling does show him in the lead. the campaign feels very confident in how he would do here. his campaign manager saying texas is most surely a win, and he himself will do very, very well in this state. frankly, he has to. the question then becomes, if he wins texas, can he win somewhere else, or does he need to win somewhere else or is it enough

to pick up a bunch of delegates in arkansas or oklahoma as the campaign is hoping to do. this is game theory, checking out the math, seeing how the game points add up. cruz and i talked a little bit about this. watch that exchange. >> if you want to beat donald trump, we've got to get to a head to head, one on one race. not only do i beat donald trump, i beat him resoundingly, 56-40. what donald trump is benefiting from is a frazzled opposition. >> reporter: so cruz wants to make this a two-man race, thomas, but marco rubio doesn't plan to let that happen. marco rubio plans to stick around, winning in florida, winning in his home state. the idea this could become a two-man race is one that cruz believes could happen as early as tomorrow, setting expectations it's going to be him and donald trump and everybody else way behind. in fact, way, way, way behind is

the exact quote from him. but here's the deal. if that doesn't happen, cruz will have a lot to answer for tomorrow morning. that's why tonight is so key. texas, of course, the super tuesday prize. 155 delegates at stake as people are showing up now to this polling location. i think it's just about lunchtime, so you're seeing folks line up again like they did this morning. thomas? >> hallie, great to see you, thanks so much. the pulse poll is up and we're asking you, will the gop race be down to two candidates after super tuesday? it's live. please go to pulse.msnbc.com. joining me now is an old friend of mine from affiliate wavtv. andy, good to see you. thanks for making time for me. >> thomas, it's great to see you right here in front of the wisconsin. >> it's good to be back. let's talk about the primary in

virginia and the military community. how will that play out? >> we have scott rachel who is in the armed services comes out again trump and says, anyone but trump. he says if it is trump, it will be catastrophic. the chairman says, out of character for trump to be the nominee, and he nor any elected party decides who it is. here at super tuesday where we're having primary voting, there is a faction now between the establishment republican party and the people like gary biler, people for trump in the fields, and they're the ones saying, wait a second here. this guy is where he is right now. >> here's the one who represents part of virginia. unlike trump, the true

republican party believes we can love our neighbor while fighting for our country. so does that feed into the narrative for the people out there that are a fan of trump because he is anti-establishment? >> it is, and they're saying, how can it be any worse? look at washington, d.c. right now. it's broken. let's go ahead and go a different direction. but the interesting thing here is this faction that's building up between the establishment and the other folks out there who say, we like donald trump. >> when it comes to democrats, what do you think of the wealthier, more liberal voters who are for hillary clinton? >> we know who is leading in virginia, trump and clinton. but i will tell you this. the supporters of sanders at the rally were a lot more enthusiastic for their candidate than what i've seen hillary's people for her. >> they had a packed house for bernie sanders over there. >> for an hour. >> the 129 delegates at stake

for the democrats, we've got superdelegates baked into that, but do you think bernie sanders can eat away at the delegate count, or is tomorrow going to be a different day for him when we look at the totality of super tuesday? >> i look at the polling and i'm averaging what i'm looking at. i don't see any poll that shows bernie sanders will do well in virginia. i don't see any poll other than trump who is going to do well here in virginia. but i will tell you this. marco rubio, there is a great effort under way, underneath the currents right now, to back marco rubio, and i think he's going to do better in virginia than what the polls are suggesting. >> we're going to see if this is kind of like charleston in south carolina, if richmond is going to go for him. there may be more cities for rubio. >> anyone but trump. that's the faction. >> glad to have you here. >> thomas roberts, good to see you. >> this is the largest naval base in the world, and norfolk and the surrounding areas also host members of the marine

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to learn how you can save energy and money with solar, go to pge.com/solar. together, we're building a better california. i don't think america has ever stopped being great. what we need to do now is make america whole, working together, rejecting the mean-spiritedness, the hateful rhetoric, the insults. that's not who we are. >> reporter: so there was hillary clinton yesterday already pivoting the general election fight against donald trump. but first she needs to defeat bernie sanders on this super

tuesday. and sanders cast his vote earlier in burlington, vermont this morning to get the day rolling. the sanders camp targeting five states where they think they can compete with a total of 288 delegates today. the clinton campaign is confident of wins in, the very least, six wins today to make up the sudden firewall. that would be a total of 571 delegates at stake in those states. i want to turn to nbc's kristen welker covering the clinton campaign in florida. the clinton campaign is hoping for a big win today and then push forward to the super tuesday states, which includes florida. >> reporter: that's right, the clinton campaign is undoubtedly feeling confident tonight, thomas. the reason is because she had such a strong showing in south carolina, and as you pointed out, they are hoping that sudden firewall holds, that she gets the same large african-american turnout that she got in south carolina, and that that propels

her to big victories tonight. i've been speaking with democratic strategists who say, look, if she can pick off a few of these states that senator sanders has been focused on, states like colorado or massachusetts, that's when you would really see secretary clinton start to pull away with this race. otherwise she will likely have a strong showing tonight and then she will head into march 15 when, as you point out, thomas, florida votes. it is a delegate-rich state, and the campaign says realistically they can't pull away until march 15. that's really the date they're focused on. that is why she's holding her watch party here in florida. democratic strategists tell me, though, that the way the clinton campaign and her supporters approach senator sanders in the next coming weeks will be critical. if hillary clinton does start to pull away with this race, they say her supporters should not call on him to get out of this race, they should give him space to run the campaign he wants to

run. after all, he has raised millions of dollars. he could stay in this race throughout california, secretary clinton increasingly turning her rights to the general election earlier today. in a gaggle with reporters, she had some very strong words for republicans and donald trump. >> he could be on the path. maybe somebody else can intervene and rise above that, but i'm going to wait and see who they nominate. you know what, i think every one of them has views and have made comments that are deeply troubling to what i want to see. whoever they nominate, i'll be sure to run against them. >> getting a look at secretary clinton's strategy there. whoever they nominate, she'll make sure they are divisive. thomas? >> kristen, thanks so much. we want to bring in msnbc's

kasie hunt. i'm sure you were able to hear hillary clinton there saying the bernie sanders' campaign can get out any time he wants. but he had a great $45,000 month of donations. besides super tuesday, kasie, and the numbers not leaning his way, is there a verification that sanders feels no justification to move forward? >> reporter: i think the opposite, thomas. i think bernie sanders fully intends to stay in this race at least through the next set of primaries this month. and if you listen to him talk about it, he'll say at least through the convention. really, as long as those supporters are willing to give him the money that he needs to sustain this -- take a listen to what he had to say earlier this morning when he was voting in burlington. >> our hope is that we can win a number of states, and in those

states where we don't do well, obviously, we want as large a vote as possible. the goal today is to end up with as many delegates as we possibly can. >> reporter: so, of course, they're trying to rack up those delegates. but the strategy to do that extends well beyond super tuesday and into the caucus states that are coming up, nebraska, maine, kansas, so if the states vote later in march, they hold caucuses which they think are a little more favorable for bernie sanders. they feel strongly this is part of the democratic process. only 15 states have voted. unlike other challengers, like we were just saying, he could have millions of dollars in the bank. of course, the challenge for him will be, and i think you'll hear this right out of the gate tomorrow morning, if, in fact, he doesn't outperform expectations tonight. there is going to be pressure from clinton supporters for sanders to get out of the race and let hillary clinton fight a general election against donald

trump in the better interest of the democratic party. whether or not they'll be willing to do that, a whole other question. thomas? >> kasie hunt reporting in burlington. thank you so much. special live coverage of all the states starts tonight at 5:00 eastern. we're here in norfolk, virginia, in front of the battleship wisconsin. we're going to go on the deck of the wisconsin right after this. that's weird. you want to work for ge too. hahaha, what? well we're always looking for developers who are up for big world changing challenges like making planes, trains and hospitals run better. why don't you check your new watch and tell me what time i should be there. oh, i don't hire people. i'm a developer. i'm gonna need monday off. again, not my call.

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if you have symptoms of a heart attack or stroke. decrease alcohol use while taking chantix. use caution when driving or operating machinery. most common side-affect is nausea. life as a non-smoker is a whole lot of fun. ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. good afternoon again, everybody. we're live in norfolk, virginia. we're on the deck of the battleship wisconsin. this gives you a beautiful view of the river. it's an amazing scene today as we've seen sailboats out on the river. i want to show you the helicopter pad that was added in the 1980s.

i was talking to one of the tour guides here that told me this was added to keep up with the soviets. little did they know it would come in so handy during desert storm when this ship was used. but also over here, look at these guns. right? i was told today that they can fire bullets and ammo that weighs 2,000 pounds, basically a volkswagen bug that they can shoot 26 miles away. but this was an amazing vessel in its time. they don't really have the skills training in the military right now to use it, but if they wanted to, they could get this boat -- this vessel back up and running in about a couple years' time. we're going to be back with much more, our live coverage from norfolk. we're getting our guests set up now. we're going to continue our super tuesday on the pier and we have reporters fanned out all over the country for super tuesday. stay tuned. we'll be right back with more

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i voted for hillary clinton. she's definitely our best choice. we've just seen the tip of the iceberg on donald trump. i would say that not only does he have a skeleton in his closet, he has skeletons in several closets. >> donald trump. >> reporter: why? >> because he's the only one that has not ever been on the government payroll, is not presently on the government payroll, or controlled by people that are on the government payroll. >> bernie. >> reporter: and why? >> because i think we really need him. my biggest issue is climate. bernie, i think, will actually act on climate. >> i choose hillary because i think she has better policy points. she has a clear plan. >> john kasich. >> reporter: why john kasich? >> i've been to ohio about four times in the past year for a high school reunion, watching ohio state, and so on. i have yet to hit a pothole in

the whole state of ohio. i just admire him. he's the only adult in the game right now. >> reporter: those are just some of the voters that i had a chance to talk to and interview at the norfolk zoo here in virginia. we are on top of the battleship wisconsin. it is owned by the city of norfolk as a museum. take a look at the teak here. there are four and a half acres of teak. they had to replace all the teak. i'm told between those moors there was all kinds of grass and plants that had sprouted up. but they had to get it back in tip top shape to be in service for desert storm. it's been here for the last decade as a living history museum. a pretty spectacular place to look at if you're in norfolk. here we are where dreams can be made or shattered.

here in virginia, they're open until 7:00 at the polls. i'm joined by jacob soboroff, and you told us yesterday there has been a tremendous early vote there. what are you seeing today, on actual super tuesday? >> reporter: we'll go check the numbers on the door in a minute, thomas, but first i want to introduce you to somebody. this is a gentleman by the name of glen, right? >> right. >> reporter: glen is about to vote. he has to go to a different location. we're not allowed inside, they don't let the media in. what did you see in there? >> i turned around since i have to go to another place to vote. >> reporter: who are you voting for? >> hillary. >> reporter: let me show you something quick. let me see if i can get a peek at the door. media, because of the laws here, are not allowed up to the door or inside polling places, and that's because of a state

statute that doesn't allow people here. republicans should have a lead on democrats in terms of turnout here. on the door it says as of 1:30 p.m., 114 democrats, 160 republicans at this location, thomas. republicans are coming out in bigger numbers than democrats are, and we'll see ultimately when the polls close here at 7:00 p.m. in texas. back to you. >> jacob soboroff in ft. worth, texas. after seven days on the road, chris jansing in richmond, virginia. let's talk about the bell watcher that virginia could be because they're saying it could go more toward marco rubio, kind of like he did in south carolina. what are you seeing there? >> reporter: when we look at the numbers, first of all, response has been tremendous. they closed schools here in

virginia because they're expecting record turnout. they've had, at this voting site in richmond, which has had more voters than the state capitol, a thousand voters so far. here's where it gets interesting. in virginia, you can go in and vote for either party. you have to register, obviousinobvious i ly, but you don't register by republican or democrat. it's been equally divided at this poll place so far. some people thought, well, would democrats decide to vote on the republican side and vote against donald trump? we'll have to wait until the polls close to find out that information. we did talk to voters, and one guy had a very interesting thought which really reflects what this country has been talking about, and that's change. take a listen. what was important to you in this election? >> basically the mood of the country right now, and the economic conditions, a lot of stuff just going on that i'm not really partial to.

so i think it's time for a change, and that's what i'm hoping we can get through this election. >> reporter: can you tell us who you voted for? >> no. >> reporter: give us an idea of what sort of motivated your thinking. what in the end made up your mind? >> well, it's kind of hard to say, but i'm not satisfied with what's going on right now. i'm not -- i don't particularly like the mood, the tone of the country that we're in right now with the democrats. i think it's time for a change. >> reporter: one of the reasons this is a bell weather here is because of the diversity in this state. in richmond, for example, it's about 51% african-american. i was talking to governor terry mcauliffe earlier today. one of the things they'll be looking at are those geographic differences but also the hispanic vote, the african-american vote, something obviously that terry mcauliffe,

a democrat, thinks will vote very well in the general election in november, thomas. >> chris jansing reporting from richmond for us. i want to go to our colleague, ron mott. ron joins us from a polling station in montgomery county, alaba alabama. what are people saying there that you've had a chance to speak to? >> this is one of the busiest, if not the busiest, voting precincts here in the capitol city. we've seen quite a bit of turnout here. the last report we got from officials inside, more than half of the voters in this precinct have come out and voted. it's running three deep right now. shirley is relatively new to the montgomery/alabama area with long beach, california. who did you vote for today? >> i voted for hillary clinton. >> explain why? >> because i think she'll be the best person for the working class person.

>> one of the accusations she's been fighting off is she's not connecting with younger people. can you explain how the younger people are warming up to her, if they are indeed in alabama, today? >> i think they're warming up to her due to the fact she's for the rights of the individual. and they are very interested in the rights of the individual here in montgomery, alabama. that's an important issue. >> reporter: they are expecting near record turnout here today. are you seeing that today? >> i'm seeing a level of excitement throughout the entire city with everyone want to ing vote. >> there you have it in alabama. like she said, they're expecting near record turnout today. as you can see, i'm on the deck of the wisconsin. a family is over here enjoying

the ship, so not just us enjoying the ship. when we come out with our panel, vivian page and helen fury. the question is, will the gop race be down to two candidates after super tuesday? have your voice heard. pulse.msnbc.com. back in a moment. [plumber] i need to be where the pipes are. so i use quickbooks and run my entire business from the cloud. i keep an eye on sales and expenses from anywhere. even down here in the dark i can still see

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as a navy vet and someone who worked in the armed services network, as you hear from folks around the tide water area, do you think or get a sense there will be a heavy influx of military voters this primary season? >> i think the young military is more engaged than ever in the primary process. they're voting by absentee ballot, and if they're stationed in virginia, their vote is going back to their home state, and folks who are deployed from virginia, and that's where you talk about a lot of people who serve who are from virginia because the large military population creates more younger people to join the military, hopefully those absentee ballots are coming back. but they're more engaged, more political than young service members used to be, certainly younger than i was when i joined. we assure members anonymity because they're not supposed to give their opinion in uniform. there was lots of support for

trump, but there were other voices, too, for marco rubio, bernie sanders, hillary clinton as well. >> reporter: so when we think about the veteran vote of south carolina as being an indicator of how virginia might go, it's interesting there is not a candidate with military experience. typically that is something that is a bonus. and it would be a disqualifier for most candidates. we are not seeing that this time around with most vets liking trump. >> right. 2012 was the first year there was not even a candidate who had military experience. it's been a lot longer since we had a president with military experience, but second site in a row without military experience. i asked if it should be a requirement to have military experience to be president of the united states. some said yes. some said all they want is a president who respects what they're doing and who will defer to the joint chiefs of staff when it comes to what the military wants and listen to them in their mission.

>> let's talk about the delegate position in virginia. this is what they're going after and we know a lot of folks have visited regent university, have also gone to liberty university, with jerry falwell jr. endorsement going to donald trump. would that be the same for ted cruz who thinks virginia would be locked up for him? >> for the most part, people are making their own decision, they're not just going for one candidate or the other based strictly on being an evangelical voter. >> so when we think of those in faith following candidate donald trump, someone who maybe has not led a faith-based life, is that a contradiction? >> i think it is, but that doesn't mean people vote -- their contradiction is normal, i think, for voters to actually make a choice based on who appeals to them the most. maybe that's an important factor but not so much a deciding factor. >> when we look at norfolk, a majority city. barack obama winning it handily

back in 2012. taking it in 2008 over hillary clinton. do you think she can outperform that type of number over bernie sanders this time? >> i don't think we'll see the turnout as large as it was in 2008, but i think you'll see most of the minority population is going for hillary clinton. >> kari, you had said basically the change for presidential leadership in washington, d.c. is more like a lightning bulb and a. >> they're not just military people, they're also black, they're also females, they're also gay, they're also young, they're also old. but if you're in the military, to be a better civilian voter, don't change anything. if you change one bulb in the

chandelier, you're not. there is a whole bunch of light bulbs that president has to work with. you can be concerned about who your president is, but there would not be a way to bring those. the military does that. >> that's my biggest point about voting. someone has to gifr it up at the top. the question is who ends up at the top? if you don't know who your mayor is, you don't know who your councilmembers are, then they have a hard time when they have moved up the chain to becoming house secretary, attorney general or even president. here are five things we have wanted you to know talked about

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we continue our coverage from norfolk today atop the battleship wisconsin. another one of those super tuesday states is arkansas, and a lot of people consider arkansas to be clinton country, but it's also huckabee country. msnbc national correspondent joy reed is there talking to the voters. joy, what are you hearing? >> all right, thomas, first of all, a lot of excitement brewing in arkansas. this is not a state that gets a lot of attention in the primaries, but it has moved up. they're part of this sec primary. we're actually here in the middle of town at the river market pavilion, and have been

talking to folks here this morning. i can tell you there has been a robust vote in arkansas. more than 191,000 people have voted early or absentee. that is a record according to the secretary of state in arkansas. while we are here there is a very popular place. we ran into former governor jim dye tucker. he was here with another hillary clinton supporter, and take a look at what he said about what seems to be the closing down of the governor's lane in terms of presidential politics. >> much of this election, just all the old rules haven't counted. i suspect they'll come back. i still think it's probably the most appropriate pathway, but national experience is wonderful, too. i think this is just a unique election, and hopefully we'll get through it as the country has in the past. we've had worse in the past. we'll get through this, too. >> and thomas, we were earlier

at polaski heights presbyterian church watching the thousands and thousands of people come out and vote. a trump supporter, a woman, said she likes the fact he's bringing new issues to the table. for the most part, voters here are taking in the excitement but a lot of interest. polls closing here in arkansas at 7:00 p.m. central. back to you, thomas. >> we'll have live coverage beginning at 5:00 p.m. eastern. joy reed reporting out of little rock. thanks to all of you at home. thanks to norfolk for a beautiful day as we've had an amazing time on the battleship until polls close at 7:00. we're off to pensacola next. don't go anywhere, kate snow picks up our coverage next and she'll be talking to fidel castro's brother being discussed about a potential vp nominee with hillary clinton. take care, everybody.

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well, good afternoon, i'm kate snow in houston, texas on this super tuesday. for a quick second, why don't we all just take a deep breath. it might be your last chance, our last chance to do that for the next few hours, maybe even for the next few days. right now, as voting gets into its final stages in many of today's nomination contests, we are waiting for our first round of exit polls. we'll bring those to you just as soon as we can. in all, 12 states are holding their nomination contest today, 11 on the democratic side, 11 on the republican side. all told, there are more delegates up for grabs today than on any other day in the 2016 election calendar. the remaining presidential hopefuls are spread out today across nine different states while donald trump takes another punch from the gop establishment, ted cruz is making it clear tomorrow he thinks the gop contest becomes a two-man race. now, trump and cruz calling for

rubio to drop out. >> so i will say for any candidate that wakes up tomorrow morning who has not won any states, for any candidate who wakes up tomorrow morning and has a negligible number of delegates, i think it's time to start thinking about coming together and euunifying and presenting a clear choice. >> i think he has to get out. he hasn't won anything, and ted cruz very rightfully points out marco has not won. i think he's 0 for 18. i think he would have to get out. >> so i must laugh when i read that donald trump says after tonight marco rubio should drop out. i have a message for mr. trump. mr. trump, donald, maybe we should call him conald trump. i have a message for him. i will campaign in all 50 states.

i will get in my pickup truck and drive around this country if i have to before i allow the party of lincoln and reagan to fall into the hands of a con man. >> throughout the next 60 minutes, we'll have correspondents reporting from all over the country for comprehensive coverage for both the candidates and the important voters today. let's start with nbc's jacob rascon. he's in columbus, ohio where donald trump just wrapped up a rally there. there was a lot of talk about the donald trump rally, that there were some protesters who made a commotion. >> donald trump addressed it and came out pretty early and talked about it. here's what he said. >> a story was written last night from a failed paper in iowa. can you believe it? a failed paper in iowa. and it was a story about us having -- me having people

evicted from one of my rallies, and i was in the airplane. i have nothing to do with it. i show up. i didn't even know anything happened, and they wrote this vicious story, and it gets picked up by everybody. and this is a paper that's an enemy of ours with a writer who is horrible. >> so that got under his skin a little bit that the media was talking about that, that we're talking about it, because he said he didn't have anything to do with those students being escorted out. of course, they and some of the security who responded appeared to have said something differently. he also talked today about marco rubio but only very briefly, talking about small hands, making a joke. and he mentioned ted cruz as well, calling him a liar. but really, we saw a donald trump who was pretty tame as donald trump goes, not taking on ted cruz or marco rubio strongly at all compared to other rallies. and we've been waiting for him to see if he'll talk about david duke again. he hasn't talked about him at all in any of the rallies this week so far. he's really focused on his message. he talks about, of course,

trade, about his wall, and about the polls. he mentioned that in the most recent poll and even our poll, he's way up 40%, which is more than ted cruz and marco rubio combined. he's in ohio today, governor kasich's state, and he's moving on to florida tonight, marco rubio's state. he's very confident in his poll numbers for super tuesday. he's moving on to his biggest opponent's state, wanting to do well there and get them out of the race. kate? >> jacob rascon covering the trump campaign. just a couple hours ago here in houston, texas, senator cruz and his wife went to a polling place with his daughters. i was there when he cast his ballot at the west gray community center, closer to downtown houston from where we are. cruz took time in the room talking to voters. his daughters got the little stickers that said "i voted." just afterward, i asked heidi cruz about this pivotal day.

heidi, is this a big day for the family, for the girls? >> they were terrific. >> they love to vote. it's a great lesson of one of the most important things. going to church, going to school and voting. >> as we walked out of that voting place, a reporter cindy chase caught up with us. she had arrived thinking she would vote for trump today, but when she saw cruz, she want to ask him some questions about why she ought to vote for him. >> reporter: why should i cast my vote for you instead of donald trump? i think we're still looking for change that obama never delivered, you know. >> i very much agree we need change. what we're doing isn't working. and i think if you want someone who will stand up to washington, i think the question to ask is who has stood up to washington? donald right now is promising to go to washington and cut more deals, to cut deals with the democrats, to cut deals with harry reid. i think that's what got us into

this mess. >> reporter: cindy, you just happened to be at this polling station. >> it just happened. >> you're not for ted cruz? >> i came here to vote for donald trump. i'm a lifelong republican, although i don't make my decisions because of my party line. i look at all the debates, i study all the candidates very seriously, and i think this election is the most important election of my life. i'll be 50 in a few months. every vote is so important. so i arrived here, and i realized as i was in line i was in the wrong polling location. >> oh, no. >> i turned around to leave to go to my correct location, and ted cruz had walked up behind me to cast his own vote. >> so you started asking him some questions? >> actually left. i went into the parking lot and talked to two women who had just cast their vote for ted cruz. i talked to them, and i said, you know, i'm really struggling with my vote for donald trump. why did you vote for ted cruz? and they told me. i got in the car to leave, and i thought, wait a minute, you know

what? ted cruz is still in there. i'm going to go ask the man himself why i should vote for him. >> and you did. >> my important vote. >> did you like his answer? >> i did. what i felt was behind the camera, it just seems like more political rhetoric coming from these guys. >> when you see it on tv. >> yes, when you see it on tv. when i spoke to him in person, i could really see an authentic man. i think what people are looking for, regardless of their party, is for people to deliver on their word. i think the american people are just so sick and tired of words being spoken that aren't delivered on. and i really got a confidence in speaking with ted cruz directly, that he's a man that's going to deliver on his word. >> it sounds like he got your vote in that exchange. >> i'm leaning in that direction. i am. >> still not a hundred percent? >> not a hundred percent. i still may have to have a conversation with another person or two, but i'm leaning in that direction. i'm not so confident that donald

trump can win the republican party election. >> the general election. >> the general election against hillary clinton. >> cindy case still somewhat undecided but now leaning toward ted cruz. let's turn to the marco rubio campaign now. rahama ellis is in andover, minnesota with senator marco rubio. >> people had been waiting for two hours to see the senator. instead of saying he should get out tonight and this is the end, they're saying this is the beginning for him. he definitely needs a win. he needs a state. the people in here, it's no surprise, they think that he can do it. one said this is a state that voted jesse ventura, a professional wrestler, in as governor. they said they hope the country

won't make the mistake of voting in a professional entertainer, meaning donald trump, as president of the united states. they want to see marco rubio as president. they say he's measured, that he's a real conservative, and that he can lead the country into its better days. they have people here that have spanned all generations. i talked to a kid who was in the third grade and other people living on a social security retirement income. every single one of them was saying the same thing, that they are for marco rubio. a woman i spoke to a few minutes ago said, this ain't over until the fat lady sings. she says she's not even humming tonight, that they're going to hear from marco rubio supporters loud and clear in the caucus tonight. kate? >> ramama lewis following marco rubio in minnesota. the polls closing at 7:00 p.m. local time. let's talk to jacob soboroff. he's in a polling place in tarrant county, texas.

that's up from ft. worth. what are you hearing from voters? >> they're turning out, the democrats more than the republicans. this morning i was in arlington, now we're back in ft. worth, population of about 800,000. i'm here with john, republican voter. we've color coordinated with our shirts, obviously. you told me you voted for ted cruz? >> i did. >> so why did you vote for your home contender? >> he's tough, and he's not well liked, which has its advantages and disadvantages. it means he's willing to fight for what he believes in, but i'm concerned about his being willing to compromise where needed. you know, you could end up the polar opposite of what we have now with a guy in the white house who really doesn't want to work with people. >> reporter: then why did you vote for him if you're worried he doesn't want to compromise? >> because he is tough, and i think that he will. >> reporter: his argument against donald trump is that he'll make too many compromises, right?

we heard on the broadcast a few minutes ago that donald trump is coming in and sort of the being phony. he wants to make a deal with everybody, including the democrats. that's what we're hearing here. we heard it from john in ft. worth, and kate, we'll see what we hear tonight when republican turnout is expected to be through the roof. >> there were a lot of republicans where i was at that other polling place, too, jacob. joining me now, nbc news political analyst and former communications adviser for the ted cruz campaign, rick tyler is with us. rick, nice to see you again. >> it's good to be here. >> let's talk about what's happening with your former candidate, ted cruz. everybody says, yes, he'll take his home state, but by how much? what are you hearing? >> we're at the harris county barbecue. it's the largest republican area of texas. this is senator cruz's hometown. it was very interesting, the voter that you ran into who had their mind changed, and when

they met ted cruz, and it's true, this is the people who know him best. >> but he can't meet every single one of the voters. >> he has worked the state very, very hard, so that's why you see him up in texas, because these people know ted cruz the most and he's represented them. i think cruz will do very well here in texas. i think he'll win. that will give him two wins. the trouble is, marco rubio after tonight, may go 0-15. that's a real problem for him. >> let me play a sound bite for ted cruz. this was a short while ago when he was voting. >> reporter: do you feel you have to win texas today to keep your campaign viable? i know it may not be an easy question to answer. >> i believe we'll do very, very well here in texas. it will be up to texas to make their decision, but there is no doubt that any candidate who can't win his home state has real problems. i believe we'll do well here in texas. >> he's keeping that bar pretty high for expectations tonight. aside from texas, if he only wins here, is that enough?

>> i think it is, and the reason is rubio is 0 and 15, and right now if rubio were to go back to his home state of florida, he would lose. if he intends to win that race, he has to go right to florida and secure that vote in florida. what rubio can't say now is oh, man, cruz won his home state of texas. rubio says he's not going to allow con men in the office, but if he stays in the race, that's precisely what he'll be doing. >> you're saying if rubio stays in the race after tonight, it paves the way for donald trump? >> it certainly paves the way for donald trump to get a nomination. the candidates can say what they want on the trail, but what it ultimately comes down to is whose name they check off in the voting booth. we'll take you to polls in the south just after the break. when you think about success, what does it look like?

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back live at harris county smokehouse, houston, texas on super tuesday, the most anticipated day on the 2016 election calendar so far, with more than 1600 delegates at stake. our reporters are on the ground in virginia, arkansas and alabama, checking in with voters in those three key states. let's start by heading north to virginia, which has become a crucial state because of its very diverse electorate. nbc's chris jansing is at a polling place in richmond, virginia, her last stop on her m msnbc super tuesday road trip. hi, chris. >> reporter: hi, there. it's been busy today, which they were expecting it to be busy which is why schools are closed. we've seen happy kids going in with their parents to vote

today. they've had more than 1,000 people at this polling place alone. it's an open primary here, so that means they can go in and vote either as a republican or democrat as long as you're registered. what's really interesting is it's been almost exactly even. we've been talking to voters. take a listen. >> i'm voting for bernie sanders. >> reporter: why? >> i just believe that his stances on the important issues to me are extremely good and something that is refreshing, and the other candidates definitely worry me in those areas, so i trust him more than i trust the other ones. >> reporter: what were the issue or issues that were important to you? >> definitely all the issues with planned parenthood and the lgbt community, his stances on racism in the black community with all they have going on. i think the way he views that and the precautions that he wants to take with those things are definitely more promising than any of the other candidates. >> reporter: now, back to back with her, we talked to somebody

who said she just voted for hillary clinton because she felt so strongly that she was the one to carry forward the mantel of the democratic party. this is a bell weather state. people watching it very closely. it's very diverse ethnically, socioeconomically. it will be very interesting to see the votes as they come in tonight. it's donald trump's and hillary clinton's to lose, but ted cruz making a strong argument that he's been here more than any other candidate. >> let's go to virginia where we expect voter turnout to be high today. they have seen early voting nearly double from the 2012 primary. joy reed is in downtown little rock for us. joy, what are you hearing there? >> reporter: all right, kate, and as you said, record voter turnout here in arkansas. even before today, early voting

totals topping 191,000 people who either voted early or absentee leading up to today, so a brisk business being done, including at the polls today. we're at pulaski heights where people came out to vote. of course, democrats a hometown favorite. hillary clinton doing very well in the primaries, and you ner know who you'll run into at the pavilion. we talked to the former governor of this state, and he was with james witt. we asked about they're feelings on the race, and we asked james witt specifically what he thought about donald trump in arkansas. >> i think he's touched down on the anger across our country about the government and how the government is operating. and he's really hit a nerve. and even in my home county, which is a very rural county,

he'll probably carry that county. because he is realhas really, r touched on this notion that the government needs to do more or better for us and it's not working as well. i think there's just a lot of anger there. >> reporter: and both mr. witt and former governor tucker saying they did believe hillary clinton could carry arkansas in a general election, and of course, she is expected to win here when polls close tonight at 7:30 p.m. central time, 8:30 p.m. let's talk to ron mott. he is in montgomery, alabama. what are you hearing from alabama voters? >> they are fired up. a man just walked by and smiled and waved and said, i'm voting for obama, which of course cracked all of us up here on the

ground. this is one of the busiest, if not the busiest, polling place in montgomery county. they are expecting another wave here in about an hour or so. folks getting off of work will come in to vote. we've spoken to a number of people. a lot of donald trump supporters here. we've had democrats come by to say, just so you know, not everyone in alabama is a republican. in terms of the breakouts that people are asking for, it's trended 3-1. here's one of the democrats we ran into earlier and what she had to say about who she voted for and why. listen. >> i support the democratic party because i've been voting for them since i was 18. i voted for hillary clinton because we can keep this country diverse. we need all races and gifts in this country, and we need to go