Transcripts For CNNW Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer 20160310

Information. Will cruisz keep up the attacks tonight and how will donald trump respond . Im wolf blitzer inside the debate hall. Youre in the situation room. Were counting down to the cnn republican president ial debate, the final faceoff before the crucial tuesday night primaries that include winnertakeall contests here in florida as well as in ohio. Our coverage starts three and a half hours from now, Opening Statements by the candidates follow at 9 00 p. M. Eastern. For some candidates, its now or never. Donald trump says if he wins in florida and ohio, in his words, quote, its over. It probably would be over for senator marco rubio. He insists hell win here in florida, but polls show him trailing in his home state. One poll shows Ohio Governor john kasich leading trump in his home state. Senator ted cruz, who has won seven states so far, will try to convince republicans that hes the only candidate besides trump who can gather enough delegates for the nomination. Three other big states hold primaries on tuesday. Illinois, missouri and North Carolina. Hundreds of delegates are up for grabs. The candidates have been checking out the debate hall here at the university of miami and now theyre making final preparations. It will be their last chance to impress the voters ahead of tuesdays contest. The stakes couldnt be any higher. We begin our coverage this hour with our senior white house correspondent, jim acosta. Jim, first of all, what can we expect tonight . Wolf, donald trump is expecting a softer debate tonight he says, but he likely wont get one. Trump Campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski tells me they understand rubios political life is on the line tonight and that he will be aggressive. A top rubio advisor tells me the florida senator will avoid those personal attacks on trumps tanning methods and hand size, but they still see trump and his Business Record as fair game. So Trump University, trump steaks, trump water and so on. Trump is predicting that marco rubio is finished in florida, finished in this race and that was his message at his last rally in North Carolina. Heres what he had to say. Little marco would say i think hes gone, i think hes gone, but who knows. You never know. But marco they hate him in florida. I want to tell you, in florida he doesnt show up to vote. They elected a senator and hes got the worst voting record in the last 15, 20 years in the United States senate. What kind of a representative who wants to vote for him . I mean if i dont beat marco in florida, because florida is my place, i love florida. Now, donald trump is looking for a double knockout punch next tuesday on rubio in florida but also on john kasich in ohio. Trump is getting more aggressive on kasich, calling him an absentee governor. We have not heard attacks like that from donald trump on john kasich up until this point in the campaign. It means hes getting nervous, wolf. Jim, there was some violence at trumps event. What happened . Thats right. Check out this Youtube Video of a protester. We can put it up on screen. He was being led out of the rally last night by Law Enforcement officials. This was last night in fayetteville, North Carolina. As the protester is leaving the arena, he is sucker punched by a trump supporter there in the crowd. Police in fayetteville say that trump supporter has been arrested and the case is under investigation. We should point out, wolf, trump has dismissed these scuffles. As a matter of fact he did last saturday to me. Hes dismissing these scuffles as something that just happens from time to time considering the size of the crowds at these events. The Trump Campaign always makes an announcement before these rallies get started saying please dont touch the protesters. That obviously did not happen last night. In a statement from the local Sheriffs Department there in fayetteville, the sheriff had choice words for the suspect saying, quote, no one should be subjected to such a cowardly act. Its hard to argue with that, wolf. It certainly is. All right, jim acosta, thank you very much. Marco rubio has voiced regret for some of his own comments about donald trump, his personal attacks or counter attacks havent helped at the polls either. Lets bring in manu raju. Rubios campaign seems to be in big trouble right now. What do you expect well hear from him tonight . Well, i think youll hear various messages from marco rubio. One, to remind voters why they actually elected him in 2010. Thats what im told from senior rubio officials. Trying to reconnect to voters and explain his conservative principles, his ideas and some of that lofty rhetoric that weve heard in the past. But watch him to still go pretty aggressively at donald trump and make the case that this is the state that can stop donald trump. What does that mean for marco rubio . Hes going to say voting for john kasich or voting for ted cruz is effectively a vote for donald trump. In addition to talking about his Business Record, watch for marco rubio to try to draw out donald trump on policy issues. Try to have him fill in the blanks. Thats going to be a key thing rubio officials believe have been effective using against donald trump in the past, including the debate that you moderated in houston over the health care issue. Those are the types of attacks rubio will launch tonight so he will absolutely be aggressive because they know this is a doordie state for marco rubio. Certainly is. You also Cover Congress for us where senator rubio has a lot of support from his fellow republican senators. What are you hearing from them . Yeah, i spent yesterday speaking to a lot of those republican senators, very anxious, wolf. They believe that rubio is probably could go down on tuesday and that could be the end of the road of his campaign. If kasich doesnt win ohio, its the end of the thing for his. On the cruz front they believe hes a true republican, hes very predictable, they know what hell say. But on trump even though hes unpredictable, at the very least a lot of people believe he can bring out new voters to the polls. I talked to richard burr, a senator from North Carolina up for relelectionreelection, he clear running with donald trump. Well see what happens in North Carolina. Republican primary there, thats next tuesday as well. Joining us now, the National Spokeswoman for the Trump Campaign, Katrina Pierson. Katrina, thanks very much for joining us. I want to start with a little clip from the cnn interview that donald trump did with Anderson Cooper last night. Its getting a lot of buzz out there. Listen to this. Do you think islam is at war with the west . I think islam hates us. Theres something theres something there that theres a tremendous hatred there. Theres a tremendous hatred. We have to get to the bottom of it. There is an unbelievable hatred of us. Does he regret saying islam hates us as opposed to radical islam or extremist islam . He basically said islam hates us. Well, i dont think that he regrets saying it when the perception is the reality when you see thousands of muslims in a room chanting death to america in several places. We are talking about islam and youre right, it is radical islamic extremists that do participate in these types of things. But the Bigger Picture here is we are so controlled by political correctness, weve allowed this propaganda to spread all throughout the country that this is a religion of peace when we see today that countries like britain and france and even germany now and sweden, where theyre having a headon collision with the truth. We have to Start Talking about this in a broader perspective rather than separating the idea because we have a major problem going on in this country, as we are continuing to bring thousands of refugees into this country that we know have been infiltrated by isis. But he didnt say some muslims, he didnt say radical muslims. There are 1. 6 billion muslims worldwide and many of them, most of them i dare say dont hate the United States, dont hate americans, in fact america has great friends in the muslim world like King Abdullah of jordan, for example, a great ally. Well, right. It does go both ways and youre absolutely right about that. But we also have hundreds of millions in the world who agree with these terrorist sentiments and acts. Here in the United States, and ill point to an article written by ben shapiro in 2014 entitled the myth of the tiny muslim minority, theres tons of statistics in there. A Pew Research Poll of muslims in the United States where 13 approved of using violence for jihad and 19 approved of al qaeda. So we have a problem, particularly in the United States, when you have 250,000 to 570,000 muslims here in the United States that sympathize with terrorism, even though they may not be themselves the one to engage. But lumping them altogether, thats a problem, katrina. Consider the case of Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan who was born in new jersey to immigrants, he joined the u. S. Army to defend our country, he was killed in iraq in 2007. Doesnt donald trump think that how can he think all muslims hate the United States, hate americans . Well, thats not what he said. He was talking about islam specifically. Youre absolutely right, there is a difference and he didnt use the differentiation word. But thats exactly what hes talking about. Most americans understand that. We know that people in our world in the punditry class and ivory towers that make the policy, they want to hear the words that make the difference. But there is a difference between islam and radical islam and some would even argue that there isnt. But the point here is to point out the idea that we have a serious problem that isnt being addressed by the Current Administration and mr. Trump wants to resolve the issue and no other candidate is willing to get out there and take up the fight. All right. Lets i think youll agree, though, with hindsight he should have said radical islam or extremist islam as opposed to just islam, right . Well, of course. If he would have said that we wouldnt be having this discussion today. But im happy to clarify any time, wolf. All right. Lets talk about Hillary Clinton, bernie sanders. They had a debate last night and they were asked bluntly if they believed donald trump is a racist. They didnt say no, but they went on to criticize trump. Could this be a major line of attack from either one of these candidates, whoever gets the democratic nomination . No. I think by the time it gets to november, people are going to be tired of hearing the racist charge and the sexist charge. Everyone is tired of hearing that already. Anyone who knows mr. Trump knows mr. Trump isnt a racist. In fact youd have to be blind to assume that he is at this point. No, i think its really going to be one of those things. Going into the general, highlighting the differences between a Trump Administration and a clinton or even Sanders Administration for that matter is really going to show that mr. Trump is for the people. There is no political agenda. There are no people to pay back. There isnt wall street or super pacs or anyone else that mr. Trump cares about because he is the only candidate thats personally invested in the success or failure in this country. Katrina, stand by. We have more to discuss, including how donald trump is preparing for tonights historic debate here on the campus of the university of miami. Much more with Katrina Pierson right after this. Youre down with crestor. Alright now theres a way you can get crestor for 3. Adding crestor, along with diet, lowers bad cholesterol. Crestor is not for people with liver disease, or women who are nursing,pregnant, or may become pregnant. Tell your doctor all medicines you take. Call your doctor if you have muscle pain or weakness; feel unusually tired; have loss of appetite, upper belly pain, dark urine or yellowing of skin or eyes. These could be signs of serious side effects. Ask for the crestor 3 card. Ask your doctor about crestor. Were counting down to cnns republican president ial debate here on the campus of the university of miami tonight. Were back with the National Spokeswoman for the Trump Campaign, Katrina Pierson. Katrina, president obama in his News Conference with the canadian Prime Minister today was asked if his policies over the past seven years have played a role in Donald Trumps success so far. Listen to what the president said. I have been blamed by republicans for a lot of things, but being blamed for their primaries and who theyre selecting for their party is novel. What im not going to do is to validate some notion that the republican crackup thats been taking place is a consequence of actions that ive taken. All right, katrina, your reaction. Well, i think that thats partially right, wolf. I mean we have republicans who are effectively rejecting the republican establishment right now. I mean we have the two people leading who are said to be the political outsiders, and mr. Trump is definitely not someone that is on the inside. So what were seeing on the republican side is less about obama and more about republicans failing to do their jobs to lead their people on their side, whether its fighting against some of the reforms that this president has put into place or simply capitulating and giving this president everything hes asked for. So i think this is really more about the party and less about obama. How is donald trump preparing for tonights debate . Mr. Trump is hes definitely hes looking forward to tonight, ive got to tell you, and knowing that this is marco rubios last stand. This is an opportunity for senator cruz to try and capitalize on that as well moving forward. He is definitely keeping up with the news and hes definitely talking to our policy team. We have an amazing policy team. And mr. Trump definitely wants to have a good night tonight. I think hes going to have a strong showing. Youre going to see that amazing side of him that everyone loves to see, even though we know that theres going to be a dog pile on donald trump, but hes ready, wolf. Does he want to tone down the debate tonight and not get into an angry back and forth as happened in the last couple debates . Well, mr. Trump always wants to do that. He has always started out that way in debates past and its when hes attacked. Hes always said im a counter puncher, im not going to attack first. Yes, i do think youll see mr. Trump come out and just want to talk about his vision and his plans to make America Great again. However, if he is attacked, mr. Trump will make the decision on how to counter punch just the same. So we can expect him to counter punch if hes attacked. He might. Is the campaign right now, as far as you know, katrina, preparing for a possible contested convention in cleveland in july . You know, wolf, we are preparing for pretty much anything at this point. You know, we have been subject to all kinds of ridiculous attacks by our own party, by people in our own party who are trying to stop the one candidate that everyone now understands can bring in blue collar democrats, that can bring in young people, new voters. The one candidate that can change the electoral votes come november. So were really prepared for anything at this point. Were going to fight it all the way through and i can tell you mr. Trump will be the republican nominee and the next president of the United States. Do you think if it comes down to trump and cruz, hell continue to debate with cruz . Well, well have to see. Mr. Trump is looking forward to debating whomever. I think everyone has a lot of debate fatigue at this point. So ultimately mr. Trump will make that decision. A final question, katrina, before i let you go. You heard jim acostas report that a trump reporter sort of sucker punched a protester last night at a trump rally as he was walking out. That individual is now being charged with assault. Whats the Trump Campaigns reaction . Well, mr. Trump and im really glad in that reporting that you did mention that the Campaign Goes out of their way to tell people at these events to not participate in things like that and to handle protesters gently and nicely and mr. Trump himself has said that at many of these rallies. Mr. Trump does not condone anything like that. We dont know for a fact that this was a trump supporter. Weve also been subject to having plants put into the audience as well. Just to reassure everyone, this is not something thats condoned by the Trump Campaign. In fact it actually does a disservice to the other people who are there. Hillary clinton just tweeted as a followup, ill read it to you. This is what she said. She said this kind of behavior is repugnant. We set the tone for our campaigns. We should encourage respect, not violence. Your response to that tweet from Hillary Clinton . Well, and shes absolutely right, which is exactly what we do, what mr. Trump himself personally does in these instances. As i said before, and its been reported many times, even on cnn, that a lot of people coming to these rallies arent necessarily Trump Supporters. Katrina pierson, the National Spokeswoman for the Trump Campaign, katrina, thanks very much for joining us. Thanks, wolf. Were counting down to tonights historic president ial debate here at the university of miami. Were getting new information. Stand by, well take a quick break. Ose new glasses . They are. Do i look smarter . Yeah, a little. Youre making money now, are you investing . Well, ive been doing some research. Let me introduce you to our broker. How much does he charge . I dont know. Okay. Uh, do you get your fees back if youre not happy . dad laughs wow, youre laughing. Thats not the way the world works. Well, the worlds changing. Are you asking enough questions about the way your wealth is managed . 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Sunlen, trump says he wants to face senator cruz one on one, the senator wants the same thing, doesnt he . Thats absolutely right, wolf. Ted cruzs goal is really to push this race into a faceoff with donald trump exclusively. Put simply, he has been calling more or less on john kasich and marco rubio to get out of the race. A subtle message to them but a direct message no doubt. So a big goal for him here at this debate hall will be to present himself tonight as the most viable alternative to donald trump among all of them up there on the stage. Its been interesting to see ted cruz out on the campaign trail leading in today almost exclusively focused on donald trump. Laser focused on drawing contrasts with him, only mentioning rubio and kasich in the vein of calling on their supporters to come to his campaign. He invites those supporters to come to his campaign, certainly sets up an interesting dynamic tonight. It will be interesting to see his approach, how he really treats rubio and kasich when he has more or less called for both of them to drop out, wolf. As you know, sunlen, donald trump likes to hit ted cruz for being unpopular, even among his republican colleagues in the u. S. Senate. Cruz today has a new response to that, right . Thats right. His response came in the form of rolling out the endorsement of utah senator mike lee. This is his very first senate endorsement. So it certainly is notable and in part a response to that talking point of donald trump, hoping to put that talking point to death so to speak. Mike lee appeared in the spin room here on the debate stage and talked about the party unifying behind senator cruz. Heres what he had to say. Im sending the signal that its time to unite. That the time has finally come. The time is finally at hand when we as republicans need to unite behind one leader. Interesting that mike lee was asked directly should marco rubio drop out of the race if he does not win here in florida on tuesday. He did not mibs words. He said yes, he should, and that he should come to senator ted cruzs campaign. So interesting that that message is coming from all facets, even the new ones of the Cruz Campaign. Wolf. All right, thank you. Joining us now, our chief political analyst, gloria borger, our chief National Correspondent john king and our senior political kneea niamalika henderson. He wants a softer tone. Well, the answer to your question is not sure its really doable but he does want a softer tone because i think he understands that it could make him look more president ial. Hes the prohibitive frontrunner right now. He could be the nominee after florida and ohio. Hes got to start looking president ial. The question that i have is once he is attacked, and he will be attacked on this stage, i dont know if donald trump has it in him not to punch back. Hes a guy who always says if im attacked, im going to punch back. And then the third question i have is the people who attack him, how are they going to do it . Because they cannot make themselves look smaller. Thats what happened to marco rubio last time on the stage. I dont think marco rubio wants to make that mistake again. We might be hearing more lyin ted and little marco but this is an opportunity for cruz as well. Its an opportunity for cruz. He wants to say im the only guy whos got a chance. Im the only guy within 100 delegates. Im the only guy who has proven he can beat donald trump in a handful, half a dozen states. The problem is you have kasich and marco rubio who are making their last stand in this debate because their states, ohio for kasich, rubio here in florida, are up on tuesday and theyre making their last stand. Kasich needs to win at home to survive. Rubio needs to win at home to survive. Lets be realistic, if he doesnt win at home, the money will dry up. Trump knows the stakes. Florida and ohio, thats 165 of the 367 delegates at stake on tuesday. Plus if youre winning in florida and ohio, youre probably also winning North Carolina, probably also winning missouri. So trump understands this is a chance not mathematically but psychologically to lock it up and send a message to the establishment, i win. Kasich has not attacked trump but he needs to win ohio so i think hell be more assertive. He needs to be more a part of the debate tonight. Rubio, i agree with gloria, he doesnt want to get back into the hands and other arguments, but this is his last stand. When youre backed up against a wall, you tend to be aggressive. I think trump may attack kasich because kasich is very close to him and in some polls above him in ohio. Yeah, and hes been doing that already basically saying that kasich is an absentee senator. I think if you look on the air waves, you can say that the super pacs, rubios super pac is going after kasich, for instance, and then trump is obviously going after marco rubio saying that hes the absentee senator for florida. So i think the stakes are high for all of these folks tonight. You have rubio coming in essential low saying whoever wins florida is going to be the gop nominee. Polls show him lagging. Can he can he have one debate performance does he have enough traction to win florida on tuesday . You know, i think thats the big question. And can a debate performance, however phenomenal it might be, is that enough to catapult him 16 points ahead of donald trump if you believe the polls. In the last round of primaries last tuesday night, there was a shift for rubio. And it used to be that the late deciders were heavily going to marco rubio. That is not the case anymore. The late deciders were going to ted cruz and john kasich more than marco rubio. And that may be an indication of things to come. Once you lose momentum like this, its really hard to get it back. Its not impossible. Its tough. Theres early voting here in florida, john, as you know, and a lot of people have already voted. They havent released the results of that. Well see if theres a difference between the early voters and the sameday voters. And imagine if youre marco rubio and you come up just short and jeb bush gets a bunch of those early votes because jeb bush was in the race until just recently and had a very aggressive Early Voting Program because it is part of the political culture here in florida. Imagine if marco rubio falls a couple of thousand votes short and you see a big chunk of jeb bush votes that grossly outnumber that. But thats the way the system works and youve got to play by the rules in the system that youre in. If trump wins here in florida, in ohio, and its winner take all in both of those states, is it basically over . Its hard for the other folks to make an argument that they can overtake trump and they should be the gop nominee. I think the sort of second best option for these folks is do they stay in and deny him the nomination. That seems to be the strategy of kasich at least. Doesnt seem to necessarily be the strategy of marco rubio at this point, who looks like hes got a doordie situation here in florida. But theyre running out of options, theyre running out of time to stop trump and they have tried. They dumped a bunch of money on him in these super pac ads but so far hes still rolling. Theres a lot of talk of what i call crubio, sort of a joint ticket effort. I dont know if thats possible at all. I also believe its just as possible that trump, who has said he would like someone with a political experience, trump could say, okay you guys dont like me, let me tell you im going to pick so and so as my Vice President ial nominee and kind of blunt that. Trump is all about the art of the deal. Well, if other folks are negotiating, i think he can too. Lets take a break. Theres more. Were counting down to this republican president ial debate here on the campus of the university of miami. Much more when we come back. For your retirement, you want to celebrate the little things, because theyre big to you. And that is why you invest. The best returns arent just measured in dollars. Td ameritrade®. Welcome back. Were counting down cnns coverage of tonights critical republican president ial debate here at the university of miami. Im joined by s. E. Cupp, kayleigh mcenannie and ana navarro. Kayleigh let me follow up on this controversial statement that donald trump said to Anderson Cooper in that interview last night about islam. Listen to this. Do you think islam is at war with the west . I think islam hates us. Theres something theres something there theres a tremendous hatred there. Theres a tremendous hatred. We have to get to the bottom of it. There is an unbelievable hatred of us. Kayleigh, would he lying to revise that statement a bit, islam hates us . I think he did. 15 seconds later anderson went on to ask do you mean radical islam or islam and he said i mean radical islam. Hes repeatedly said i have muslim friends, im not trying to indict the muslim faith. However, hes point out something i think our president fails to point out that there is a strain of radical islam that has taken over parts of the middle east and is operating openly in syria, iraq and libya and its important to call that out. I think thats what donald trump was getting at. He should have initially said radical islam instead of just islam. I think he was meaning islam as an ideology. Islam is a political code, sharia is a political code its a religion. Not as a religion, i think he was meaning that portion of the koran. What impact in a republican contest do his comments have . I think its devastating, disappointing and dangerous. The fact that donald trump needs someone like kayleigh to translate what he meant for a wider audience tells you everything you need to know. Donald trump should be very careful when he talks about Muslim Americans and he should make those distinctions clear. We have muslims who put on the uniform of the United States of america and go and fight overseas for our freedom, for their freedom. And so to say islam hates us is sloppy, its dangerous, its offensive, its divisive. I mean i could go on and on and on and on, but hes constantly he constantly goes there. And then his supporters say well, no, that is what he meant, this is what he meant and clean it up for audiences. S. E. , i think most voters understand donald trump is not islamophobic. If you look at the guardian, a very respected british publication, they interviewed one of his muslim supporters who said donald trump is not our enemy. And he will protect moderate muslims like me. Anecdotal evidence does not tell the entire picture. And when donald trump, if he gets to a general election, i dont think hes going to have the support of the Muslim American community. There are a lot of moderate muslims who are as terrified of isis as of christians and are jews of course there are. And it does follow several weeks ago when donald trump called for a temporary ban on all muslims coming into the United States, which generated a lot, a lot of anger out there. It generated a lot of anger but also generated him some support, so i think he keeps doing this because its been working for him. I would like for it to be devastating, as s. E. Says, in a republican primary, but the truth is that there are factions inside the Republican Base that agree with him and he has not up to this point really suffered any damage for these absurd, ridiculous, outrageous, blanket statements he has been making since june 16th when he announc announced. This is just one more stripe on the zebra. Whether youre talking about mexicans, whether youre talking about p. O. W. S, whether youre talking about muslims, it is one more stripe on the zebra, but he keeps doing is because he can. Go ahead and respond. I think its easy to broad swipe donald trump and say he is a racist, he is islamophobic and maybe these generalizations, but 49 of the gop who said that they would support donald trump, this was a cnn poll about a month ago, understand nuance, they understand this is a temporary ban, isolating a problem within the muslim faith until we figure out how to not let malik into our country legally on a k1 fiance visa. Let me play a clip. This is senator ted cruz. S. E. , i want to play it for you and well get all of you to respond. Well, we dont have the clip right now let me just tell you basically what senator ted cruz said about Donald Trumps supporters. He said donald does well with voters who have relatively low information. Yeah. I dont think thats ever smart. Its never smart to criticize the voters that you ultimately hope to get. Whether you agree with donald trump and his supporters is a separate thing, but clearly these are voters who are engaged. Many of them for the first time and all thanks to donald trump. Hes writtening o bringing ou new voters and its not for ted cruz to judge the basis upon which those voters have decided on trump. His job is to convince them otherwise. What was your reaction . I agree with s. E. Whether they are low information, high information, low education, high education, everybody has the same vote. And should this become a twoman race and should ted cruz become the clear alternative to donald trump and this go to a brokered convention, at some point were going to need unity within this party and were going to need to stop talking about divisions and about sublabels within the Republican Party and figure out how to have a broad message and a broad tent that we can all fit under, whether you have a High School Degree or you have three ph. D. S to your name. I suspect a lot of the voters and millions already have voted for donald trump probably resent the notion that they are relatively low information voters. Particularly coming from a guy who graduated from yale and princeton, its a little much. Its a surprising statement from ted cruz. Hes an outsider. Its surprising to hear him Say Something like this. We have much more to talk about, including marco rubio, a lot riding for him tonight at this republican president ial debate. Well take a quick break and be right back. Plan were back with our political experts as we await the start of the cnn republican president ial debate here at the university of miami. Its the last debate before tuesdays winner take all primaries in both florida and ohio. And i want to read to you a little excerpt of what eric, a top mitt Romney Adviser four years ooh his campaign wrote today in the boston globe. You need three ingredients to be successful. Money, organization and message. Lacking all three, rubio should exit now to avoid an embarrassment in florida that could damage whatever he hopes to salvage of his political career. Your reaction . First of all, you know, people assume that marcos future is in politics. I have never assumed that. I think that people are not used to folks who may want a life outside of politics and might actually think a career doesnt necessarily mean going from one Political Office to the other. There is no doubt that marcos campaign is hurting right now. I can tell you that im hearing it everywhere i go in miami. This debate is very important for him to be able to reset it. He needs to go on that stage and show grit, perseverance that hes in it to win it. He needs to make the electability argument. Ive seen marco rebound before. The problem is he has no mathematical path left to the nomination. Hes got to be hoping and praying that people can buy into the notion of a brokered convention. But i just dont buy the idea that quitting before florida is less embarrassing than fighting your heart out for your home state and then seeing how it turns out. I think you cant get scared out of this race for your home state four days away and go do what, suck your thumb . He quit a month ago. He didnt quit four days before the primary. Kasich has a tough challenge in ohio. Some have him up a little, down a little. Trump starts calling kasich absentee governor. Are we going to see him go more assertively against kasich . Does he feel threatens, trump, by kasich . Ing this is the big battleground. Kasich has a 62 approval rating, one of the highest in the nation for any governor. To get at kasich, you have to levy those sort of attacks. Hes an absentee governor. Echoes something the Columbus Dispatch said. Donald trump has to levy these points and talk about spending some of the criticisms of kasich in order to destabilize him. If trump wins florida and ohio, is it over . Yes, for sure. Thats why these contests tonight, this debate and our contests on tuesday are so important. Everything is leading to this. Its do or die for ted cruz. Its definitely do or die for marco rubio. And i dont think kasich is really in play here. But, yeah. I think any rational person would say if trump gets florida and ohio and cruz would stay in and it would be a twoman battle. If donald trump wins florida and ohio, its over. Put a fork in them for rubio and kasich, but it is not over for ted cruz if hes a clear alternative until somebody gets to 1,237. Until that happens, there is always a possibility of a brokered convention, which i wouldnt look forward to at all, but, you know, there are going to be a lot of People Holding hope out for that. Until you get to 1,237, it aint over. Cruz will have a huge delegate deficit if trump gets winner take all florida and ohio. Its just starting way behind. Even cruz recognized a brokered convention would be perilous for the Republican Party. Hes more open to an open convention. No matter what happens, if trump walks away with the most of the popular vote, it would be devasta devastating. We have much more. Counting down to the start of this republican president ial debate here at the university of miami. Much more of our coverage coming up. You both have a perfect driving record. Perfect. No tickets. No accidents. 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The four remaining republican president ial candidates facing off tonight on cnn in their final debate ahead of the critical primaries next week that could make donald trump the inevitable nominee. What will his rivals do tonight to try to stop him. Do or die. Last chance for marco rubio to save the slumping campaign. A win in his home state of florida next tuesday seen as his only hope of staying in the race. With trump leading in the polls, will rubio go on the attack again tonight . Last hope. Ted cruz now positioned as the gop establishments best alternative. Picking up an endorsement from a fellow senator, but will the rest of the party rally around one of its most widely disliked members. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Im wolf blitzer in the debate hall where the candidates will soon take the stage. Youre in the situation room. Were live on the campus of the university of miami. Were counting down to tonights cnn republican president ial debate. Donald trump, ted cruz, marco rubio and john kasich in their last battle before five major primaries next tuesday that could shake up the gop race or leave donald trump the partys inevitable nominee. Extremely high stakes for trumps rivals fighting to keep their campaigns alive and likely targeting trump tonight. Ted cruz saying hes in a twoman race with trump and picking up a notable endorsement from mike lee of utah. So far hes the only u. S. Senator backing cruz whose hardline tactics have made him one of the most unpopular lawmakers on capitol hill. And theres new controversy tonight surrounding the Trump Campaign. After an africanamerican protester was punched in the case by a white trump supporter at a campaign rally. The 78yearold man now charged with assault. Lets get a preview of tonights big detate. A potential game changer in one of the most unpredictable republican races. Sunlen serfaty begins our coverage. What can we expect to see tonight . Id expect to see a sense of urgency from many of the candidates up on this debate stage later tonight. This debate is coming at such a critical and pivotal time in the course of this campaign. This is the last debate before voters head to the poll in the winner take all states of florida and ohio. So crucial to so many of the candidates making their last pitch tonight. Many camps will likely be looking to create that breakout moment for themselves to potentially breathe new life into their campaigns, specifically marco rubio and john kasich tonight. Donald trump will be there right at center stage as the frontrunner. To his right will be marco rubio and to his left ted cruz. Likely much of the focus tonight on blunting trumps momentum going forward. A lot of heat directed likely at center stage. Wolf . Sunlen, youve been covering the Cruz Campaign extensively. Whats the strategy from ted cruz tonight . Its all about pushing this into a twoman race on behalf of the Cruz Campaign. Thats what their goal is to do. So what well likely see ted cruz up on the stage is to present himself at the most viable candidate that can be the alternative to donald trump. And this is most part what weve seen him do on the campaign trail largely ignoring twofourths of the candidates. John kasich and marco rubio. Hes been exclusively focused on taking down donald trump. I suspect well see a lot of that from him here tonight. Wolf . Sunlen, thank you. The frontrunner donald trump is expecting a fresh barrage of attacks tonight. Especially from marco rubio and ted cruz. He went after trump, rubio did, aggressively starting at the last debate. But trump returned blistering fire taking a toll on rubios campaign. Lets bring in jim acosta. Jim, rubios attempt to take on trump seemed to have backfired as it has. I must say for several of the other candidates. Thats right. And donald trump likes to say that every time hes attacked it backfires on the person doing the attacking. Hes still standing. Donald trump for his part is saying hes expecting a softer debate tonight. But tell that to marco rubio and ted cruz. I talked to trump Campaign Manager. He tells me that they understand marco rubios political life is on the line tonight. He will be more aggressive as this is perhaps the florida senators last chance to shake up this race in front of millions of voters. We have heard rubio say in the last 24 hours that he now regrets poking fun at trumps appearance. A top rubio adviser said the florida senator will avoid those personal attacks but they still see trumps Business Record as fair game. That means more hits on Trump University and so on. The other big front looming in this nomination battle is john kasichs home state of ohio. New polling showing the Ohio Governor may be moving ahead of trump in that state. That explains why trump called kasich an absentee governor last night in fayetteville, North Carolina. We may hear more of that tomorrow morning from donald trump. Hes scheduled a postdebate News Conference. Another example of how trump likes to shake the Daily Campaign narrative. If he suffers a setback tonight he can hit the reset tomorrow morning at the News Conference, wolf. Jim, were also learning about an incident at a trump rally involving an attendee charged with assault. Tell us what happened. Thats right. This is not the first time weve talked about an incident at a trump rally. This is just the latest episaid of some violence breaking out at one of the events. Last night we should show this to our viewers. His is video off of youtube of a protester being led out of trumps rally. As the protester is heading out of the arena, he is sucker punched. Did not see this coming, by a trump supporter in the crowd. Police say that trump supporter has been arrested, and we should also point out that trump has dismissed these scuffles that almost seem to happen on a daily basis at something that just happens from time to time considering the size of the crowds he draws. He gave that explanation at his News Conference saturday night. We should point out the Trump Campaign does make an announcement before every rally saying please dont touch the protesters because they expect these protests to break out but, obviously, this one trump supporter was not listening to that plea from the campaign when he sucker punched that protester being led out of the arena last night. Hes now been charged, as you say. Thanks, jim acosta. Joining us republican congressman Chris Collins of new york. Hes supporting donald trump. Congressman, thanks very much for joining us. I know you said you are endorsing trump because you believe donald trump, in your words, has clearly demonstrated that he has both the guts and the fortitude to bring jobs back to the United States. Take on isis and make America Great again. But what has he done to demonstrate that, for example, he understands the challenge isis poses. He doesnt very often provide specifics. Specifics at all when asked. Well, wolf, again, thanks for inviting me on to the show. Im a strong Trump Supporters but he has very clearly stated hes going to secure our borders, defeat isis, get our jobs back and make america proud again as we stand tall against russia, north korea and iran. As to some of the specifics, we all know that the threat that isis is to the United States of america. Weve seen the terrible videos of beheadings and other atrocities that they hate our way of life. They hate the way most of the world is living. So i dont think you have to get into a lot of specifics. For all americans to realize how b bad isis is. And the strength of our military, we can take isis out but we have a president who has no strategy whatever. Hes never articulated a strategy. Hes tied the hands of many of our troops in how were dealing with these monsters. So i have every confidence and i think most Trump Supporters do as well. As president of the United States, donald trump will defeat isis, and he will stand up to the ayatollah, stand up to congressman, let what specifically would he do if he were the commander in chief to destroy isis . First of all, as the commander in chief, i know wed have a strategy that would involve other nations, as well as his advisers. But absent other nations joining us, our air power is superior. And mr. Trump has stated, i think fairly clearly, hes going to take isis out. And we have just not been as forceful, frankly, as we could be. We have a commander in chief thats not a forceful leader. He has no strategy. It starts with strategy. One thing i can tell you about a chief executive of a successful business. Strategy drives the day. But would he just continue what president obama is doing, manned air strikes against isis . Unmanned drone air strikes . Having advisers there, working with locals . There are international partners, if you will. Would he, for example, move u. S. Ground forces into iraq and syria to try to retake mosul and try to destroy raqqah, the isis capital in syria . Well, wolf, its not my place to speak for the president of the United States, commander in chief donald trump. That will be for he and his advisers and his secretary of defense and his chiefs. But i can tell you, myself and many of trumps supporters know of all the candidates standing on the stage tonight, and certainly in comparison to Hillary Clinton and bernie sanders, there is one man that will defeat isis as commander in chief, and that is donald trump. Would you as a u. S. Congressman support Ground Troops moving in to destroy isis . Well, as none of us want to see our Ground Troops in another conflict. All of us are saying were going to need advisers and with that said, we have to defeat the monstrosity of isis and i would defer to other experts in coming back to congress with what their plans are. And at some point in time, you have to say, all options are on the table. You dont tie your hands behind your back as you are negotiating with monsters like isis. Because most of the experts, as you know, congressman, they say air strikes can degrade but they wont completely destroy. The only way to destroy isis is to send troops, whether u. S. Troops or foreign troops or others. You have to get in there on the ground, basically go house to house. But well leave that issue on that point. Another thing well, wolf, we also go ahead, congressman. Well, i was going to say, its also getting the local, the kurds and the others involved. Arming those forces that are on the ground. Its their territory. Weve done a deplorable job under obama in helping what could be our allies with boots on the ground. Not american boots. Other boots on the ground. And ultimately, thats what i know america would prefer. Having the boots on the ground from those other nations. Its their country. Having them as the ground force. He also, donald trump, blasts companies for moving outside of the United States, Manufacturing Products outside of the United States. Youve mentioned that you want him and he wants to bring jobs back. As you know, some of his products are, in fact, manufactured outside of the United States. The ties, some of the suits made in china. Some of the dress shirts made outside the United States. The accusation against donald trump is hes being hypocritical. Hes willing to manufacture products outside the United States and bring them back to the u. S. , but he says that shouldnt happen. Your response. Well, what it is, china and mexico both are cheating through manipulation of currency, a country like china that steals our intelectual property, doesnt live by the same labor and environmental laws as we do. They have this builtin advantage which is not fair trade and you have to at some point in time they were not going to tolerate that. But as long as we have a president and a government that allows that cheating to occur, private sector business, who is in they are in business to make money, are going to go where its cheaper. We need to have barriers as needed to level the Playing Field if thats what it takes in order to have it no longer a financial incentive for people to go over there and take advantage of lower wages in a country that steals our intellectual property, manipulates currency and does not live by the same environmental and regulatory burdens. The government has got to level that Playing Field or were going to keep losing jobs. The theft of jobs, and i believe donald trump as president is going to sit down and set those standards where theyre not going to be able to cheat any longer. So as long as the cheating goes on, do you think all of trump ties, suits, shoes should be made here in america . No, i do not think you can tell a private sector business person to put his business at 30 or 40 price differential when unfortunately thats the unlevel Playing Field this president has put our country in. We need to stop the cheating. But a private company is in business. This is a capitalist country. You cant say otherwise. They are in business to make money. In fact, any Public Corporation that does anything to disadvantage their shareholders, they have a fiduciary responsibility to make money, and part of it would be going where costs are low. But they are low because they cheat. They dont play by the same standards. I dont think you can say anything is wrong with donald trump in that as a private sector businessperson, which he is. Thank god the others have no experience. We have a chief executive, not a chief politician in donald trump. He knows how they are cheating but also as a private business guy he has an obligation, frankly, to go to where the costs are lowest. Thats what a chief executive in the private sector does. Congressman collins, we have more to discuss. I want to take a quick break. Were counting down to the start of this historic republican president ial debate here on the campus of the university of miami. Well be right back. Sales event is on. With extraordinary offers on the exhilarating is. The thrilling gs. And the powerful rc coupe. This is the pursuit of perfection. At ally bank, no branches equals great rates. Its a fact. Kind of like grandkids equals free tech support. Oh, look at you, so great to see you none of this works. Come on in. Believe he was talking about radic radical. The civilized world when were talking about isis and some of the other al qaeda in the other radical islamic extremists, they absolutely hate us and that was a narrative i understand has been clarified. Its radical islam, not islam which, obviously, we know there are a lot of people that practice that faith that do not feel that way. Im sure many in your own district in western new york as well. Lets talk about the debate tonight. Donald trump says he doesnt like these debates. He skipped one in the past. What kind of donald trump do you think will be at the debate tonight . Well, all of us would hope wed see a debate of a little more substance. Getting right down to some level of detail. You have some folks tonight who are very desperate for wins and absent those wins in florida and ohio, youll see folks dropping out. One thing we know about donald trump if you punch him, hes going to punch back. Lets hope that doesnt start. I dont think he would start that fight but i think we also know that if there are others punching at donald trump tonight, youll see some punching back. As much as wed like to see a more substantive debate, were all going to see in about two hours. Congressman collins, youre right. Donald trump has made it clear, you hit him, he hits you back and sometimes more ferociously, if you will. Chris collins, thanks very much for joining us. Happy to be with you, wolf. Any time. Just ahead, the pressure clearly tonight on marco rubio. Is it do or die for the florida senator . Florida primary just five days away. Well go inside his strategy. And who has the most to gain tonight . Were going to talk about all of that and a lot more as we count down to the cnn republican president ial debate. At mfs investment management, we believe in the power of active management. By debating our research to find the best investments. 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The florida senator must win his home states primary next tuesday to remain viable. Lets talk about all of this wither cnn political commentators. Ana navarro, republican strategist kevin madden, trump supporter kayleigh mcenany. The strategy for the republican candidates tonight, what do you think they need to do . One thing im going to be looking for is whether marco rubio is still goes really hard after donald trump. I think hes expressed regret for going after donald trump in a very personal way, but i think hes going to continue to go after him on the substance. He cant be schizophrenic about his strategy. Has to keep up with the hard attack hes been on for the past month. Also whether ted cruz begins to peel away some marco rubio supporters as he presents himself to voters at the best, most viable alternative to donald trump, versus going right at donald trump. Those are some of the dynamucs ill be watching. Cruz says its essentially a twoman race, cruz and trump. What does cruz need to do tonight . What kooind of strategy do you think hell use . He needs to walk a fine, fine line. On the one hand he doesnt want to antagonize marco rubio and his supporters because hes seeking this unity party. Marco rubio saying after tuesday, if rubio loses, what we need to do is unify and make this a twoman race and lets get behind said. On the one hand he cant antagonize rubio. Cant really go after him directly. On the other hand, he needs to convince people to vote for him instead because hes clearly made the decision to play in florida, not for the purpose of winning florida but for the purpose of knocking rubio out of the race. He thinks once rubio is out it becomes a twoman race. Hell have a better chance. Still have john kasich to worry about. Kayleigh, you think trump needs to. Two specific points in order to be successful. With regard to rubio. Were in florida. He needs to win florida. Of course, ohio as well. With rubio, he hasnt been hit on social security. Thats huge in florida. Were in a state where there are more retirees than anywhere in the country. He wants to raise the retirement age for younger people. Has also considered not putting the cost of living adjustment in there for social security. Look at the audience and say marco rubio promised all of you hed stand against amnesty. He did not. And say marco rubio also reneged on his obligations in the u. S. Senate. He wasnt there to vote against the omnibus bill. He needs to paint kasich as an absentee government and the Cato Institute gave you one of the worst ratings ever on spending. How do you address that, kasich . Marco needs to get under trumps skin which he did when he brought up the undocumented polish workers that workod the trump sites. But i think marco did something last night which came across very authentic and genuine. Maybe he tries it on this stage. He admitted that going into the gutter to go after donald trump, that going in with those personal attacks that made him look like a schoolyard bully did not work. He admitted that it had been embarrassed his children. I think that was a refreshing admission of a mistake by a politician. A very human moment. And i think he might try it on the stage today. I hope he does. Because its not often you hear politicians basically acknowledge they made a mistake. Its not. And it is important, i think, for him to acknowledge that. I do think he can make the argument that hes electable. The other three would lose to Hillary Clinton. I think he just has got to show his heart and fight his heart out. Hes got to leave it all on that debate stage. People have got to see that he still has it in him. Voters can smell a dying campaign. Right now marcos campaign is wounded. It looks like one of those old stale Hotel Lobbies that get a funny smell. He has got to show that hes still in this. Hes got the heart, the grit, the strength, the perseverance. That hes going to do it. Hes going to show up there, all of him with all of his enthusiasm and hes got to have a great debate. He cannot afford to have a lukewarm, mediocre debate. Tonight marco needs to bat it out of the ballpark. He needs to convince floridians to vote for him, that voting for him is not throwing away their vote. Do you think he can do that . I do. Ive seen marco rubio. He happened to travel with governor romney during the 2012 campaign. You work forward governor romney. When i worked for him and saw him on the campaign trail, big audiences and small audiences embrace expectations. Be that strong visionary leader that so many people feel is the is exactly what the Republican Party needs. Especially to serve as a contrast to Hillary Clinton who has been associated with the last 25 years of american politics. Thats the marco rubio that has to show up and fight and make his case. We saw him rebound after a disastrous debate and election result in new hampshire. And come back strong in south carolina. Marco needs to show that he can rebound again. It becomes a harder sell as this goes along. Hes got the ability to do it. Stand by. More to discuss. Lets take another quick break. Were counting down to the republican president ial debate here in miami. Much more right after this. It took Joel Silverman years to become a master dog trainer. But only a few commands to master depositing checks at chase atms. Technology designed for you. So you can easily master the way you bank. Marco rubio has voiced regret for some of the personal comments he made about donald trump in recent days. Personal attacks, the kourpt attacks. Certainly havent helped at the polls. Our senior political reporter manu raju is in what we call the spin room at the university of miami. You have some details of rubios strategy for tonight. What are you learning . Well, wolf, you think thats marco rubio is going to lay off donald trump. You have to think again. What im hearing from rubio officials is that hes going to really make the case to florida voters that this is the state that can stop donald trump. Hes going to say that hes the only one that can beat donald trump and a vote for john kasich or ted cruz is essentially a vote for donald trump. Watch for marco rubio to try to draw donald trump out on policy issues. We started to see him do that in the houston debate you moderated, wolf. A very effective line of attack. And a con artist. Someone who uses questionable business dealings. That is something he plans to raise as well. Thats not it. He wants to remind voters why they voted for him in 2010, whats they liked about him. And in addition to say hes the most electable republican. Thats something hes been saying all along that he can unite the Republican Party in this do or die state. They really need to penetrate or it could be the end of the road if he does not win this state, wolf. Hes got to be at the top of his game tonight. Thanks, manu. The republican president ial debate less than two hours away. How are the candidates performing . How will they perform tonight . That could certainly determine who wins the florida primary along with every single one of floridas 99 delegates. Lets bring in our experts. Executive editor mark preston, political analyst ron brownstein, and rebecca berg, a National Political reporter at realclear politics. Also ryan lizza, a washington correspondent for the new yorker magazine. Who seems to come in tonight, mark, among these four republican candidates with the most confidence . No doubt about it its ted cruz. He picked up some victories over this past week. Some of them were surprising. And the fact is hes making the argument that he is the true alternative to donald trump. Marco rubio has been the most disappointing candidate up to this point. And john kasich is hanging on by a thread. Confidencewise, ted cruz coming in. Lets not discount donald trump. He believes if he comes in and is able to win florida and ohio on tuesday, he thinks its over. Im i think cruz is also, and the remarkable thing about this race is, donald trump who is a plurality frontrunner. This point in 2008 john mccain was moving up. Mitt romney toward 45 . Donald trump is staying around 35 . Thats a share of the total vote. Out of all the votes cast so far, 45 . Hes not taking that next leap into near haimajority status. The problem is nobody is broad enough. Ted cruz lost in mississippi, another state he probably should have won. A santorum state or huckabee state. He continues to struggle among those voters who are not evangelicals. Ohio, North Carolina and missouri are so critical. Once you get past that you are down to very few states where evangelicals are close to half the vote. Those States Donald trump on tuesday, hes well on his way. He is well on his way. Were looking at ohio and florida. Also very important states because these are winner take all contests. And especially florida. Its such a big delegate prize. What republicans are thinking at this point is this race is not over even if donald trump wins ohio and florida. The delegate map certainly wouldnt be in antitrump republicans favor. However it would still be possible to push thus tune open convention and ron mentioned hes been to this point a plurality winner. Not trying to share the vote a frontrunner would or should. He has had that advantage. A limited catch22 mark and i have talked about. The forces opposed to trump need rubio and case toikasich need t. If they win, they stay in and they divide the vote further. Let me ask ryan lizza, if trump were to win ohio and florida, maybe kasich and marco rubio would drop out, but cruz isnt going anywhere. Then it becomes a twoman race. What happens then . I think one of the threads through this conversation is, you know, the fact hes a 35 plurality, not a majority nominee right now or frontrunner. The two sides are hardening, right . The protrump forces are hardening. They arent moving to any of the other candidates but the antitrump forces, the people saying theyll never accept him as the nominee are hardening. So you are not going to get other people out of the race. Youre not going to get the establishment giving up on denying him the nomination until he is standing on that podium in cleveland accepting, you know, giving his acceptance speech. I think both sides have hardened. Youre not seeing like 2008 or 2012 when mccain and romney started to pull away with the race and you heard voices of the establishment say lets pull together and concentrate on the democrats. Thats not happening now and i doubt very much it will happen through the summer. Lets talk a little bit about ohio right now. The latest cnn orc poll, and ill put it up on the screen. Trump 41, kasich 35, cruz 15. Rubio at only 7 . Winner take all ohio next tuesday. Other polls show kasich slightly. It could be very close there. Ohio is a very interesting state because it is almost half the voters last time were evangelical christians and a major ut were blue collar whites. Where donald trump has really put this race, put the other candidates in his Rearview Mirror is hes broken that hold on those blue collar evangelicals. He beat ted cruz among them in both states this week in mississippi and michigan. Thats what allowed him to keep it close. If kasich can get through ohio and maintain his viablity, a lot of what comes next is better for him. A lot of the coastal states coming up, more moderate where he could have a little more purchase as the oolalternative trump as opposes to cruz. Some interesting poll numbers here in florida where we are, a cnn orc poll. We asked likely republican candidates who they are likely to support . 67 are already decided. 12 said they are leaning one way. 21 said they are Still Deciding presumably what happens on the stage behind us tonight could help them make a final decision. The question is, how will they move . Thats why this is such a critical night for marco rubio because he needs to shift the direction of this race. Right now its not a direction thats good for his campaign. It seems to be on the verge of collapse if not already collapsing or collapsed. He needs to reassure voters he has a place in this race that he is not on the decline. And that he has something to offer the republican field and that hes not just playing spoiler in this state. Thats what hes going to try to do tonight. Its still very difficult, wolf, because this is not a state that everyone goes and votes on election day. Theres a lot of early voting in florida. Many people have already cast their ballots and so their minds cant be changed. But that 20 thats Still Deciding, thats going to be marco rubios target teeonight. A lot of people have voted already in florida. A lot of people, they have early voting in this state. That could have an impact. The rubio folks are hoping it helps them. The problem with that is, could some of them have voted for jeb bush who is out of the race . So marco rubios future in many ways can be determined in the next five or six days. If he loses florida, im not of the mindset he can never run. If ted cruz were to come out of nowhere and marco rubio were to come in third. That would be devastating. Ryan, what do you think the strategy for these four candidates on the stage behind us today is going to be . Are they going to come out swinging or will they be more reserved . I think rubio is going to attract himself by swinging wildly from a policy oriented message to those few days when he sort of became a standup comedian and just did antitrump jokes and is now saying he sort of regrets it. And so theres sort of this al gorelike question of which marco rubio are you going to get on that stage tonight. And honestly, trump has sort of rattled him to make him sort of swing back and forth between those two strategies. But, look. Trump is the frontrunner. You have to go at the frontrunner if youre going to win the race. Go ahead, rebecca. You wanted to weigh in. If trump comes out swinging if all of them come out swinging, who wins . Well, thats the question, right . I think marco rubio does need to measure his attacks a little bit more. He came out this week and started sorstart ed sort of apologizing for the rhetoric, the way he mocked trumps hair and hand. The other candidates are more focused attacks on donald trump on his record, business dealings, business failings, in the vain of what weve seen from these groups like our principals pact that has been attacking him on the air. Well see. One thing thats really striking is with the victories in michigan and mississippi, trump reestablishing his momentum toward the nomination. Every warning light on the dash board in terms of the general election is blinking red. The nbc wall street journal said he had the most favorable unfavorable. Key groups in the democratic coalition, millennials, minorities, College Educated whites. He has un he is strong within the Republican Coalition as a plurality frontrunner but many things that made him popular in that have dug a deep hole with groups hell need in the general election. The republicans in this odd position of a guy who is on the brichk brink of a nomination but enormous challenges. We heard ted cruz say that trump is perform willing because hes appealing to lowinformation got millions o voters already who might resent the fact theyre being called low information voters. Right. And what exactly did he mean by that . Was he saying theyre smart, theyre stupid, or theyre not tuning into donald trump . Ted cruz, his appeal right now is he is the true conservative. The interview that he did was very interesting where he made those remarks. He did it with david brody. A christian broadcaster. Christian broadcasting network. They go to david brody. He does a very good job. Trump rather. Cruz was sending a message across to voters, social conservatives that hes leading to trump. Cruz has a problem, a math problem, as he moves into april and may. But still he says that he is the conservative alternative. People are beginning to come into this debate hall here on the campus of the university of miami. Its going to be very full very soon, but you can see people arriving right now. A hot ticket here in miami. Ryan, the latest donald trump comments on islam, how do you think theyll play in these republican contests . To be totally honest, hes been pretty consistent and antiislam since the beginning of this campaign. Hes called for a ban on anyone of the muslim faith coming into this country and when he did that, his poll numbers went up. Why do religious conservative support trump . The issue of islam among a lot of evangelicals is more important these days than the traditional social issues like abortion or samesex marriage. To a lot of people what sounds like bigotry is something that is apparently appealing in donald trump when he talks about islam that way. Its something that i hear a lot when i go to republican rallies and im talking to the most socially conservative voters in trying to figure out why they support someone who is not religious like them. More people arriving here at the debate hall on the campus of the university of miami. Lets take a quick break. Much more as we await the start of this historic republican president ial debate. I think it landed last tuesday. One second its there. Then, woosh, its gone. I swear i saw it swallow seven people. Seven. I just wish one of those people could have been mrs. Johnson. [dog bark] trust me, were dealing with a higher intelligence here. The allnew audi q7 is here. At ally bank, no branches equals great rates. Its a fact. Kind of like social media equals antisocial. Hey guys, i want you to meet my fiancee, denise. Hey. Good to meet you dennis. When they thought they should westart saving for retirement. Le then we asked some older people when they actually did start saving. This gap between when we should start saving and when we actually do is one of the reasons why too many of us arent prepared for retirement. Just start as early as you can. Its going to pay off in the future. If we all start saving a little more today, well all be better prepared tomorrow. Prudential. Bring your challenges. Weve got breaking news. Multiple sources now telling cnn that dr. Ben carson will endorse donald trump tomorrow morning at a 9 00 a. M. News conference in palm beach. Dr. Carson will endorse were now being told by multiple sources donald trump. Ryan liza is with us. Ryan, this is a significant endorsement. Dr. Ben carson, he has a lot of supporters in the republican community. We were just talking about evangelicals and leaders in that movement. If you look at the issues that ben carson has talked about historically, they probably line up a little bit closer with ted cruz andsaying, no, ted cruz is not the candidate of social conservatives, donald trump is. Im not a believer that endorsements matter all that much, but this is pretty significant. He was consistently getting double digits in the polls. He has a huge base of supporters out there. His Favorability Ratings in the republican primaries have always been very strong. Hes well liked. A little surprising considering how hard donald trump went at ben carson, mocking his famously earlier in the race. A little surprising ben carson has turned the other cheek and put all that behind me. Ill be eager to hear the back story of how trump courted carson to make this happen. Well certainly hear it tomorrow morning at that News Conference. Its going to be at mara lago in palm beach. I assume itll help trump here in florida, but also probably North Carolina, ohio, missouri, illinois, elsewhere as well, right . Endorsements are important for trump. Less so for some of the other candidates frankly, but trump is sort of his own island, right . He doesnt have a lot of elite support. He doesnt have a lot of support among republican validators. Thats why the Chris Christie endorsement was important. Someone as popular as carson is in the party stepping forward and saying hes okay with donald trump, i think they matter for a candidate like trump who is obviously so nontraditional and has so much opposition among so many pockets of the Republican Party. At the same time, maybe not terribly surprising because carson another outsider would have been a little unusual for carson to pack one of the remaining senators or politicians in the race. Yeah. Im sure ted cruz deeply disappointed and marco rubio deeply disappointed. Cnn has confirmed from multiple sources that ben carson will endorsement donald trump tomorrow morning. Erin Burnett Outfront picks up our coverage right now. Next, our countdown to cnns republican president ial debate tonight. The stakes could not be higher for the four remaining candidates in what could be the most crucial debate so far. Sources telling cnn ben carson will endorse trump, a major moment in this campaign, a major boost for donald trump with conservatives and evangelical voters. The most sought after endorsement in this state. My guest tonight former governor rick scott. Lets go outfront. Good evening, im erin burnett. Welcome tonight to a very