about "the washington post." "the washington post" seems to have a bone to pick with the rnc. they wrote their second editorial in a few days that think think the leaders need to stand up to trump. history will not look kindly on gop leadered who failed to do everything in their power to prevent a bullying demagogue from becoming their standard bearer. >> i think "the washington post" completely misunderstands that's going on in america. the rnc's job is to be neutral in the race to ensure we have the resources necessary to help the nominee win in november. not to pick winners and losers. under the chairman, we've consolidated the calendar to make sure more voters have their voice heard. "the washington post" doesn't understand with people in washington don't agree with what the voters decided, we should undermine that. that's false. the voters choose. that's what's wrong with this country. too many people in washington are telling voters they're wrong, washington knows best, and what we have right now is a process where more people are helping decide our nominee. that's supposed t

have gridlock. i was going to say armageddon in washington, but that would imply action. if the republicans won't give the president his pick, then you can bet the democrats are not going to give republicans anything. they'll just tie up the senate and essentially say might as well go campaign. the question going forward is do the democrats get involved in this? do hillary clinton and bernie sanders say allow the vote, but how does the president -- i'm fascinated by the point he's got 11 months left. how does he change this? >> i think he is going to have to apply some pressure on people like kelly ayotte, rob kirk, rob portman, looking at re-election. i think it's going to be really important that he picks a candidate who republicans would have a hard time turning down. one option would be to pick by the same exact senate, pick an historic candidate. if he went with him, who would be the first indian american, if he went with another woman, if he went with an african-american woman or man, then that just ramps up the pressure on republicans to block not only this president but

anymore of these washington acts. the acts to get rid of are washington, d.c. acts and as a governor of a state capital i said we don't need somebody from washington, d.c. what i said in that campaign was the problem is washington, d.c. and we don't need washington politicians to fix it. and so when you look at who's remaining on the stage, no question this is the person who will go to washington, d.c. and be able to absolutely turn the place around. we don't need anymore washington politicians, especially some who have only been there for a term and never shown up for work to tell us how to run the united states government. and so, i absolutely believe that donald trump is the best person on that stage to be president of the united states. by the way, there was a period of time i was running against him. he knew i wanted to beat him. he wanted to beat me. we had open conversations about that. but that part of this is over. and then you have to say to yourself as a good, loyal, american who is the best person to stop hillary clinton from ever getting inside the white house again. this i

. >> washington politicians and lobbyists are rushing to crown marco rubio, but national polls so john kasich is the one who beats hillary clinton by 11 points, not marco rubio. >> as for trump, he has other problems, namely the gop's last nominee, mitt romney, who's calling on the real estate tycoon to release his tax returns. >> i think there's a bombshell in there is because every time he's asked about his taxes, he dodges and delays. >> trump, who tweeted out a pic of what his tax returns look like accused romney of doing rubio's dirty work. adding i'm going to do what mitt romney was totally unable to do, win. romney fired back saying me thinks the donald protests too much. he has tangled with romney, to john mccaino george w. bush. >> they lied. they said there were weapons of mass destruction. there were none. >> trump says the matter will be settled in time, telling cnn he will release those tax returns. >> i get audited every year, which i think is unfair. i go through large audits, but we'll make a determination over the next couple of months. >> now, sources close to romney

be a fair playing field for everybody. i intend to remove the barriers from washington which will allow the american energy market to expand, to create high paying jobs and to jump-start the american economy. [ applause ] >> this is julie hershey, she is president of a local nonprofit and is committed to voting for you. so don't blow it. >> i don't think he can. >> okay. >> senator cruz, thank you for taking my question. in order to prevent future controversy and possible litigation, will you please justify constitutionally your legal right to be president of the united states as it relates to your natural born status. >> sure, i'm happy to do that, julie, thank you for the question. the law under the constitution and federal law has been clear from the very first days of the republic. the child of a u.s. citizen born abroad is a natural born citizen. for anyone to be president, they have to be a natural born president. if you or i travel abroad and we have a child overseas that child is a u.s. citizen by virtue of birth. that is true, if you have service members who travel abroad

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funeral for a supreme court justice. that, of course, being saturday in washington, d.c. cruz knew justice scalia very well. he said he was very influential in his life. he was a former supreme court law clerk. but interesting this morning the cruz campaign said he was not going to attend the funeral himself saturday even after criticizing president obama for not attending. it was too difficult with his campaign schedule, saturday being the primary here. and the republicans here in south carolina. late today we got word from the cruz campaign that it is still a big unknown. they are looking at the schedule potentially seeing if it will work but no final decision is made whether cruz will attend that funeral on saturday. >> sunlen, thank you. back with gloria borger, katon dawson and the former communications director for senator cruz. katon, we've seen a lot of stuff in south carolina. where does this photoshopped image rank? >> out of 500 like the 426th worst one. >> at least you can be -- >> clever? >> better at it. what it did do is at least they had a conversation. the cruz team waltze

washington. if you're going to have a problem with them, what are you going to say to them as president to get them on board so we can get legislation passed? >> it's a great question, robert, thank you for asking it. the reason why that is is simple. it's not that i speak with ak lack of civility or respect. you've seen in this presidential campaign as other os insult me or impugn my integrity, i don't respond in kind. i have not attacked or inassaulted my colleagues in the senate, democratic or republican. i'll tell you why they say ted is unlikable in washington. because i'm actually honoring the commitments that i made to the men and women who elected me. for example, on planned parenthood, i led the fight for to us use the budgetary power of congress to stop giving $500 million to planned parenthood. the republican leadership wanted to have a show vote, lose the show vote and then fund all of obama's agenda including planned parenthood. what's unlikable is when you stand up and say how about we do what we said we would do. when i stood up and led the fight against the rub

400,000 jobs, that is a record that i can take to washington. >> if you add it up, kasich, bush, christie, put carly fiorina in there, even though she's an outside establishment voters, and marco rubio, donald trump would be in the rear-view mirror. but you have this cluster. >> and for kasich, the question is -- he may do well here, but where is he going to do well afterwards? it's hard to see him doing well in south carolina or the super tuesday states. and he does not have the kind of organization that he's built that could actually compete for a national campaign. that is the one thing that jeb does have going for him, while he has burned through a lot of money -- >> it's why ted cruz's campaign is quietly cheering for jeb bush. the ultimate representative of the establishment. but cruz's folks are cheering for jeb here in new hampshire because they want jeb, and more importantly, they want jeb's super pac to keep going to south carolina and keeping its fire on marco. >> we know there are a lot of evangelical tea party members in the south. we don't know about trump's stayin

for someone who's tough, strong on the economy and someone who will change washington. when you look at the issues portfolio hend heading into the final days, trump looks like he's headed for back to back wins. >> i want to bring gloria borger back in. trump, can he maintain that through saturday? ted cruz and jeb bush are not letting up on their criticism. >> reporter: well, i have to say it looks good, anderson. there are two fwhunumbers i pay attention to in shk zk from the voters. one is trump has the best chance to win in a general election and also 60% believe he can bring change to washington. what are elections about? they're about winning and bringibring i change. sunlen was talking earlier about cruz talking about abortion. this is trump's achilles' heel. this question of values. and cruz and trump are pretty tied in that. but even if cruz were to go ahead of truch mp on that score i'm not sure it could be enough to sort of win the primary down here. i think -- i think if trump kind of sits on his lead, doesn't make any huge mistakes, i think he's looking at a verdiictory h

trump at 27%. 57% voting and for people to be established with the republican party in washington, d.c. the voters so far saying the republican party in washington, we don't care what you think. >> the numbers come in. you have 25% on the republican side. you have 54% of the vote here. 51%. >> it's extraordinary to see. bernie sanders, 48%. bill bradley 35%. that was considered a receiveful showing. he may not win tonight, but the idea that you have gotten the people powered model, remember. no big donor and no super pac. the model going all the way to the finish line. with no big thing. this is of the model. the bill bradley model lost every single thing. that's not what they did. god bless martin o'malley. he gets close to that. this will go on and it will be for new hampshire. if hillary can't survive, there is no rebel yon. >> 56% of democrats in the entrance polls say they want to continue the policies. >> two different parties. >> they have gotten in at this point. you were talking about that. that being clear, there is a huge discontent within the party and the establishment doe

because the republicans are so determined here in washington to not even -- never mind give whoever the nominee is hearings, but even have meetings. >> the senate republican leader mitch mcconnell announcing no hearings and they doesn't wan't have a nominee come up for a meeting. >> i think it's a huge risk. i'm well aware of the old statement by then senator biden in his capacity of senate judiciary chairman, that was june. there was no a vacancy then on the supreme court of the united states. i think it shows a level of confidence. it's the fourth straight contest where passion seems to be on the side of the gop. it a very big risk for republicans, while thumping their chests and saying we are the constitutionalists, we're are not going to give an audience to your nominee to fill justice scalia's -- >> i think that is on both sides of the aisle. we always say in elections be, you hear candidates say the supreme court is at stake, we have to vote -- it never happens. i think the supreme court because of what the senate has done, because of the nature of this particular pick being the s

cooper, back to you in washington. >> we have a enough panel here of political commentators. republican strategy, amanda carpenter, bill press and donna brizily. let let's. >> first of all, tonight after the results are in, the result will likely be that secretary sanders will be 13 andhillary clinton 11. the delicate count will continue to be close until one of the candidates pulls out beep go to nevada, the republican goes go to south carolina. >> and the damn gresk change a lot in. >> absolutely. you have a more we also have a closed caucus whereas you had to be registered. south carolina has an open i system, of course being that will also benefit -- >> of. >> can bernie sanders compete in nevada? in south carolina? >> i think absolutely. and i think he showed tonight he can compete nation wise. this is, no use his word, huge, for bernie sanders. i think he's a very eserious candidate, a national candidate. >> he's got these resources, he's definitely going to be there for the long run. this is going to be more -- his message is i can get people out and excited, the party needs that

. >> you have a crony capitalist businessman that is supposed to change crony capitalism in washington? that doesn't make sense. >> we'll be back in a moment. hillary clinton's trust problem. one in five americans associate clinton with the word dishonest. plus we'll go live to column south carolina where a democratic town hall gets under way in less than 20 minutes. pro. its intelligent drive is msystems...ng. paradigm-shifting. its technology-filled cabin...jaw-dropping. its performance...breathtaking. its self-parking...and self-braking...show-stopping. the all-new glc. mercedes-benz resets the bar for the luxury suv. starting at $38,950. they speak louder. we like that. not just because we're doers. because we're changing. big things. small things. spur of the moment things. changes you'll notice. wherever you are in the world. sheraton. and choose world. choose, choose, choose. but at bedtime... ...why settle for this? enter sleep number and the ultimate sleep number event going on now. sleepiq technology tells you how well you slept and what adjustments you can make. you like the

day with the democrats it's more than 7 on -- 70% of the population, washington county in the western part of the state, trump at 34 there. it's the second largest county. if you look at the results this is the western part of the state. this is where you would expect ted cruz if he is getting your traditional evangelical voter, you would expect votes here, but right now it's filling in all donald trump. we watched this in south carolina and we saw it in new hampshire, 42, 23, 22 so like the other night it looks like this where we will be spending our time. they do get delegates. so second and third matters, you get one or two more delegates than the other guy, but this has to be a concern to those trying to stop donald trump. this is the first time he's going to win a state above 35%. donald trump will stay in the 30s and somebody will catch him, nevada is saying tonight not here. if we pull out now, this is the delegate count here. this is again three out of four after four contests. so we're in the momentum phase of the campaign. he's one three of the first four. i want to make the

in washington. and he's right, he's given hundreds of thousands to democrats. anyone who really cared about illegal immigration, wouldn't be hiring illegal immigrants. they wouldn't be funding harry reed and nancy pelosi and the gang of 8. when you honor the promise you made to the men and women who elected you q say enough with the krupscorruption, let's stan the working men and washington, they don't like you in washington. and if you want to be liked in washington, that's not a good attribute for president. >> here's a man, robin hood over here. he talks about corruption. on his financial disclosure form, he didn't even put that he borrowed money from goldman sacks ande

biggest problem right now in washington? well, it's clearly the dysfunction in washington, the fact that they don't talk, they don't work together. very rarely does anything get done. the one person who has the independence and can be the change agent to actually get washington working again, it was very clear to me that that was donald trump. >> jeff, an endorsement like that actually moving the needle for him at all in new hampshire at this point? >> no, i don't believe so. i listened to senator smith, whom i met back in the reagan days and have enormous respect for. i'm sure he's going to disagree, but i just think that when you are involved, i mean, he was the -- scott brown was the nominee for the united states senate the last time around, surely he's got some folks in new hampshire that like him. so, yes, i would think. but the more important thing is, like president reagan, who brought in conservatives and moderates together in the party, donald trump, when you've got sarah palin on the one hand and scott brown on the other and both for donald trump, that says something about

win tonight from donald trump that it's not just people here in washington kind of coming to terms with the fact that he very well could be the nominee, more importantly it's the voters out there who are looking at him in a different way. >> it's interesting also that the candidates who won those categories, that's their pitch. marco rubio is saying i'm the person that can defeat hillary clinton, i'm the one that's electable, ted cruz we heard him reciting a list of why he shares the values of the voters and donald trump doing what he does, so it's not as though voters aren't believing him, it's that a larger slice of the republican party cares more about being an outsider telling it like it is bringing change all the things that donald trump represents. anderson. >> it's also something that donald trump early on embraced the anger that he clearly -- his -- he does have -- for somebody who is not a career politician or has never been a politician before, he does have a finely tuned an tenia to what his potential supporters seem to want. he clearly understood the anger out there and

in washington. you are hardly an outsider. it's a bit disingenuous for a sitting u.s. senator to paint themselves as washington outsiders. >> well, look. this has become one of the memes this year. are you part of the establishment,oon outsider? these terms have lost any meaning. they've become epithets thrown around at people you don't like. but regarding jeb bush's attacks on rubio, i find it really kind of sad because i have long been a jeb bush fan. and i wish that he were more -- that the voters were more receptive to him, but they're not. he has the worst standing of any republican in the field with general election voters with the exception of donald trump. and it's a shame that bush is deciding at this stage, having seen the abysmal results he achieved to return with such foracity on his former friend and ally marco rubio rather than use the techniques that he used in his very inspirational announcement speech for example, which was the best of jeb bush. and now we're seeing the gutter politician. not a good way to end it, in my opinion. >> how personal has this become? >

there's this canyon between their community and washington. and there's a lot of frustration about the idea that washington's not listening to people and their every day concerns. so, donald trump's candidacy for many of these voters has become a vehicle for those frust rashzs and he has talked about it, whether it's been about the economy, immigration, national security, he has not offered real substantive positions u but instead clarity. he has defined what he thinks is the wrong approach by washington and then he's offered what he believes is a rather simple remedies. that is something that's really resonating right now. >> but a lot of people in the beginning didn't believe that he could do it. >> that all of these people misjudged the pundits pm they misjudged the anger of the american people. >> they really shouldn't have because the three people who are the frontrunners right now, marco rubio in 2010, ted cruz in 2012 and donald trump in 2015. what do they have in common? they're the outsiders. and they have close to 60 and 70% in some places. and marco rubio now wears the estab

. he'll be in minnesota tonight. cnn senior washington correspondent joe johns is live from a polling station in lexington, south carolina. joe, we understand there is a large number of absentee votes cast. >> absolutely, that's right. perfect day weatherwise for people to come out and vote here in south carolina, at least this part of south carolina. but absentee ballots up quite high, 53,000 absentee ballots, we're told, have been returned to the state election commission. that sf just a little while ago. checking with them. and that number is up substantially over 2008, something like 35,000 were returned in that election. so that bodes well for turnout here in the state of south carolina and the democratic primary, even though authorities have suggested we will not see the kind of record turnout that the republicans had during their primary last weekend. we've seen a lot of african-american voters flowing through this polling station here in south carolina. and that is what hillary clinton has been focusing on so much in the state, trying to get african-american voters to the poll

washington, 10:00 p.m. in damascus, syria. from wherever you're joining us, thanks for joining us. we begin with the presidential race. the republicans hitting nevada, the democrats looking ahead to south carolina. three of the five remaining republican hopefuls are in nevada today. that's the short-term focus. long-term, it's the march 1st super tuesday primaries. meanwhile, on democrat's sides, hillary clinton and bernie sanders are getting ready for their battle in south carolina, and the next test of how african-american voters are going to break. we'll get to that a little bit later this hour. but first, let's check the pulse of the republican race for the white house right now, donald trump is riding high after his ten-point win in south carolina. with a stop in atlanta, he ticked off the groups that gave him the win. >> so we won with everything. we won with highly educated, pretty well educated, and poorly educated, but we won with everything. tall people, short people, fat people, skinny people! just won. >> florida senator marco rubio collected his best finish so far, second-place

kosinski live for us in washington tonight. michelle, thank you so much. we'll be watching washington very closely. this was no doubt the first question in the gop debate tonight. we'll bring you some of that next. style... ...reinvented. sophistication... ...redefined. introducing the all-new lexus rx and rx hybrid. agile handling. available 12.3-inch navigation screen and panorama glass roof. never has luxury been this expressive. this is the pursuit of perfection. i am totally blind. i lost my sight in afghanistan. if you're totally blind, you may also be struggling with non-24. calling 844-844-2424. or visit my24info.com. at ally bank, no branches equals great rates. it's a fact. kind of like social media equals anti-social. hey guys, i want you to meet my fiancÉe, denise. hey. good to meet you dennis. ♪ ♪virgin islands nice ♪ ♪so nice ♪so nice, so nice ♪ spend a few days in the u.s. virgin islands and return with a lifetime of experiences. that's virgin islands nice. ♪so nice, so nice you know the symptoms when they start. abdominal pain. urgent diarrhea. now there

leaders. not by washington, not by politicians in general. by republican leaders. you think, wow, that's got to be good for donald trump and/or ted cruz. >> oddly enough. you say for donald trump. and that's a no-brainer. ted cruz is a sitting member of the united states senate. and yet we both agree that it probably bodes well for cruz, as well. among the things i'm interested in tonight, how well does marco rubio do, and can he continue to have a third, a fourth-place finish and still proclaim victory? because jake, sooner or later, he's going to have to win something, right? one last thought. if i'm donald trump, i want everybody staying in at the end of the night. this dynamic of too many people being on stage is great news for trump. so as funny as it sounds, if jeb doesn't have a good night and if jeb should fade, that's not a good thing for donald trump. >> and the other thing exit poll number that 41% of republican voters think that donald trump has run an unfair campaign in south carolina. and 32% say ted cruz, the others just in the single digits. one imagines those might be cr

inevitability. bernie sanders. he was there when dr. king marched on washington unafraid to challenge the status quo to end racial profiling, take on police misconduct and take down a system that profits from mass imprisonment. >> there is no president who will fight harder to end institutional racism. >> this, to me, is the defining test of this race. because of where the calendar goes next. where you have either majorities or high pluralities of african-americans in the democratic electorate. if bernie sanders can break through and get a sizeable number, that means a longer race and a changed race. >> and the place to look when we get numbers out of south carolina is younger african-americans because the big question is going to be whether younger african-americans vote their race or their age. younger people have flocked to bernie sanders. and why wouldn't a younger african-american connect with his message the way a younger white person would? that's the argument that the sanders campaign is making. >> that's why you see people in the congressional black caucus come out and more a

that many voters have that there's this canyon between their community and washington. and there's a lot of frustration about the idea that washington is not listening to people and their every dave concerns. donald trump's candidacy for many of these voters has become a vehicle for those frustrations. and he has talked about it, whether it's been about the economy, whether it's been about immigration, whether it's national security. he has not offered real substantive positions, but instead he has offered clarity. he has defined what he thinks is the wrong approach by washington and offered really simple recommend dips. >> a lot of people in the beginning didn't believe he could it it, that he to have more substance, that the people in the republican party misjudged the anger of the people. >> and they really shouldn't have. >> absolutely. >> go ahead, kellyanne. >> they really shouldn't have because the three people who are the front-runners, marco rubio in 2010, ted cruz in 2012 and donald trump in 2015, what do they all have in common? they were the outsiders challenging the esta

street, who hate trade deals, who consider washington politics and campaign finance completely corrupt. right? so why wouldn't trump be winning on both sides as you were saying? because that is a majority view, you know, among the electorate, among democrats and among republicans. >> as to -- just on that -- the point on bush, because i agree that i think he's come into his own in the last month, giving out turtles and coming out of his shell, as it were. and i think the reason for that is because he finally found a purpose in this race and that purpose was to expose donald trump. >> right. >> he felt donald trump was making a mockery of a system of governance that he relishes, that he was raised in, that he was raised to believe in. and he felt he needed to stand up for serious governance and he found a market for that in new hampshire. apparently enough to move on. >> in his kind of first purpose, it seemed to be, was to expose marco rubio. he didn't do it well in that first debate but that that last debate, he was piling on with chris christie trying to expose marco rubio as not qui

washington where the state of our union is front running. the leading candidates from both parties picked up wins and the night's biggest names will be here this morning. first up, donald trump, who sealed the decisive victory in south carolina. 10 points ahead of his closest riv rivals who battled for the second place trophy with rubio ultimately winning by a nose. is and in nevada, hillary clinton winning a hard fought race against bernie sanders. . both of them will be here shortly. first, let's get to donald trump who basked in his big win. >> it's mean, it's vicious, it's beautiful. >> and the winner of the south carolina republican primary joins us now. donald trump, congratulations on your victory. what does this mean for the race going forward? >> certainly, you can be stopped. i'm dealing with very talented people. they are politicians. they are senators. i don't think there are any governors election. but we have a lot of talented people. . we'll see what happens. certainly nobody is unstoppable. >> your campaign manager said that you have not gotten the credit you deserv

all, democracy wins. you have the people speaking up to say they don't want washington to pick their candidates. they want a say. on the democratic side, bernie sanders has shown the people matter and the people can speak up and change the democratic establishment. hopefully that change is going forward and republicans elect someone sane. >> marco rubio won expectations. big win for ted cruz. can he keep that momentum in new hampshire? i'm not sure. hillary clinton may have won, but it would have been groundhog day all over for her in iowa although she won a tiny bit. donald trump is a loser today. >> maria. >> hillary clinton wins becoming the first woman to ever win an iowa caucus. bernie sanders did great. also a win. the democratic party wins. they are focusing on the issues that all americans care about. compared to republicans who will nominate somebody who is anti-woman or anti-latino. >> all right. ben. go. >> i'll say this. donald trump proves arrogance and cockiness does not win you the white house. ted cruz did better than anyone thought. marco rubio is a guy that has a li

national prayer breakfast in washington. congressional members from both partying will be hosting this event. when president obama takes to the podium we'll bring you back to the prayer breakfast. let's talk election time politics. two candidates, one stage and a fears fig fierce fight to win over voters. >> are you still an underdog? >> of course. secretary clinton ran here in 2008. and she won. her husband ran here several times before that. so this is her fourth campaign. >> i have an uphill climb and i'm going to climb as high and as hard as i can. >> do you feel you do better when fighting from behind? >> you know i don't know. i -- >> does it bring out something in you? >> well, the intensity of the experience and the importance of trying to convey what is at stake in this election. because to me obviously tuesday is a really big deal with the primary. but the goal has to be to prevent the republicans from getting back into the white house and undoing towel progral progress that's been made. >> tough policy questions from voters. there are also some lighter moments like when sand

at this. >> ted cruz, the worst kind of washington insider who just can't be trusted. >> that's a lousy house. i'm going to take your house with eminent domain and park my limos there. >> eminent domain! >> wow. joining me is matt moore, the chairman of the south carolina republican party. that is a harsh ad. south carolina politics not for the faint of heart. attack ads on the air. there have been some dirty tricks in past campaigns. what do you expect over the next ten days? >> south carolina is a fascinating place, a long history of creative campaign tactics, don, to say the least. i expect a sprint to the finish here in south carolina. as hugh was just saying, a lot of candidates have a real shot here in south carolina. it they get a bit of luck and they perform well in the debate here on saturday night. >> so outsiders, matt, have shaken up the party to the core. it's shaking up the left as well. the electorate is angry at the establishment. are you hearing the same thing in south carolina? >> there's a lot of frustration all around. i hear it across the state. people are fru

republican establishment in washington and elsewhere was convinced that donald trump was going to implode, there was no way his popularity could last, he was saying outrageous things, surely this was going to end and for months you and i have been speaking about this and i have seen no evidence that he can be stopped, that he won't get the nomination. i hope that the republican establishment is realizing that this man is here to stay and they need to rekon with him. >> they probably are. they're trying to at least and i think part of the reason why they're quite concerned tonight is because all of their potential candidates who are if had that cluster for second and third place, it was sort of a circular firing squad. >> john kasich was twice -- donald trump beat him, 16% to 35%. >> voters wanted somebody from outside the establishment, outside politics and that's what they chose. >> wolf, back to you. >> thanks very much. it wasn't close. 50,000 votes he beat kasich in new hampshire. donald trump by 50,000 votes and they're still counting the votes. 91% of the vote is now in, but

new generation of conservatives to guide us into the 21st century. >> the washington cartel in full terror that the conservative grass roots are rising up. >> we won. we won. >>> of course plenty to cheer about for trump supporters after winning the south carolina primary with 32.5% of the vote, trump is now the unrivalled front runner among the republican candidates. marco rubio edging out second place over ted cruz. >> well for the democrat, a crucial win for hillary clinton, blunting that rise of bernie sanders, a so called nevada firewall held up, helping to ease anxiety among her supporters. more in a moment but we're going to start with donald trump's commanding victory in south carolina. and the now shrinking republican field. cnn's senior political reporter manu raju joins us from south carolina. the trump campaign must be motivated ae but move to the south on march 1st. >> a very encouraging victory here. this is ha man who has never run for office before. and taking two of the first three primary states is such a resounding manner really gives him a head of steam into neva

resolve and independence. somebody that will take on washington. that's why the individual characteristics are trumping everything else. jeb bush and his campaign whiffed on what is the political moment in 2016 and that 2016 moment is so much different from what we have seen in previous presidential cycles and they ran a campaign like the previous presidential cycles and they didn't run the campaign that would win this year. >> rachel, looking at that video going to strike any notes for you as to what happened as you evaluate? >> it's painful to watch but what it really shows is that jeb bush was always a donor class creation of a candidate. i don't live in washington d.c. i live in wisconsin so i'm very close to i think what the average, every day republican primary voter looks like and thinks about and i think that there was never an appetite for jeb bush from the beginning. it was -- the idea was that, you know, it sounded good on paper and looked good in a big play book that they put together and they thought they could just really raise a lot of money and create an app

heard a lot about washington and wall street. we all want to get secret, unaccountable money out of politics. that starts with appointing a new justice to the supreme court who will protect the right of every citizen to vote, not every corporation to buy elections. and we also agree that wall street can never be allowed to threaten main street again. no bank can be too big to fail, no executive too powerful to jail. but if we listen to the voices of flint and ferguson, if we open our hearts to the families of coal country and indian country, if we listen to the hopes and heartaches of hardworking people across america, it's clear there is so much more to be done. the truth is, we aren't a single issue country. we need more than a plan for the big banks. the middle class needs a raise! and we need more jobs! we need jobs that pay well and can't be outsourced, jobs that provide dignity and a future. we can do it by unleashing the innovation of our entrepreneurs and small businesses. we can do it with new investments in manufacturing, infrastructure, and clean energy, especially here i

rubio, trump and cruz. we'll see how those shake out. anderson back to you in washington. >> we'll see more people turning out in the last few hours. what do you think -- >> why are you smiling? >> it's not just because i work for ted cruz. i feel like we finally found a conservative who can win. look at what ted cruz faced in this election. not only was he competing with donald trump. on his birther issue, on his evangelical faith. he was being attacked fiercely by the republican party. you had all of these gop king makers of the past saying he could never win. don't he did it. i don't think this is a win for ted cruz, this is a conservative product, they sought a leader who can stand for conservative principal, this may be the beginning of something much bigger, this is a great night for conservatives. >> how concerned were you when you heard there was record turnout on the gop side. all night long, so many people have been saying record turnout is going to break in donald trump's favor. hillary clinton 49.9%. bernie sanders 49.4%. with 84% of the vote now. so that race is tightening

. i'll see you tomorrow. in the meantime we send it to washington. "the lead with jake tapper" starts right now. >> thanks, brooke. i'm back from new hampshire. as donald trump might say, there was so much winning going on. "the lead" starts right now. there will be blood. donald trump moves on to south carolina with ted cruz in his cross-hairs. if you thought the race was chaotic and ugly before, wait until you see the tv ads running today. >>> going national. bernie sanders getting a huge fund-raising bump after his blowout win in new hampshire. can he break through in friendly territory for hillary clinton? >>> determined to attack. the top u.s. security official warning isis could strike inside the u.s. this year. and we may not see the terrorists coming. hello, everyone, welcome to "the lead." i'm jake tapper. our politics lead today, new hampshire narrowing the republican field. carly fiorina announcing she is suspending her campaign today. governor chris christie expected to do the same. while tuesday spelled the end for some, it was a momentous night for senator bernie sanders

washington examiner columnist and republican pollster, kristen sultis anders anderson. trump and rubio continuing the attacks that started at last night's debate. seeing some of your tweets last night, you were saying you really thought they should -- if they're going to continue it should almost have press conferences with some of the polish workers who had worked on trump tower, the undocumented worker and suing donald trump. do you think they're going to do that or do these campaigns even have the resources to launch that kind of sustained attack? >> you know, what's remarkable, anders anderson, i feel like trump has been in a race for 24 hours now. what happened last night should have happened in the first or second debate. trump is a ridiculous candidate for president, and the way to beat him is to look at him, say you are ridiculous. and then go through the bill of particulars as to why he's ridiculous. i thought that marco rubio was good last night. i thought his speech today was fantastic. i would just keep at it. go right at the core of him. it's really a whole series of educa

. >>> he h >>> hello, i'm jake tapper in washington. both leading candidates picked up wins and the night's biggest wins will all be right here. first up, donald trump, who sealed a diecisive victory in south carolina, ten points ahead of his closest rivals, marco rubio and ted cruz, who battled for the second-place trophy with rubio ultimately winning it by a nose. in nevada, hillary clinton winning a hard-fought race against bernie sanders. both of them will be here shortly. but first, let's get right to donald trump, who basked in his big win. >> there's nothing easy about running for president, i can tell you. it's tough, it's nasty, it's mean, it's vicious, it's beautiful. when you win, it's beautiful. >> and the winner of the south carolina republican primary, donald trump, joins us right now. mr. trump, congratulations on your victory. what do you think this means for the race going forward? are you unstoppable? >> well, certainly you can be stopped. i'm dealing with very talented people. they're politicians, they're senators and, i guess do we have any governors left? i don'

. ryan, former senior communicationings to mike huckabee is hogan gidley and in washington commentator van jones. thank you all for being here. hogan, let me begin with you. i want to read you something from a "new york times" piece. talks about mitch mcconnell. it said while he's begun preparing senators for the possibility of a trump nomination if it threatened to harm them in the general election they could run negative ads about mr. trump. let's step back and think about that. that is you know, the highest ranking mitch mcconnell saying that his fellow senators can run negative ads against the party's nominee. >> right. also make the comment that we drop him like a hot rock, i think is what he said. i want to know who the we is. the establishment? they have already gut punched the american worker time and time again. they hurt the republican party time and time again, so i'm not exactly sure where he's going. i understand he is trying to protect the senate but that's what makes donald trump so popular is that he's going against what they stand for. >> hurts them more. >> absolutely

are desperate for somebody who will go in and shake up washington and it's like they didn't listen to the signs. they didn't change their course. and now they're being struck with donald trump, even if you look at what jeb bush was doing to marco rubio we had the scenario where so many times the party elders were trying to eat and defeat the party's young and now we have donald trump. >> it's no tt the end of the republican party, it's the broadening of it. he stands for policies that are not conservative policies saying i don't want to see people dying on the streets because they have health care, americans have paid into social security and ya emnot goie emi'm not going to take that away from them. he's american first and the republican party has needed to bro broaden their base and donald trump is doing that. >> the reason why she should be taken seriously is i hear this from democrats and you have democrats trying to decide to vote for sanders or trump. that makes zero sense. the other thing i think liberals need to wake up about with donald trump is this guy can win. he can go

he is doing. >> i want the people at home to think about this. that's what washington, d.c. does. the drive-by shot at the beginning with incorrect and incomplete information and then the memorized 25-second speech that is exactly what his advisors -- >> the bottom line, this notion that barack obama doesn't know what he is doing -- >> there it is. there it is. memorized 25-second speech. there is is t is, everybody. >> here's the response. i think anyone who believes that barack obama isn't doing what he is doing on purpose doesn't understand what we are dealing with here. this is a president, this is a president who is trying to change this country. >> oh, boy. hard to come back from this. and the boston herald ran with it. choke. it takes you back to the drinking of the water moment. >> yeah. i mean, we're chattering a lot about this. but when you look at the google search trends, 538 did an article about this. actual viewers spike -- the interest spiked when he talked about his pro life position. that was two, three times as many hits as when this exchange was going on. so ma

going to go to washington and make deals. that is the opposite of the appeal that ted cruz has with the more conservative electorate that is maybe more in south carolina and elsewhere but maybe not so much here in new hampshire. >> by the way, you are in new hampshire, in manchester, so stay there. just wait for a moment, i'm going to bring in a man who might have a crystal ball, the best crystal ball in this business and that's hugh hewitt. it pains me to say this, hugh hewitt -- i'm just kidding. you called it. here's your prediction on sunday. >> ted wins the republicans, trump comes in second but marco rubio is a very close third. >> the polls had trump in the lead. why didn't he win? why were you right? >> i think i was right because of jeb, josh and john, three operative, jeff row, josh perry, john droguan who work for ted cruz who basically owned the internet and owned iowa. i told donald trump two weeks ago i thought ted cruz was going to win iowa and trump will win new hampshire. he has corey, his campaign manager up there. 180,000 republicans showed up, which broke every t

way i wanted to into our politics in washington. and people ask me why i've devoted so much time to this topic. i tell them it's not just because mime' president and the polarization and the gridlock are frustrating to me. the fact s we've gotten a heck of a lot done these past seven years, despite the gridlock. we saved the economy from a depression. we brought back an auto industry from the brink of collapse. we helped our businesses create $14 million new jobs over the past six years. we cut the unemployment rate from 10% to 4.9%. we covered nearly 18 million more americans with health insurance. we ignited the clean energy revolution. we got bin laden. we brought the vast majority of our troops home to their families. [ applause ] our -- we got a lot done. we're still getting a lot done. and our political system helped make these things possible. and the list could go on. there's no doubt america's better off today than when i took office. [ applause ] so -- so -- so i -- i didn't want this to be a state of the union speech where we had the standing up and the sitting down. come

to bring in cnn political analyst maggie. also cnn political commentator and washington correspondent for the new yorker, ryan lizza. this idea trump could be unstoppable based on not only momentum but math. how much stock do you put in there? >> a lot. we've been grading marco rubio on a curve since iowa, right? he has to consolidate the anti-trump vote and he has to consolidate the republican establishment around him and the donor class and do it basically yesterday. time is running out. in between now and super tuesday is likely to be another trump victory in nevada. bottom line as john pointed out. if you aren't winning, you aren't winning. the most important thing is if cruz can pick up florida and ohio, then he has a shot. then the momentum can change. it's going to be hard for him to pick up ohio if kasich is in the race. frankly, rubio's path is through john kasich. with kasich in the race, it's very, very hard to see how he catches trump. >> maggie, as long as -- to ryan's point, as long as kasich is in the race but also cruz is in the race. the vote is divided.

commentator and washington correspondent for the new yorker, ryan lizza. this idea trump could be unstoppable based on not only momentum but math. how much stock do you put in there? >> a lot. we've been grading marco rubio on a curve since iowa, right? he has to consolidate the anti-trump vote and he has to consolidate the republican establishment around him and the donor class and do it basically yesterday. time is running out. in between now and super tuesday is likely to be another trump victory in nevada. bottom line as john pointed out. if you aren't winning, you aren't winning. the most important thing is if cruz can pick up florida and ohio, then he has a shot. then the momentum can change. it's going to be hard for him to pick up ohio if kasich is in the race. frankly, rubio's path is through john kasich. with kasich in the race, it's very, very hard to see how he catches trump. >> maggie, as long as -- to ryan's point, as long as kasich is in the race but also cruz is in the race. the vote is divided. >> the vote is divided although i've been skeptical if ted cruz drops

. >>> hello, i'm wolf blitzer. it's 10:00 a.m. in las vegas, 1:00 p.m. here in washington. 8:00 p.m. in acura, turkey. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us. we begin with a very dramatic escalation in the battle for the race for the white house. ted cruz is now calling out donald trump over a threatened lawsuit. cruz saying trump's threat stems from a cruz tv ad. the ad uses comments trump made to nbc back in 1999 when he said, he was, quote, very pro ce