hello, robert? we can hear robert, we can hear him exhaling, we know he's there, but he can't hear us. let's go to kelly o'donnell in trenton, new jersey. kelly, you still hear us? >> reporter: brian, when you talk about 2012, i've had a conversation with governor christie more than once about what happened that year and the pressure from the party to step forward. he had beaten jon corzine, the democratic powerful wehle governor of new jersey. he was a new face at a time in a blue state where he was bringing real conservative positions to new jersey. so all the whispers went on, run, run, run. and he told me then and has told me now, looking back, he did not feel prepared then, did not feel he was ready to be president, didn't understand the path in terms of where could he win in order to be a successful nominee. and as more time went by, and unexpectedly, that whole bridgegate controversy, which put him in the white-hot caldron of media and controversy and democrats being angry and real questions

i'm thomas roberts live in las vegas, nevada. it's high noon and the gop showdown here is reinforcing donald trump as the frontrunner. with just six days until super tuesday, the question being now, can any gop candidate left standing stop donald trump? after a wild victory party last night, the more mellow but just as confident candidate spoke to students at regent university. this is back across the country, a christian college in virginia. take a look. >> so we had a very exciting evening last night. during the day i was walking and saw all these people and they're all saying, donald, we love you, donald, we love you, but you never know what's going to happen. as soon as we turned on the television and the results started coming in, it was obvious from the beginning. >> so that caucus is his biggest win so far, taking 36% of the vote. more people voting for trump last night than the total vote for all candidates in the caucus in 2012 here. ted cruz finished more than 20 points behind. so the focus now turns to those crucial su

i'm thomas roberts live in las vegas. it is high noon here in the wsts and we're just five hours away now from the republican caucus. winning the caucus here would be donald trump's next logical step in securing the nomination. trump leads in the polls. any moment now we do expect trump at a rally in sparks, nevada. speaking of sparks, if you watched last night, you probably saw them fly at the event he held here in vegas where trump had some very tough words for senator ted cruz and for a protester who tried to disrupt that event. >> there's a guy totally disruptive, throwing punches. you know what they used to do to guys like that when they were at a place like this? they would be carried out on a stretcher, folks. i'd like to punch him in the face, i tell you. this guy cruz lies more than any other human being i've ever dealt with. unbelievable. and he holds up the bible and he lies. and then he holds up the bible again and he lies. this guy is sick. there's something wrong with this guy. >> so as for donald um

>> robert silk. >> robert silk. okay. >> robert silk. >> if you look at the victimology of robert silk, he was essentially a gentle soul. but he was a loner, he was a computer guy that stayed to himself. so, to say that he would all of a sudden jump out as an extrovert and say, can i help you with whatever, it doesn't make sense. >> he went upstairs and i said can i use your bathroom? he said, yeah, go upstairs and use the bathroom. i got to the bathroom and he's sitting there with his birthday suit on. i tried to push by him. he knew i ben in jail. he said you been in jail, you should know about this, right? and he touched me and i learned in prison that only the cruellest sir vief, right? and i spend around and i hit him every which way you can hit a person. you see his autopsy reports. this man was beaten, all his ribs was broken, his skull was broken, everything. i went berserk on him. >> reggie had alleged that robert silk had been a homosexual aggressor trying to get him to engage in sexual activity. there's n

thomas roberts up next. about an hour and a half away. he's got a live interview with the aforementioned donald trump. stay with us. if your family outing is magical for all the wrong reasons. you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® for powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin®. because it starts working faster on the first day you take it. try zyrtec®. muddle no more®. defiance is in our bones. citracal pearls. delicious berries and cream. soft, chewable, calcium plus vitamin d. only from citracal. >>> all right, it is a super busy wednesday here in south carolina. we're looking at a live event of jeb bush on your left, and ben carson on your right. great to have you with me, everybody. i'm thomas roberts. we are live at the liberty tap room in columbia, south carolina. this is msnbc, election headquarters for the forth coming future. we have you covered as the republican candidates are storming all over the state today. they're crisscrossing back and forth because we're just three days from the gop

responding to the president's plan to close gitmo, senator pat roberts tweeted this video showing him throwing white house plans right into the garbage. >>> and we have heard a lot about bernie sanders pulling in the younger vote and a toy company is banking on that demographic, fuelling the nostalgic bern. ♪ my bernie, my bernie, my bernie and me 12340e9. >> the company is trying to fund the action figures via kick stater. >>> hey, political junkies, think you'd make a better president? thomson reuters built a app and lets you build it up into the general election. that's your morning dish of "scrambled politics." >>> now to washington and i'm joined by a bloomberg reporter. >> thanks for having me. >> now the tenth republican debate is tonight, this thursday. >> i'm on my way. >> give me a hint here, because it's the last one before super tuesday. any surprises expected? >> you know, i really think that what you're going to see is senator ted cruz as well as marco rubio battling each other. both of them feel like they're the best, most clear alternative to republican presidential

i'm thomas roberts live from liberty tap room in columbia, south carolina. we have everything nailed down here in the palmetto state. a lot of developments this hour to fill you in on. donald trump has a new political feud. not with ted cruz or jeb bush. it's, get ready for this, pope francis. this after his holiness made a remark. >> if and when the vatican is attacked by isis, which as everyone knows is isis's ultimate trophy, i can promise you that the pope would have only wished and prayed that donald trump would have been president. because -- [ cheers and applause ] >> true. it's true. because this would not have happened -- >> unbelievable moment for trump. the other unbelievable moment, this. a poll showing donald trump coming in second place nationally. this is the first time in 31 consecutive polls that's ever happened. meanwhile, consider this. the palmetto state's reputation of dirty tricks, throwing in photo shop and social media, and today a brand new photo this hour. this stock image, nothing exceptional about it. two men shaking hands. why is

joining me now is robert cost at that. robert, this is a fascinating story. you paint a somewhat dire picture for ted cruz and marco rubio. if you're saying it doesn't look good for them on march 1st when basically a dozen states are voting where does it look good for them? >> at this point senator rubio, senator cruz are trying to make this a two-man race and it's going to be difficult to see how that happens before super tuesday and really even before mid march. can i at this point you see rubio and cruz attacking each other because they don't have the political skills, money or will to go after trump and have that engagement. it's taking out the other to get the race down. >> that's something else you mentioned in this article, this super pac, one of these super pacs backing ted cruz is training its fire not on donald trump but on marco rubio. what are the tactics there? >> the tactics here are broadly speaking to go after the other candidates, as i said, but the most important part of super tuesday is strategically targeting some of these 11 states that a

david roberts, who is a writer at fox had a line about the voter. your voters weren't locked in the room with you, republican establishment. you were locked in the room with them. to ben's point about christie, i felt a little, if i can indulge for moment, like gloating a little bit. this guy is who he said he was from a character perspective. the knock on christie was talented politician. a smart and very capable human being with a personality given toward authoritarianism and bullying and ethical corner cutting. >> remember he was going to be the centrist savior. >> he almost won hispanics in new jersey. >> he was going to save the party from a figure like trump. he was going to save the party. that doesn't happen. watching this today, it's like the worst buddy move you've never wanted to see. these two kinds find each other. they love each other. they were playing let's spend the night together when i turned the tv in the hotel today. i was like oh, my goodness. it's like the worst buddy movie. they degrade women. they mock the disable. they pick

everybody, robert, where are we and is trump stoppable in any way? >> ahead of super tuesday, trump's certainly has a lot of momentum going in to these 11 contests. he's someone who has strength in the deep south. he has the populist momentum behind him. but senator rubio is drawing big crowds. he drew a big one in georgia yesterday and you see the establishment coalescing around him. it's going to be a long fight if rubio can show some traction with delegates. >> and jeremy, a long fight with delegate traction, of course, is not usually possible when the lead candidate has a lot of momentum. or what we in the politics world call momentum, which is just a fancy word for winning a couple of the early states. the difference here would seem to be what the "times," your paper and others have pointed out, which is there is still a large swath of the republican party nervous about this man, no matter how many early states he wins. >> mm-hmm. there is, ari but i just don't know how stoppable donald trump is. and i don't think the rubio people know that. i d

koch roberts. i will not release something until my democratic opponent does. >> the reason i agree with you, joe, i think it's all distracting. enough already with all of this stuff. she's trying desperately to keep the conversation about the issues that she's concerned about. >> release the transcripts, we'll move on. it's her fault we're talking about it. >> she raised money off of wall street. she's running against a guy who has no connection, taken nothing from them. prove the point. >>> coming up on "morning joe," does marco rubio suddenly have a conservative problem? he had to cancel one forum and now reports say he may not go to the biggest conservative event on the calendar. we'll hear from the head of the american conservative union when "morning joe" continues. >>> my exclusive interview with melania trump is also ahead. be good. text mom. boys have been really good today. send. let's get mark his own cell phone. nice. brad could use a new bike. send. [google] message. you decide. they'r

robert jones, ceo of the public religion research institute. thank you so much for joining me. >> thanks for having me. >> let's talk about the win for donald trump in the evangelical voters here. many of them said he perhaps does not have their same values, their same moral compass, but they voted for him anyway. what do you make of this? >> exactly right. what we have is a little bit of a puzzle in south carolina, but an important one to unravel for looking ahead, as you said, to super tuesday, when we're looking at, you know, two thirds of the delegates being offered in states that have more than 50% white evangelical protestant gop primary voters. what i think is happening is that this should have been home ground for ted cruz. he had son of a baptist pastor, great ground game, including connecting with pastors. but what happened is at the end of the day, he came in, trump won not only the state but among white evangelical voters. what i think is happening here is that trump has maybe given us a revelation that evangelical voters are thinki

. >>> hi, everybody, i'm thomas roberts. quite a crowd in here. we're live in the liberty tap room in columbia, south carolina. it is tgif here for sure. the primary headquarters is right here in this hot spot in columbia. we have the republican field stumping all over the south today ahead of tomorrow's debate in greenville, marco rubio, ted cruz, jeb bush and ben carson all there. donald trump not in south carolina at all. we see matchups from this group of contenders. matchup one, cruz hitting rubio with a controversial new ad that he later had to pull. >> has anyone else here struggled with being lied to? >> well, i voted for a guy who was a tea party hero on the campaign trail. then he went to d.c. and played patty-cake with chuck schumer and cut a deal on amnesty. >> does that make you feel angry? >> angry? it makes me feel dumb for trusting him. >> maybe you should vote for more than just a pretty face next time. >> do you guys have room for one more? >> matchup number two, trump versus cruz, the amnesty duo dueling over dirty politics and

it's registered to a man named eric robert rudolph. a little more than 24 hours after the birmingham bomb blast, federal agents arrive in the rural town of murphy, north carolina. the home of eric rudolph. unfortunately, the news travels faster than they do. >> the investigation of a deadly bombing at a clinic in alabama that performs abortions is centering on a gray nissan pick-up and a man who may know something about it. just moments ago investigators announced they have issued a material witness warrant for eric robert rudolph. they say he may have information about that truck. >> investigators rush to eric rudolph's last known address, hoping to catch him before he hears the news. >> by the time law enforcement authorities, both local and the local sheriff's office and the fbi and atf showed up at the trailer, the door was swinging in the wind. when you step inside here, you could tell that the individual who had left this trailer left in a big, big hurry. >> there were guns left in the trailer. there was a fairly substantial amou

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

and like in 2000, you'll hear a lot of scalia, a lot of clarence thomas, not as much of john roberts, who has annoyed conservatives by defending obamacare now twice. so i think you'll hear from that. i will be interested to watch tonight, ted cruz, a justice -- a clerk on the supreme court. so tonight is the one time where in terms of these candidates, he is much more versed on legal issues than the other candidates. i think this is a night for him to show that and to really speak more eloquently about the issues. >> you make such an interesting point. what you're saying is it's not just where people stand, and from what we can tell, the entire leadership of the republican party within a few hours has taken the same position. it's not just so much where they stand on that, but who knows what? you make the point that ted cruz who has done well so far, is by any stretch the best lawyer on the stage, the most practiced legal mind. he already has that reputation. he had an exchange with donald trump about who was going to take advice on who on constitutional issues when the eligibility is

dip into that, robert, but i want your thinking. does donald trump have the heart, the character, to take that loss last night and come on and win and show he still has character inside? i'm not talking about moral character, i'm talking about political character? does he have it? >> we're watching it in real time. i was on the tarmac when his boeing landed tonight. he came out of his plane with his daughter. he said let's go. they went to stop at his campaign head quarters, told them to keep making calls, not get distracted. making a play for new hampshire, brush aside what happened in iowa, move forward. he is showing some heart by going to his grassroots volunteers tonight, not going to any big donor or republican elites, going to the grassroots people, scott brown and know the terrain here. >> scott, thanks for coming on the show from the globe. let me ask you about the voteser in new hampshire. to me, two kinds of voters in new hampshire. the old yankee type, minority, used to be up there in big numbers, and the irish italian g

hey, everybody, good morning, i'm thomas roberts live at msnbc headquarters here in south cloiv carolina. it is roughly 7:00 a.m. polls across the palmetto state, who will survive into the final hours as we begin this moment in history. >> if the republican party had guts, they would have terminated cruz from that election. honestly, he cheated like a dog. >> i said that in the debate, he is literally making things up. >> the temperament is on display. >> some 2500 miles away, la late into the night, stakes couldn't be higher. hillary clinton, bernie sanders, hoping to ramally potential caucus-goers in and around america's gambling capital. >> so let's go caucus tomorrow! let's get out of the past! let's win this election! let's make sure our country stays on the path of progress into the future! >> people will look back on what happens in nevada and say this was the beginning of the political revolution. >> and as we celebrate democracy in action. we also celebrate the legacy of a judicial lion in the nation's capitol. people of all political background say good by to justice scalia. ms

john roberts, i think, can be a defended choice for sure. just, you know, the obamacare decision i was disappointed in. but he's made some really good rulings beyond that. here's the deal, i think the lesson learned is, you pick someone with a proven, long-standing record, a history that you can point too, when he wasn't considered or she wasn't being considered for a nomination of the supreme court. >> the unexpected court vacancy has legal world buzzing we have destabilized the middle east. >> but so you -- so i mean -- so you still think he should be impeached? >> i think it's my turn. >> you do whatever you want. you call it whatever you want. i want to tell you, they lied. they said there were weapons of mass destruction. there were none. and they knew there were none. there were no weapons of mass destruction. >> okay, all right. >> i'm sick and tired of barack obama blaming my brother for all of the problems that he's had. and frankly, i could care less about the insults that donald trump gives to me. it's blood sport for him. he enjo

back in washington, robert costa joins us, msnbc analyst as well. the republican party's reacting now to the news of trump's dominance in different ways. for some they are pushing resistance. henry barber, the nephew of hallie barber, a member of the republican national committee said, after trump has won in new hampshire and south carolina, republicans are crazy and are about to blow the white house if we don't rally to stop him, close quote. marco rubio made the case for why the party needed to nominate him. >> we can't win. if we nominate someone, if we nominate someone that half of the republican party hates, we're going to be fighting against each other all the way to november. we will never win that way. i don't care how much you may think they're funny or how interesting they may sound. if we nominate someone that 40% to 50% of our party can't stand, we are going to lose. >> katy, i don't know what all these guys are thinking, but he sounded desperate. we've got a leak in the dike, we've got to stop this thing. >> which is the case right now.

i want to ask you to react, i was a little surprised to see, this was senator pat roberts' reaction to the president's plan, let me show it to you. >> this is what i think of the president's plan to send terrorists to the united states. >> i understand the sentiment, but when did we get to the point where we disagree with something and we have to make a viral video, like, to say, i so disagree with it, i want to make -- you know, i'm going to throw it away, doesn't his plan at least deserve a hearing, even if you don't like it? >> you know, chuck, i'm sure the video is great and i'm sure it's lovely, i couldn't see it. what was he doing? >> fair enough. he took the paper, wadded it up, threw it in a trash can and said, that's what i think of the president's plan. and it just seemed a little un-senatorial. it seems like no matter what you think of the plan, he submitted it, shouldn't it be the obligation of the u.s. senate to at least consider it and say, you know what, we don't like it. but i feel like we have no lines anymore in decorum. >> yeah, perhaps, but perhaps, chuck, if you we

. >> robert fry's religious conversion came only after he found himself on death row in the penitentiary of new mexico. >> i am in for four counts of murder, and i'm currently serving three life sentences. >> i thought maybe we might do "what a friend we have in jesus." >> today fry is a regular at a prison bible study. the inmates, all death row and maximum security, are confined to their cells. >> i apologize for the filming going on. this isn't about me. this is about this fellowship. showing what prison fellowship in christ is doing for us. >> fry's crimes were both numerous and gruesome. >> i was very angry, very confused. >> fry received a death sentence for bludgeoning and stabbing to death a 36-year-old mother of five in 2000. >> you best show your love for god by the way you show your love for your fellow man. >> he has three other murder convictions, as well. fry beat one man with a shovel and threw him off a cliff. another victim was nearly beheaded. but when he sat down with us, fry told our producer he was confident of one thing. >> i believe i'm going to be with my lord. wh

let me start with this, robert. the south carolina exit polling, first politics were to give a name for the top three, trump, cruz and rubio, trump was mr. change and cruz was mr. values. rubio is more electability. here's my question to you. how much is leblelectability weighing on the minds of republican primary voters, and is rubio now in a position where he's in a position, if you don't like trump and want somebody who can beat hillary clinton, pick me. >> the electability is weighing on the people behind me here at capitol hill, the insiders and general voters want someone with an appeal to mainstream voters and suburbs across america in november. but in the republican party base, this has been for over a year, an election about outsiders, about populism, about taking on the system. and to an extent, about conservative values. >> jay, i have a theory about this. i'm curious what you think about this. you've written about hillary clinton quite a bit. my theory is that in the world of conservative media and the s

you've been written a disciplinary by correctional officer robert jackson, rule violation 5207, possession of a weapon. do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give in the case is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you god? >> i do. >> mr. jackson, what happened? >> when i searched the back of "b" dorm, checked under easter's pillow, picked it up, there was a knife there. >> do you have any written questions for mr. jackson? >> yes, sir. >> officer jackson, was inmate antonio easter present when you confiscate-- conducted the shakedown of his living area? >> no. >> officer jackson, were you aware that you were conducting the shakedown of the living area of antonio easter? >> yes. >> officer jackson, do you know the s.o.p. states that an inmate, if can be made available, must be present when that inmate's property is being shaken -- shook down? >> no, i didn't need him there. i suspected there was something in the area. i continued on with it. i already found some contraband in the area. that's why i decided to check his bed. before the knife, i

justice roberts approved obamacare twice. ted cruz gave us obamacare. >> it is no surprise that donald is throwing yet another temper tantrum or if you like another trumper tantrum. >> ted cruz coins a new term. and hillary clinton and bernie sanders go head to head tonight in the first and only debate before the first of the nation primary. they're trying to set a record as to who the real progressive is. it's 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west. this is "way too early." >>> good morning. it's thursday, february the 4th. i'm louis burgdorf. hillary clinton and bernie sanders will meet on a debate stage tonight after all. they gave viewers a preview of the collision yet to come.

we now want to bring in chris hays and robert costa. of course, msnbc's own, as is robert costa but we share him from time to time with "the washington post." let's talk mostly about others who are feeling the bern, the sanders campaign. chris, specifically, your conversation with him yesterday on the bus. when a lot of us thought we saw a continuation of this kind of new sanders, a little tougher, harder edge. >> yeah. i mean, i think they're sharpening their message, frankly and understand this is a campaign within grasp for them. in a way, four or five months ago, when they were 40 or 50 points behind, no one thought they would be. i also talked to him a little bit about the fact he is now facing a democratic party that he has an awkward relationship with to a certain extent. he never identified as a democrat for most of his career in congress and this is fundamentally a party exercise. he's the party nominee and i asked him, what kind of leader he would be of the democratic party. this is what he said. >> if elected president, i wou

back to you, brian and rachel. >> chris matthews with robert costa out in des moines. we're hearing from viewers, yes, when the doors close, we'll still be able to see these caucuses at work. yes, you heard that you can caucus if you're 17 in iowa. as long as you're turning 18 by november. and why is iowa the first in the country? it is because it is. the party enforces it. they will actually penalize you with convention delegates if you try to jump in front of iowa as the first caucus, or new hampshire as the first primary. and we're going to take another break, as we approach the top of the hour. and the closing of the doors where our cameras will remain behind. it's caucus night in iowa. decision 2016. >>> doors close in the iowa caucuses, and the caucuses themselves start up in about a quarter hour. a live shot from des moines. we were talking earlier this hour about congressional endorsements for the democratic candidates. bernie sanders has two congressional endorsements. at least that we know of. keith ellison and raul. put that up against hillary clinton's cong

and robert costa is still with us. maria teresa, that ted cruz going on about liar liar pants on fire and all that reduces the entire campaign -- he may think that that works as a way of mocking donald trump. but it makes the entire campaign of all of them look ridiculous. >> well, i think a lot of folks are not going to remember the campaign of 2006 when the congress lost -- the republicans lost the house back to the democrats. in exit polls the number one reason that people actually basically ousted the republicans was because they didn't trust them. they actually said that they thought they were -- the american people thought that they were lying to them. so this word, this idea of trust, this idea that you are lying to me, it weighs very heavily on the electorate. so i think that the republican party has a bigger problem because i think right now if you were to poll the majority of americans and say do you think any of these candidates are telling you the truth the majority of them are going to say i don't. >> i wa

robert, let me start with you, because you're there at the site of tonight's debate. what is your sense from the people you're reporting and talking to your sources of what the game plan is for the anti-trump forces in tonight's debate? >> speaking of allies and advisors to both rubio and cruz, i've gotten a sense from my reporters that trump is the target. they may have played down expectations ahead of tonight, but they know this is an urgent moment just days before super tuesday. if they can't take him out or gain ground, it's hard to see where they're going in the coming weeks. >> advisors have woken up to what is the obvious and obvious to everyone else. stewart stevens, who is campaign manager for mitt romney, this framework of lanes has led people as stray, go after the person most popular. what do you think, are there lines of attack that have yet to be trotted out that you think could possibly work with the gop electorate? >> look, i think if they had a strategy to take out trump, we would have seen it by now, right? you've seen the debates, you don't need me

joining us now alex wagoner, and robert costa and and stewart stev stevens. alex, donald trump certainly has ted cruz figured out. >> all that dirty campaigning. that's a canadian thing. >> can i say i think it would behoove the media not to sound the death nol for donald trump's campaign as yet. keep in mind that people voted for donald trump and people have been not because he's a winner, but because he voices for a certain conservative for whom he remains a very potent and viable candidate. i mean he is leading by 20 points in new hampshire. he's leading by double digits in other polls and collectively he and ted cruz, who are at extreme ends of the republican party got over 50% of the vote in iowa. this strain of conservativisms is not going anywhere as yet. >> robert costa, i'm fascinated about how muted trump was tonight in new hampshire about canada. that was his only reference to ted cruz being canadian born and there's a lot of french canadian in new hampshire talking about canada up in new hampshire is a different thing perhaps than talking about it

ism -- i know we still have robert costa here in the spin room. how are you doing, robert? >> doing good. we also have aaron and elise. starting with you, robert, the mood here generally about who won and what matters in south carolina? >> reporter: here in the spin room a lot of the establishment candidates, more of the mainstream republicans feel they had an opening tonight. their argument in the spin room was donald trump was running against the republican party, running against the policies and views, especially on foreign policy that that have become the center of the policy over the last decade. they say especially in a state like social security that gives a rubio or bush or anyone else like a john kasich to move forward and the trump people feel pretty confident, too. they think they established themselves as someone a little counter and -- >> gabe, i don't want to add to the urgency of the moment. but i understand you guys are going to be kicked out of there at some point? the spinning must stop? is that right? >> yes, that's right. the spin room is quickly clearin

it's thursday, february the 11th, i'm thomas roberts on a throwback thursday edition of "way too early." i have the mug to prove it. we are live in columbia, south carolina, as the race is shifting to the first in the south primary. so fresh off his 22 point vict

and robert costa, an msnbc political analyst. john, pass it over to mark when you're done. how do you see the whole race, trump sort of -- i think he's pretty much happy right now, based upon our interview. john, and then mark. how is the race playing? >> chris, i think there's a rough consensus now, if you take what the rival campaigns are saying, and look at the public polling that donald trump is likely to win the new hampshire primary tomorrow. likely to win it bay healthy margin. whether he's over 30 or under 30, unclear. anything besides that is totally unknown. the polling is really tough to read. there's at least four or five candidates who are in contention to finish second. >> mark? >> unless trump really surges above where he is, or cruz surges above where he is, i think mathematically it's likely one of the four establishment gets in the 20s. and i think they leave with a leg up. it means one of them will leave with a leg up. >> guys, there are always about two or three points. how many votes haven't been decided as yet in the polling? >> i think there's a sense

doesn't mean you have to be a liberal but he is on some issues. >> robert costa, let me ask you what you're hearing from the cruz and rubio campaigns because we have been asking the question all morning. when you have a guy in first place, ahead in every poll, looks like he'll win easily on supertuesday in nevada. what are the campaigns saying to justify attacking the guys in second or third place and not going after the frontrunner who looks like he could lock this thing down in three weeks? >> they both want a two-man race. to get there, they think they have to go through each other rather than going through trump. i think mark nailed it. there is a sense that they don't want to have the fight. they don't want to engage because they either don't have the political skills or they don't have the money. what you're going to see is rubio try to creep up onto a two-man race by coalescing establishment support. time is running out for him and others in the field. >> certainly is. >> robert costa, thank you. >>> governor john kasich clarifies off the cuff comments. >>> jeff greenfield joi

robert, let me start you. i mean, as someone who is as plugged in as you are in the world of sort of the republican political establishment, republican political operatives and donors, is this read that i have on it, which is about the worst thing they could have hoped for last night, is that correct? >> the calendar works in trump's favor, chris. when you talk to people close to trump and those part of other rival campaigns, there's a sense that south carolina a state where trump has led about a year. he's been hiring people there since february of 2015. and there's a sense that even if he doesn't do as well as expected in south carolina, he goes strong into the south on march 1st, the deep south. you got alabama and other states and other blue collar new england states like massachusetts coming up on that day. >> you mentioned the ground game. i want to play this clip from trump last night talking about the ground game like it was a two-word phrase that someone has whispered to him about 72 hours before the

i'm thomas roberts reporting live here in the liberty tap room in south carolina, where it's almost valentine's day. no love lost in last night's democratic debate, but we have some love from the college attendees behind me. i appreciate them getting up early to be with me. they were not here overnight. it is a bar. but we're going to talk more about why we're here at the liberty tap room, how we're broadcasting here as our msnbc headquarters today. let's get to last night because two days after the new hampshire primary, bernie sanders and hillary clinton squared off again last night. this time in milwaukee and clinton began by portraying sanders' proposals as unrealistics, saying by economist estimates they will grow the government by 40%. clinton went on the attack over sanders' criticism of president obama. >> today, senator sanders said that president obama failed the presidential leadership test and this is not the first time that he has criticized president obama. in the past he's called him weak, he's called him a disappointment. the kind of criticism that we have heard from senator san

robert costa, on the democratic side, there is a lot to talk about. hillary clinton so-called fire wall in south carolina. if donald trump comes out of new hampshire in anything but first place, does he have a fire wall in south carolina? or are his wall built on that kind of, like a very collapsable house of cards based on the notion that he wins everything? >> south carolina is a crucial state for donald trump. there is a sense that trump has been winning in the polls in south carolina for months on end. big leads in the poll. this is state lines where newt gingrich didn't win there. work the media savvy campaign. he doesn't need a the love grounds game in south carolina. that's where he could come back. there is a sense that has to be a state that he wins. new hampshire remains the target. this is a state pat buchanan won. anti-illegal immigration. this is his home base. >> david, just an example of how die animalic and fluid this electorate is. i was talking to an undecided voter. she is undecided between ted cruz and hillary clinton. that's how u

i think robert and others are right. it's a very volatile electorate on both the democratic and republican side. look, i think at the end of the day there's still, you know, three days away from tuesday's a lifetime. there's going to be so much, you know, free press scrutiny, so many events, debate tonight. you know, it could well be a different world on tuesday. i will say, though, i think what robert said earlier is correct. i think both electorates, the democrats and republicans, will be trying to choose between their head and their heart. and what makes new hampshire so volatile right now in february is we're not talking about april, may, june. this may be the time still when people feel that they have the ability to go with their heart versus their head. the head may come later in april, may, and june. >> well, and, fred, when we think about polling, when we say -- it says beneath your face on tv it says democratic pollster, ie, you've done polling for campaigns not just what most people see day to day which are the

also with us robert costa. robert costa, so what do we think it means that donald trump has done less handshaking in new hampshire than any other candidate? >> it could have a political cost. trump has been campaigning all year on ads, on his celebrity, on television appearances. and we saw a little bit of his support in iowa was soft. he wasn't having much of a ground game. here in new hampshire he's doing more in the final few days, but he's not doing the same as his rivals, who were holding many town halls. >> david, what do you think? >> you know, the interesting thing is for month after month after month there was one story of this campaign, it was donald trump. he overshadowed -- >> i remember that. >> remember that? >> is it over? please tell me it's over. >> but now he has to share the spotlight. there's a ted cruz story, a marco rubio story. on tuesday there may be, i'm not promising, a jeb bush or john kasich story, maybe a chris christie story, and of course the bernie story. so he's not one guy and

john roberts i think can be a defended choice for sure. the obamacare decision i was disappointed in but he's made really good rulings beyond that here's the deal. the lesson learned is you pick someone with a proven long-standing record, a history that you can point to. when he wasn't considered -- or she wasn't being considered a nomination in the supreme court. >> so, sam, the battle began immediately after scalia -- >> five minutes. five minutes. >> i would usually be offended by such things but it was so obviously a titanic event in american politics that you couldn't be shocked saying oh, we must mourn for two or three days, i expected it immediately and you know what? justice scalia would have expected it immediately, too, because so many cases hang in the balance, 5-4. "heller" is just one of them. the gun case. >> it does raise a question about the structure of our lifetime appointments to the supreme court. maybe it will spark a conversation about judicial term limits. >> you and dr. ben car jon? ben carson does agree with that.

senator roberts says the hold on mr. fanning for secretary of the army is nothing personal, he say it's about guantanamo. regardless of the reason for the hold, it appears to be semieternal. there appears to be no end in sight. so officially eric fanning is not able to perform the duties of army secretary. and nobody else is either. acting in his place right now is this guy who you know. former congressman patrick murray. patrick murphy is an iraq war veteran, he was the first iraq war veteran to serve in congress. he opposed the iraq war. he was outspoken about it. won a bronze star as an airborne major in the war. the senate ended up approving him just before christmas. today he was finally officially sworn in as the 32nd undersecretary of the united states army. who is -- which means right now he is the top civilian official in the u.s. army, at least until senator pat roberts decides to let our country have a secretary of the army sometime again. this is a really big deal for patrick murphy. it's also just a really b

we'll see, robert. i don't know. thank you. >>> coming up, republicans, donald trump, marco rubio, and ted cruz, have all called to keep the prison at guantanamo bay open. we know that. we have said that a couple times. up next, i'll talk live with their supporters. one from the rubio camp, one from the cruz campaign. how do they react to some of the dollar figures, some of the numbers presented from the president, putting american taxpayers on the hook for a sizable amount of money to keep the prison open. ve pain... shoots and burns 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. tell 'em cedric sent you. >>> we are monitoring senator marco rubio's campaign event this hour in

and i would not have nominated john roberts. once george bush nominated him, i supported the nomination as a republican nominee, but i would have nominated my former boss, a court of appeals judge, justice scalia's very first law clerk and had a long proven track record. and, chuck, just as ronald reagan was to the presidency, so antonin scalia was to the supreme court. he had that big an impact. and i think his passing yesterday really underscores the stakes of this election. we are facing our fundamental rights in a balance. >> let me ask you, does the united states senate have an obligation to at least consider a nomination that president obama puts forward? i understand that you guys don't want it. and you would prefer to let the -- but doesn't the united states have an obligation to at least go through the process and have an up or down vote? >> not remotely. >> why? >> it has been 80 years since a supreme court vacancy was nominated and confirmed in an election year. there is a long tradition that you don't do this in an e

i want to bring in former labor secretary under president bill clinton, robert wright. now president of economics at uc berkeley. thank you so much for joining us. it's interesting. this debate yesterday and the big headline today, the u.s. economy created 151,000 jobs in january. unemployment rate fell 4.9%. compare it to the anger, not just the gop candidates but some of the fire that came last night as bernie sanders talked about the pop e populist message that they're not improving. >> it is but wages are not coming back. most fear their children will not live as well as they live. that fear and anxiety is with us even though the job picture has improved. >> but you are a supporter of bernie sanders. the job picture, as you pointed out, has improved. the numbers are here. but you're supporting senator sanders and that's not the message that is resonating with those supporting him. they believe that, yes, there's been some recovery but it's on the side of wall street and not, as we like to call it, main street. >> let me just qualify what you said a moment ago. i am