the political land better than almost anyone in south carolina, katon dawson. former chairman of the south carolina republican party. and the former communications director to rick santorum, and anchor of "inside politics," john king. we've been talking every day. every day seems to be changing. there's a lot of undecide voters. how is it looking? >> the undecided voters started moving after last night. i watched people solidifying today. i myself went and voted. huge crowds. the largest numbers we've ever seen coming in to do our version of early vote is absentee voting in person. so there's a big ground swell of voters coming. they started making their minds up today. we can all pontificate about what's going on. certainly all the camps have given it their best. some hadn't been taken well by the voters. this is the season as you said that experience doesn't matter. if it did, then rick perry 14 years, scott walker, bobby jindal, this is one like i don't think we'll see again any time soon, but i do think that the top three are going to be able to punch tickets out here and maybe k

, republican consultant, former state republican party chairman, katon dawson, cnn political commentators amanda carpenter and jeffrey lord, he's a trump supporter, former white house political director in the reagan administration. she's a former communications director for senator ted cruz. katon, let's start with you. things seem to be getting tough in south carolina with days to go, nothing really all that surprising, and last night you talked about how in south carolina they also don't like politicians whining about how tough things are. do you see any of the candidates being able to catch donald trump, though? >> probably not, but donald trump's done a few things that i find amazing. he has threatened to file a lawsuit in a republican primary against another candidate which usually would disqualify you. he has insulted the former commander in chief which would usually disqualify you. he has called just about everybody a liar and they call ed him a liar, which would usually disqualify you and his numbers are pretty solid. what am i to say about it, anderson, except for t

, it's interestin katon talking about donald trump is sort of teflon, i fell like we've been having that conversation for six months. maybe this is the first time in south carolina but i feel like, i mean, isn't that the same story we've been showing since the beginning? >> it is, anderson. you and i an amanda and others have talked about this until the cows come home.d amanda and oth have talked about this until the cows come home. it's the same story all of the time. this poll is interesting. look at his numbers on immigration, he's far and away ahead which i think, perhaps, just my opinion here, is contributing to the lack of effect that the bushes are having because, of course, both president bush and jeb bush are well known for their moderate views on immigration. and when you've got donald trump out there by such large numbers on immigration, i think that perhaps, you know, there are a lot of voters out there that see him as on the wrong side of the fence. they they like him, they may love him, but they think they're on the wrong side here. >> amanda, i want to play video from

katon dawson, a former chairman of the south carolina republican party. thanks for being with us. trump obviously comes in to south carolina with a very big win under his belt. how much does that help him there and how much is it a different ball game? >> south carolina is completely difference. iowa is in the rear view mirror. new hampshire matters come. this is a primary that's going to have 700,000 republicans. about 100,000 new republicans, one of the largest turnouts we'll probably have in the republican party. trump has changed the dynamic of the race. i applaud him for his campaign strategy of these huge crowds and people showing up to see him, he's a reality star, whether he's going to be the next president. the challenge is this is a very different place to run. this is a reliable republican state. two united states republican senators in different camps. six republican congressmen. every statewide elected official is republican. this is a hard place. having done politics all my life here, i've witnessed the good, the bad and ugly and been a part of all three. you want to see a

prepare for that? he says the clintons are coming, what do you do? >> katon is right, you don't whine. this is going to be a bare knuckle blood bath in south carolina. iowa and new hampshire is great, but this is a whole different kind of tough here. >> what is so different about the electorate there? >> well, by the time we get here, obviously, stirewalt was right. this is kind of the game changer moving through the s.e.c. primary states. and south carolina is the pivotal place for a lot of these candidates. it can springboard your campaign or sink your campaign. but the thing about south carolina, we do it with a smile. we say "bless your heart" while we're slitting your throat and you wonder, what just happened to me and you just got gutted like a fish. and that's how it is in south carolina and it is bare knuckle and it is tough. >> how do you win over the evangelicals? they're playing dirty politics right now. is that going to be effective? >> the evangelicals are not really a monolithic vote. they've been voting a long time in south carolina. they're the nascar sort of libertari

hunt, thank you so much for that. and we're back now with katon dawson and lynn sweet. so how much do you think has hillary clinton's victory here last night changed the race? >> i think it means a lot. jim clyburn's endorsement in south carolina did and her organization is pretty well honed. i saw it when i was voting on friday early. they were coming in with cards from secretary clinton saying i'm here to vote. i don't see that type of organization out of senator sanders in south carolina. certainly we'd like the race to run a lot longer. that's the positive part of the republican race is we need it to go longer to have a chance to win the white house so we can do what barack obama did and set up organizations in every state. if the democrats' end earlier, good for us. >> what are you going to be looking at on the democratic size? >> i'm looking at turnout, looking at the numbers. barack obama is the first democrat in modern history to overvote the republican primary since 1980, to bring in more votes for a candidate. that didn't happen in 2012. we gathered it back up, and we had

try and do this again. >> katon, south carolina politics are legendarily tough. >> i was a member of the '99-00 bush squad. we also nominated john mccain to the presidency in south carolina. i think all that is eye wash. talking about those former races won't matter. what's going to matter is the posturing. we're getting ready to have 700,000 people vote. about 100,000, none of the campaigns know exactly who they are. that's going to be a big difference. donald makes a big mistake if he wants to make an issue of george w. bush in south carolina. a big tactical mistake. a guy with a pretty good lead, solid base and maybe some numbers are telling him he needs to do that. he was in good shape. right now the field is open. rubio had a good night. cruz had a bad night on saturday. but the voters are open and i listened to them today. they are moving. they are talking about it and there's a lot of energy and excitement here. it's going to get rougher. if anybody wants to start whining in south carolina, the voters will usually punish you for that. >> no whining zone. we'll pick up the conv

borger, katon dawson, trump supporter and political commentator, david lord and david brody. katon, we've got to start with the pope. does it have an impact here in south carolina? >> as we says yesterday, if donald trump is not talking about illegal immigration, he's having a bad day. the pope got him back on message. and donald had a pretty good day. a couple hundred thousand catholics in south carolina out of 4.8 million people. i talked to two elected officials today, both roman kaths li catholic, and they weren't offended. they wouldn't challenge the pope but they were sort of in donald's corner. donald is back on message. >> because he's talking about illegal immigration. >> his opponents haven't taken him on on this because they're all within a hair of where he is on building a wall, on immigration. and jeb bush who has lost no opportunity to challenge donald trump in recent months today when asked about it sort of backed off, right? and so they are not taking him on on this. and the interesting thing about trump is you never see him read a statement as you pointed out. he w

gloria borger, katon dawson, john king and dana bash. katon, first of all, this cease and desist letter donald trump sent to ted cruz, have you ever seen anything like that? >> we say welcome to south carolina. it all starts here. we see how they can throw punch. never seen anything of this level of politics in my 40 years of doing it, starting it in 1979 with ronald reagan. the crowds issue different. you'll also see a tremendous amount of undecide voters. your exit polls that cnn had we checked after the 2012 race, 55% undecided. i think we're at that number. take our south carolina polls and chunk them out the window and start with trump, cruz, rubio. i think rubio just jumped cruz today. >> because of the hailley endorsement? >> i do. it's given him a solid look. and then certainly governor bush probably had a bad day today. >> it is a fascinating race. just today the counterpunches and punches are flying. >> i was at that press conference -- >> ted cruz's? >> ted cruz's. he could have just gotten a cease and desist letter and laughed about it. what he's thinking about are th

strategist katon dawson, and matt nichols, former director of the south carolina republican party. matt, you are joining the panel freshly new, and to give katon's voice further rest. you heard marco rubio sort of trying the strategy of vote for me, not him. by personalizing it and trying to make it a personality contest essentially between himself and donald trump, is that an effective way to defeat donald trump? >> i don't know that donald trump is defeatable, quite frankly. marco is trying to make it a two-person race, but katon and i were talking about it backstage. these people are going to stay in, continue to split the reasonable republican vote. and frankly, the american people want a winner. right now, donald trump looks like a winner. i think he's going to roll through super tuesday. >> you know, i want to bring in elise neal, and i didn't include her. she's joining us from our msnbc headquarters, elise jordan, former senior policy adviser to rand paul. i don't know if you were able to hear what matt just said, but is trying to say my personality is better than donald trump's perso

the truth. we'll see. >> all right. katon dawson, jeffrey lord. everyone else stick around. we'll turn next to the democrats. big primary win for bernie sanders. stinging loss for hillary clinton. and a new round right around the corner. his is bad. no! we're good! this is your first time missing a payment. and you've got the discover it card, so we won't hike up your apr for paying late. that's great! it is great! (both simultaneously) thank you. at discover, we treat you like you'd treat you. get the it card with late payment forgiveness. it's my job and it's also my passion. . but with my back pain i couldn't sleep... so i couldn't get up in time. then i found aleve pm. aleve pm is the only one to combine a safe sleep aid plus the 12-hour pain relieving strength of aleve. and now... i'm back. aleve pm for a better am. esurwhich means fewer costs, which saves money. their customer experience is virtually paperless, which saves paper, which saves money. they have smart online tools, so you only pay for what's right for you, which saves money. they settle claims quickly, which sav

. caitlin:s thanks to one smooth too. >> a lot. reporter: katon is giddy. after what happened at school? >> i brought it home, my mom is like who gave you that? >> aidan godfrey. >> i want to make as many people happy as possible. reporter: the high school senior who's good deed has quickly become the talk of the town. >> got around 800 flowers. reporter: one for every girl at sky view high school. >> i don't think a girl should be left out during valentine's day. reporter: aidan ordered the flowers, recruited friends and just before school ended on thursday, for the long weekend, passed them out. >> everyone was holding a flower. reporter: impressive, right? especially when you consider it cost the student nearly $500 to pull-off. aidan works here at lees marketplace as a bagger. he's been saving all of this money to buy those flowers. you can bet, there's no way he could have done that with just one paycheck. >> there's no way. there's no way. reporter: steve hogan knows, he >> to spend your money like that. reporter: now, you might think that aidan is the luckiest guy in school right